How to have the perfect fall frolic

How to have the perfect fall frolic


Hello A Sweet Release readers!  My name is Sarah and I blog over at Desirous of Everything.  I'm in the process of organizing a little dinner party with friends that I'm affectionately calling a "Fall Frolic" and thought I'd tell you all about it.


Setting the scene-  I decided to use Paperless Post to send out invitations.   It's way cuter than sending out a mass email or facebook invite but cheaper and faster than snail mail. Plus it does this little animation thingy that makes it look like an invitation is coming out of an envelope! This is the invitation I used to help get my juices flowing for my party's over all theme:

Next the playlist.  I thought about creating an "autumn themed" song playlist but then realized that if I could find songs that talk about autumn, they're all going to sound different and might not flow together.  Instead I thought of some great albums that make nice background music but aren't super boring.  Here are some of my faves:

• The Beach Boys Smile Sessions just came out and is available for streaming here.  
• Baxter Dury's new album Happy Soup
• Journey In Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane
• Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon
• The Harder They Come Soundtrack
• Anything by Yo La Tango

Now let's talk food!  I say keep the menu simple and seasonal.  Here's what I plan on serving:

1/2/3/4

And don't forget dessert!

click for recipe!

While we're eating the soup, I'll throw the fish in the oven!

And finally, I don't know about you guys, but I always find a gathering much more festive when games are involved.  One of my favorite party games is Salad Bowl which is a mixture of charades, taboo and craziness!  Here is how you play:

1. Break into teams of 2
2. Choose a letter.  Everyone must write down 5-10 (depending on how many people you have) words or phrases beginning with that letter on slips of paper.  You can write ANYTHING you want as long as it starts with the letter.  And I mean anything- people WILL guess it eventually and the weirder it is the more hilarious.
3. Put the little slips of paper into a big salad bowl.
4. Round 1: Time a minute for each team.  Get you team mates to guess the word by describing it without saying what it is.  Do this until all of the papers are gone through. Keep track of how many your team gets each time.
5. Round 2: Same as round one but this time you can only use ONE WORD to describe what is on the paper.  I know this sounds impossible but it isn't!  You've gone through all the words already so this round relies on your memory of what is in that salad bowl.  You can only say one word but you can say it over and over with a different inflection etc.
6. Round 3: Act out what's on the paper doing charades!  This one is also very funny because a lot of the words might not be normal charade type words but at this point you really know what is in that bowl.

And that is how you have a successful fall frolic (I think). I'm going to post about my actual frolic on my blog after it happens, so please stop by and say hello, I'd love to meet you!

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Thanks for popping in Sarah! I can't wait to make my whole family play Salad Bowl while I'm home for Thanksgiving!

Guest Posting with Kiley!

Today, I have a special surprise for all of my lovely readers! A Sweet Release is welcoming it's very first guest poster ever! Enjoy!

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Hello dear people,
This is Kiley M from the Let It Be Raw photography blog. I blog about all kinds of things photography, but I mainly like to share the story behind the picture. I am very happy to do a guest post for the lovely Annika and her beautiful blog. Thanks, Annika!

Today I want to share with you my love of black and white film. It's useful in more ways than just looking classy and can help improve any photographer. Don't worry if you don't have film! You can use the black and white setting on your digital camera to practice these techniques.

Using black and white is one of the best ways to practice and understand the concept of shadows and light. Take a few pictures of the same subject at different times of day, and you'll see different moods in each photo. Do this more often and you'll know what kind of lighting you like the best or what lighting works best for you. My favorite time of day to take photos is in the evening right before dusk when shadows and light are the most dramatic.

Black and white also teaches a photographer to be much more aware of her surroundings. Let's say I am outside on a clear bright day and am walking around my neighborhood thinking about taking a picture of tree roots. I come back a few times a day to take pictures and see what lighting and shadows I like best. The next day is overcast, and I decide to go out again. I notice that the roots are shadowless and full of texture because of the soft natural light. In this case the weather created fantastic lighting and has caused me to be much more aware of clouds and seasons and how they affect my photography.

Using black and white has made me much more aware of my camera and the way it functions. To see what image looks best I like to bracket photos, which means I take more than one picture with lighter and darker settings. It's like what I mentioned before about taking a picture at different times of day, except this time you photograph in one sitting. It still surprises me how a photo I thought looked perfectly exposed actually looks better darker/lighter. Most digital cameras have a function to darken or lighten an image so bracketing is possible. 

Black and white film can teach anyone who uses film/digital how to be a better photographer. It teaches awareness of shadows and light, composition, contrast, style, grain, aperture, texture, shutter speed, and much more. It's a film that will always be classy, dramatic, artistic, and versatile. Most importantly, it takes practice to think in black and white so that your photos won't come out flat and disappointing. Anyone can take a color film/digital picture, but the building block of black and white film definitely makes a difference in the quality and beauty of that picture. Please, do not use any of these images without asking me first. If you would like to see more of my black and white images, click here.

Go out and experiment with black and white! I would love to see what you can do with this underused medium. 
Thanks again, Annika!