Happy Thursday everyone! I'm in Nashville, in the midst of a week of book-party-throwing, book-shipping craziness. Actually, in all honesty I haven't even STARTED the book shipping yet, because I've been so busy gathering all of the materials to ship the books and getting organized with labels, addresses, etc. – not to mention cooking for parties (last night and tonight) and prepping for yesterday's TV appearance on Channel 5's Talk of the Town. (Click here to see the clip!) It's such an amazingly exciting time, but I am so beyond tired, all I really want to do is take a nap. But I'm working on shipping today, and will be working on it every day until next Monday. So don't worry – you will all still get your books soon!

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Anyway, despite all of the work, I'm trying to soak in all the moments of joy through this process. One of which happened to be last Monday night, at our NYC Book Launch Party at The Copenhagen. Signe's best friend Sanne happens to own this beautiful restaurant, in Tribeca, and graciously allowed us to use her space for the book launch. The whole party, much like the book, was an incredible labor of love, and a totally collaborative process. So rather than write a long, detailed post, I just want to say a HUGE thanks to the beautiful friends who made this night possible: to Sanne, for providing this beautiful space and working so hard behind the scenes, and to Signe for coming up with the great idea to have a party here! To Jean-Luc for getting Prosecco donated, to Jana, Lindsay, Emily, Lauren, Chrissy, Rachel, Rebecca, Carol, Meg, and Dori for helping with the food, to Carlyle for pouring bubbly, to Olivia and Nora for running the book table, to Sara Beth for taking these incredible photos, to Jenn for flying in from Seattle to help me do absolutely everything (from grocery shopping to bag-stamping to book carrying to setting up and tearing down), and to my love Brandon for being the best husband, teammate, and support network on every single level. The book would certainly have never happened without you!!

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A BIG thanks to my awesome book team: Signe, Katie, Lauren, Elise, Nate, Eric, Jean-Luc, and Dana – it was so fun celebrating with (most) of you last week! And finally, a gigantic thanks to all of the amazing friends who turned out to support me and this book project. This cookbook is a testimony of teamwork, and I feel SO blessed to be surrounded by such a supportive community of friends and family – in NYC, in Nashville, and around the country, really. It's overwhelming, especially because I have a hard time receiving sometimes. In my mind, it seems like there's this sheet of checks and balances, and my "account" is always withdrawn because I always feel like I'm receiving more than I'm giving. But this past year has taught me that sometimes you just have to graciously receive. And say thank you. And know that perhaps you can never fully repay all the goodness measure for measure to each person who gave. Instead I just try to keep living a life of generosity and hope that things will even out over time. I tend to get overwhelmed with guilt otherwise, and that's no way to live.

With no further ado, here are a few photos from this magical night...

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(Photos by Sara Beth Turner)