the house has been warmed

Hello one and all.

Not so much about the shop today but a few tidbits from my weekend:

Oliver and I had a shindig at the house this weekend. I guess you could call it a house-warming party-ish type thing. It was definitely the first time that I have had a crew here at the house. Up until now it was one or two extra people at a time but this past Saturday night it was all of my friends AND all of Oliver's friends in a crazy friend mash-up that could either have gone really well or really badly. It went really well. I knew it was a good party when I found one of Alison's earrings in a wine glass the next morning.

Highlights were:

• Running around the house before work on Saturday, tacking fabric over all of the unfinished cabinets in the kitchen. I guess I am my Mother's daughter after all, as this is TOTALLY something that she would do.

• Alison making Strawberry Daiquiris out of freshly picked native strawberries. They are sooo good it is ridiculous. (Interesting side note: Alison has RUINED me for Strawberry Daiquiris. Ever since she showed up at the store on the Fourth of July last year with a blender full of freshly-mixed-delicious-strawberry-goodness and got my Mother and I tipsy I have been unable to have any other type of Daiquiri. Now I am doomed to only have them once a year when the MAINE strawberries are ripe and Alison appears with her magic blender. It's like Brigadoon or something.)

• Kristine shilling for the store. All of the ladies who weren't acquaintances of mine as a direct result of taking "Turning Twenty" at the shop were seduced by Kristine telling them how AMAZING the store was and what a great group of people we have. Remind me to give her a raise if she ever leaves the VA and comes to work for me.

• Oliver being in charge of the cooking on the grill, starting and maintaining the bonfire, the collecting of wood for the bonfire, the setting up of the horseshoes, the setting up of the badminton and the pre-party lawn care. ME being in charge of the potato salad. He's a keeper.

• THE FOOD!!! Everyone outdid themselves: there was an amazing spread. Most memorable were Margie's pasta salad, Jessica's red pepper hummus, Darren's cookies (they looked like muffin tops, they were so big! I MAY or MAY NOT have stolen one or two of them from the table and hidden them in tinfoil at the back of a cupboard before they were all gone), May and Eric's salad (fresh form their garden!) and the trifle that Andy made (even though he told everyone that his fiancee, Betsy, made it).

• All of us gals piling onto the couch, sitting underneath one of my quilts, talking and laughing and just waiting for some guy to come around the corner and see how cute we were being.

But the best part was seeing everyone mix and mingle and be, and seeing them all in my house for the very first time. It was a very good weekend.

Here's hoping that you have a STELLAR fourth of July. The store is closed on Friday but we'll re-open, sure thing, Saturday morning: I've got a Block of the Month to teach!

XOXO

Rhea