A fun little party!

Yesterday I had a great party! It was so much fun. In the afternoon, Melanie and Daryll arrived in the afternoon and we snacked on hors d'oeuvres: mini quiches and mushroom pastries, veggies with dressing and grapes. Mellie brought a baked kabocha squash with pumpkin seasoning and I sliced it into small slices that made eating easy. They also brought a lovely pasta dish with fresh parmasan cheese and a wonderful tasting white wine they got in Napa. Golf made a prawn Thai style stir-fry that had garlic, chili and green beans served up with steamed jasmine rice. Carolyn and her good friend Jamie arrived about 3:00 and she brought a delicious chicken pot pie. It wasn't quite hot so I turned on the oven to reheat it. But we decided it was fine as is and chowed down.

After the food was gone and I got the kitchen cleaned and organized again (thanks to Daryll's help!) it was time for birthday cake! I bought an ice cream cake and just had "Happy Birthday" written on it since three people were celebrating (Golf, Carolyn and me) and I opened the gift that Mel brought. She gave me a set of shampoo, conditioner and hair treatment from Sephora. She also got me a Japanese cherry blossom gift set which has perfume, bath oil with sake, and flower petal face mask. Man, my Mellie knows very cool girlie girl gifties! I'm gonna take a nice bath and let Golf care for the baby for a little while this morning!!!

Golf got a cool Star Wars shirt and a Best Buy gift certificate. He never got birthdays when he was growing up and he said that this year was his best birthday of his life. :) :) :) Carolyn got a nice little travel set with shampoos, body wash and other yummy things for the body. Mel and Daryll were SOO generous Thank You again!! :)

Then we finished our cake and took a walk down to City Hall for the tree lighting ceremony. There was a tap dance troupe with Christmas tree costumes and it was a lot of fun to watch. A brass band played, and there as also a stage with music afterward. Then Santa Claus arrived, and in Bay Area style, he arrived in a eco-car sort of golf cart looking thing. I don't know what else to call it, but it was cool looking. The countdown came and the tree was lit. Before then Aidan fell fast asleep and missed the whole thing. He sure loved people watching before then, though.

When we got home, though, I discovered I left the oven on for the pot pie! OOPS! When our oven reaches it's set temp, the light goes off, so when we left, I didn't think the oven or stove was turned on because of no lights. I only heard it tick here and there when we got back and that's how I made that discovery. At least there was nothing in it, but it was still a waste of enerty. But all in all, it was a GREAT day.