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11/3/02 -- That was such a good party!!! So good that even I had a good time! Usually, I spend our parties slightly stressed (if not extremely stressed) and being all hostessy. Not this time. I got to chat with people, although never enough with each person because of the numbers of wonderful folks who showed up. I didn't get to eat much, but I did get mildly drunk, which was fun. And I was just so pleased with how everything turned out, the food, the decorations, the entertainments.
Such a good mix of people too -- gawds, I love being able to merge our various different groups of friends successfully! My best gauge of how good a party was is if the people who came solo look like they're having a good time. We had at least three guests each of whom didn't know anyone else at the party. And they all stayed a long time, and I saw them chatting with different people throughout the party. They seemed to enjoy it, so it must have worked ;-)
Another good judge of party success is the food/drink leftover. Not much from last night! The only thing that hardly got touched were the fruit kabobs, only half eaten. Also, the two brownie cakes were one too many. Other than that, all that was leftover was scraps, if anything. The cookies DISAPPEARED so fast! Everybody loved the, ginger cookies, and I have to email the recipe to a couple people.
I am so incredibly happy about who came to the party!!! My favourite people were all gathered under one roof, and I loved it. Thank you to those who came!!! And thank you all for dressing up in such clever costumes too. Some highlights...
I was ghostly Cathy from Wuthering Heights, and Thomas indulged me before the guests arrived by taking tons of pictures while I lip-synched to the Kate Bush song. I am a ham, too true.
Thomas was George Harrison, the Rishikesh period. He wore his pale blue cotton Indian kurta outfit and lots of bead necklaces and played the tabla on occasion.
Heather was a fab-u-lous Louise Brooks. She wore a black bobbed wig and did beautiful '20s makeup. She had a cute black dress on and a feather boa that we're still finding bits of everywhere in the house. Her husband, Kosta, began the evening as a very creepy Rasputin -- complete with scary, exaggerated Russian accent -- then took off the huge, hairy mask and became St. Francis of Assisi.
Dorie was an utterly delicious Marlene Dietrich in her black tux with tails. The curly blonde wig suited her perfectly, and the top hat at a jaunty angle was the perfect touch. I think, if we'd remembered to give out our best costume award, you would have got it, girl!
Karl was our guest of honor because he is the ultimate famous dead person! Yep, he actually died at BayCon years ago, and he's pretty famous for it. So Thomas customized a bottle of Dead Guy Ale for him, adding "BC" in front of the words "Dead Guy."
Amy was Manny Calaveras, from the LucasArts' game Grim Fandango (pix in her LJ). While I didn't immediately get who the costume was, I was very impressed by the clever construction of the outfit.
Nolan gets the award for farthest traveled, having trekked from Sacramento just for our silly lil' party. Thank you!!! He came as a dead cop from NYPD Blue, who's name I can't remember but I loved the idea.
Kaerla was resplendent in red, with the flowing scarf so trademark of Isadora Duncan. It was so good to see you again!!!
Kevin dressed in leather as Diego de la Vega, Sr., from Zorro (complete with the tortoise that startled his horse and lead to his death), Andy was a book about funerals of the famous, two of their friends were Joey Ramone (yay!) and Janis Joplin (who is clearly everyone's favourite dead rock star, as we've had people come to almost every FDPB as Janis). Another of their friends came as the right reverend Jim Jones, complete with Kool-Aid and a map of Guyana. Love those details!
Brian had another of my absolute favourite costumes -- he came as the Dot-Com Bubble. Wore a Riffage shirt, a hat and pins from other dead dot-coms, and drew out the NASDAQ decline in yellow tape on his back. Mark similarly displayed a cynical sense of humor -- he was Privacy. He wore a Visa shirt and pinned a printout to it that listed his name, age, occupation, marital status, address, and even a credit rating!
My mom and stepdad came as Lily and James Potter, Harry Potter's parents. She wore a red graduation robe, he wore a green graduation robe, and they both spiked up their hair and painted lightening bolts and glow-in-the-dark streaks all over their faces, to simulate the magical blasts from Voldermort that killed them.
Leah dressed in an elegant cavalier/Three Musketeers type outfit. She was... Chivalry! Stephanie carried a towel and a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to be Douglas Adams. Rich and Amoreena wore spiffy '50s outfits to be James Dean and Natalie Wood, although their two-year-old Audrey stole the show as Dean and Wood's secret lovechild. James showed his revolutionary side in fatigues, beret, and cigar as Che Guevara, while Paola dressed with flowers in her hair as a very timely Frida Kahlo. Riffage Kevin came as Alex from Clockwork Orange and apologized for not quite being dead, although the presence of his friend as the Grim Reaper compensated.
Ah... so tired, so happy. I had such a good time!!! Woke up with a mild hangover, but nothing that a fat breakfast at Mini Gourmet didn't heal. I just floated on a happy cloud all day today, which was nicely capped by a Sharks win. This has been a wonderful weekend! From about 4-8pm Saturday, I was frazzled and freaked. But when guests started arriving at 8:45, everything ill melted away. I deeply enjoyed the wonderful company of my friends, and I was very proud of the work I'd put into the party.
A lot of what I do is as my own creative exercise. I love the process of creating these decorations. But I'm not doing it in a vacuum. It's not just for me. I was particularly thrilled last night to have made such a fun and unique setting for the people I care about. My friends are the best, and they deserve the best. A lame-ass party will not do! I want to surround them with interesting things to look at, tasty things to eat and drink, mood-enhancing music, and show them a good time. I feel like I accomplished that, and it was so good. I hope everyone who was there had as much fun as I did!!!
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