'Twas the Night Before Juleping...

Well, I have ambitiously or foolishly decided to invite at least ten people over to my apartment (that seats eight) tomorrow for a Southern style dinner to celebrate my new residence. Tonight, while rolling silverware, I realized that this is unprecedented. I haven't had a dinner party since college, when I had a boyfriend to run to the grocery store and buy pizza rolls to supplement the food selection. However, tomorrow, my sous chef will be in Ohio and my best girlfriends are out on family and work business. I feel like I'm steeling for an assault of guests, only armed with my wits and enough alcohol to intoxicate them into believing I am a good hostess. However, phase one has begun: Sonia and I made the pecan pie (it has that delightful creme brulee hard top), the mint juleps (reason why the whole apartment sticks), and the cheese grits (with equal parts grits and cheese/butter). This was accomplished after a delightful take-out dinner of dolmathes, hummus with pine nuts and ground beef, and a salmon wrap sandwich from my favorite local Lebanese restaurant, the Pita House. Thankfully, any desire to travel to Beirut by looking at the travel posters on the walls was quelled by the neccessity of me staying in town to empty the contents of my fridge.

It is quite indulgent to have a fridge bursting at the seams, especially with new guests: collard greens, ham steaks, Virginia sparkling peach cider, and all the kinetic potential that uncooked grits and uncut pies can offer. I have to admit, though, I've been occupied with some pretty banal concerns tonight. At Target, I spent $13 on bathroom accessories so I would not expose to my guests that I keep my toothbrush in a Christmas mug or that I have a Softsoap container that houses the obviously orange Dial. I also arranged the magazines in my bathroom toilet paper rack; I'd like to remove them altogether so people don't think I actually spend enough time in there to read them, but I'm afraid that would be more obvious. I also researched--tonight--computer recycling places for the Compaq I previously stored in a closet for two years that is taking up about 8 cubic feet of space in my bedroom. I think this is a chore that will get ignored tomorrow.

If my apartment had emotions, and I assume it's developed some in its 150 years, I think it would have widened its eyes tonight, thrilling at the sight of two people in its little kitchen and would subsequently be excitedly anticipating its very own themed party, respectful of the residence: tonight, I arranged the wrapped silverware (tied it up with rattan that looks sort of like hay) in a cast iron skillet and put my Robert E. Lee figurine to stand guard on my mantle, and if I have enough time tomorrow, I'll turn my curtains into a little bustled number with a fringed hat.