31daysofawesome

Last night I hosted a dinner party (aka book club).

My friends came over circa 8pm to find a spotless apartment (ready for its debut), a homemade three-course meal and wine (most importantly).

It was clean.  The food was tasty (so I’m told).  The apartment was show worthy.

Success.

If only they had been there one hour prior.

At 7:05pm CST, I was wearing pajamas (long underwear) while googling “fast salmon bake” and using my handheld vacuum to hoover everything from the kitchen floor and counters to the bathtub (admit you’ve done this).

I didn’t mean to be in such a crunch.

But what I’ve learned is that the old saying is true.

When it rains, it pours.

In all respects.

This week was one of the busiest I’ve had since moving to Chicago.  My working hours experienced an upward spike, I was needed to coach at the rink and I had plans to attend two events with some friends.  Not wanting to pass up any experiences in my new city, I was determined to do it all.

It was never a question of if but more a question of how.

For that reason, I found myself on the phone with my aunt poaching recipes at midnight the night before, at Macy’s during lunch (near my office) buying plates, at HomeGoods at 6:30pm purchasing wine glasses, at Trader Joe’s picking up dessert at 6:45pm, at the Jewel down the street picking up onion soup mix (secret ingredient not available at Joe’s) at 6:53pm and at WholeFoods at 6:59pm picking up a second bottle of wine… (just in case).

Yes.  I hit up 3 grocery stores in the span of half an hour.  Yes.  I may have scared some customers.  And yes. I looked like a crazy person with bags from 3 grocery stores.

But it was worth it.

Last night was the first time I hosted any kind of sit down meal in my new apartment (actually having seating is key).

We discussed our book of the month (The Newlyweds).  We enjoyed homemade cranberry juice like grandma used to make, deviled eggs, crostini with prosciutto, homemade spinach dip, avocado salad with heirloom tomatoes and baked salmon.  We discussed the book and planned our next dinner/book club meeting.

It was Awesome.