Spectacular Evening

Everyone should be so blessed to have an evening so full of love and friendship.

I had the extreme pleasure of celebrating Chris Seelbach's 30th birthday Saturday evening. If you don't know Chris, he is a spectacular catalyst for change in Greater Cincinnati. If you DO know Chris, then you know exactly what I mean.

The festivities started with an intimate dinner for 20 at Chris and Craig's Main Street condo. The space was beautifully decorated by the talented Joe Rigotti.

Green is Chris's favorite color, and it was repeated in the stunning cabbage rose table arrangements and other accents.


The menu included four items from Cincinnati Seasoned - I was excited to help Chris plan a dinner of several vegetarian courses. Chris's mother spent the entire day preparing the meal, which included an appetizer of grape truffles, stuffed sweet red peppers and a cucumber finger sandwich. Mrs. Seelbach said she was hesitant about the second course, a cream of Brie soup, because she substituted soy milk for whole milk.

It was spectacular.

The main course was a fabulous, Tuscan pasta dish. The meal finished with slices of Granny Smith apples and caramel drizzle. Delish.

At the conclusion of the dinner, each guest gave a 30 second toast in Chris's honor. Candace, always the eloquent speaker, was heartfelt and very touching. Me? I gave Chris a dash of humor and a bit of sentiment with my Top 5 Tips For Turning 30, inspired by thoughts I had when I turned 30.

After the dinner, the party traveled on to Adonis to meet 200 of Chris and Craig's closest friends. Cincinnati's a great town - it's fun when you discover your friend's social circle is very similar to your own.

I spent the evening with 5chw4r7z, Don't Call Me Mrs. and 007 (Bluegrass Brit's husband).

Here's my BFF, Bluegrass Brit (right), with our friend, Jenny.

The crowd was asked to arrive at Adonis promptly at 7:30 pm to catch a phenomenal show by Amy and Freddy. You may recognize them - they were finalists in America's Got Talent. I love this act. Amy is bawdy, genuine and very honest. She's able to share the ups and downs of life in a way that leads the crowd to simultaneously roar with laughter and grow wistful with shared empathy.

I also adore Amy because she is unabashedly confident about her curves - something we zaftig sisters need to embrace a bit more from time to time. Being the party's unofficial representative of the Cincinnati Curvy Sisters Brigade (I just made that up, but maybe it should exist. Thoughts?), Amy and I became fast friends.


I liked Amy and Freddy so much that I bought them a round of cocktails after their first set. Amy likes Crown on the rocks, Freddy likes his straight up.


The evening was such a special night - the love for Chris and Craig was palpable, and I was so blessed to be a part of it.

All stunning photos by Mark Byron Photography.

Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.