Now, where did I leave off? Oh, right. It was party time. The air was primed for a house warming party to top all house warming parties. The ovens (ok, make that one mini-oven, two if you count the toaster "oven") had been firing for days, the food was prepared, the slicing and dicing of fruits, vegetables and various other savory delicacies, finished. All that was left were the manic, last minute preparations of a party about to start. But nearing the end of this frantic time, the time before guests have arrived, when fresh, summer flowers have been placed in vases around the room, and small, white napkins lay in neat stacks next to plates of cheese, and bowls of strawberries, this time may very well be one of my favorites. The work has been done. The preparations made. Everything waits in eager anticipation of animation; waits for the first guests to arrive and place cheese on crackers and ice in tall, clear glasses; waits for the hum of conversation, and the music that will flow out opened windows into quiet night time streets; waits for photo flashes and memorable moments. In this waiting time, my spirit is high, but no longer crazed. A calm takes over the air. I generally fill this time with self preparation, changing from my flour-covered shirt and washing off a day's worth of make up that the hot stove melted from my face. I trade them instead, for a "host with the most" outfit and a fresh application of mascara, blush and perfume. I pull my hair off my face, and in each ear lobe place a bangle or a teardrop jewel. And then I descend, preferably down stairs, and join in the waiting.
For this particular party, my self preparation was cut short, as the first guest arrived; one of my very best friends from college, and my roommate of two years, Laura. Having her there for this momentous event was truly icing on the cake.
And despite her early arrival, I did in fact manage to get the rest of my make up on before any more guests arrived.
The evenings festivities got started with a lovely mellow vibe. My boss and his wife arrived and I lead the way on a 10 cent tour of my new, and almost completely set up digs. The only thing missing was some various wall art and fish in the fish tank. And they were the perfect candidates for first viewings as they had kindly put up wth my comments over the past month about refinishing tables, cutting box frames in half, and running electricity to various places throughout the house, and could therefore appreciate my efforts.
As the night continued, and the crowd shifted from the more sophisticated to ... ummm... perhaps those slightly...ummm... less sophisticated, the party got rockin. We cranked the tunes, and some competitive games of driveway flip-cup commenced. Both my sisters were in attendance (which was awesome) and there were some great bonding moments including a sister flip cup victory over the manly men of 119 Caroline. All in all, it ended up being a night of great fun. The food was mostly consumed, the house, in a reasonable state of party aftermath, needed a good clean up but nothing too drastic, and fortunately for me, I awoke the next morning mostly without a hangover. The morning was spent putting things back in order and enjoying several cups of coffee conversation before packing up and hopping in the car to spend four glorious days in Boston with best friends circa the college years.
Since I have not put up a post in some time, I will save tales and pictures of Boston for a later post. For now, please enjoy the following pictures of "The House Warming Party" :)
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