fifth!

Had the fifth annual wine + cheese party this weekend! So much fun, as usual! I am listing the menu here for my own record:

cheese:
irish white cheddar
gouda
goat cheese
mozzarella
parmagiano reggiano
curds
manchego (my new favorite cheese)
brie
cheesecake (cream cheese, ricotta, goat) with red peppers, chives, oregano, thyme

meats
panchetta
salami

fruits/veggies
yellow peppers
basil
tomatos
grapes
clementines

sweets
truffles
cups with coconut or raspberries & ganache
lime custard tarts with raspberries
chocolate coins

And, of course, wine. 30 bottles were empty in the morning, and we had 10 left over. WOW!

I paired down on the food a little bit which left me with less leftovers (a GOOD thing) and let me spend a little bit more $$ on the party. I think I maybe spent the usual amount, so that's good. Extravagant, but a nice holiday treat for friends. And seeing it's really the only party I have all year, my pocketbook can handle it.

jingle

Well, despite everything, life moves along.

The cold has cleared up, thanks in large part the copious amounts of Zicam gel I swabbed into my nose 4 or 5 times each day and the comfort food I ate (barley soup, mac'n'cheese, ice cream).

I'm finding that I am totally accepting of the W's & my break-up. It just makes total sense. That doesn't mean I don't miss him tho. Last night I was driving home from my first holiday party of the season and a little doodle he had made on one of car windows in the steam showed up. I found myself smiling and laughing to myself. I picked up the phone can called him; left a message. He never called back tho, which is sort of infuriating. My message was simple "Hi. Was just thinking about you. Hope you are well and are having a good week. I'm okay, let's talk and be friends" and so on.

This morning I was checking through some other blogs I read and this was a recent post on "Greek Tradgedy" She's an awesome lady who's blog I've been following for maybe 2-3 years now. Anway...the entire post obviously speaks to me right now.

I particularly enjoyed "Deck them along with your halls". While I do not want to "deck" him one, I will certainly try to "deck" the associated feelings and gear up for my own holiday (the fifth one in as many years!!!) this Saturday.

I do hope he calls back though. I want him to know that I still want him around and to occasionally maybe grab a drink or something. I still have that odd feeling of wanting to make sure he goes after the one he loves, but I sort of want to support him in that process.

All of that said (and this counters with EVERYTHING I talk about in this post) part of me does want to fight him to let him know that he should keep me. That's kind of an awkward way to say it, but it's true.

Ah well. Jingling on. Party this weekend. Have a lot of work to do to get everything ready. I will try to focus only on that and finishing up my shopping.