Good Company

Last night, Patrick and I had an impromptu gathering at our house for dinner and drinks with two of my classmates. It was SO FUN and, again, reminded me of how normal people do this kind of thing all the time.

My mom gave Patrick a Thai and an Asian cookbook for Christmas and he's been itching to try out some of the recipes. So yesterday afternoon we went to an Asian market in town (a story in itself) and bought enough food to feed an army. After deciding that he was going to make a big dinner, we thought we'd invite some friends.

This phenomenon is one that I have never taken full advantage of. By that, I mean that I always feel too busy or too overwhelmed to spontaneously invite people over. Secondarily, I am always too buys or overwhelmed to keep my house clean enough to spontaneously invite people over. On this occasion, the stars were properly aligned and we had food, a clean house, and friends who were available.

Dinner went great - so tasty and it all (for the most part) came together as it should have. It was well received and prompted many compliments for the deserving chef. Throughout the course of the evening, a fair bit of alcohol was consumed, which lightened everyone's spirit and boistered conversation. I, in particular, am a very happy drunk, but also very, very loud. Everything is turned up several notches and, if everyone else is drinking with me, we have a great time. On the occasions where someone (namely, my lovely husband) is not drinking, I can be exceedingly annoying. Luckily (again, thanks to the starts) we were all on the same page last night and had a blast.

We solved the world's problems, one by one, and then lightly discussed the horror that is our upcoming Step 1 USMLE exam. We banded together and vowed to get each other through it.

I need to make these kinds of evenings a priority. Though I was tired today, I was more relaxed and optimistic about life than I have been in awhile. Yay for friends and good food and wine and, especially, champagne.