Def: Weekday and Cinco de Mayo

weekday [ˈwiːkˌdeɪ]

n

1) any day of the week other than Sunday and, often, Saturday

2) a term created by people who can actually distinguish between days of the week in order to look forward to a 2 day reprieve from work.

I was in error earlier this week when I corrected my mother on what day it was. I honestly believed it was Wednesday when in all actuality it was Tuesday.

Such is my life.

Since I no longer write the date on the board daily, I was happily surprised to read internet Cinco de Mayo well-wishes the day of. When did May get here? I think I'm stuck in 2010. I thought to mysef, "If I knew it was Cinco de Mayo, I would have planned to make Mexican food!" But I figured, why not  have a little last minute soiree? (I guess fiesta would be more appropriate but I'm studying French these days)  About 3pm I made the decision and threw some pollo in the crockpot. Text invites went out around 5pm and my market run commenced at 5:15. Actual food prep started at 6 and guests arrived at 6:30ish. It was a little hurried, but turned out wonderful. Husband even made it despite working 2nd shift. And special shout out to Aaron who was the official grill master extraordinaire.

 After buying lots of margarita mix in college for all of my roommates' virgin drink parties, I have come to an important conclusion: It is expensive and doesn't taste very good. So for our festivities I made a Maidename style Icee. Fill a blender full of ice, 1 packet Flavoraid (not even name brand Koolaid in the name of frugality), 1cup (or less) sugar, and enough water to make the ice float. Voila! This drink was a major boost to my babysitting franchise as a tween because anyone under age 10 thought I possessed the drink magic reserved for gas station runs with Dad. Much better than the $10 mixer and costs a whopping 50 cents. I had the dollar store glasses from my sissy's 21st mocktail party, slid a lime around the edge, and dipped them in sugar. I believe a large part of alcohol's appeal is the presentation, which is easy to achieve sans liquor.

The spread

I discovered Bashas' has a big tub of carne asada marinating in the butcher section earlier this week so I picked some up after my market run to compliment my raspberry chipotle chicken. Sounds and tastes fancy, but it's really just chicken and a 1/2 bottle of sauce from Fresh and Easy.

Homemade pico de gallo with cilantro from my garden. Really, this whole event was inspired by the abundance of cilantro I have growing.

 Fresh made salsa too!

My dear friend Rachel

After her auntie kept giving her tastes, she become obsessed with the margarita glass

Officially over the sombrero

Sis wore her dress from Mexico and brought over a J-sized one

Our entertainment for the evening

SEEEEEEE!

The internet is a fabulous source of inspiration. Or feelings of inadequacy, depending on your mood before surfing. Every now and again my sister and I will complain to each other that we don't do anything cool. I want to live in a picturesque apartment in Paris for a year! I never get to go anywhere! I wish I had elaborately decorated parties! I want to be super creative and unique! I want to be a fancy cook and bake whimsical desserts! I wish I went on little adventures to the farmers market or cruiser bike rides on the boardwalk!  Thankfully the good Lord gave us each other as a reminder that we DO have awesome lives full of awesome things. "Um sis, remember your Italy vacation? The one that was just a few months after Hawaii? Or your trip to the goat farm? Or the amazing pesto you made from your garden?" (I've been trying to remember something cool I did that she reminded me of, but I can't remember anything cool I've done. Which is ironically what I'm trying to illustrate). After several of these conversations we have decided what makes other people's lives look so awesome and sparkly on the internet.

It's pretty pictures of things taken with a nice camera.

My fiesta was nothing really magical or out of the ordinary, but that first picture of the drinks makes all the difference. So remember, any event or object looks incredible in macro with a high F-stop. Your life is cool too if you just pick up a camera to see it. Even if all you have is a point and shoot, take 200 pictures and you'll get at least one that looks like Fairy Godmother did a number on it.

Although it does mean you get to be the completely self-involved person taking 100 pictures of the food you made. Just warning you :)