Celebrations Abound

It always seemed like summer weekends were always our busiest. There were parties and cookouts keeping us very busy. We all assumed this pace would slow once September came around. Not so.

September has been the busiest month of celebrations for me so far this year. I've had many 40th birthday celebrations, thanks to many wonderful friends. We've also attended a number of parties (and a wedding!). Blogger had been very fickle about allowing me to upload pics this week, so this is the first chance I've had to tell you more about last Saturday's BBQ in honor of Joey & Michelle.

This party was held at Joey's parents' place and it was an awesome venue for a "backyard bbq". "Yard" was more like 100 (so it seemed). If you cut down all those trees and leveled it out, you could have a pretty awesome volleyball court or football field.

The party was attended by a mix of family, family friends and school friends of J&M. A number of Chumados and others were invited but weren't able to attend. J&M were very busy making sure everyone was having a good time (we were!). I didn't see them together very often, but they did stop by to join our little conversation circle.


Here's Michelle with her travel buddy, Kathy (on the left):


Lots of great eats and drinks throughout the day. I tried the white sangria -- it went down very easily. Gotta make some of that for our next party. I could have easily stuffed myself on the spinach dip alone. Yum! I did hold out for the main eats which included burgers, dogs, yardbird, and lots of sides. AND there were cupcakes for dessert. Yellow cake with some kind of strawberry whipped cream frosting. Dirt cake (chocolate cookie crumbs layered with chocolate pudding) and cookies... what's not to like?

Later in the evening, after many guests left, William, Freddy and Mike wanted to toast the couple with some shots. Maker's Mark and OJ. I can't tell you how they tasted (not like a B-52, I'm sure!) 'cuz I was driving and decided not to have one.

Here's Joey's sister, Mary, on the left with William, Tia, Mike and Joey's big head on the right. You probably notice more hands in there... they belong to Joey's brother and Freddy.



Do they look like it tasted good?



It was a really nice party and especially nice to finally meet Michelle's and Joey's parents.

Last night, John and I headed over to Nate and Linda's for a belated birthday dinner. They served up some delish steaks, crabcakes, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and brownies w/ice cream for dessert. I couldn't finish my steak, so Nate wrapped it up into a foil dove for me. Thanks for the fab dinner and prezzies!

I just learned of another celebration taking place this weekend in honor of Khalid's 41st. How is it possible to even attempt to go on a diet when so many fabulous cooks are throwing parties??? I'll tell y'all about it on my weekend recap. Till then... PARTY ON!