velour, the 'nog, and wine faux pas

The Tour Guide made a "guest appearance" for the evening, trekking from far far away (have to pull your leg there hah). She commented on my change in chosen footwear for the evening, a spontaneous purchase during my Saturday afternoon run to Georgetown. I'd originally planned to sport my favorite winter staple, the tall high-heeled boot. I'll save those for the next round of holiday parties.

I love shoes. I really do. The top of my closet is just about maxed out. What's a girl to do? I originally set myself a limit. No more shoes than the closet can hold. End of story. Hmmm... my new thought is end of that rule! I found this wonderful little shoe store in the indoor shopping area in Georgetown. It was amazing how a little store with probably some 25-30 pairs of shoes max could have so many shoes I would be willing to spontaneously take home with me. How does that happen?

Three cheers for tax-free shopping week. Yes, I needed this wonderful pair of patent leather heels for my fall holiday school wardrobe. Muchas gracias. On sale and tax-free. It was like they were just begging to come home with me.

The party was fabulous. A little less crowded I'd say than our housewarming party. Everything came together well though, from the downstairs decorations to the food we prepared. Good job, Purple Ladies! We learned from our annihilation of food at our last party that we needed to a bit more on that end this time around, so this time we have a ton of leftovers. Need some munchies? You know where to find 'em.

I learned that I do in fact like eggnog. I finally had my first taste of it, courtesy of JF. She is the 'nog expert. She brought the Turkey Hills version, which I understand is an acceptable one you can find here locally. Anyone else have any recommendations? I'm open to my own taste-test. I've decided it's holiday in cup, and 'tis the season!

My one post-party rant is on red wine. Okay, now I am clumsy. I try to be as graceful as possible but I do on occasion, from time to time, spill something here or there. Oooops. And, as embarrassing as it is, I make sure to fess up to whatever I've spilled/dropped/etc., whenever applicable.

I have a round dining room table, with four plush pale yellow chairs. So comfortable. Love them. Always was a bit anxious that they were screaming "spill on me", but this far had never had any problems. Ironically, my boss and I were discussing the red wine thing on Friday. She mentioned she never serves red wine at parties and I said oh that we'd never had any problems surprisingly enough. How do I continually bring these things up just before they happen?

Anyhow, so I walk into the living room midway through the party to find my chair with red wine scattered across it. Warm body that had been consuming that wine some time prior? Not to be found. Any self-admitted spillers nearby? Zip. Now c'mon. In the interest of holiday cheer -- while it did momentarily dampen my holiday spirit, I didn't let it turn me into a Grinch. Yes, the wine did come out (that is some magic gel, I must say). But I do have to say I think it's pretty crummy not to tell someone when you've made such a mess. Okay. I'll get off of my soapbox now.

Next weekend is full of holiday parties as well. Thank goodness for Google Calendar.