rock the party

oh my goodness. i absolutely adore my friends. last night was my holiday party. or, rather, our holiday party. higgi and i had people over from 4pm on until 2pm. i originally sent the invite out saying start at 5. i knew higgi wanted to have an early night because he's super busy with the last week of classes and i was leaving for california for work (i'm on a plane as i write this), but i secretly could not imagine my friends leaving before 11pm. the party started earlier than we expected, because some of higgis coworkers were going to come early because 1) they had kids and 2) had other parties to go to. so we told some people to come at 4pm and then i called my dear friends chris and kelly to come early, as well. they brought santa claude and it ended up that higgis coworkers did not come until after 5. it worked out well because, as always, higgi and i were super behind in party planning. higgi is a fabulous cook/chef, so he was busy in the kitchen. i made salsa (which was DELISH and now i am going to make it all the time bcs it was so easy) and homemade peanut butter cups. oh, i also made vin chaud which was also delish. i might just start making some for me at night during the winter. its so good and warm and makes your tummy feel all nice and stuff.

anyway, i made my 3 things and higgi was working on his 33 things. if it weren't for him, our party would've had cut veggies and frozen foods from trader joes. but no, we had homemade EVERYTHING: spanikopita, flatbread pizza type things, scones, almond joy pie, homemade pizza, pita chips, (store bought) hummus, and some other stuff that i can't remember. i didn't really eat much of anything nor did i drink much. i would've expected to drink tons, but i think overall i just had like 3 glasses of wine. which is funny.

chris, kelly and claude came over and i entertained while higgi cooked. eventually his coworkers with children (3 kids under the age of 5) came. i played with them and it was fun. they like to run around. a lot.

i'd say the party was in full swing around 7 or 8. overall there were only 20-25 people at most. and they weren't all there at the same time. around 10pm, everyone wanted ryan to make the pizzas and he wanted the kitchen alone, so my friend shad who came from vermont with his boyfriend came up with this idea of a running charades game. we divided into 2 teams of 7 or so and everyone went upstairs - my team was crammed in my bedroom and the other team was in the hall by the front door. kelly was charades master sitting downstairs. she made 2 lists of the same charades and each team would get one card and then when the team guessed it, whoever guessed it would run downstairs to get the next clue. whichever team finished all the clues first would win. what would they win? no idea, but they would win. so we were playing and it was fun, but some people weren't into it. our team ended up giving up because we got really behind and everyone wanted more drinks. that was my first time ever playing charades.

eventually, the majority of people left and just my favorite people were left. or at least all my friends that i adore adore adore. chris and kelly were there and bubby and the ring and shad and abbott. and higgi and me! it was a fabulous group of 8. we played the celebrity game and then taboo (which i love!) and then i kicked everyone out. literally, i kicked them out around 2 because i was super tired.

so back to my friends. kelly is a social butterfly and can talk to anyone. she always has an interesting story to tell. chris is more quiet but always has a different way of looking at things and is uber smart. he always makes me laugh. bubby is always so endearing and has fun no matter what. he has this great laugh that makes everyone smile. mr. ring is so sweet and always concerned with doing the right thing. shad i've known the longest. 15+ years. and we've gone in and out of keeping in touch and he has so much energy its contagious. i've only met abbott a few times, but i LOVE the way that he takes over in taboo and brought me a bag of lip gloss and always gives me hugs whenever he sees me. oh! and he compliments me ALL THE TIME. so sweet! and then there's higgi. we've known each other the 2nd longest and we make a great pair. he's a fabulous cook and puts up with me and he's just fantastic. i had so much fun, the 8 of us at the end of the night. then today, all of us but chris and kelly went for brunch at gaslight. i'll just say a few things so you get the idea:

1. we got there at 1230 and i left before everyone else at 3:15 to pack for my trip
2. higgi's sister was our server
3. after our initial drinks, we ordered 2 bottles of bubbly
4. the restaurant stopped seating people near us and put them in the room they prefer to close after the lunch rush

it was one of those days. and i rushed home to pack and i still have NO IDEA if i brought everything that i need for the week. none. absolutely no clue. i hope so. oh! and i should apologize for higgi because i left a massive mess from the party last night and he cleaned it all up. thanks babe.

so was your weekend as fun as mine?

[song by george clinton & the p-funk allstars]