#ash28bash: Birthday Dinner at Malibu Cafe

Well today I'm officially 28 years young! Over the weekend I threw an intimate dinner party, dubbed #ash28bash, at one of my all time fave spots: Malibu Cafe at Calamigos Ranch. It was a magical evening filled with all of my favorite people, delicious food and ridiculously yummy cocktails.

 Tucked away in the Santa Monica Mountains, Calamigos Ranch is a great venue to hold any event: birthday dinners, bridal showers, rehearsal dinners, weddings ... the skies the limit. It's truly a hidden gem that transports you to a different world.

One of the reasons I chose Malibu Cafe for the dinner is because of it's character; it's pretty much already "decorated" with amazing rustic-glam details. I've been insanely busy lately, so I needed a venue that didn't require too much work. Monica, their event planner, helped me set up the 20 person dinner complete with personalized menus, blankets and open bar.

To add a personalized touch, I brought in fun coasters, name cards, and DIY floral arrangements. Can we talk about the amazingness of mason jars and raffia? It took me all of 30 minutes to create these arrangements. Busy girl's secret: scoop up a few bouquets from Trader Joes and re-arrange accordingly:

{similar coasters // madewell workshirt (on sale!)}

The best part of the night was dessert: campfire s'mores. Malibu Cafe has little campfires scattered around the grounds and we all huddled by them to make our s'mores - talk about nostalgia.

Cheers to birthdays and getting older and wiser! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!