So --- Saturday night, I hosted a party for all of my friends who also happen to be Twilight fans. Its original purpose was just going to be a Twilight DVD release party (as the DVD was released that day at midnight) where we would get together and watch the movie; however, it morphed into something much, much more, err… interesting.
It started out as a half-witted scheme on my part. My snail-sized home is so not conducive to entertaining. But, it was something that I really wanted to do… and I was determined to make it work.
In the end, I wanted to do more than just watch the movie. We were having food, of course, and I also wanted to have some other sort of ‘activity’. So, I had the brilliant idea of asking my friend, Hila, to put together a Twilight saga trivia game for us to play. She was invited to the party, naturally – but, as she now lives in Washington (actually, just a hop skip and a jump from Forks, where the magic goes down), she wouldn’t be able to be there. We were all more than a little bummed that she wouldn’t be at the party… she is our girl’s-party-buddy, so to speak. By doing the game, Hila would be ‘involved’ in the party… and we were willing to take whatever type of her ‘presence’ that we could get.
I, slowly but surely, got my home ready for visitors. Last week was filled with a hodgepodge of things, but I began to notice little suspicious uprisings, mostly from my mother. I had an inkling that something was up.
I had been dropping Hila little ‘hints’ that it really was alright if she just wanted to come to the party anyway and deliver the game herself. We totally wouldn’t mind. And then, last Wednesday, I had a dream that she showed up at the party. I tossed that up to hopeful wishing. I got the game in the mail on Thursday and chatted with Hila online that night – and yet the suspicious happenstances continued. So, was I really that surprised when she appeared on my doorstep Saturday morning (along with my mom and my copy of Twilight)? Not really. And yet, I was still shocked that it was all real – that my dream had come true. Astounded? Not at all. Overjoyed? Absolutely.
I’m just totally bummed that I accidently deleted the confused-Stacy-opens-the-front-door shot. It was a good one…
My mom and Hila left me that morning to get everything ready for the party. Brian and Ammon were going elsewhere for the duration of the festivities. So, I was alone for the majority of the day, and I must say – that was a little weird. But, I accomplished much… and was anxiously awaiting 7:30pm.
The party was great. The best. Fanatically wild… but, the best. It was a pajama party, with most everyone in some sort of Twilight-related attire. My table was ‘elegantly’ decorated and covered with a vast array of party foods. We had Grecian party squares (a heavenly Pampered Chef appetizer), yummy cheese dip, spinach dip in a bread bowl, Hila’s famous Oreo truffles, and pigs-in-a-blanket. And our beverage of choice: sparkling white grape juice. Something that is advertised as non-alcoholic (...or non-toxic, as Kristy would say…); however, we who were at the party have come to question this. Fermented a bit? Ha! I think so…
We got quite a bit side-tracked. We were going to bless the food, play the game while eating, and then watch the movie. However, we got off on some tangent about prayers, and why it is that when blessing brownies we say something along the lines of, “… that it may nourish and strengthen our bodies…”. About half an hour later, Kira finally said the blessing, which included a pause and then, “… bless the food… that it may be good and fill our tummies.” Giggles ensued. And thus it began.
We ended up chatting and laughing the whole time we ate. And by laughing, I mean uproarious, rock the house, hilarity.
Once everyone had somewhat finished their munchies, we played the game. We split into two teams (one team of three and one team of four), with Hila at the helm asking the questions. How it worked: A question would be directed at one team; that team had 1 minute to come up with an answer amongst themselves; if needed, that team could consult the book(s), still only having 1 minute to come up with an answer; if that team could not answer, the question was passed to the next team.
Ah… we had a good time. While the questions were fairly straightforward and easily answered (there were a couple that made us scratch our heads), we had the best time playing that game. Words cannot describe the fun. Seriously. You had to be there to believe it. I can’t begin to describe it because, a.) I can’t remember most of it (enter hysteria and sparkling grape juice) and b.) it was all so very random. But, I will say that we all laughed so hard that we cried. We all laughed so hard that we couldn’t breathe. We all laughed so hard that, to quote Crystal, we “peed a little”. We all laughed so hard that we felt like we had done 5,972 crunches while hanging upside down. Truly --- the best of times. Seriously. Kudos to Hila and her sister, Christina, for coming up with such a treat. FYI: There is a very incriminating video floating around out there somewhere that may or may not make its way onto this blog. We shall see...
After the game, I handed out the ‘party favors’. I won’t go into vast detail about these, because not everyone has theirs yet. I hope everyone liked them, though… it was attempt #4 (thank you, Mom, for helping with them). Everyone also got two Twilight pins. Hila brought everyone a vile of dirt from Forks, along with an authentic Forks pin that says, “Forks, WA. – Where Vampires Rain”. Also from Forks were some… wait for it… glow in the dark fangs. My, oh, my… did we have fun with those babies. And, since they were in Forks courtesy of China… we will probably all wind up in the hospital for lead poisoning.
We – of course – took a group picture. Well, several group pictures. And, like I mentioned before, we had lots of fun with those horrid-tasting fangs. Too much fun to be legal, as Kristy would say.
Brian and Ammon got home about this time. I don’t remember the exact time, but I would gather that it was about 11:00pm. They, naturally, went upstairs to bed. They just aren’t the girly-vampire-party types. However, the party continued to rock on downstairs… though we did take it down a couple of octaves.
Around this time, we decided to start the movie… after all, that was why we were there, wasn’t it? We all got comfy – sprawled out on the floor or couch with our pillows and blankets – and grabbed our communal candy bowl. Of course, the noise didn’t die down enough for anyone to actually hear the film. We spent the time commenting on all the things we liked, loved, hated, etc. along with all the editing bloopers and so forth. And, of course, the giggles did not stop. They just got more delirious and delusional as we hit the wee hours. The sparkling grape juice was long gone; however, the candy was still there. It kicked in… and we were then all riding high on a sugar high to end all sugar highs.
The movie wrapped, and we slowly started cleaning up the aftermath of our good time. We were all crashing pretty hard at that point, but the giggles still flowed. Around 2:00am the last exodus of Twilighters left Woodburn Drive. I went straight to bed – which is very easy to do when you have a pajama party (best idea I ever had, by the way). I checked on Ammon first – found that he wasn’t in his crib – totally freaked out – then found him in my bed on my side. Apparently, we had been a tad loud downstairs…
And the few hours of sleep that I got that morning were heavenly. However, I didn’t wake up feeling like an angel… or even a vampire. I felt atrocious. Really, really horrible. My whole body hurt. My head was splitting. Even the slightest of sounds was way, way too loud. And my eyes… well, I might as well have been a newborn vampire judging by their deep red hue. All worth it, though. Yes… definitely worth it.
I know that everyone present needed that night. And I think that we should do it more often. It’s good to get together with friends every once in a while. Get together and forget the worries, stresses, responsibilities and whatnots of everyday life – for just a little while. Get together, let loose, be free and just be yourself.
I endured a little bit of flack from various somebodies for having that Twilight bash. Flack that I was neglecting other responsibilities. Flack for kicking my husband (and child) out on the night before said husband's birthday. Flack for being up so late. Ecetera. Ecetera.
And yet, I am unmoved. Yes, I was tired. Yes, I felt like I had the worst hangover in the history of mankind. Yes, I felt rather retched. However, I also feel happier. I feel more at peace with my situation. I feel refreshed and ready to dive head-first into some things that need my attention. I feel good. And that is a nice thing to say.
It all reminds me of something that I – ironically enough – heard Kristen Stewart say in the bonus features of my Twilight DVD, about her character, Bella (the ‘main’ character in the Twilight saga): “You could say about her that she is just reckless and sort of shunning things that she should be considering, but she’s doing them for all the right reasons.”.
Yes, I was acting like a fool and being ‘reckless’ in a way. Yes, I was up far too late… ‘shunning things that should be considered’. But… I was doing it for all the right reasons.
Let me rephrase that: We were doing it for all the right reasons.
Thanks, girls: Hila, Lyndsey, Kira, Kristy, Crystal, Ginger and Mom. Thanks for being the best friends ever. And thanks to those who were there in spirit… Tiffane, this is you (...you'll always be my best friend - wish you could have been here...).
And thank you, Brian. Thanks for being so understanding… and, umm… patient with my obsessions. Thanks for watching the bug. Thanks for letting your home be invaded. Thanks for being this Bella's Edward. I know what I can live without… and I know that you are not it. Couldn’t survive this life without you.
Hmm… all in the name of fun. All in the name of friendship. All for the love of Twilight.
