1 party down, 2 to go...

Last night was fun. A dinner for 10 women, all of whom I enjoy being around. I tried to time things so that I actually got to spend some time with my guests. Everything I fixed required different timing (basil and goat cheese chicken, haricots verts, roasted potatoes, rice), however, so while I did get to chat some- I spent more time in the kitchen then I would have liked. The potatoes took wayyyy longer then they were supposed to, but it all turned out fine in the end. We ate like Europeans and dined at 9, but no one seemed to have a problem with it. The top two photos are the only ones I managed...of the drinks set-up, and some of the apps (ricotta and goat cheese spread with sun-dried tomato salsa).

Right now I'm in the midst of setting up for our playgroup. We'll be celebrating November birthdays. My friend is bringing the cupcakes, and I'm in charge of drinks and snacks. I've included a couple of snapshots I've taken while trying to figure out the setup. This is good practice for my son's birthday at the end of the month. I got some big red balloons blown up at Party City this morning, and filled little party cups with baby snacks (mini vanilla wafers, goldfish, cheerios). I also saw my chance to use a favorite vintage dish of mine-- the children's silhouette bowl, above. I've filled it with graham crackers. 

Tonight I've got another dinner with some great ladies- my 'book' club, though we seemed to have dropped the book-reading part, and simply focus on drinking wine. Our carbon monoxide detector is currently going off and won't stop (though there's definitely no carbon monoxide in the house), so I'm off to deal with that!