Who knew I'd like a party with mostly strangers?

Today was a VERY long day. Actually, most of my days are pretty long. I typically get up at 5, leave for work by 6:30, get to work at 7:30, go to the gym at lunch time, leave work at 4:30, get home around 5:30, have dinner, get ready for the next day, relax a little, and get into bed by 9:30.

Most of us have this type of routine, with minor monkey wrenches thrown in like evening commitments that wear us out more. This week I had one of those every night, except for Halloween, where I spent most of the evening answering the doorbell.

Earlier in the week, a friend asked if I was coming to her party on Friday night or not. I had said "maybe" on eVite, because I knew I was overbooked this week, and I didn't think I'd have the energy for it. But, my husband agreed to go with me (even though it was a Pampered Chef-themed party, and there would be mostly women there). My other trepidation about going to the party was that I only knew the hostess, who is a close friend of my husbands and more of a passing acquaintance of mine. I wanted to go in order to get to know her better, and to ogle the Pampered Chef merchandise.

I was particularly exhausted when I got home tonight, so I drank a diet soda to get me through the evening. (I usually don't drink soda after lunch time, since it can make getting to sleep problematic.) When we left for the party, I figured that we'd stay an hour or two, in order to be polite, and then we'd come home and fall asleep.

Silly, silly, woman! It was a really fun party. The hostess and the Pampered Chef representative worked their butts off making sure there was lots of food and beverage to be had, and that the salesmanship was kept to a bare minimum. My husband ended up being the only male there, but he didn't seem to mind. He gave me a tour of the house and introduced me to the hostess's three cats. He also ordered me a new chef's knife that I had been coveting for quite some time. Isn't he wonderful!

Then we ended up meeting two women (sisters) who we had a fantastic conversation with. The party went on around the four of us. People kept excusing themselves walking through our conversation. People gradually started leaving while others cleaned up. Finally, it was just the four of us and the hostess. The five of us then retired to the living room and continued to talk and laugh (a lot!) for another hour.

When we got home, I was asleep within 15 minutes of walking through the door. Considering some of my regular issues with sleep, maybe I should go to more parties!