HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!!!
I'll admit, I was itching to see the first snow on the ground, since it is already 9 days into December. It was going to happen sooner, rather than later.
I primped myself and got those "watsizzlin' curls", as my friend Becca & Lauren refer my locks as... and put on a black sequin embroidered skirt & top, and threw on my sequin trim sweater...
there is a theme here... yes, I like sequin-y things.
Anyway, I got all snazzy because my friend Matt invited me to his Christmas work party. I traveled on my way out 45 minutes to his humble abode, and there we ventured off on the slippery roads to pick up his co-worker and head to Macatawa Legends. It was a beautifully decorated building, all decked out in Christmas decor. We proceeded inside and downstairs to this blue & white snowy themed banquet room. At each table, there were centerpieces with vases wrapped in sparkly ribbon and filled with yummy Hershey's kisses; and peeking out the top was some blue & white tissue with glittery vines & a crystal snowflake. Pretty.
The food was very delish. For starters, there were pita chips & asiago cheese dip, and then flavorful stuff mushrooms. Yum. There was an electric blue punch, and blueberries scattered about in the drink. The main course consisted of a salad with yummy dried cranberries and leafy sorts & tomatoes; following a buffet style of mixed green veggies with carrots, beans, asparagus, zucchini... and the best mashed potatoes I have EVER had, with a choice of beef, chicken, or salmon. I went with the safe bet- chicken. For dessert, I really wanted them all. haha. There was cheesecake, a brownie slathered in ice cream and strawberry sauce, or a 3-layered chocolate mousse. Knowing myself, I wanted the cheesecake. In fact, I wish I had chosen that, but alas, I'm always up for trying something different, so I went with the mousse. It was very sweet and good.
Well, 4 drinks later, I was thinking, "why did I even drink so much?" .....Free. FREE.
Though free can sometimes be bad in this case, haha.
Nah, I didn't drink them all. But after two drinks sinking in Malibu, well, things start getting a little fuzzy. =P Then I got a Mike's, and got poured a glass of red wine.... let's just say I dabbled in each drink.... and well, they were free? Did I mention that?
Anyway, I seriously felt like this was... or could have very well been, an episode of the Office.
There was a group of 30 or so at this party, and I guess that's the company. For me, I was thinking it was going to be much bigger, but I guess not. One of the employee's husband's was the "guest speaker," if you will, and let me tell you... we have found ourselves a new Michael Scott to replace him. This guy was blasting out the moronic jokes and bad-timing humor like nobody's business. I was laughing at some points just because no one else was & I was starting to feel bad for this guy, which I guess made it so funny to me... and well, I did have 4 drinks, so maybe it was just me.
There were names drawn out of a bag, and each employee got to pick from the plethora of gifts. Some picked out a Mr Coffee Maker, iPod shuffle, Leatherman, gift baskets, etc etc. I never really looked it over since I wasn't planning on being included in this... but surprise!! They drew my name right at the end. I was kind of shocked when I heard, "Lauren." haha. So I got up there and was handed a gift basket with things like chocolate and cookies [I think... I can never really
tell with gifty items in a basket]. If I would have been thinking, I should have snagged the iPod shuffle! You were able to "steal" once, and darn it, I didn't. But I also felt slightly weird doing that, since the couple's at our table were so nice, and the lady sitting next to me picked the Mr Coffee & her husband picked the iPod shuffle. Later Matt informed me that they were really well off, so not like they couldn't have bought one, or like, 50 of them, like it was nothing. Darn!
Michael Scott... or umm, whatever his name was... was in charge of the games, too. Oh boy, did this get pretty nutty. The games themselves were pretty funny, but at this point in the night [9:30p], half the people had left. So there was one game where there were 5 tall boxes with jingle bells in them, and you had to line them up by how many were in there [5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 35]. All you got to do was shake them. I decided to take a jab at the game, since they were giving out $10 gift cards to places... and there was an Applebee's one up for grabs, ha ha, and I love me some Applebee's! So since hardly no one was participating, "Michael" took out 2 of the boxes. After the clock started, I had a minute to figure them out and line them up accordingly. After careful consideration and rolling the jingles in the boxes, I put them in order and waited.... AH! I WON! haha. So I actually scored TWO $10 gift cards, the other being at Panera. Not bad, not bad!
By the end of the night [10:30p], there were like 8 people left. So everyone was cleaning up, and
oh, there was also a guessing game of how many kisses were in the centerpieces-- and if you guessed close enough, you won it. Well, lucky for me, their were name drawings for extra centerpieces, and I ended up drawing Matt's name- so he got to keep one- & the husband of one lady said he didn't want his [and she can't eat chocolate], so she took the balloons and crystal snowflake [boo!], but hey, I got a pretty vase filled with chocolate!
Also, they had a game using nice plastic martini glasses, and "Michael" gave them to me, along with a pretty metal tray, chapstick, CDS [Nutcracker, & a Blue Collar Christmas ha ha], AND
blueberry candy canes.
WOW.
So needless to say, I was filled to the brim with goodies, so I'd say it was worth the drive out there, haha. It was very fun, and I had a very fun "date," thanks to Matt.
We ended the night snapping a few photos, since we never took any there, and he looked at my ailing old Dell laptop.... [pretty sure it's on its last legs..... so I ordered a new one around Black Friday time. It's an HP, in SWEET PURPLE, and yeah, it seems pretty good! Just spent waaaaay too much though!] So we were both way tired, and I headed home. I think next week he may accompany me to my friend's Ugly Sweater/Mustache/Christmas party in Lowell, so that should be lots of fun.
Anyway, it was a very fun evening, and hopefully there will be many more in the near future!
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