Party Hearty

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Check out Lara from Overstuffed today to see her take on my book. It's really interesting to see so many people connecting to it differently depending on the life experiences they bring into reading it. 


On to the book launch party.


One word: Fantastic.


In many other words: I loved it, it was everything I hoped it would be, I had so much fun, and I think everyone else did, too.


I went with a beach theme to fit my book. I rented out the Fiesta Room at the Lago Santa Margarita Beach Club. I know, it sounds so fancy, right?


The beach club is the pool in the center of town that is perfect for kids. It's surrounded by green grassy banks and then the pool itself has a large sandy beach for the kids to play on. And it's right next to the lake. So it fit my book perfectly. I spent months planning this thing and then I called in the troops. My husband's band played, my brother and his girlfriend manned the drinks, and my Aunt Linda flew in from Illinois to chop and skewer for ten hours a day and then help me throw the whole party together.


My aunt and mother-in-law spent two days helping prep and decorate, and then pulled off a really cute cake. And now, for the pictures. These are in no particular order because hello? Have you tried to work with pictures in Blogger?:

 My aunt Linda and my brother's girlfriend, Nadine

 Centerpieces of orchid and plumeria done by a friend of a friend

 Pineapple/fruit centerpieces, planned by me, executed entirely by Aunt Linda. GORGEOUS.

 Chocolate-dipped strawberries, a la Aunt Linda

 CUTE cake from my mother-in-law and Aunt Beth

 Karen and Carrie from The Bookport, selling my books. (31 sold. Yay!)

 I wanted a "mocktail" bar (although we didn't call it that) with signatures drinks for some of the book characters. Nadine and Jamie reported that the two most popular drinks were the Sassy Ashley (ginger ale, orange juice, and grenadine) and the Shaka Derek (pina colada and pineapple juice.) There was also the Mellow Matt (cranberry juice and 7-Up) and the Tart Megan (margarita mix and Squirt). The drinks were free and just for fun.

 Me, signing! It's really unnerving. For a while I was writing "Dear So and So" instead of "To So-and-So". Duh! And I would suddenly get anxious that I would forget someone's name. And it's really hard to think of 31 different things to say!

 The food table" Hawaiian sweet rolls, pineapple/mango salsa, guacamole, Aunt Beth's Fantastic Macaroni Salad, a mixed green salad with feta and vinaigrette, and grilled marinated chicken from the local carniceria. My visiting teachers came over and helped cut up veggies and meat for the skewers, along with my mother-in-law. Who helped. They didn't cut her up. And then when there was no room in my fridge for all that meat, another friend, Brittany, not only volunteered to refrigerate it for me, she also volunteered to grill all the chicken. Or course, that was before she understood what 35 pounds of chicken shish kebabs looked like, but she STILL did it and even called in reinforcements from other friends in the ward to get it all grilled in time. And it was DELICIOUS.

 A view of the room. 

 A view of the band, my husband on lead.

 The party people throng the food, outside view.

Kenny makes me do a reading. It was actually pretty fun.

 My friend Colleen, who drove two hours to come and help.

My blog friend and road trip buddy, Karen from A Peek at Karen's World.

Miss DeNae from My Real Life Was Backordered. She learned, to her detriment, that I am really, really bad at geography and spatial relationships, but still did not kill me when she showed up after an hour and a half in her car. I even met her husband! My husband was really sad he didn't get to talk to him because he loves to talking to guys in her husband's line of work.

Another look at the cool centerpieces. And some wooden bowls MADE BY MY HUSBAND and full of dried tropical fruit.  And also, some cool friends we like hanging out with.

A gift from my friend Heather, and inside:

A survival kit for when I become to good for the little people.

Did you know that when you have a book launch, people bring YOU gifts? I had NO idea. I got a gorgeous succulent, a dozen red roses, an orchid, and gift certificates to the new cupcake store in town. Dangerous. 

Anyway, it was a wonderful night and I floated for two days after. I think I'm still floating. I have such great friends and family and we live in such an awesome place.

Wish you all were here!