Dinner Party

For years I have envisioned a dinner party like true adults have: flowers, swirling around in heels, couples' keys being swapped at the door...no wait, that's something else...

But candles, and piles of coats and bags on the bed, the perfect playlist, and lots and lots of wine and people nibbling in the kitchen and laughing in the living room. It's something about this time of year, it's something about this age I'm at. I want to be entertained, but mostly I want to be entertaining.

Enter SB who swooped in and threw me the world's greatest pre-birthday all-girl dinner party bash where every guest dressed up, drank copiously and ate grape, spinach and bacon salad, honey-butter glazed pork tenderloin with pomegranate salsa, carrot and parsnip mash with chives and an apple spice cake smeared with gooey, goat cheese frosting.

Did I mention she also made leek and mushroom mini-quiches? Yeah, it was pretty spectacular. But there was something even more amazing about the solidarity of the night--no cattiness, no bitchiness, no obsessing about boys. There was no whining that we weren't good enough, happy enough, thin enough. The girls were all those things, but that wasn't the point. We had new dresses and lots of plans and it was too cold for the roof so we kept it inside, smearing the oriental rug with cake when we doubled over remembering something we'll never be able to now, chasing two dogs around the living room who jumped in trying to hump eachother (only one was invited--and we've come to the conclusion that they are now, perhaps, and only in the right circumstances with eachother, ahem...gay puppies). There were hilarious pictures and a roundtable discussion on how we all have to hang out more. There were headache inducing gulps and how have you beens and wow you finished that and you work there now? There was a moment where the perfect playlist devolved into hardcore techno. Apparently when I made the mix last summer, I had used all the good songs first (we all do this right? I always jump the gun on a playlist!)

Okay, so it wasn't really adult. But the food was divine, the company fantastic, the night gorgeous and my friend E. even brought a bright vase full of blooming flowers...

Now to keep planning more celebrations just because it's cold and gray out...usually I don't really go for the usual party route but try to keep it small and simple and multiple and drawn out over two weeks--I think I will be going to the Berkshires, I think there will be a day where I carve pumpkins with a friend (don't ask, I've already said yes for some reason) and other than that, really want to know what you do, annually for your birthday or your friends'....?