the essence

Where to begin....

I've been so tired & trying to get well but I've been busy most nights. Last Tuesday was that house warming & Wednesday night was Bible Study. On the way to study I was telling Ray how I couldn't wait for Thursday & Friday night so that I could stay home & not have to do anything. We get to church & they announce the last ladies meeting of the season was the next night. I just looked at Ray with the "no way" look on my face & I DID stay home Thursday night (yea!)

Friday I was scheduled to go to a scrapbook crop that would last until midnight...problem was I didn't think I could last sitting there until midnight so I canceled. But we were invited to dinner by my mother-in-law, her husband, & her mother in celebration of our anniversary. I couldn't say no, it was so sweet of them to invite us out & this meant I didn't have to cook dinner. :)

It was really nice, we splurged on it all, appetizer, yummy meals, & dessert. I had the portobello chicken with smoked provolone - WOW.

Saturday poor Ray was up bright & early to make it to Lettuce Lake Park around 6:30-6:45 with Conrad in order to get the needed pavillions for our camp reunion cook-out. I opted to sleep a little later & showed up around 9:45. We had sent out fliers, called the roughly 105 kids, received 43 confirmations...and only chapel kids showed up plus 3 visitors. Needless to say we had a LOT of leftover food...the best part was the Brazilian steak, it is wonderful.

My favorite part of the day came in the evening. Avril, the realtor Ray works with, was having a launch party for her new website. It was a big thank-you to her core clients & because Ray is part of her real estate team we were invited to the party.

She & Jim, her husband, live in one of the new big fancy houses in Seven Oaks, with a great black-bottomed screened in pool, & a backyard on a pond & conservation.

There were about 50 guests total, tables set up around the pool, a white tent in the back yard with tables underneath, and candles & tiki torches.

Her normal caterer handled all of the amazing food, drinks & dessert. It was unbelievable. I LOVE this woman's food. She has such a great personality too - her catering business is called "The Happy Cooker with PMS" (stands for Pegs Marketing Service).

Avril also hired a guy, Matthew, to play calypso & reggae music & sing during the ENTIRE evening. It was great, I was swaying to the music & mouthing along to the songs all night long. Once most of the guests were gone Matthew finally asked me if I'd like to sing with him - I'd been dying to for the longest time but didn't want to ask him, so I jumped on the opportunity when he offered. Now that I think about it I'm pretty sure I was up there with him for about 45min.-1 hour. I got Randa, my French friend, up there after a while too. I even sang a very dramatic rendtion of I Will Survive. :)

We learned that I definitely cannot sing but I could probably make the William Hung cut of American Idol.

One of our friends sent Ray to ask me how much sangria I'd had to drink (a couple of sips) because I had to drive home. I guess they weren't used to me being so...goofy?

Sunday was the usual church in the morning/evening, Desperate Housewives & Grey's Anatomy at night. I spent the afternoon & commercial breaks running around cleaning, going to the grocery store, & cooking.

My mother-in-law came with the family for dinner tonight &, just like we did for Ray's dad two weeks ago, Ray wanted a NICE meal for them (it was kind of for their birthdays too).

So, tonight we had:

-Brie with pear wrapped in pastry
-Potato soup
-Strawberry romaine salad
-Rosemary & parmesean rolls
-Chicken picatta
-English trifle for dessert (my first try at this but it turned out yummy!)

And of course I had out the fancy place settings, complete with table cloth & runner, cloth napkins, & wine glasses. I also had candles all over the place which added a nice ambiance.

Oh, my surprise this weekend was Dad taking me to lunch today! I found out last night that he'd be in town for an audition today so he came to my office afterwards & took me to lunch at PF Changs (I LOVE the place).

Most of the dishes are now done & I can't wait to get some sleep.