Rooftop Revelry!

Last Friday (the 13th, no less!), Larry & I had our first party at the ol’ awesome homestead. We basically ended up preparing for it the few weeks leading up to it, spending probably way too much money on it. Yet it was all worth it. It came about because of some work friends who basically told me to put up or shut up about having people over. A date was chosen (no kidding, I think we chose it back in the beginning of May) and I took it as an opportunity to really make it an event. Invited work friends and then of course friends from MHS and UCLA. Larry created a great hors d’oeuvres-based menu, he made sangria, I made cookies and margaritas, we rented a keg, and we also bought a ton of outdoor lights since it WAS a rooftop party.

Flash forward to a few days before and Larry began cooking and preparing food in earnest. We stocked up on lots of party-esque stuff at Party City (that store is amazing – you really can get everything for a party there) and the day before, I went to town on cleaning the place up, using my new Dyson (yay!) as well as getting a bucket and sponge and cleaning the hell out of ALL the railings on each level of the unit. That’s a lot of fucking railings. Yet it got clean, it rained the night before to wash off any remaining gunk, and then on the day of the party, it was GO! time. I had Friday off so we could both commit fully to getting the place ready. We first got some of the food knocked out, including the cookies (which I totally forgot about at the party, so basically those cookies ended up for me, Larry and those who stayed late enough for me to have my memory kick in). Then it was time to set up the outdoors. We ended up with a great line of lights all around the top deck, and inspiration hit when Larry wanted to string the bigger bulbs overhead. We “borrowed” wood from the garage (one of the tenants has stored a shitton of lumber down there – he wouldn’t miss two widdle pieces being gone for a day, would he?) and strung the lights as envisioned. The outdoor furniture was set up, the music was primed – even the lower levels got their tiki torches and chinese lanterns. A trip to get the small keg of beer (perhaps a bit of overkill, but hey, we were prepared and no bottle trash!) followed and then it was time to ready ourselves for guests!

We both think it was a raging success and the lights at night resulted in quite a magical and fun environment. It was great to have everyone come over and intermingle, as a lot of the times we keep NBCU, MHS, UCLA and Larry’s friends separate. Of course our friends all got along wonderfully! Plenty of alcohol and fantastic food was consumed. We don’t keep our door unlocked, so there were a lot of stairs for me as I’d go from the roof down three flights to let people in or two flights to go get drink refills. We’ll have to figure out a smarter way to manage that next time. Having a party is an exhausting affair, yet so worthwhile. I think we’ll take a break for a month or so, but our place is definitely perfectly suited for entertaining!

Anyway – here are the pics from the evening.

Rooftop Revelry – July 13, 2012

Before the magic happened13-Jul-2012 11:56, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, ISO 80

Rooftop Revelry – July 13, 2012

Sunday Rooftop Fun – July 8, 2012

Independence Day Drinking and Barbequeing – July 4, 2012

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