All dressed up and ready to party!!!!!!

This is my granparents table all dressed up and ready for the party. I used one of my grandmother's quilts (the one she made the year dad was born - 1944). [Don't freak, I put clear vinyl over the top to protect it.] Then I put fresh flowers (I cheated and got them from Kroger) on the table in a Mason jar.

I used this table for all the food and condiments for the party (but ran out of space on my camera card to take a picture). :o( It was really pretty. We did a Shrimp Boil (I got the recipe from Skip to My Lou). I had been wanting to try it for awhile now (but had to convince Frank). I was very pleased with how it turned out, I think it was a hit.

I was unable to do it quite like Skip to my Lou. My grandmother's table was originally suppposed to be the drink and dessert table and we were going to put the Shrimp Boil on the main eating table (you have to check it out on Skip to My Lou to really understand what I mean) - I wanted the FULL experience. I wasn't able to get the extra tables and chairs, so I had to improvise (we had to use plates) and use my grandmother's table for all the food.

Also, I mis-read the recipe and thought it fed 30 people (it feeds 10 - how did I get 30 from 10????????). Well, since I haven't made this before I had a back up of hamburgers and hot dogs (just in case the shrimp boil flopped - it didn't). It's a good thing (I had hamburgers and hot dogs) since I was having 30 and could only feed 10 with the recipe. We actually could feed more beause I got a little extra of almost everything.

All in all I was very pleased with how this turned out (even with the cake issues - more on that later). We will definitely be doing this again sometime.

I wanted to purchase a Turkey Fryer (just for this event plus Frank likes deep fried turkey - actually that's the only way he likes turkey). Frank didn't want me to purchase one (I think he expected it to flop), he had me borrow my uncle's. Well, when I mentioned possibly doing this again he seemed all for it. He's not totally opposed to purchasing a turkey fryer now. He would still rather I borrow one (I mean really how many times a year are we going to do this and turkey fryers are rather expensive).

I'll have a few more ideas of what I did later (hint: see that green in the picture to the left of the table) . Keep checking back.