I slept poorly last night. Between waiting up for one of the kids, and knowing the bed wasn’t made properly, I got to bed late and then didn’t sleep great. I have a head cold, which was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. Sore throat, sore face, runny nose, headache, the whole nine yards. Definitely a recipe for a day in bed, according to my former policies and procedures. But, I happily got up and proceeded to have a hella good day.

Tonight was a joint birthday party for our daughter, Anna-Jessie, who is turning 17 on Thursday, and her friend, Erica, who turned 17 today. The party was planned completely without any input from me at all. She’s a resourceful girl, that one. It was arranged that it would be held at Erica’s house. Many of the homes in our area have kitchen/dining areas that are approximately the size of our entire living area, so those homes are much more amenable to having 27 teenagers having a blast.

Anyway, this morning I got in touch with Erica’s mom to see what we could contribute food-wise, etc., to the party. After a couple of texts, I was planning to bring a fruit tray and a veggie tray. I cannot tell you the last time I made either from scratch. The best I used to could do was to swing by Kroger and pick up a pre-made tray, and rue the condition of the veggies and the exorbitant price for such a bourgeous arrangement of basic vegetables.

Today, though, I was excited about making the trays. I spent a long time today getting fruits and veggies at Costco, picking up some serving dishes and trays at Gordon Food Service, and then creating some masterpieces, if I do say so myself. Masterpieces, I tell you. Profusions of colors and flavors; homemade french cream dip for the fruit, carefully organized designs, little touches like a foil-covered chocolate Santas standing watch in the middle of each tray.

When all was said and done, I had prepared four trays of food, which was really probably more than necessary, but I didn’t even use all of the produce I bought today, so maybe that is something to remember about buying food at Costco. Those quantities are HUGE.

I guess the biggest thing I noticed is that I spent quite a bit of time on the preparation today and then went to a very loud, very boisterous party with 27 teenagers, and still had energy at the end of the evening. This is very different from my normal experience. I noticed that I really enjoyed the host couple, REALLY enjoyed them, and found them incredibly easy to talk with. Total lack of stress today even though I had to do all this shopping and chopping and arranging, etc.

I do attribute this to my experience in Alaska. I just don’t have all the angst that I had when I went up there. My experience today of putting those trays together was almost like being an artist and creating a piece of art, which is highly enjoyable.