Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Planning a Party (Part One)

Groceries

I love planning, organizing, cooking and setting up for a party. I have said it before, that I think I missed my calling: I should have been a party planner.

Growing up in a large family where my mother, Aunts and cousins were ring leaders when it came to planning, organizing, cooking and setting up for parties, were weddings, baptisms and showers, were a weekly event: party planning is in my blood.

Last night we had a gathering of friends to welcome Chelsea's Home-coming and BonVoyage to China.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store. Because unlike my mother I rarely plan things, more-so, I love to work under pressure. Why go to the grocery store in advance, when you can wait to the last minute before thirty people arrive at your home for dinner?

Pressure means fun for me.

Except, when you think your worker bee is going to be there to help you, and instead you find him cleaning the fireplace (that doesn't need cleaning) and making shrimp soup out of shrimp heads that isn't even on the menu.

Alittle pressure gives me a rush, alot of pressure makes me swallow bad words, and want to make soup out someone's beetle (beetle is a family word for one's head).

Do you like working under pressure?

Comments

32 responses to “Planning a Party (Part One)”

  1. Julie M ~ The Little Red Shop

    Hmmm….well, it’s 5:25am and I’ve yet to hit the hay! I really need to stop wearing time backwards. I’m sure your party will be lovely, Corey, minus the shrimp heads. I grew up in a party-throwing family. So, I have a happy picture in my mind of all the hustle and bustle going on at your house today.
    Enjoy!
    : )
    Julie M.

    Reply
  2. Penny

    Last year at this time of year I was planning a baby shower for one of our daughters, at our house. 40 guests that I wanted to seat at tables with china plates and silverware. We have a rather large house, but, the dining room is very small and the kitchen, while also big, can only safely hold about 10. I was in a mad rush, setting up tables in the den and family room and coming up with some pretty creative ways to sit people AND shopping at the last minute (though I did make enough Swedish meatballs to serve them all earlier in the month and froze them).
    Amidst all this chaos my good husband decided to redo the ceiling and floor of the main bathroom – with a foot injury.
    Alas and alack, he finished, I finished, the story is told and, I must say, it was one of the best showers ever!
    Have a wonderful party – it all works out in the end.

    Reply
  3. Debra

    C, we couldn’t be more alike in this area . . .love the pressure. Sometimes I think things turn out better because of the pressure and if I had a lot of time, well, who know??? Get this, my kids set the clocks earlier so I will be on time, and tell me whatever event I am taking them to is another time just so we actually arrive on time. Does that make sense?
    have fun today!!!!

    Reply
  4. lindamarcov

    I fall more in step with your Mom, I enjoy the process of planning a party, tweaking it over the course of several days, and watching it unfold before my eyes. Then I can sit back and truly be a part of THE party…. but I am sure any party at your house is magical, as just being around you and Yann is magical.

    Reply
  5. Shelley@thiswhiteshed.blogspot.com

    I am a writer, currently with three January deadlines, yet here I am losing myself in your lovely blog – so yes, I work well under pressure, right after I procrastinate under pressure. Party planning sounds like a welcome diversion!!

    Reply
  6. Everton Terrace

    For a few years I planned corporate meeting, parties and functions (even out of state), loved it. I start well in advance, write it all down, cross it off as I go but still I swear I end up like you. One year we had a large New Year’s Eve party and 2 hours before the guests arrived my husband was still painting our kitchen cupboard doors! A little project he took on the day before – what is that?
    I would come to any party at your house, even if you said I had to cook my own meal.

    Reply
  7. Rhonda P.

    Oh yes, pressure is good for me, I power shop at lunch, I clean so fast under pressure, I create better under pressure! Give me a deadline and I’m on it!

    Reply
  8. Kathie B.

    I dislike working under pressure, so try to get started early and pace myself. Yet, despite my best efforts, work always seems to expand to fill the available time 😉

    Reply
  9. Brenda L from TN

    No…sorry…not me…I need time to plan what the theme will be..what to serve…how many to invite…what to serve…where everyone will sit…what to wear…what to serve…(you get the idea, don,t you?)
    Hope your party is MUCH better than mine…LOL

    Reply
  10. Kathie B.

    “make soup out someone’s beattle”
    Huh???

    Reply
  11. Jillayne

    I work better under pressure but sometimes I wish I didn’t; I think more clearly and more quickly but my temper can get the best of me. It’s usually because I have everything planned to the last second it will take and then my own certain someone throws his own version of headless soup into the mix, et voila! One bad temper at work!

    Reply
  12. Cindy

    I do okay with some pressure, not a lot. My preference is to be well organized ahead of time. I could have been a professional organizer. As a matter of fact, do you know that there is such a thing as a professional organizer? Yup, there is. I even worked for one, for a short time. There is always someone out there willing to pay for someone else’s expertise, no matter what that expertise may be. I hope Chelsea’s party was a success.

    Reply
  13. Denise Moulun-pasek

    I can’t say that I like to work under pressure. I am a get-ready-in-advance kind of girl. My nerves can’t take the pressure as well as when I was a young thing.

    Reply
  14. Jeanne

    I love you my darling one………
    big hugs

    Reply
  15. Sharon, Morrison Mercantile

    Pressure is the only way I work well!
    To start early preparing is rare, unless I am the only one prepping for a gathering. For the holidays I did bake ahead, but that was it. Most dishes were prepared Christmas Eve morning for our Christmas Eve celebration.
    Happy party!!

    Reply
  16. Amy Kortuem

    No. I hate it. I used to leave everything until the last minute and then wondered why I was always sick from stress and worry. Now I love planning ahead. I”m a list queen.
    Corey, I thought of you when I played my harp at a 1-1-11 wedding. The bride carried a bouquet made from vintage satin roses, puffs of white feathers and vintage rhinestone pins – it reminded me of how you create those beautiful vignettes from all your brocante finds. You can take a peek at the bouquet on my blog here: http://amykortuem.blogspot.com/2011/01/1-1-11-wedding.html

    Reply
  17. kim

    I basically plan ahead and still get pretty stressed when giving a dinner party. But my husband is notorious for starting projects about three hours before the guests arrive. Like… one time I asked him to vacuum and when he pulled the cleaner out he noticed that something wasn’t right in the closet and so he tore the closet apart and started repairing the wall!!! He does this all the time and it’s sort of a joke between us now.

    Reply
  18. LaurieSF

    Cleaning an oven hours before a dinner party. Trail of tortilla chips and leftover fish for lunch. My husband loves to help out with parties.

    Reply
  19. Marie-Noëlle

    I DO admire the people who can organize a big party (30 is BIG !!!) in the week time !!!
    How BRAVE !!!

    Reply
  20. Kimberly

    Yep I work well under stress. I seem to work a little harder and get more done when under stress. Wish it wasn’t that way but it is so I just roll with it. Blessings, Kimberly

    Reply
  21. Jenna

    LOL, yes, I work best under pressure. Camembert is tastier than beattle soup, the guest of honor is a vegetarian. Maybe this nest for two has a budding party planner in it?

    Reply
  22. Sara

    With little kids in the house, all the work I do is under pressure!

    Reply
  23. Marilyn

    No ~ I like planning ahead. I am a quick planner; however, so I guess I could work under pressure.

    Reply
  24. Karen@PasGrand-Chose

    Ahh, if this is part one, I hope we can look forward to some pics of the party? I also tend to work best under pressure, but how I wish I could avoid the stress and be super-organized ahead of time!

    Reply
  25. Miss Robyn

    I think it is called an adrenalin rush.

    Reply
  26. Papaya

    I always used to say that I worked better under pressure…then one day as I was saying to to my BFF my son said,”But Mommy you aren’t very nice when you do that” !!!! So now I try to plan a little 🙂
    Have a happy party!

    Reply
  27. Cathy

    Corey, What shall be shall be…. and it will all be good. Breath and enjoy,after all that is what is important. Oh,and with a little bit of love added in for good measure:) xoxo cb

    Reply
  28. Limner

    LOL! Once upon a time I was an adrenaline junkie too. I loved deadlines. Is probably why I chose advertising design as a career. Loved those 3 second poses from life drawing class. Was hooked on working in labor and delivery at Methodist Hospital. I lived for the last minute, for emergencies, for STAT.
    No more. It’s taken its toll after all the years of fun. Now am actually paying someone to teach me how to be patient, and slow, and plan ahead for some things. I still get a need for speed. And when I give it, the low is lower than the high. It’s like drug withdrawal.
    I got a “contact high” just reading all this.
    Fondly,
    An almost ex-A Personality

    Reply
  29. cynthia @Beatnheart

    doing parties terrifies me, so I do them sometimes to get over it.

    Reply
  30. Julie Ann

    No I hate it ! I am the opposite and must plan make lists and not rush to a deadline. It makes for lots of domestic disharmony as Keith is the opposite and thrives on a deadline. I do love party planning though and often thought it would have been a good career for me – doesn’t sound as if we would make a good partnership though Coco ! One or other of us would go mad with frustration, Happy New Year to you and the family and bon voyage to Chelsea on her next exciting chapter, Jx

    Reply
  31. Judy B. – Texas

    For many years I was a professional events planner for several international hotels; the normal attendance was from 50pp up to 1,500+ – food and beverage, entertainment, etc. Hard work and can be stressful even when prepared.
    To successfully execute any event, advance planning was the key. This also applied to any parties I personally hosted. Big or small, planning steps were the same.
    Count me in with the group “be prepared” – plan ahead – make lists and visualize the outcome – it works.

    Reply
  32. sue

    I sort of plan in my head, knowing approximately what I’m going to do, and then I just let it go with the flow–life’s like that, anyway! A little pressure’s good–drink some champagne and relax, eh?

    Reply

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