I have returned!

I'm back! I didn't realized I'd been gone so long, but that was most likely because I was up to my eyeballs in tissue paper flowers. Maybe you should go get a beverage and get settled in because this will be a doozy of a post...I'll wait.............


Okay, are you back? 


My parents' 45th! anniversary party was last weekend. That seems forever ago now even though it was just last Saturday. I was so busy running around and talking to people that there wasn't really time to take photos so I will have to wait to show you better pics when we get them from the photographer. I was able to sneak in a couple of photos, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.


Recap:
The Gnome and I traveled to my hometown on Thursday. Thursday night, we went to the local Irish pub for karaoke and great friends :) Oh, and Woodchuck (and old friend, right M and L?).


Friday, we checked in on the party headquarters to get the room set up. The room is right on the water so there is a beautiful view. They were working on the room at the time so we weren't really able to put any decorations up. Boy do I wish we would have put up some decorations then.


Saturday (day of the party), we headed back to the restaurant to decorate like crazy. For the centerpieces, I went around to our local Goodwill stores in search of glassware with a lip that I could tie raffia around. This turned out to be so much cheaper than getting a bunch of glassware from a craft store. I ordered cobalt blue (sidenote: the 45th anniversary is the sapphire anniversary so EVERYTHING was blue) embellishment glass and mixed it with clear embellishment glass that I got from a local craft store. The raffia was a pearly blue and white that I picked up from a party store. We filled the trios of glassware with some of the decorative glass and stuck a votive in each one. I tied some blue and white raffia twisted together around each and unraveled the ends. We also got some blue gems and silver confetti to sprinkle around the centerpieces. Here's a blurry, blown-up picture:

The Gnome and I set to hanging the tissue paper pomander balls (hopefully, I'll have some photos of them from the photographer). Turns out I should have made more than 8 of them. Oh well. My bro, who I will call SIB, and sis-in-law, J, showed up with a helium tank and more balloons than I have ever seen. J looked up instructions on how to construct a balloon arch. We centered it along the back wall where Mom (?L) and Dad (Pops) would be sitting. And we made a bunch of balloon trees to place around the room. SIB and J put together an assortment of photos from the parents' 45 years together to put on a table at the front of the room along with a guest book. I used a two-tiered wire basket filled with variegated ivy as a decoration for that table, but it needed a little something else. More confetti and blue gems!


We rushed back to the house to get all gussied up. Part of my gussying (sp?) up was my handmade felt hair clip that matched my dress:

It's purty!

When we arrived at the restaurant 25 minutes early, some guests had already arrived! So I had to flit around to light all of the candles while people mingled. SIB did a very good job welcoming everyone (with me standing next to him for support :) ). Then, it was eatin' time! The buffet had ham, clam strips, crab cakes (what is a party without crab cakes really?), chicken wings, tilapia, fried shrimp, coleslaw, twice-baked potatoes, steamed veggies, and corn bread. J, a former bartender, created a drink for the event called the Normanator (Norma is the ?L's name). It was fruity and delicious :)

After dinner, SIB gave a toast. Then, we had the slideshow. SIB and J did a fantastic job putting it together. It was probably my favorite part of the party. We had asked a few family members and friends to share a memory or story. After four speakers, we were supposed to start the spotlight dance, but the ?L, in true ?L fashion, jumped up and wanted to speak. She even had notes. Then, Pops spoke and had the room in tears. Well, maybe it was just me, but I'm pretty sure I heard some others sniffling. They danced to Only You by the Platters. 

Hey DJ, it's dancing time! I danced the night away along with J, the ?L, and some other die-hard family members and friends. Our Locomotion train wasn't very long, but we still had a blast :) Here's a candlelight view of the room:

So the party was a huge success. At the end of the night, J was talking about having another party there for Christmas. She also talked about heading to the Eastern Shore's Premier Nightclub Shuckers after the party. She promptly fell asleep on the way home.

In plant news, the Gnome has an orchid at work (a Cattleya hybrid for those interested in that much detail) that has bloomed. I popped into his office for a photo shoot. The 2 flowers are beautiful and perfume-y :)

Closeup of the ruffly-ness:

Are you still here? If so, have a great weekend!!!

Leaf out.