These girls are serious. Completely surpassing our expectations, when we arrived to bake for the Her Campus/Her Closet launch party, each of them was outfitted in a dress, apron, and heels, ready to bake five of their favorite brunch items. Anything involving Jenn, Eleanor, and Norma is bound to be an experience. The unapologetically girly girls’ academic interests range from Economics to Political Science to Art History, and their hometowns span the American South from Virginia to Mississippi. These girls were giving us the feminine ambiance that reflects the type of environments they were raised in and the ones they want to create one day in their own homes. What’s not to love? Luckily for me, this was not my first time at Ryburn 102. Somehow, I swindled my way onto their themed-brunch invite list. Their exclusive Saturday morning brunches are always equipped with hand-crafted invites, homemade treats and a phone bowl (a bowl of everyone’s phones so they’re more inclined to spend time with present company) to add to the riveting conversation and retro ambiance. After spending an afternoon with the “three best friends anyone could have,” it’s clear these girls are equal parts sugar and spice, beauty and brains, and retro and modern.
The Menu *all homemade*:
Turkey-Gouda biscuits
Lemon-Glazed Blueberry scones
Apple-Caramel tarts
Chocolate-Peanut-Butter pie
Dark-Chocolate brownies
Kiana (KB): How long have you been baking?
Norma (NB) : I started when I was six, but I wasn’t very good at it. I think the first thing I made was a brick cake that wasn’t very good… but yeah, I’ve been baking ever since.
Jennifer (JK) : Ever since I could remember, every year for Christmas I would help my mom bake really elaborate snow cookies with little decorations.
Eleanor (EC) : Similar to Jenn, every Christmas I bake with my Grandmother, who’s Greek. We bake all of her Greek cookies like Baklava, and some summers we had baking camps with her.
KB: How would you describe your brunches?
JK: Formal, sophisticated, laid back environment to catch up with friends. We were really excited to have an apartment to host things at and were really excited to host things at a time where people weren’t really doing anything.
EC: And we want every brunch to have a theme because themes are fun.
NB: It’s nice to see people outside of F on the weekends and create a different kind of atmosphere.
KB: Ultimate brunch theme?
JK: We were excited for Ides of March with togas, Italian food, and wine. We were going to get some pledges to serve food.
KB: Warner pledges?
JK: (laughs) No, we don’t have pledges, sadly.
KB: What is your favorite thing to bake or make?
JK: I love making pies of any kind.
EC: I’m really into baking healthy food, so substituting ingredients like apple sauce and banana and chia seeds and walnuts to make things healthier.
NB: (laughs) I’m the exact opposite!
KB: How would you define your personal style?
JK: I try to go for feminine with a little bit of an edge, but classy.
NB: I dress very feminine. I love dresses that twirl. I like to have fun in whatever im wearing – I don’t like to be too restricting.
EC: I’m all about the comfort. Unless I’m dressing up for something, I wear my leggings and a comfy shirt.
KB: Any fashion icons that influence you guys?
JK: Obviously, I know it’s a cliché, but Aubrey Hepburn. More modern? I would say Natalie Portman.
NB: Jackie Kennedy Onassis, also Aubrey Hepburn. More recent – I like a lot of what Zooey Deschanel wears and a lot of what my aunts wear.
JK: She also likes to sing the New Girl theme song.
NB: (laughs) I don’t like the show, but I do sing the song a lot.
Well that’s it for now, but make sure you get in good with these ladies if you want to be invited to their next brunch. Just mention something about art or France to Norma, something outdoorsy to Eleanor, or drop a Breakfast at Tiffany’s reference to Jenn and you’ll be in!