Night of nights. Joy of joys. Food and friends. Vamps and wolves.It’s that time again. The telling of the tale.
The New Moon
Party.Ah. Be still my heart.
Of course we were going to have a party to celebrate the release of the next movie in the Twilight
series. Though we are all,
first and foremost, passionate fans of the
books – we honor the films, too … and use them as an excuse to get together and party hardy.
New Moon was set to be released on DVD on March 20th. I planned the party for that night. And –
of course – that’s when the problems began.
From the beginning, it was clear that someone or something was working
very hard to keep this get-together from happening.
For reasons I don’t understand yet. But –
every step of the way – there were snags getting this party going. Truth be told –
it almost didn’t happen at all. I’m not known for my good luck.
However, my luck usually doesn’t run out before I even begin.
First of all, the release date of the
New Moon DVD seemed to be released at the very
last minute. At least, it was later in the game than when the
Twilight DVD release date was confirmed last year. That means less planning time. That means a more trying time for our out-of-town guests.
Etcetera.
Second of all, from the beginning, the out-of-towners in our original troupe seemed to have problems figuring out a way of getting here. Of course, we already knew that it was a lot to ask. Hila – in Washington State – was trying to figure out someway –
somehow – to get here. She surprised us all for the Twilight party, but in the end it just couldn’t happen for this one. Ginger – now in Korea – couldn’t just hop over the pond for a party,
obviously. We knew that there was a possibility that Lyndsey – in Panama City, Florida – wouldn’t be able to make it either. In the end, she couldn’t.
Though, I’m glad now
that I ignored this thought – for awhile I thought about not doing the party without them. We were all beyond bummed that these special girls couldn’t be with us. And yet, they all made their own contributions –
in all ways, shapes and forms – and that was certainly better than nothing.
We took what we could get, for sure.Third – there was the issue of
where to have the party. The last time, it was at my house. I
love to entertain, but rarely get the opportunity. These are ‘my’ parties, so to speak, so I felt like I needed to host them. This time, though, I felt like we needed to have the party in Enterprise – to be fair to our Enterprise guests. Of the options – I decided on my mom’s new apartment. She’s there by herself, so we wouldn’t be upsetting the routines of any children or spouses – and she has enough room, for sure. Of course, I wasn’t especially happy with this alternative. Having our party in Enterprise ultimately created more work for me. However –
unbeknownst to me at the time – having the party in someone else’s home proved necessary. A week after making this decision, we found out we were moving in just two short weeks. Of course, our move created an hour drive to Enterprise – instead of only 20 minutes. Again –
more ‘work’. But – I
was grateful that I didn’t have to worry about getting my new home ready for a gathering quite so quickly.
Fourthly, was –
of course – the move, itself. A difficult undertaking indeed to plan an important festivity in the middle of moving. And not just moving across town – but moving into a new town 30 minutes away.
A bigger deal, in a lot of ways. This relocation had to happen
quickly. And there were hiccups nearly every step of the way. Truly this was a hard move for me. An
important move – but difficult. The
New Moon party was important to me, as well. I wasn’t for a second going to postpone or cancel it for
this.
So – I organized my thoughts, created some priorities, thought out a time-table and fashioned some solutions. I did what I could before we actually moved, housing finished products at my mom’s (so I knew where they were) until I needed them. The invitations were such a project. While packing our possessions, I held out the things that I would need later for the party – whether it was craft supplies or décor. Of course, I had some help. By nature – I like to work alone. Experience has taught me that, more often than not, that is the easier remedy for me. But this time –
I couldn’t do it alone. Kira stepped up of her own accord – and did so much for me. For which I am so
very grateful.
We can’t forget fifthly, of c.o.u.r.s.e – my feud with the Abbeville post office. My home of only one week and I already seemed to have enemies. The invitations were supposed to be sent out by the first of the month. Because of a hiccup in our move –
like having to camp out at our townhouse for an extra week without any of our things – I wasn’t able to stick to this deadline. They ended up being mailed about a week later. A few days after that –
longer than it should have taken, in fact – I received these invites
back. They were rubber-banded together, with a janky little sticker on them asking for more postage.
Now – these invitations weighed
nothing. I knew that I had mailed similar things in the same sized envelopes before with no extra postage. I couldn’t understand
why in the world these had come back to me. I couldn’t understand
what post office on the planet had the
time to sort out the mail, find all
16 of
my invitations, rubber-band them together, stick a sticker on them and
hand-write a message on it. Well –
clearly my new back-woods, janky, hillbilly post office did. Anyhow – I absolutely
refused to put any more stamps on these. So – I drove back to Dothan and mailed them again from there – risking them coming back again and me not having enough time to send them out again before the party.
That’s just how sure I was that these shouldn’t require more postage. And –
sure enough – they went through.
All but one, that is. Which came back to me with a voided stamp, a torn envelope and stickers over the mailing and return address labels asking for more postage (though this time, I didn’t have a
personal message). Again – I couldn’t understand what was going on. It only muddied the matter further that only
one came back. But this time – after making up a new envelope – I just added an additional stamp and mailed it out. I almost stopped our mailman a day or so later – just to ask him why all that happened. Just to try and prevent it from happening again. Because I don’t understand what the problem was. But I didn’t do it – because, at the time, I was so very
a.n.g.r.y . But anywho – what’s done is done. I guess it will always be a mystery. Of course Brian has said – in response to my quandary about never being able to mail things from our new home and trust it to go through – “Well … you can always go up to Dothan to mail stuff.” To which I replied, “That isn’t the point, dear. The point remains …
I shouldn’t have to.”
And lastly, sixth – the food. The day of the party, I prepared the food that I was going to bring. I had everything planned out to the minute. When I had to get up. The order in which I was preparing everything and when I needed to start and finish each item.
Etcetera. I had gone through my recipes the day before and made a list of everything that I needed to get that night at the store.
So – I was ready to go.
So I thought. I made my ‘Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies’ first – and went ahead and got out all of my ingredients and unwrapped all my kisses. I measured out my peanut butter, brown sugar and shortening and went to measure out the vanilla. I opened the box, took out the bottle and opened it up – only to find it
b.o.n.e dry. I shook it desperately – hoping, I guess that some vanilla extract would just materialize in the empty vial. I guess this situation falls under the same category as
pushing-the-buttons-on-the-remote-harder-rather-than-just-changing-the-batteries-already. Or maybe even the
picking-up-that-little-piece-of-fuzz-that-the-vacuum-won’t-suck-up-to-examine-it-and-then-put-it-back-down-on-the-ground-to-run-over-it-again-with-the-vacuum-rather-than-just-throwing-it-in-the-trash-while-you-had-it-in-your-hand category. Either way, vanilla extract did
not materialize in the bottle. Ammon was standing right next to me at the time and I just shut my eyes and said, “Amm …
cover your ears.” Because I was about to spew. Consider this moment the straw that broke the camel’s back. Because I was
done. But – I persevered. I ran like the wind, shouting all the way, to inform Brian that he and Ammon had to go locate some vanilla extract.
In the town with no Wal-Mart, where nothing opens before 10am on a Saturday, it seems. But, as luck would have it, he found some. And my cookie dough wasn’t totally ruined for sitting in that state for so long. But those cookies weren’t the only things that I had to make.
And I had issues like that through the whole process. Let’s just say that I needed to be in the shower by 2:00pm – and I finished the last food item at exactly 1:58. Of course, there was the whole disaster with the finger sandwiches once I got to my mom’s. I had made these many times before with lovely results – using a recipe I got from my cousin, Jess, a long time ago. For some reason – even though I did everything
exactly the same – the filling for these turned out hideously this time.
So not right. Anyway, this was a situation we had to rectify – which placed us over an hour behind schedule.
And so on. There were so many more things that went
horribly ‘amiss’ during the planning of this party. I won’t mention any more –
for I’m sure you get the point. There were many,
many times when I threw up my hands and just screamed, “
Forget it!” So many times when I seriously thought about just skipping the whole thing.
Though I’m sure everyone else would have just gone on without me – I’m so very glad I stuck with it and kept on going. Like I mentioned before – it was almost like someone or something was trying to keep this get-together from happening.
For whatever reason. Maybe because these shindigs are so good for the mentalities of those in our group – good for
me, at least.
I truly don’t know. But, whatever the reason – and whoever you are:
Hardy, Har, Har. It didn’t work.
I will say, though, that the original concept of the party came together easily for me. The planning itself
was a joy to do – it was only the
execution that really proved trying. I went with a different ‘theme’ for this party. Whereas the original
Twilight party had a more vamp-
ish tone with elegant silvers and reds and blacks, this one had a more Native American tenor to it with its earthy qualities.
All to honor the werewolves, of course, since we feel that they deserve at least a few
minutes of glory. I used lots of rich browns and oranges – with accents of ruby, turquoise and deep violet. I found the most
gorgeous orange tulips with a vivid purple vein up the side. Kira found some nifty graphics that included various quotes from
New Moon. We decided on a few and she had them printed up for the party. I hung them with some rich golden gauze ribbon from the chandelier in my mom’s dining room. She also made t-shirts for some of us that read, ‘
I Need My Twilight
Fix’. Because – after all – that
Twilight ‘fix’ is the reason for all of this. The party also gave me an excuse to finally make my ‘book wreath’. I used a mass-market copy of
New Moon, ironically enough. And it turned out so very lovely.
So very lovely, in fact, that I now have orders for some.
I was especially pleased with the invitations for this party. I
loved the papers that I used – enough that I have a new love of this color-scheme. I was able to perfectly execute a ruby red stitch around the border …
with a sewing machine (as I am a hand-stitcher, this was quite the feat). I stamped an image on the top sheet with paint, rather than ink – letting it dry slightly beforehand, so that it would give the illusion of a natural compound, like mud. A lot of thought went into these –
I do hope it shows. I don’t know how I did it, to be perfectly honest. Again, these all came together in the middle of our move.
But alas – that Saturday came. The day we had all been waiting for. I loaded up my car with all my goodies (what I hadn’t already taken to my mom’s, that is) and headed up to Dothan to pick up Kira. We got to Enterprise, unloaded the car, and I started putting the finishing touches on the decorations. Kira got the food situated while Mom tried to make sense of those dang finger sandwiches. Our guests all arrived early, which was a treat. I like to think that it was because they were all so
incredibly excited. Crystal brought her mom, Debbie, with her – which was so nice. We were excited to add to our few numbers and it was great to get to know her better. Kristy brought sweet Baby Jane along with her, of course – all decked out in a fab
Twilight onesie which she
rocked.
Once we finally got situated, we decided to settle in and start our rendezvous. We all stood around the bar ready to bless the food, and –
low and behold … we all got the giggles. We all groaned, “…
and here we go, again …” Of course, that only tripled the chuckles. About this time, Kristy glanced over at the table, saw the Oreo truffles and said, “
Oh, wow … those make me think of Hila.” I think we all had the same idea at the same time. Kira grabbed her phone, and we called Hila. She was plopped on speakerphone and …
wait for it … we asked her to say the prayer.
From Washington State. A little unorthodox,
yes … but
so special to us. Of course, Hila’s heartfelt prayer still gave some of us the chuckles.
I know that I was elbowed at one point. We took the opportunity to shout our hellos to Hila –
my how we missed her.We decided to have more of a filling ‘meal’ this time around, since we were ‘starting’ about an hour earlier. To fill our tummies, we had: ‘Stacy’s Super Salad’ with ‘Stacy’s Candy Chicken’ and barbecue chicken and pineapple finger sandwiches made by Stacy. I made these finger sandwiches not only because Kristy specifically asked me to, but also because the filling slightly resembles dog food
…
which I felt was appropriate in tribute to those stinkin’ werewolves. But –
I digress. We also had fresh pineapple and strawberries. I made my ‘Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies’ and Kristy brought some peanut butter M&Ms. Kira made Oreo truffles in honor of Hila and also made her yummy ‘Chocolate Toffee Bars’. We also had a little surprise courtesy of Lyndsey – a red-velvet cake with cake batter ice cream ordered from Cold Stone Creamery that said, ‘
I Need My Twilight
Fix’. Yummy to our tummies, indeed. Humorous, though, that Kira wanted to have a more ‘nutritious’ spread – when she was the one who brought most of the sweets.
Hmm.
By the way, I will post recipes later … as I have been asked to do.We –
of course – had sparkling grape juice.
It’s a ritual now, after all. Kristy provided that –
hoping that we would have the same ‘luck’ as last time. Kira also brought ABC Root Beer and Crush Strawberry and Black Cherry Soda. She had labels printed for the bottles – designed by the same individual as the other quote graphics – that read:
Type A,
Type B,
Type O,
I’m Thirsty and
Drink Up. So
very cool.
We enjoyed a nice, leisurely dinner that included lots of conversation. We took our time eating –
all going back for thirds. We laughed and joked. We talked about all kinds of random things. We took the time to all sit down one by one and contribute to a message we sent to Ginger via Facebook. We all reminisced about the original
Twilight bash.
The fangs made an appearance, of course. All in all, wonderful moments.
The quiet before the storm, so to speak. I think that we all sort of expected Hila or Lyndsey – or maybe even Ginger – to just walk through the door at any moment. We talked about them a lot that night.
Our game this time around turned out
fabulously. Just the right mix of challenging and riotous. Of course, I know that it would have been so much
more fun if our
entire troupe was there. I’ve always thought that we all are the perfect blend of personalities – that we all just mesh impeccably well – making for
f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c times. But anywho: We played
Twilight Cranium – specific to all the books, not just
New Moon or the movies. Kristy helped me with the concept and Kira helped me with some ‘answers’ when my brain gave up the ghost. I designed the cards and I was
so stoked with how they turned out. Basically, it was a play on the actual game,
Cranium. We used the categories:
Taboo,
Charade and
Sculpt. Because of our few numbers, we did not split into teams and we really didn’t stick to any time restrictions. Each category was assigned a color, and we took turns rolling a dice to determine which category we would pull a card from. Those of you non-
Twilighters won’t get any of this –
probably don’t get any
of this post – but nonetheless, here’s a basic overview:
[
Taboo] For this category, you had an ‘answer’ that you would have to get the others to guess. It was a verbal play, where you could say anything apart from the ‘answer’ and a list of specific ‘taboo’ words/phrases listed on the bottom of the card. Just a few examples of ‘answers’ and taboo words:
First Beach (ocean, driftwood, la push / reservation)
Onion-Skinned (translucent, white / powdery, delicate)
The Third Wife (knife, sacrifice, story / legend)
[
Charade] For this category, you had an ‘answer’ that you would have to get the others to guess. It was a simulation play, where you would have to act out your ‘answer’ without speaking. Just a few examples of ‘answers’:
Laurent (the cards were stacked for this one … my mom had to get it since her impersonation at the original Twilight party was such a hit … or hiss, I should say)
Phasing (which Kristy performed flawlessly)
Sparkle (which I interpreted pretty well, if I do say so myself)
[
Sculpt] For this category, you had an ‘answer’ that you would have to get the others to guess. It was a modeling/artistic play, where you would have to sculpt your ‘answer’ out of clay. You could help the guessing along, without saying your ‘answer’, of course. Some examples of ‘answers’:
‘La Tua Cantante’ (a direct quote from New Moon – the one that I was worried about – which lucky Miss Crystal picked in the game’s final moments)
Volterra
Jane
I don’t know who actually ‘
won’ the game.
I will say that I
got entirely too many Sculpt cards. I
do know that we all worked hard, played hard and laughed hard.
For reals. After the game, I handed out the party favors. Not everyone has theirs yet, but I’ll go ahead and share what I put together. At the last party, I made tote bags with everyone’s favorite
Twilight quotes on them. They also got a vial of dirt from Forks, Washington, courtesy of Hila (along with the Forks pin and those
lov-e-ly fangs). This time – everyone got a wooden frame, complete with Native American-esque details. I included the
New Moon quote: “
Before you . . . my life was like a moonless night.” One of my favorites that I thought went along so well for this night with friends …
because that is what they all mean to me. And, to go along with their Forks dirt, I had Hila send me sand from First Beach in La Push, Washington (a location that figures prominently in
New Moon). Everyone also got a little
New Moon decal that Kira had found.
Slowly but surely, we started cleaning up. We went ahead and put away the food and decorations so that ‘we wouldn’t be so late’ going home. My mom did mention that, despite starting the party an hour earlier, we were still running about normal. To which I replied, “No. No, no,
no. We have 20 whole minutes before we’ll be ‘running about normal’. Last time we started the movie at 12:30am on the dot … it is now only 12:10.” I do think, though, that had it not been for the finger sandwich fiasco, we would have been doing a
heck of a lot better on time.
Crystal’s mom had to leave around this time, but the rest of us settled in to watch the movie. Of course, like with the first
Twilight party, we actually didn’t ‘watch’ the movie. We
talked. And
laughed. And
talked some more. We talked about just about everything, I think. Everything under the sun … or –
well – the moon, in this case. Not just funny things – but serious things, too. It was –
without a doubt – lovely conversation.
So nice to just sit and talk with the girls. We did comment on the movie at one point - wondering why Robert Pattinson didn't do anything about his –
err – physical apperance for this film. Especially when compared to Taylor Lautner's interpretation of Jacob. Because –
it wasn't good.Once the movie wrapped, we loaded up and said our
see-you-laters. It was around 3:30am – and sprinkling lightly in Enterprise. Kira and I headed south – talking about various things, trying to stay awake. I don’t really remember what
exactly we talked about.
Phantom of the Opera, I think. At one point, she said something about printing a retraction in the newspaper … something that did
not make
any sense in our current conversation … so I just shut up and let her doze. I dropped her off at her house, dug out my peanut butter cookies, hooked up my iPod and got ready to make the last leg of my journey alone. I was good and awake at that point – but it was still a long drive in the drizzly rain. I blared some Billy Joel, some
Black Crowes, and some
My Fair Lady. I munched on cookies. I thought a
lot about our little party. And – before I knew it –
I was home.
From the very beginning, I knew in my heart that this party would be different than that first
Twilight soirée. And it was.
Without a doubt. And yet – in so
many ways – it
was the same. There we all were –
friends – laughing so hard that breathing wasn’t quite an option. There we all were – with faces as red as beets, with tears streaming down our faces, with our entire bodies aching from the hysteria. The whole thing reminds me of one of my favorite funnies from
New Moon. Spoken by Emmett: “
. . . I expected a perceptible difference, but here you are, red-faced just like always . . .”
Yes. It
was different. We missed our dear friends who couldn’t make it this time around. And yet – I would not change a thing about our little gathering. I would not have missed the chance to spend such precious moments with my friends that
were able to come.
Not for anything.Yes. We all got home late. I know that when I pulled up in my driveway at 4:43am, I wondered
what-in-the-name-of-all-that’s-holy I was doing. The next day, I surely suffered from the obligatory
vamp-party-hangover (something that I have figured out has
nothing to do with the sparkling grape juice, but
everything to do with the uncontrollable laughter …
laugh for 7 hours straight when you aren’t used to laughing very much and see how your body/muscles/brain react). But, the next day I was still able to attend church and a family reunion and spend the afternoon with family. After a short nap, I felt as good as
gold.
I can only speak for myself – and I
know that
I needed that little break from my reality. I needed that time to recharge my batteries. I needed that chance to do something for
myself – because if I can’t keep hold of
me, what can I keep hold of? I am so very grateful that Brian recognizes that need, trusts me, and wants me to have a good time on my
own every so often. I’m glad that he allows me to make some decisions that probably don’t make complete sense to
him, but that help
me. Help me to be a better wife, mother and
person. I do the same for him. It makes
such a difference.
Thank you, Sweetheart.
These last few thoughts are retrospective, of course. I had some
getting-over-it to do after the party was over. Some aggravating things that sort of got dumped in my lap. And then, of course, there was the whole debacle of making this get-together happen in the first place.
My g.o.s.h . That was enough to make anyone want to go out and dig their own grave. And yet, I’m so glad that I persevered through it all. I’m glad that I was able to just put away my frustrations. Move on and recognize the
wonderful qualities of it all. I have to say that it all happened when I sat down to sort through the pile of party stuff that I just dumped on the floor when I got home that night. I read through a print-out of funny quotes from
New Moon that we were going to incorporate into the party. We weren’t able to use it then, but I read through it for the first time the other day, saw this quote by the compiler,
and my heart warmed:
“
Though New Moon
is a heavy tome with a seriously heartbreaking plot, there’s still room for plenty of humor. And that’s a good lesson to take into life – no matter how rough things may get, always look for opportunities to laugh and keep yourself surrounded by people who never fail to elicit a chuckle.”
How true. Life is often ‘a heavy tome with a seriously heartbreaking plot’. And yet those moments are what get us from one joyful minute to the next. Looking back now, I am so grateful that I sought out the opportunity to start this tradition of sorts in the first place. I’m so fortunate to have so many individuals in my life who surely do keep me laughing.
So many to share this with.Thank you, girls – for
everything. Mom, Kristy and Baby Jane, Crystal and Debbie, and Kira – I love you all. Ginger, Hila and Lyndsey – I love you all, too. We
missed you – but we’re glad that you were all a part of this party in some way. You all made your presence known – your spirits were certainly there – and I treasure that.
We all do.
Success again.
Good times, for sure.
Eclipse ahead. In one way or another …
see you there.
My friend, Amber, is getting hitched. And I am so, so very happy for her. She and Russell make quite the pair, let me tell you. Classic and spunky, alike … and looking utterly gorgeous doing it.
Yes. My everyday has also been complete chaos, tiring and – most assuredly – a mess. No – this picture is not the result of a staged photo-op. This was just an ordinary fiasco of our home – which, for once, did not happen to be caused by the little dude in the background. He did help me clean up this mess, however – picking up one little Fruit Loop at a time. Until he realized what a marvelous sound they make when stepped on, that is.
