Entertaining,,,

Tomorow I am serving at a wedding.  It is the wedding of our sous chef and is at a farm about 45 minutes from here.  I got the call from another woman who works in our kitchen (our sous is also a woman) asking me if I would help out at the wedding.  Sure!  I asked if she wanted me to wear my blacks (what we wear at work), she said "I don't think so, you'll be more like a guest who helps".  OK, well, when do I need to be there or do you want me at the restaurant to help bring things (the kitchen from work is doing all the food), do you need me to do anything else, pick up anything?  "Um, I'm not sure...I'll call and let you know".

I got a call from the other girl this afternoon with some plans that seem to me to leave  very little time to get things together.  All week I was thinking "what the hell is going on?".  And I totally get their "just a fun party" kinda wedding planning but they are entertaining!  Then  I realized...the birthday parties we used to throw were far more planned than this couples wedding.

Who remembers the Hogwarts cake?  What about Cari's goodie bags?  A trip on the boat (WTF- he just wanted to go back to the Fire Museum - I should have just done that again, but I wanted to do something different).  I carried the tradition up here...Parrish only had 1 birthday party here, but it involved a 50 minute drive with over a dozen kids to the rock climbing gym, a meal at Friendly's and the boys spending the night.  Belle has had a bunch, painting pottery, an "artie" party complete with a Mona Lisa cut out for the kids to get their pictures taken in,  a garden party with terrariums and a sleigh ride.  This year we took 6 kids to Albany, NY (about an hour and a half away) for a trip to Build-a-Bear and Johnny Rockets. 

People up here don't go to this extent for birthday parties.  I still am all about the invitations, the cake, the party favors, etc.  And I finally realized after one.more comment about it from someone here, I realized...

I enjoy doing it.  I like it.  Yes, I stress a bit but I love throwing the party.  I could wrap it up in the pretty little bow of "I am celebrating my children's birth", but part of it is about me.  Yeah, there are parts of entertaining that are stressful, but I really enjoy it.  I love having people over, etc.  It is different here "playdates" and "dinner parties".  I like having people over last minute and figuring out what you're gonna feed everyone, we did it last night.  I like my friends feeling so at home in my kitchen they dig through my cabinets to find something.  So, thank you ladies.  By having those parties, I started to realize something about myself.

But, back to the wedding...I am so mystified with what I am doing tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it goes.

And thank you for the affirmation.  I knew I was right...but that child wears me out.  He is really lucky he can make me laugh or I may have killed him by now.