Oh my gracious what a weekend. What a weekend. I am so tired and so full all in one. Isn't it funny how something so filling can also make you so tired?

We hosted our second Happy Hour Live event this weekend. Our first one was in March, and this time we did two in one weekend. Friday night + Saturday night equalled about 260 women coming through our backyard and although it is so much work, it is truly a highlight of our year. The fact that my family works in the yard to prepare for this, and we put up tables and chairs, and Aaron plans and cooks the meal makes this weekend truly a family event.

(My mom and dad who worked hard the whole weekend!)

Hosting the live events for me are something that really fills me up. I say this at every event, but meeting real life people that listen to your show helps you keep putting out great shows. When I record shows I'm stuck in my little cloffice (that's a closet transformed into an office) talking to someone on skype, and then we release shows into the world and we know people are listening because we see the download numbers, but when I get to hug every single person that comes through my carport it makes me heart explode.

In fact, that's one of my goals for these events. Hug every single person.

I'm a hugger, and to say thank you to these ladies for listening to the show and for coming to my house for dinner, it's the least I could do. I truly am so thankful for all of my Happy Hour listeners!

Everything about this weekend was a team effort. My friend Amanda Brown is my right hand gal. She and I have been working together since January and she helps out with the show and these events more than anyone else. The night also wouldn't happen without the numerous volunteers that show up each night to serve. My friend Maris, was a volunteer on Friday night along with about 20 other ladies (and a few guys in the kitchen!) over the weekend, and that's basically how this whole thing goes off over the weekend.

(Maris & Amanda)

I loved looking around and seeing friends from my real life volunteering each night. What a precious gift for me to see them supporting The Happy Hour in that way! They served and served and served!

A fun aspect we added this year was merchandise and a table called “Jamie's Favorite Things” where we had some merchandise from some companies that I am loving these days and it was so fun to see all the guests purchase things from my friends!

Waterloo Style earrings, LuLaRoe leggings, Honeycomb Baby Goods, Persimmon Prints tee's, Great Love prints + all the Happy Hour merchandise as well! Most of the Happy Hour merchandise is only available at these events, so that's super fun!

(That's Jana with the awesome braid and she's one of my talented friends that makes the Waterloo earrings! The other partner is Tiffany, and she lives overseas right now and creates from there!)

Everything looked so beautiful this weekend. The backdrop was rented from Loot Vintage rentals, the flowers were donated by Bristol Lane, and the stage was decorated by Catherine Garza & Kim Truss of Giachelli Interiors.

The kindest words were said to me by so many of you ladies that came to the event. THANK YOU all for your encouragement and sweet words to me about the show. Your words have been playing through my head over the whole weekend. I am not kidding when I tell you that I fell asleep on Friday night with tears running down my cheeks because I was overjoyed with happiness from the night.

The food. Oh the food. The same thing happened to me in March as it did this weekend and I didn't get to eat one bite of food either night. Therefore I can't personally tell you how awesome the food was, but every single person told me how awesome it was! Aaron worked so hard on them menu, planning the way it would be presented, and I have to say it looked amazing!

I had several people ask for the corn & mint salsa recipe, and I just think he might let me give it to you all! Stay tuned for more on that!

Also, the cards with the instructions on how to make the perfect taco …. so cute! My friend Daphne designed them!

Thank you so much to my friend Kim who took all of these pictures. She's been taking our family pictures forever and is so talented. She's also the creator behind the HoneyComb Baby Goods necklaces and teething rings, which I highly recommend for your next baby shower gift purchase!

Lastly thank you to my guest, Emily Lex & Jessie Artique. Both of them are pure delights and it was super fun to chat about things with them in front of the audience. They have both been guests on the show before, so check out their episodes if you haven't heard them yet.

Final words because I know you will all be asking …. my dress above that I wore on Friday night is from Gray Monroe and so are my shoes!!  The earrings are from Waterloo and the necklace is from Noonday Collection.

The outfit below was styled by Melissa Navarro. The shirt and earrings are both from Gnomadic, the necklace from Noonday Collection, and the leather cuff is from Jen Hatmaker's new Glory Haus Collection (and right now you can get 20% off by using the code JH20 until 9/30 – you are welcome!).

We are tentatively planning to do this again in March, and so if you didn't get to make it to this one, you will want to try and get to the next one for sure!

Loved Loved Loved this weekend!!!! Thank you to Noonday Collection, Jelly Telly, and Bristol Lane for sponsoring the night.

Thank you to Shelly Dolen for sponsoring the food, Royers Pie Haven for the pie, and Steel City Pops for the popsicles.

And if you want to feel like you were actually here with us, check out my friend Philip's vlog called “Watch Me Live My Life”. His wife took over the duties this weekend and of course since she spent most of her weekend with me, you'll be able to see a lot of the show!