Party Girl

I'm the girl that gets people together. I plan parties, play dates, and love it when people drop by. I love to see people having fun, I love to have big groups of friends together, and I'm always scheduling the next party. It started before we had kids - Aaron and I would have weekend BBQs 'just because' and at least 2 times a week would have friends over for dinner. Now that we have kids, things need to be a bit more organized AND the get togethers tend to be more hectic. But I love it.

It's been a stressful month for no more reason than I personally felt stressed over small things... so when Labor Day weekend was approaching, I had nothing planned. Not really like me. But then, we started getting invitations. People I've randomly invited to a BBQ, a birthday party, our block party, our Halloween party - they are all having get togethers this weekend, and we are invited. To 4 parties over three days.

I think this is awesome for many reasons. First, I honestly think that people are a lot more 'me' focused. When I was a kid, I feel like it was much more often that we would be at an impromptu dinner or movie night or BBQ than we see now. People are too busy or too scheduled or just to wrapped up in themselves to just have time to socialize like we used to. So when people invite us over - I feel like they are reaching out of the 'norm' and their 'shell', and it makes me happy. Last weekend, when Aaron was away, we were asked to dinner at a friends house - I thought I was being smart when I promised that we would stay until it was bed time for the kids at that house. Turns out it was movie night and they were planning on staying up until at least 9 watching Epic. I looked at the parents, and was like - do you play cards?! And we sat down, I taught them my favorite card game (pounce) and we had a wonderful night!

Also - each of the parties we are going to this weekend are all with different groups of friends, so I'm going to get to hang out with a bunch of people I like and rarely get to see. My final party observation? I feel like sometimes, people just don't do get togethers because they seem like a lot of work. And honestly? Sending an invite out to a party is really putting yourself out there! Insecurities abound - what if no one shows up? What if they get here and they don't like my house/food/kids/dog?!  What if no one has fun?

So, whenever I get invited to a party (if possible, of course) we go. And we always have fun.

But it means that I'm going to 4 parties where I have to supply a side dish! Thankfully, my CSA is overproducing the most delicious Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes. (side note - if you only have space for one tomato plant in your yard - it should be this one. Most. Perfect. Tomato.) I'm pretty sure that I have eaten about a 1/2 a pound of these suckers a day since they started producing.... and I'm often turning them into a real lunch by just cutting them in half and mixing them up with chickpeas, goat cheese, balsamic vinegar and basil. So I thought, if I added some orzo to that - it would be an amazing pasta salad! I'll report back if it's a success (it had better be - I'm going to make like 10 pounds of it, lol).