Labour Day Weekend Party - Fun and Frivolity - Then Back To School!

We had a party.  A family friendly, everyone we knew was invited, party on the Sunday of the long weekend.  We didn't inspire many more people to show up than the usual suspects, but we had a great weekend.  So much so that I hosted a party Part 2 on the holiday Monday.  I mean I had a ton of wine and foodstuffs left over (even after I sent people home with stuff!) so a second gathering seemed like a great idea!

I guess at peak population there were 25 people.  My boss came, as well as a prior co-worker (with her 2 little ones).  Hubby's business partner came with his little guy and a family friend with his 10 year old.  Of course our neighbour friend Abby was by - she even showed up early!  Plus some of my family members, and Hubby's mom.  Our daycare lady, and her daughter - our babysitter - arrived right on time.  It was a great afternoon.  Some people I thought may appear did not, but that didn't dampen our spirits any.  Food and drink was plentiful and I think most folks had a nice time.

I was genuinely surprised at my kids.  They sat at the kid's table with the other kids (both big and small) and really didn't mingle with the adults at all.  No lap sitting, no begging to be pushed on the swing (they all pushed each other), and not much fighting.  I forget how old my kids are now, and how easy it is for them to amuse themselves with each other!

So summer is over for the kiddos now.  It's back to school tomorrow, although technically summer doesn't end until the middle-end of September.  Hopefully the weekends stay nice and "free" so the kids can hang out and do their own things before the weather starts to turn cold.  I hope to have a few more nice weekends for barbeques and outdoor time.  It was nice to squeeze in the extra visits this afternoon with some friends.

I love hosting parties since it gives us a serious reason to tidy the house.  We have reorganized so much stuff even I feel like I have no idea where stuff is.  The kids rooms easily turn into disaster zones now that we've put all their stuff upstairs.  Life is always a work-in-progress, but when I can't find my stuff it definitely feels more like "work" than "progress"!

I hope everyone else's summer ended on a high note.  We've had a great season and I hope to continue it into the fall.  Once this humidity breaks I'll be one happy mama!  Fall weather is my favourite for sure.

Happy Back-To-School to everyone out there - enjoy the season!  Toodles!

A Strange Thing Happened To Me Last Night

Something completely untoward happened to me last night.  It almost never happens.  It's only happened a few times before...

I opened a bottle of wine and didn't really like it!

I know, horror of horrors.  It was a red, the description sounded good, but the flavours were not that great.  I'm sure part of it was the sandwich I was eating it with was not complementary to red wine in general, but that doesn't usually dampen my enthusiasm for a wine.

The label described it as "bold & nostalgic - with hits of sweet red berries, creamy chocolate & black cherry"  Sound good, right?  Wrong.  I think it's the chocolate - just doesn't suit my palette.

Now don't get me wrong - I will drink this wine.  It just might take me a few evenings to get through it.  Most wines I finish in 2 nights (unless I'm actually sharing with someone) but this one will be 3 or 4.  It's ok on it's own, but it doesn't seems to pair nicely with anything I've eaten lately. I will suffer through it...

I don't like giving products bad reviews so I'm not going to name this wine.  I'm curious if anyone out there with a pickier palette than me has had many bad wines.  There is one grape in the white wine world I'm not a fan of either, can't come up with the name right now though.  I will say that I will drink any and all wines unless they are actually skunky or gross - if it's just a too sweet or too dry problem I can usually work through it!

Any other winos out there?  Have any great wine experiences you'd like to share?  I'm always looking for new wines to try (especially if they're $12 or less!)

Toodles!