I've missed two blog posts. The first week, I went on Spring Break. It was also the Saturday of my anniversary dinner, and I spent the day practicing my calligraphy (more on that in a moment). The second week, I was quite sick.
I'm feeling better now (maybe 85-90%), and am happily back to blogging.
Spring Break (First Weekend)
Friday, March 4th: Flew through Newark airport for the first time. It's as big as I imagined it to be, but better maintained. There was lots of light, large windows, reminded me of Houston's Bush Intercontinental. There weren't many people heading to Metro from Newark. I had an entire row of seats to myself, and it seemed, a number of passengers had a row all to themselves. It was a nice flight, and I arrived in Metro a little earlier than scheduled.
My mother in law (MIL) picked me up at the airport around noon. Thus commenced the prep work for the next day's Anniversary Dinner, to be held at a local restaurant. Plans for the dinner included a seating chart with place cards hand calligraphed by myself, floral bunches for the ladies, and possibly petits fours as party favors.
My MIL and I first got our nails done. It was not our normal salon, but one that was on the way to the Costco we were planning on visiting later. It was our second visit to this particular salon, and the service was not quite what we were expecting. MIL asked for an "deluxe" manicure which includes a treatment where the hands are covered in wax, a neck and shoulder massage, and an oil treatment for the hands and arms. The wax treatment was fine, but I never got a neck and shoulder rub. My MIL did, but ended up with a bunch of bruises, and both of us left the salon with very greasy hands and arms that left marks on the car door, and which we had to wash off at the restaurant where we stopped for lunch. My nail tech seemed to have a poor understanding of English--I had to explain a few times what I wanted her to do. The good thing was that our nails were beautifully done and the polish was long lasting. I got the color "Sweet Memories" and I believe my MIL got "It's a Girl". They were both sheer pinks (nail line remained visible), and we liked them both. I would get "Sweet Memories" again. I am not sure I would go to that nail salon again. Especially not when we passed 5 other nail salons to get to that one.
After leaving the salon, MIL suggested lunch at Applebee's, which was in the adjacent shopping center. I hadn't been to Applebee's in years, and the menu was completely different than what I had remembered it. We had the unlimited soup and salad lunch, and left satisfied. And of course, before our orders were taken, my MIL took turns going to the bathroom to wash the massage oil off our hands and arms.
After lunch, we ran errands for the next day's anniversary dinner. We went by Staples to get place cards and calligraphy pens, and by Costco to get roses. I selected red ones, since I would be wearing a red blouse that evening. I was surprised that their flowers were cheaper (per stem) than Sam's Club. The roses were sold in bunches of 2 dozen.
Our final stop was at a local bakery known for making petits fours. We asked to purchase two, one chocolate and one vanilla, so that we could sample them before deciding whether to purchase a dozen for the anniversary dinner. They were good, and we ordered the dozen (6 each of chocolate and vanilla), to be picked up the next day. I was surprised when they asked if we wanted it customized--I chose red rosebuds--and that they would not ask us to pay for the two petits fours we had consumed as samples.
Finally, home. My mother in law dropped me off, and it was before 5, so my husband was not yet off work. However, I had gotten up at 2:30am that morning to catch my flight. So I trimmed the roses, showered, and went to bed.
Saturday, March 5: My husband and I got a late (for us) breakfast at the Egg and I, around 9:30. We were surprised at how crowded the restaurant was, and had to wait 15 minutes for a table. I branched out and got a Huevos Rancheros, instead of my normal eggs and toast combo.
We then stopped at Wal-Mart for household goods, and Michael's for cake boxes for the petits fours. They were out of individual boxes that would fit the petits fours, but we were able to find boxes that would be the perfect size for two petits fours. So, instead of each person getting his own boxed petit four, each couple at dinner would get a box containing one chocolate and one vanilla petit four. Also purchased at Michael's were place cards. The ones purchased at Staples the day before were suitable, but a plain rectangle with an pearl border. The one's available at Michael's were fancier, decorated with printed scrollwork at the top. Luckily the place cards from Staple's were unopened, so could be returned by my MIL.
There was a brief trip to the mall...and then it was one o'clock, time to pick up the petits fours at the bakery.
Now, back home, I practiced my calligraphy. I am not a calligrapher, and my normal handwriting is not particularly good looking. In particular, I had difficulty with the letter "t". Even with practice beforehand, I had to throw out and redo 5 place cards. There were 10 guests (including my husband and I), so my success rate for card writing was only 2 out of 3. I suppose I should practice more before my next dinner.
After the cards were done, I did the flowers. I normally gift a single rose for each lady at the dinner. This year, since I had 2 dozen roses, I made small arrangements made up of 3 roses to be gifted to each lady at the table (this year, 4 other ladies, besides myself).
My husband boxed the petits fours. We packed everything, and were ready to go. Unfortunately, we were a bit late to the restaurant. My husband claimed that I was a bit crazy. I prefer to think of myself as hyper-focused. Guests had arrived already, and I was a bit embarrassed as I laid out the cards. But it all worked out.
Everyone enjoyed their dinner. Most everyone enjoyed the company of their neighbors. One of the couples bought us flowers AND a card! I was told later by our guests that they enjoyed the petits fours. I believe the only negative thing was that I forgot at the restaurant the bag that I had brought everything to the restaurant in. But was a 99-cent reusable grocery bag, so it counts pretty much as nothing. I think it makes it the best dinner we've had so far.
And now, it's starting to get dark, so I'm going outside to catch a glimpse of the "Supermoon."
to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment