Life as a grown up

Sometimes it's truly hard to be a grown up. (Like when the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays came and went and I missed two family parties to be with my boyfriend and his family – you know, grown ups are supportive in their relationships). But sometimes (like last weekend), being a grown up is so much damn fun. I will tell you, before the following shenanigans begin, that I am very proud of myself for being this so-called grown up.

So, because I missed my family so much over the holidays I decided to take matters into my own hands – and invite them all over for a post-holiday, sorry-I-missed-you get together. I would have had everyone over, however, my apartment and I (after a long talk and look around) decided it best to keep the group at 20 or so – for multiple reasons.

This past Saturday, just as planned, my mom, dad, 2 brothers, Boston, my grandma and grandpa, my uncle, aunt, 3 cousins, 3 babies and one great friend all made the trek to Plymouth Avenue to be with Eric and I for our very first self-hosted Family Fiesta. When they arrived, the place was decorated, catered food was prepared for us to pick up and the tequila was ready to flow. (Granted, some non-grown-up things happened – such as having to run to the store for chips, macaroni and cheese and orange juice for my nephew, and for more beer – but hey, these things happen).

And after hours of chatting, eating food, karaoke and the night capper of charades, it was official: Eric and I had successfully hosted our first party. (Well, our first party that didn’t end in puke and bad decisions…) And, to make the grown up meter reach the very tippy top, we also cleaned up and rearranged our house (and did the dishes!) after everyone left and before we went to bed. And although the clean-up was done with drinks in hand and the occasional turning up of the radio to dance the Macarena – we were still very proud of ourselves.

Hopefully I won’t miss out on family functions for the holidays every year, but if I do, I’ll be sure to remedy it with a fiesta of my own.