This Sunday I hosted my very first big girl party. Ashton and
I volunteered our new house as the venue for the Lime Inn’s holiday/secret Santa party.
Like I said, ASHTON and I held a party. On a SUNDAY.
Naturally, we got a little bit of a late start. Aka 12:30pm and the party is at
3. We hadn’t even thought of what dish to make. Which means we still needed to
go to grocery shopping and clean the whole house. We got home from shopping at
1:30 and began our cleaning extravaganza. Thankfully, our other roommate,
Natasha, had the day off and helped us with a lot. The house was spotless. Just
in time at 2:30 because in came guests! When I said the party started at 3, I
underestimated my co-workers punctuality. I guess not everyone is on island
time like me!
From past dinner parties with Mike and Alisa Messeroff I've learned you can’t go wrong with baked ziti; an inexpensive and easy meal that feeds a lot of people. Thanks to my Aunt Gina I was
able to boil 2lbs of ziti in my All-clad pot she sent me last Christmas.
.jpeg)
The song “White Christmas” by The Drifters played while I
was cooking. It always reminds of the movie The Santa Clause with Tim Allen when
he burns the turkey so he and his son go to a Denny’s for Christmas dinner. It’s
one of my dad’s favorite movies. We used to watch it every Christmas. My dad reminds
me a lot of Tim Allen- witty, spectacularly accident prone as a handyman, jokes
around a lot, mainly at inopportune times. Love ya, Dad!
During the chaos, we
treated ourselves to mimosas made with fresh orange juice I made with the juicer
Mom sent me! Now I can make fresh cocktail mixers AND detox juices! Thanks, Mom
;)
I was elbows deep in
pasta and organizing the bar with everyone else’s dishes while Ashton was playing
host, greeting and showing everyone the new house and the pool. Quite the team!
I finally put the pasta in the oven and had everyone’s food
spread out on the bar. I went to my room to change and it looked like a
hurricane tore thru it (SHOCKING)! I thought to myself, my mother would never
allow this! Regardless if no one was sleeping over my mother always made me
clean my room. So I picked up some things and then threw the rest in the closet
and other side of my bed. Sorry, Mom! Old habits die hard ;)
So baked ziti is supposed to be idiot-proof, right? Welp, I
hope everyone likes their pasta a little extra crispy! Sheesh. Oh well, it was
still good. All of the food turned out great- Christmas cookies, fresh pico de
gallo, cheese dip, fungi, cocktail meatballs, onion dip, gourmet cheese spread,
Caesar salad, deviled eggs, spicy steamed shrimp, and desserts out the wazzoo!
Some of the girls had to catch the 7pm boat back to St.
Thomas so we started the present exchange at 6pm when Lou Lou got off of work from
Portico. Edmone was my secret santa and got me a new 8 Tuff Miles training
outfit, whoop whoop! Thanks, Edmone!
I was Kaitlyn’s secret santa. I found a rad black and red
satchel from Now and Zen in Wharfside. They always have the neatest tings! I immediately thought of her when I saw it. She
reminds me a lot of myself when I was 14- a little punk rocker theatre girl!
Love it :)
The holidays have been hard on me for the past couple of years
being so far from my family. It’s one thing I couldn't prepare myself for when
first moving down here. Since the Lime Inn is open for dinner Christmas
Eve and Christmas it was nice to have everyone over and give us chance to let
lose before the season really kicks in in the next couple of weeks. Bring it
on!
Tomorrow night I’m meeting Jane and her family at Our Lady
of Peace Catholic church around the corner from work for midnight mass. A tradition
my mother, sister and I always do. Except they cheated last year and went to
the early service! Our Lady has an awesome Christmas service. I especially like
the steel pan drums that play during the hyms and carols. Of course, I still
miss my St. Peter’s By the Lake team in North Carolina. You guys rock! After
church Jane, Carrie and I will have our sleepover and wake up Christmas morning
and open presents. The Conrad’s always make me feel at home. Miss Dee always gets
me a stocking with little tings in it, just like my mom would J
“We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and
everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was,
and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great.
If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and
have one hell of a time.” -Art Buchwald
Cheers!
