Dinner Parties of Love

I love having people over to my house for dinner. Somehow it just makes the place feel warmer. I enjoy the effort of making the meal and preping the house . I grew up in a home where people were always coming over and the house was really the center of everything. I'm glad that we have found friends in PDX that feel the same. Any time I send out an invite for a dinner party it is met with an enthusiastic 'yes' and 'what can we bring'. Sometimes I tell them to just bring themselves, after all that is the point of having you over. But sometimes I tell them to bring something to compliment the rest of the meal. It just depends.

One of my other favorite parts about dinner parties is decorating. It's never elaborate but I like to try find ways to make the table feel special, elevated. I was pretty proud of myself for our Valentine's Day dinner. Some simple carnations, a few cups, and some votives supplied all the glamor for the evening.

 I cut the carnations super short and tied them into bunches. Then stuck them in some short glasses and added water. A beautiful result for very little work.

I made sure to polish the wine glasses as we were setting the table to really make them sparkle.

I don't need to be Martha Stewart or any of those other people, but one thing that they did teach me was that you could make your guests feel even more special with a few simple accents. It literaly took me more time to buy the carnations than it did to put these center pieces together. And what a beautiful result. 

Derby

It seems that Rollery Derby in Portland is serious sport. Events regularly sell out and people are pretty psyched to go. I had never been to a roller derby and only knew from TV and movies that it consisted of chicks on skates knocking eachother around. Most of that is true, by the way, but there are other elements too. I went to the roller derby with my friends from work- Calethia and Kari. It reminded me of highschool football. Weird lighting, lots of friends and family there to support the players, well-loved but dingy venues, and beer in a can. The energy was high and people were packed into the hanger at the Oaks Park.

As we watched the girls go round and round it took a while to figure out the scoring. And even though our home team was losing their fans were as rambunctious as ever. In fact, we even booed what we felt was a dirty hit only to be admonished by the injured girl's coach that the hit was legal. Sort of werid.

 Warm ups around the track before the match begins

 Introducing the teams and their skaters

 Brusing Betty- the oppposition's mascot

 Lining up for a match

Me, Calethia, Kari, and a Bruisng Betty Skater

 

Overall it was a good time. Not a shabby way to spend an evening. It lasted about 2 hours and I got to experience something that I feel is part of Portland's mystique. Women racing around a rink, not concerned about their dress size, just having a great time knocking eachother over and playing to the crowd.

I would totally go back again.