Girls’ Night In: Spooky Edition

At the beginning of October we decided it had been too long since we’ve even worked together and scheduled a date in our calendars to have a girls night, just her and I. Having plans in the calendar definitely built up my anticipation throughout the month to spend an evening with her, no work obligations, just quality time, girls being girls. In conversation, I shared that I couldn’t remember the last time that I carved pumpkins (even though it has been on every fall bucket list I’ve ever written up). 

The week of, we exchanged messages about what our girls’ night was going to entail – activities, snacks, drinks, etc. I decided to put together a charcuterie board and bring a bottle of wine (some of my go tos, obviously). After I got done with work that day, I headed to Aldi to grab a handful of goodies to fill out my charcuterie board. I LOVE Aldi’s variety of charcuterie assortments, when in doubt- go to Aldi!  

I always start with having a variety of cheeses, meats, and crackers. This time, I had already bought a champagne white cheddar cheese, aged yellow cheddar cheese, and a cranberry white cheddar cheese. Looking back, I probably would have switched out some of the cheese options for different textured cheeses, these ones were all pretty similar. I also already had a variety of crackers on hand so those obviously went on there too- wheat and garden vegetable. I picked up a little variety pack of smoked salamis, and some sweet goodies too- mini pumpkin spice biscottis and mini dark chocolate palmiers. Lastly, I try to add something pickled (feta cheese stuffed olives are a must).  A few other things that I might try adding in the future are jams, jellies, and honey. Sometimes I’ll also throw in some strawberries, grapes or vegetables too. 

An assortment of snacks and goodies FILLED her counters and a fresh baked dish of mac and cheese was on the stove top. My jaw dropped, we had a full night ahead of us. We got ourselves some glasses of wine and started yapping. Her FIANCE came home shortly after WITH TWO fall colored bouquets of flowers in hand. He handed one to Abbrielle and the other to ME?! Together, their thoughtfulness and bond is something that I greatly admire and am inspired by.

Ryan commented on all of our delicious snacks and made his way into his office for the night while we munched and kept on yapping, making occasional appearances to nibble. One of Abbrielle’s close friends, Katie, lives right down the road and decided to join us shortly after for the night. We made our way into the living room to continue on with our conversations for a while, sipping our drinks and eating our snacks, girls being girls. 

Abbrielle laid out a festive Halloween themed table cloth on the table, grabbed our pumpkins and tools, filled our wine glasses and started Hocus Pocus. We took turns using the big kitchen knives to start the tops. Katie used a template that came with the tools kit to design her pumpkin’s face and Abbrielle and I free handed ours. 

After we finished our pumpkins, we cleaned up our mess, put the pumpkins on her balcony to complete her fall display and got cozied up again in her living room. All of the snacks filled her coffee table, wine glasses in the corners and Cards Against Humanity cards flooded the empty spaces. After Hocus Pocus ended, we turned our Scooby Doo Spooky Island in the background. 

When I woke up the next morning, the world felt lighter. More moments were added to my collection of lifelong memories. And our conversations brought us closer together (even at the late hour of 3am!). People stereotypically say that making adult friendships is so hard, especially in your twenties. I think that a lot of it comes down to being vulnerable enough to put yourself out there, be 100% yourself, and allow others to meet you where you’re at. No facade and no mask just “to fit in”. And that’s how life feels around Abbrielle, there’s no pressure for me to act or BE a certain way. I’m comfortable showing up happy and giddy or sluggish. There’s no sense of feeling judged only acceptance, open arms, and understanding no matter what life is throwing at me.