Listening: Why I Lie by Liz Phair

Reading (perhaps quality): Just finished The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell and started Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon by Gijs van Hensbergen.

Reading (definitely pulp): See above.

Drinking: Some agua.

January 10, 2006
8:45 pm

The Three Kings Day party went really well. Almost dreamily well, from prep to the end.

Started the day before - SS the SS and I met up for some culture and groceries. We caught the Sean Scully exhibit over at the Phillips Collection. The show was amazing - blocks of color and paintings so big that they went all around you it felt. Friends of mine don't like modern art but I can't really understand it - works like these are incredibly simple looking but meticulously crafted from the mixtures of the colors to the angle of the brushstrokes to the highlight colors bleeding out the sides of the boxes. Beautiful. We then grabbed some lunch, went to the party store to pick up some plastic babies for the cake and then the grocery store to pick up like a million things. She got me back home, helped me carry up the groceries, then left me and Anna in for the night.

Spent Saturday night cooking and cleaning peacefully. Meant to take a break and watch a movie or something but between two cakes and a batch of cookies there was really no time. My favorite part? Making the red velvet cake.

(above) the cake in its in real life pretty but in a photo more like pretty gross looking stage

I'd been curious about making one of these for a while and since I can't seem to make a real King Cake I figured I'd do one that I wanted to make. The cake came out well but whoa, all I have to say is that that thing takes a lot of red food coloring.

SS the SS came over early the next day to help finish up and make the mulled wine and folks started coming over at about 1:30. Everyone came - Beley, Foster, Fabian, Marie, Three String, D, Demmert, the Fitzpatrick Sisters, Heather, Carol, Mel, Watt, JennyB and the rest of the Barton Girls, Sarah, Miranda, Mark, the list goes on and on. Had friends from work, friends from college, from grad school, from high school. Even at one point had three exes in that one room (my friends all thought I was crazy to do it but they are such nice guys and they were all a long time ago so it seemed not a deal to invite them).

(above) the chili pepper with 1970's nativity scene with christmas lights in the window tableaux I have set up

People all talked, they brought food and wine, and we didn't run out of food or wine (I actually have like 11 bottles sitting around the place now - including a couple of bottles of rioja brought by people who no doubt know me well. Or are excellent guessers). I had made a rule that I wouldn't drink until after 4 - that mulled wine is serious good and I was anxious enough that I was feeling woozy even just with cider. But at the appointed time I snagged some and it was delish.

(above) my Christmas Tree, small and absolutely laden with ornaments.

So it was an absolute blast. Most folks left at 6 but JennyB, the rest of the Barton Girls, and Jenny'sAdam all stayed for a while to debrief and hang out. When they left I did some cleaning, did some loafing, the slept the sleep of a hostess who made it through her big party of the year with the help of her friends and (if I say so myself) some serious flying colors.

Doing (life and related tasks): A fair amount of working late with some going out mixed in.

Doing (crafty stuff): Nothing right now.

Wanting: Honestly, am too embarassed to say.

Anticipating: Some good restaurant week dinners this week.