This past weekend I attended one of the most beautiful Friendsgivings imaginable.  Hosted by Chanel of Chanel Moving Forward, this was a gathering of some of my favorite Atlantians and female blogger power, with cocktails!  I met Chanel several months ago while waiting an eternity to board a plane to Chicago for the Blog Societies Conference.  We’ve remained in touch ever since and have started trying to get together at least once a month with other bloggers in our area to laugh, bond, and support each other.  I call it our monthly Blogger Chapter and it is never an evening to be missed and this event was no different.

I already knew from loving on her blog and Instagram feed that Chanel was a goddess among women in the hostessing department, but she went so far above and beyond expectations that I think we all were in a constant state of awe throughout the entire evening.  Seriously, I don’t think anyone could put down their phones (except when it was time to pass the food of course).  Check this out!  Chanel was able to sweet talk her sweet husband into building a table in their den just for the 20 of us to have a Thanksgiving of our lives.

Everyone was supposed to bring a dish (Hello! Southern!) to contribute to the meal.  We had the staples of course, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, but we also had some amazing non-traditional items like a cheesecake apple dip, a mushroom onion brie loaf goodness, and a caramelized carrots dish that had many of us reaching for several times. I was planning on making these apple cider donuts that have been tempting for awhile on my Pinterest feed, but I was in way too much of a rush at the grocery store and ended up coming home with apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider with no time to run back to the store and correct my mistake.  Not to fear, I packed a bag of red, white, and bubbles, the trifecta of holiday cheer.  When in doubt, go with wine.

Like I mentioned before, this is a growing group of some of Altanta’s top bloggers (with me thrown in too).  We’ve all been following each other for years and women-crushing on each other from a far so we do sometimes fangirl out when get together.  It’s a pretty fun and funny scene to be a part of.  I’ve loved these girls as bloggers for a long time and now I’m loving getting to know them personally as well.  Here are all of the lovely ladies who attended and their blogs so that you can love them right along with me:

• Amanda: Foxy Twine
• Ashley: House of Dorough
• Cait: Cait’s Cozy Corner
• Candace: Can1Love
• Chanel: Chanel Moving Forward
• Claire: Casual Claire
• Elise: Belle Meets World
• Faith: The Articles of Faith
• Helen: Hel on Heels
• Jessica: Dusang Exchange
• Jordan: Jordan Berecz
• Kira: Kira-Marie
• Loren: Lo Chandler
• Melodie: The Style Klazit
• Mireille: City Peach
• Patty: Life of a Minister Mom
• Sarah: Pretty Little Lists
• Shannon: Mom Without Labels
• Sherri: Rage Against the Mom Jean

Stay tuned for our December Chapter meeting which I’ll be hosting at my place.  I’m resurrecting the Classic Christmas Cookie Competition complete with prizes and cookie pun trash-talking.  I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving is as beautiful as this one was.

Several photographs courtesy of Morgan Hayes Photography & Chanel van Reenen