Things We Have Learned

In the time BC*, back when we lived in Houston, J and I fell in with a group of friends that liked to get together pretty regularly. Over time, and with some practice, J and I developed a pretty good formula for throwing parties. There are a couple of required elements that go something like this:

• Interesting people;
• Decent music; and
• Drinks. The earlier, the better.

Last night, we threw a poker party at the house. Surprisingly, it's one of very few completely adult get togethers that we've thrown since moving here. Some of it has been because we have the kiddos now, but another large part has been getting to know enough people to put something like this together. Don't get me wrong, we do know quite a few people at this point. But combining a group of people that don't necessarily know each other is sometimes a little tricky.

Last night, everything seemed to gel really well from the very beginning. We had some people who had never met each other, but when they immediately started finding common ground with each other, I figured we were in for a good night.

We played poker, made margaritas, and drank good bourbon and red wine until sometime after 1am. There were a lot of bad jokes, some really bad singing (thanks rock band), and some hilarious poker plays ("yeah, I thought three of a kind and a pair seemed like a pretty good hand, but I wasn't sure"). Of course, a couple of us had tennis this morning at 9, but we didn't let that get in the way of a good time. In fact, I think we learned a valuable lesson last night - and J gets total credit for this one.

I left him in charge of the food for the night, and he came home from the store with a veggie tray, chips, dips, some milano cookies, and ... pizza rolls.

Me:  "Um, frozen pizza rolls?  REALLY?"
J:  "Yeah, they'll be great!"
Me:  "I could've made a really yummy artichoke dip, you know..."
J:  "Nah, these will be even better!"

I have to say, based partly on how awesome those pizza rolls tasted at 10:30 last night, I'd already consider adding them in to whatever food we have at the next party. But the cherry on top? Apparently eating around a third of a large bag is a great hangover deterrent, because I woke up feeling fine this morning. Next time, bring on the pizza rolls sooner rather than later.

*BC = Before Children.