We had a great time at our “best bookclub ever” last night. Wendy was delightful to meet and she gave us great insight into her inspirations, ideas, the publishing process and so much more! She autographed books and socialized with the group and everyone had a marvelous time and is ready to read her other 8 books now! Wendy also hosted “Downton Abbey Trivia” and awarded adorable British themed prizes. We had a room full of Downton Abbey afficionados and the winner of the grand prize (a can of spotted Dick) was Annemarie Madden!
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Jodi Miller and Laurie Gaby (the two Aha! Winners). Unfortunately the other two ladies were not able to come at the last minute and we missed them!
I want to give a final shout out to the sponsors who helped me make the culinary portion of the event a huge success:
Diana Hayes-Moore from Sweets ‘n Dreams was absolutely LOVELY to meet. She stayed with us for the entire event and was helping wash dishes when all the guests had gone! Her lemon squares, oreo cupcakes and brownies were a HUGE hit. I’m a brownie FREAK and I couldn’t get enough of her homemade brownies. Sweets n’ Dreams is a locally owned original business that is nestled in between Alisons’s Restaurant and Joseph A. Banks in Dunwoody Village. Check out the party information on her website. I wish I had a girl so I could plan a party today!
Our other fabulous sponsors couldn’t stay and attend but their contributions were very much enjoyed! Moondog Growlers supplied an excellent lager for the Shandies! Vino Venue supplied fabulous beef wellies, a delicious salmon mousse, several wonderful wine selections and a door prize of 2 tickets to a cooking class “Cooking with Mrs. Patmore”! We’re thinking of hosting a future book club at Vino Venue! Nothing Bundt Cakes provided a huge variety of bundtinis (marble, chocolate chocolate chip, red velvet, lemon raspberry and more!) And my friend Rafik, from the award winning Carbonara Trattoria, supplied a $50 gift card for another fantastic door prize!
Last but not least, last minute additions to our guest list were Annell and Jim of Bookmiser…with two locations (Roswell & Marietta). I’m so glad to know about Bookmiser and hope to visit them in Roswell sometime soon! Warning to Annell and Jim: I can browse in a bookstore for HOURS!
But enough about books….will the next season of Downton Abbey hurry up and get here!!!! I can’t believe we have to wait until January 5th, 2014!
