Warmings (of the Heart and Home)

Ahhh - I am still smiling over the great weekend I had. It actually spawned several blogs that I will get to over time, but let's jump into my Trifecta of good things that went down this weekend.

First, was the emergence of "Janet" from new baby heaven. What a "Warming"! She came over on Saturday and we went to look at dresses etc. for the wedding. WHAT FUN! This was what I was waiting on - we laughed and played around and acted like divas and she even cried at the notion that I was getting married. We made alot of progress in the entire wedding thing and I'm sooo happy that we're on the same page. We took a camera so I got shots of dresses etc. Next we went and bought Mini-Me and Chocolate Baby Pound Cake's Dresses. At that shop we tried on gowns and marched around and had a good time as well. It was just great being out with her - we missed each other in this capacity.

Then it gets even better because we parted and then got back together as she rejoined the party scene as well. We had been invited out for dinner and drinks and we decided to go. So we went on down and broke bread with about 8 other sistas. The restaurant was screaming a nice first date - the lights were all low and we sat outside and had watermelon mojitos and I had the tenderest piece of beef I've ever had in my life. I can't even tell you what it tasted like, because it melted as soon as it hit your mouth! www.maritarestaurant.com for any ATL peeps reading.

Meanwhile the second "Warming" was that while I was out Saturday evening, CAUN had invited Mini-me to the movies. They went to Buckhead Backlot, which is a theatre where you can have a meal and watch the show. They had quite an enjoyable evening and got an opportunity to talk more indepth to each other. Mini-me is transitioning fairly complication free into this new family situation, but she's still getting used to some things and one of the biggest ones is the moving of CAUN from boyfriend status to step father status. It's an interesing title to begin with seeing as she's never had an actual on-site father to begin with. So she's grappling with a total unknown entity. As much as we've spoken over the years about what a father does - she's still not necessarily sure. I think that CAUN is handling it well, not pushing himself on her, but allowing her to come to him. Mini-me and I had conversation about some of his roles in her life and that they would be to: (1) to be there for her (2) to assist me in raising her (3) to represent her out in the street and at all things Mini-me such as PTA's etc. etc. (4) to offer up advice and other words of wisdom and guidance. Now she is a bit peeved that he has disciplined her in the way of co-signing my taking away some of her electronics until she performs better in school - but that's good. I'm not going to have a house where there is she and I and then CAUN and I, I've seen homes like that and it doesn't work in the long run. No secret relationshps between Mini-me and I. We need to be cohesive. CAUN and I talk about her upbringing and go over things before I roll them out and that's my way of getting him involved - so that he won't feel like he has no autonomy in his own home. He's the man up in that piece and I go to him for consultation on matters of the home and that includes the children.

Finally the third "Warming" was the housewarming. I have said I love entertaining, but I think I will amend that to I love the 'process' of entertaining. I always feel a sorta 'letdown' after an event. We had our housewarming/engagement party this weekend. We got up Sunday and operated around there like a well oiled machine! All three of us cleaned and set up and organized stuff and I was soo freaking excited. I had invited 19 or so people and the final tally was 8. It's soo hard to bring black folks together who are not related. If you let that get to you, you would never have anything at your home. However, I am going to clean house of a few folks on my list. They are not trying to come to anything I've had - so why keep wasting my energy and having to go through that awkward "Sorry I didn't come" routine - let it go.

Anyhoo - the get together (less than 10 people is not a party), turned out quite nice. I had so much fun laying out the table and the food and I had a new punch recipe that turned out really good. We went with a little bit of catering to offset the time necessary to cook and it worked out perfectly. So much so that I pulled out my virtual headpiece and made bean pies. They came out slammin if I say so myself. Several folks experienced them for the first time and didn't even have to track them down in the west end on the corner, lol. CAUN and I play together well. He had set up the garage for the fellas and that was new to me, being the main hostess for things for so long - but it worked out great. The fellas definately were thankful, lol. We sat around and had some enlightening and good conversation - grown woman conversation. I made sure that I touched with every one of my guests but the vibe flowed on it's own. It felt very good to have folks in the house for the first time - I had so been looking forward to getting the house 'seasoned' - because like a good cast iron skillet - you need to have your space filled with the spirits of those mean anything to you to fill it out, give it that oomph.

I was blessed to recieve some nice gifts for the home and things went so smoothly that by 10pm I was in the bed watching Gayzilla, lol lol The important fact about this - kitchen clean!

So today begins another week - - Let's Hope the 'warming' continues.