#party – The Harkin Chronicles

My birthday falls at a weird time of the year. It’s August so it’s right before school starts and everybody’s trying to get that last bit of summer in by going on vacation. Including my own family – there were several birthdays growing up that we were on vacation or getting ready to leave for vacation. I know as adults most people WANT to go on vacation for their birthday but as a kid, all I wanted was to have a birthday party at school like all the other kids! The few times I did try to have a party around my birthday, a lot of my friends couldn’t make it because they were on vacation. Once I was an adult and working in ResLife, my birthday fell during RA training so I was constantly working and rarely got a day or evening off that I could celebrate away from students. (I still work at a college now but I get nights and weekends off which is GLORIOUS.) Also – weird just me thing – I have allergies that always start around my birthday and until we figured out that it was allergies and I could take Claritin or something, I was always sick for my birthday.

Since we just had a big party for Maranda, I didn’t really have the energy to put into another large, festive, themed gathering so instead I just opted for a casual cookout and bonfire at our house. Most of my close friends were able to make it and Ashley brought her kids. Kinley is two and a half now and was running all over yelling “AUNT AMANDA!!!” anytime she couldn’t see me. Sidenote – never realized how many large rocks there were in the yard until a toddler was tumbling all over the place. For once the weather wasn’t unbearably hot so later at night, we all ventured into the house and sat around the table chatting. Eventually we went down to the bar for a few more drinks before coming home and watching murder shows. Completely excellent casual birthday party! 10/10 would do again!

Until our next adventure!

Maranda is one of my best friends. We actually met before I moved back to Connecticut – I was interviewing for my old job and she had applied to my old job but didn’t get it, so she was SUPER salty when she met me. Fast forward a few months – someone quit at the last minute so she was hired and we both began work on the same day! Now let’s fast forward three years – I have a new job and Maranda was looking to move on as well and wound up accepting a job as an English teacher in China for the upcoming school year which means Maranda is moving to China very soon.

Maranda’s mom and I talked about throwing her a surprise going away party but earlier this summer, Maranda started to try and plan her OWN party so we had to tell her our plans. This worked out for the best because she was able to assist us with invites and picking a date that worked for her busy schedule. August is a HARD month to plan any type of event – so many people are on vacation and this year Maranda is IN two weddings in August. My parents let us host the party at their house which was great because they have a two car garage right next to the patio so if there’s bad weather, people can easily escape the rain.

Our friend Lexy helped me with decorations. We hung fairy lights and Chinese lanterns in the garage. Matt let us use his white canopy – we put that on the patio and hung a banner of tiny Chinese flags inside the tent. We also brought a spare TV from our house with our Apple TV to put in the garage for music (and later to show a slideshow and play our favorite game). Maranda’s mom, Lexy, and James helped with the food. We had burgers, chicken, pizza, potstickers, mini cupcakes with tiny Chinese flag toppers, and my dad set up a bar in the garage and made his famous PJ coladas all day! With the help of Maranda’s dad, I put a bunch of pictures and videos of Maranda together into a slideshow. We made everyone come into the garage to watch.

Right as people were beginning to leave, the sky got real dark real fast. Everybody started running things from the patio into the garage because it looked like it was about to pour. Just as we got the last chair inside, the sky opened up. We all sat in the garage playing Quiplash while we waited for the rain to end. It was pouring and thundering and lightning. We wound up having to close the garage door because the rain was being blown inside. Poor Lilly was so frightened – she was running from one person to another, hiding under chairs.

After the rain, we went to the bar for the evening. Some of our friends that hadn’t been able to come earlier in the day met us out at the bar. At one point, Maranda went into the bathroom. After she had been in there awhile, her sister (who flew up from Virginia!), Ashley, and I went to check on her. It started to hit her that she was moving away and she was a little upset. All four of us sat on the bathroom floor for an hour. It started as comforting Maranda but then we had all sorts of crazy conversations. I think that will be my favorite memory from the night!