Day 23

I just realized that I posted so late last night, it showed up with today's date. Oh, well. I guess I could go in and edit the post time...

We were at Stud's best friend's house last night, although the best friend wasn't there. He was at a concert with his girlfriend. We were there because it was his mom's birthday, and his grandpa's birthday. Grandpa turned 85! I felt bad for my girlfriend because neither one of her children were there. Like I said, Best Friend was at a concert, and her younger son is in France. Rough, right? He's there as part of an exchange program. Theirs was a true exchange program. Hugo came and visited here for two weeks a few months ago and stayed with our friends, and now Little Brother is there at Hugo's house for 2 weeks. So far, he's having a blast. He actually started a blog to chronicle his adventure.

I brought my margarita maker with me to the party, which may have been a mistake. At least that's what my tummy has been telling me all morning. It didn't help that I had to be up bright and early this morning because one of my sisters-in-law came over so Stud and I could help her with a project for school. She and her husband just left a few minutes ago, and I must say, I'm feeling much better now. The pastries they brought over seemed to have hit the spot!

Before they came over, I started preparing some dips and other yummies for the Tastefully Simple party I'm having tomorrow. I'm SO excited!! Believe it or not, I've never been to or hosted a Tastefully Simple party. I know some of you just fell off your chairs, but it's true. Oh, wait! I haven't told you the best part yet. My consultant is none other than the awesome Jen, from Laughing at Chaos! If you don't read her blog (why the hell not?! She's a hoot!) she recently moved back to the Chicago area. She also recently decided to start up her Tastefully Simple business again, after a few years away. I'm so excited to be her first party, and even MORE excited to finally be meeting her in person!!

It just occurred to me that some of you may want to help her jump start her new business. I think if you send me your email, I can add you to the online guest list, which will let you peruse the catalog and/or place an order online. Yay! Most people who have heard of TS, and have been to other shows, have all told me they LOVE it. As a matter of fact, last night at the birthday party, I got two orders from my friend's family members, who both said "Oh my God! I LOVE this stuff!!" I can't wait to sample the different products tomorrow.

I guess on that note, I'd better get back to preparing for tomorrow's show. We have invitations to two graduation parties today (Stud's "wife" and one of his besties) and I was invited to a baby shower. All three of these parties are scheduled to start at 3:00! WTF?! I'm not sure how the hell we're gonna pull this off, but what I do know is, I only have about an hour to finish making this food. Wish me luck!

Homecoming 2011

I guess I forgot to mention that Homecoming was this weekend, huh? Oops, sorry.

Last night was my baby's last high school homecoming. How in the hell did THAT happen? How is it possible that he's a freakin' SENIOR already?!?

Well, here it is at last...meet Brian! (And please ignore the disgusting pig sandwiched between these two handsome young men!)
Stud's best friend set Brian up with a date for the dance. I'd say he did a damn fine job, don't you think? She's a doll!These two met for the first time last Sunday. I'd say they're hitting off pretty well. Stud said that the two of them basically disappeared the entire dance. They went outside and sat in the courtyard, and got to know each other. How sweet!I just can't wrap my head around the fact that these 3 are seniors!!!! Some of you that have been around for a while may remember that these three have gone to school together since grammar school. Stud and his bestest friend met when they were in kindergarten! Ryan, the boy on the left, transferred to their school in the 2nd grade. I have the coolest pictures of them from their 8th grade graduation, and in about 8 months, I'll be taking one of them at their high school graduation. Holy crap, I just made myself cry. I'll be right back....

Ok, I'm better. Here's a shot of the girls.
The guys. The boy next to Brian is also an exchange student at Stud's school. He is here from Thailand.The whole gang.
Stud and his date. They're just friends. For now. Stud's been crushin' on her for a while now. Stud's best friend's mom put out a little spread of goodies for the kids, since we gathered at her house for pictures before the dance. Yes, that's sparkling grape juice. I got her hooked on the stuff. Stud LOVES it, and we always have it at parties. It's her new favorite thing.See, I told you, he LOVES the stuff!If you want to take a walk down memory lane, you can check out Homecoming 2008, Homecoming 2009, and Homecoming 2010 here.

The group went to a pizza place after the dance. We were all a bit disappointed yesterday when we realized that I was STILL going to have to do the driving for the dance. There were some new laws passed here in IL not too long ago regarding teenaged drivers. One of them is that, until they've had their license for 9 months, or until they are 18 (which ever come first) they are only allowed to drive with ONE other child under 18 in the car. There is an exception, though, for siblings. I think it's a great law. Unfortunately for us, Stud's only had his license for about 3 months, and he won't be 18 for another month and a half. His best friend has only had his license about 2 months longer that Stud. None of the other 3 boys have a license. So, that means the moms still had to drive them to the dance. SENIOR YEAR! Ugh! They were all good about it, but I know they wish it didn't have to be that way. There was a part of me that was tempted to just let Stud and best friend drive, since we only live 20 streets (NOT blocks, simply cross streets) from school. But, I was afraid that the police would be out in full force, knowing that is was Homecoming night, and I didn't want to chance it. In the windup, I drove Stud, Brian and their dates, best friend drove with his date, and Ryan, his date, and the other couple drove with Ryan's mom. That meant we had to drop them off at the dance, go back and get them a few hours later, and drop them at the restaurant, then go back about an hour later and pick them up again. Actually, CSJ picked them up at the restaurant since I had already fallen asleep.

Not too much more to share, since Stud's been a little mum about the whole thing. Well, that the first in a long list of "lasts" for my baby's senior year. I think I'll go cry some more now.

2008

2009

2010

2011