Almost party time

Have I mentioned that my husband and I are having a party to watch Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday night? I’ve lived here 11 years, and other than our wedding party (held at his mother’s home) and our annual 4th of July family reunion, I can think of only one other “party” we’ve held, and that was for a group of knitting friends.

My husband really wasn’t part of that equation.

Anyway … we’re excited and I spent the weekend putting the finishing touches on our office/family room. After much trial and error, I think I found the solution to hanging 12 photos, all the same size, so that they a. don’t fall and b. are equidistant apart. Sticky-back Velcro works like a charm. Of course, the frames (simple, black, wooden, ordered online a couple weeks ago) are very lightweight. During the initial stages of trying to use actual picture frame hangers, three frames fell, resulting in broken glass. I bought cheap Dollar Store document frames to replace the glass. It’s been two days now and every photo is still on the wall. It’s so exciting to walk up the stairs and see that the whole display is still intact.

I turned to Martha for patriotic decoration ideas, and ended up making tri-color, three-dimensional paper stars and some little red/white/blue drink umbrellas. I think they’ll enhance the buffet, and we might even stick some in cups of lemonade.

(I also found this cute little way of presenting gifts of cash; my older grandchildren appreciate cashmoneybucks more than “stuff” these days. That Martha is sooo clever.)

Fifteen stars are scattered across the wall space above five windows, along with four “Yes We Can” posters. (You can snag lots of Obama printables here.)

We also have goodie bags for our guests, filled with swag: posters, bumper stickers, buttons, a t-shirt transfer and a mix CD of protest songs. This was my favorite part of the party prep, and I’ve been working on it for a couple of weeks.

Now that the room is ready (please pray that the satellite doesn’t go on the fritz this week), it’s time to start on the food! Mmmmm! (I’ll write about the menu tomorrow, if you’re interested.)

With all this busy-work, have I had time to run? Why, yes, yes I have. Last week was an easy week – three runs, two three-milers and a four-miler, all at a 12:47 pace. I aced the second and third ones, which gives me a lot of confidence that continued training will result in faster times and improved endurance.

Cooler temperatures wouldn’t hurt, either.