February 9, 2013 – Rachel's Musings

So today was the big day! My ‘Rachel Turns 32 and Gets a House Party’. My birthday was actually a few weeks ago but I wanted to combine my housewarming and birthday parties into one big bash. I hired my Dad’s tenant and our friend Dax to come over and assemble furniture, hang artwork and that was such a great move. It made the house feel really done. Outsourcing is almost always a fabulous idea!

My roommate was a wonderful help with cleaning and organizing for the party and my cousin Danielle came down and got balloons and helped me to clean (she’s the best!). I was a little worried that the emerging storm might scare people off but luckily there was a steady flow of people from 5 all the way to closing time at 10.

I saw old roommates, ward friends, swim friends, cousins, just good friends. It made me feel happy that I have such wonderful people in my life. There were also many who could not come because of illness or other concerns and I could feel their thoughtfulness light up inside of me. I really do have the best friends ever.

One fun thing is that my curtains got installed today and while I was at Costco getting party trays (yum!) the guy worked on the install so when I came home they were done which was a fun surprise. They look so good. I love them! I just love my house! It was so fun to share it and maybe show off just a little bit to my friends. It was a happy moment and I feel full of joy. I really do love my house!

The party was super fun and I’m so grateful for everyone who came. The cake turned out amazing!

back of cake. See swimmer at the bottom. That's me! — back of cake. See swimmer at the bottom. That’s me!

front of cake- I couldn’t cut into it but we had a sheet cake for guests. Will cut into Sunday when my family is town. Too pretty to eat!

Everything else in the party turned out great. There was a yummy spread with sandwiches, shrimp and super good strawberries all from Costco. Seriously the strawberries were delectable.

The favors were really cute from etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/JegasCreations.

If you’ve seen the movie Up you should recognize this pin. We also had grape soda to drink.

I made this guest book for the party which I think turned out super cute too.

If you've seen the movie Up you should get this adventure book. Isn't it cute? — If you’ve seen the movie Up you should get this adventure book. Isn’t it cute?

Here are some photos of some of the friends at the party. There were of course many people I didn’t get photos of. Thanks to everyone who came! It’s always so nice to see that old friends are still good friends and that you don’t have to see someone everyday to still be tight. I am a very loved person.

It’s going to be a party that will be hard to top and while I am exhausted it is a happy kind of tired. A feeling loved and a sense of satisfaction tired. Its a job well done and feeling of accomplishment kind of tired. It’s the end of a journey and the beginning of an adventure. Most importantly I feel so loved.

So sometimes I impress myself. With the help of a little outsourcing I basically have my house done. Some furniture to arrive next week, blinds to get installed and a few other little things but for the most part everything is done. I’m really glad I planned my party tonight because it helped motivate me to get things done quickly and put an end to the moving process, something I sorely needed to be done with. I wanted to get to loving my house as soon as possible and today I do love it!

For those who couldn’t come to the party here is a little tour of a few rooms (not including my roommates and tenants room). I LOVE my house and I feel so blessed to be in it. Thank you to everyone for all your support during these stressful months of home building. Don’t you think it was worth it? 🙂