Independence Day

Yesterday I hosted my first party in my house! I had multiple people over at our tiny tiny apartment in Portland, but I never had to organize everything to entertain people, really. They did all the grilling, and I had Matt helping me (except the dishes). This time, since Matt was gone, it was all up to me and I did most of the planning! Yay! I enjoyed it, too, because for the first time in a few days, I had an actual reason to tidy up the house (not that it's ever dirty or anything). I also got to make a ton of food for people, my favorite thing in the world to do! So I enjoyed myself.

I invited Cari and Ryan, and Bryan over. I also invited the neighbors that I just met and their friends, but they were all busy. Everyone chipped in for food. I provided macaroni salad (requested by Cari) and I also made dessert, a coconut-lime granita that will soon find it's way onto the blog for all you coconut lovers. I also made homemade potato chips, which were apparently very yummy as they disappeared before I was able to take a picture of them. And Cari made my mom's strawberry Jell-O recipe, which will also find it's way onto the blog shortly. Cari and Ryan also provided hamburgers and hot dogs, and Bryan provided salad and beer. And he found Widmer beer (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)! It's from Portland and just so happens to be my favorite beer. Thank God for Bryan ;) Unfortunately, I could only drink one bottle, since I am 434 rider for the entire base at the moment and must remain sober for my entire week on duty. Yay.

(For those of you who are unfamiliar with the "434 rider," it is a designated driver program for Airmen to use. Used as a last resort option, if a military member finds him/herself too drunk to drive home, they can call "command post (CP)." CP then calls me, and I will go pick the person up and bring them home. Don't worry, I do have to check ID before the person gets in my car, but I cannot look at the name or the rank. Honor system. Unfortunately, 2 people, a male and a female, have to pick up the person. Matt is obviously my "partner," but he's in Colorado. I'm hoping beyond hope that I do not get a call before my shift ends on Wednesday, I really don't want to have to call Bryan at 3 in the morning if I get a call so I can have a guy with me. It's a great program to have available for everyone on base, I just wish more people would use it. There have been 2 DUIs since I've been here).

The food was delicious, Spud was entertaining, and the time with friends is priceless. I did end up meeting one of my neighbors (finally!) so that was the cherry on the sundae. After dinner we played an exciting round of Apples to Apples, my all time favorite board game. If you have never played it, you should definitely check it out. And the best part about it is that it is super fun sober, but it would be even more fun with a few beers surging through your bloodstream.

If that didn't get our adrenaline rushing, we did throw some poppers and light some sparklers. We didn't want to do too much, since fireworks aren't really allowed on base. But Bryan got some really cool pictures of us drawing various objects with our sparklers.

All in all, it was a great Independence Day! And my first hosting of a holiday party! It can only go up from here!