Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Driveway's Done, Time to Party!


The interlocking pavers driveway and walkway were completed on Friday morning, November 17! The old driveway was a sad mix of sand and pebbles that sat three inches lower than the concrete carport pad. The old walkway resembled a jigsaw puzzle, not too safe for actual walking as the puzzle pieces shifted precariously with each step.



Before: Ugh.




After: So pretty. So functional.

On Saturday, November 18, we had our big housewarming party. We wanted it to be six months after we bought the house. Our theory was that having the party would force us to finish painting and updating the house. The timing worked out pretty well.



The "candy bar" featured kettle corn, M&Ms, twizzlers, fried apple pies and packaged candy bars. It was a hit! We sent fried pies home with lots of people. Mmm... pie makes a delicious but not very nutritious breakfast for the day after a party.



We went with a fall carnival theme. We had pickles, corn dogs with fancy mustards (yes, I loathe corn dogs, but our guests loved them), nacho fixings, boneless buffalo wings with celery and blue cheese on the buffet spread on the deck. As one friend put it, "the food was spectacular. It was like going to the fair without smelling livestock and worrying about your car getting vandalized."



Chad made funny signs for various doors. This was the sign for the kitty jail / guest room.



The kitty jail. If you look closely, you can see furry lumps: Marigold and Kenji on either side of the bed & Sonic on the chair.



Hot cider with caramel, red hots & cinnamon to mix in. Yum! The idea for hot cider came to me during a manic, Martha Stewart-like episode at the HEB grocery store. I almost made little caramel apple wedges with nuts as garnish for the punch, but I called Chad and told him I needed him to talk me down. Thus no caramel apple wedges with nuts, but I did keep (what's left of) my sanity.



Proof that we have friends. It was so much fun. We have lots of soda, juice boxes and cider leftover to get us through the year! We managed to give away the leftover corndogs luckily.

I'm so happy that all of our immediate house projects are done! I look forward to some serious lounging in our cozy, cute house.