A post in which it is Kimbley's surpise party

I woke up today feeling rough. The combo of partying, staying up way too late, and drinking red wine gave me a pounding headache. I awoke because the pillow was hurting my head. I took some ibuprofen (which is now never far from my side) and tried to feel human again. Usually a hearty breakfast will help. To that end, I applied a gorgeous fry-up to the problem. I heated the last of the hash brown casserole, added fried eggs to the top, and had the last of the juice. To top it off I added most of a box of Grasshopper cookies – the Keebler equivalent of Girl Scout Thin Mints. I then proceeded to sleep on the sofa until 1:30pm.

Eventually, I decided that I had to move. Kimbley’s birthday party is tonight, and I was to bake the birthday cake. Since she doesn’t like layer birthday cake, I was making her a pound cake, which she loves. I straightened up in the kitchen and got my cake in the oven. I then called Donnie to find out about beverages.

It turns out that they ended up with about 30 RSVPs for the party. I was speculating on whether or not a pound cake would feed 30, when Donnie said “Well, it won’t. So I baked one too.” Ok. So that was kind of a set-up for a contest. I had planned on doing strawberries anyway, so I told him I would do enough for both cakes. It’s kind of a thing. Kimbley loves pound cake, and Laura loves strawberries, so when I do both they both get a treat. I like using fresh berries better, but hey, it’s freakin January. I ran by the store, thawed out the strawberries, and mixed them with chocolate syrup, Kahlua, and shaved dark chocolate. Yeah, it’s much.

I then pulled the ugliest pound cake out of the oven I have made in a long time. Lopsided, without a good rise, and part of it stuck to the side of the pan and pulled off when I unmolded it. It kind of looked like it had the mange, but the part I tasted off the pan was good. I guess it was a good thing we had two cakes. Donnie’s will at least be pretty. We can just show his, and serve mine as a fill-in.

By the time I finished getting ready and lamenting and all, it was time to go.

Kimbley was completely surprised, and had apparently helped Donnie clean up for her own party without suspecting a thing.

Unfortunately, Russ’s dad passed today. He had been sick for a while (they thought he was going to go at Christmas), and he was 84, but I guess you just really can’t ever be ready for something like that. Russ is in Savannah, and Billy has just had surgery. He’s at home. Russ wasn’t out to his family. I called and talked to Billy after I found out, but there isn’t really anything any of us can do for Russ until he gets home. It’s very sad all around. Billy decided not to go to the party, which I can understand.

The party was great. Donnie has such a lovely home for entertaining, and everyone there was nice, and fun. Some of Kimbley and Laura’s former co-workers showed up, but unlike in the past, they didn’t get too loud or wild.

The food was gorgeous. Donnie had put out a whole spread. There were two (!!) vegetarian soups for me to choose from. The weather had been rainy and yucky all day, so Donnie did soup, corn bread, and sandwich fixings, among other finger foods.

Random party snap - the birthday girl is sitting on the sofa.

The cake was a success. I think one cake would have done, but Kimbley took the rest of it home so that was fine. Donnie’s cake was of course gorgeous, with a high, triumphant, perfectly golden crown. The bitch. The strawberries were a HUGE hit. Everyone loved them and I was glad I made a big batch.

I had a lovely visit with everyone, and may have gotten another invitation for next weekend. They were trying to put together a game of charades when the party started breaking up.

Eventually it ended up just being the hard-core group of friends left. We had a nice visit in the garage, smoking and talking, before I headed home. Another lovely evening. I am so blessed to have such great friends!