Housewarming

This post is a bit late in coming, but as last week was Thanksgiving and I’m bad at keeping up with things under the best of circumstances I’m cutting myself some slack…

I had my housewarming party for my new (ish – I’ve been there for two months) condo on Saturday November 17th.  In my humble opinion the party went swimmingly.  The food was good, everyone seemed to have fun, and I got to reconnect with some friends I haven’t seen in ages.  Perhaps most importantly, assembling so many friends, many of whom traveled long distances and braved Chicago traffic to celebrate with me, reminded me of how loved I am.  It’s really easy, especially with all that’s happened to me and all I’ve lost this year, to feel very alone.  Somehow we (or at least I) feel loneliness a lot more sharply than I feel caring – like, I’ll be sitting on my couch and suddenly feel utterly alone but I never suddenly feel loved….so it was amazing for me to experience this physical reminder of how very not alone I am. 

All in all, 2007 has been…quite a year.  It’s hard to say it’s been awful, because although parts of it certainly have (divorce from a person I’d been with since I was 18) parts of it have been wonderful (buying my home, starting to discover who, exactly, Megan is).  My housewarming party was, more or less intentionally, held to coincide with my birthday.  It’s symbolic to me, I guess – I brought all of these people I care about and who care about me under the roof of my new home to celebrate and help me put to rest the past year while moving forward into the new one with hope and joy.  May my 28th year be quieter than my 27th

And on one last sappy note, to all of my friends; your support and care this past year has meant more to me than you’ll ever know.  There were days when I literally had no idea how I was going to get out of bed or get though the next day and then I’d talk to one of you and things would be better.  I love you guys.

And on a less sappy note, I snapped a few pictures before guests started arriving.

The cold appetizer table

Closeup on the mixed nuts and dips – I put the dips in some vintage teacups I got from a local thrift shop.  I figured it looked a little nicer than putting them out in their plastic tubs.  The mixed nuts are in a vintage bowl, also from a thrift shop.

And finally, because you know how I struggle with flowers, the floral centerpiece. These flowers were purchased at Trader Joe’s for the bargain price of $4.99. Awesome.