Friday favorites.

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Happy Friday! Since I work both weekend days and have Fridays off, I've started to really savor this day. While my schedule doesn't allow for what most people consider a "weekend," I've worked weekends most of my life anyway. And this just makes days off like today that much better.

Tonight we're having Andrew's friends over for dinner, and I'm excited to get our apartment all prettied up for a little party. And make butterscotch pot du creme, for a taste of home and MPLS in MKE. And go running, because it's beautiful outside. And study. And that's how a day off fills up oh, so quickly.

In the meantime, here are some additional links for anyone else hosting parties, including "Friendsgiving," this weekend, or are getting down to planning for the big day on the 28th:

I'm obsessed with Williams-Sonoma for Thanksgiving. And with their pumpkin butter. Here's a recipe to make your own!

I like gin. I like PAMA. I want to drink this.

If you've never hosted Thanksgiving and want to go all out for your first shot, NYT has published an everything-you-need-to-know Thanksgiving essentials guide.

One of my favorite traditions from growing up was Thanksgiving Eve. My aunt would come over, we'd eat apples and brie, and start preparing for the next day. Here's a lovely take on what to make for dinner on Thanksgiving Eve.

I'm still searching for one more dessert to make for Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe this one? 

For the kitchen: spice jars.

For those that know me, it'll come as no surprise to you that I like things organized. Part of the fun (yes, to us it's fun) of moving in to our new place was getting to organize everything from scratch: setting up our bookcases, folding everything neatly into the closets, and arranging our spices, baking supplies, and cooking utensils into their neat, non-cluttered new home. 

That being said, our pantry does not (AT ALL) look like this one below. 

In all likelihood, ours will never look like this (and really, whose does?) but we're determined to keep our pantry organized. While the space we have now is much more carefully set up than in our previous kitchen, we're not finished yet. Currently, we're on the hunt for spice jars that don't take up too much room in the pantry and are wide enough to easily accommodate a tablespoon. We don't want a pre-filled revolving rack, but would prefer individual jars so we can fill them up with our own spices. Tangent time: the Whole Foods in Milwaukee recently stopped having their spices available in bulk...not cool, Whole Foods, not cool. I hate having to spend $8.00 on a jar of a more exotic spice when we only need a teaspoon of it for a specific recipe. I think a lot of people are discouraged from experimenting with new flavors and tastes because of the fact that they'd have to buy a full jar and use so little of it, concluding, in the end, that it wouldn't be worth it at all. 

Alright, tangent over. 

As we continue to search for the perfect spice jars, here are some inspirations and ideas from around the web. Readers, what do you do? Any solutions to suggest for us? 

Photos via: Pinterest, Houzz, and Etsy.

Apartment tour.

Before my mom came to visit last week, I had to make sure our apartment was ready for its first hosting. Andrew's parents and my sister, of course, saw the apartment when they helped us move in, but my mom had only seen it through videos and spotty tours on FaceTime. Andrew and I fell in love with this unit when we first saw it (the previous owners did an amazing job decorating and painting), and we were especially happy with how bright and open it is. There's still more we want to add, but we'll get to that eventually...nothing is ever completely finished in a home, is it?

We love having people over, so it was wonderful to have my mom stay with us and share the apartment (and I'm glad to note she loved it, too!). This, then, is an open invitation to our friends and family: come over! Our place is ready and waiting for you, and so are we!