Sunday started with breakfast at the house. I enjoyed it – there was a slightly smaller group and everyone who came was chill and relaxed. It was a real low-key time, something I needed after the past few days. I also got to eat bagels and drink orange juice and Gene took over making bacon so I was happy all around. Lydia wrangled people into the basement throughout the morning so they could paint something on the joint mural that got started the day before. I didn’t see the “end” result until Monday and I have to say I love it. It is such a show of love from so many people. I say “end” result, however, because I plan on getting people to add onto it any time someone comes to visit. I’m going to have to add onto it myself as well!
After breakfast we headed over to Board Game Republic to play board games and eat lunch. Oh my gosh I had so much fun. I got to play Dixit, a game similar in vein to Apples to Apples but with pictures. I enjoy playing it every once in a while but Gene generally doesn’t like it so it’s rare that I get to play. Glad I convinced a few people to join me! I also played a backwards charades game that was a complete blast. I need to make more friends so I can play that game more often (or maybe convince more people to move to Denver?). I was impressed with how involved everyone got. No one held back, it was great.
We had a catered bbq lunch at the board game place, which was good, but I was a bit bummed because the shop got a new menu so I didn’t get to try any of their new offerings. Just means I’m going to have to return another time so I can try out their goodies, it looked like they really stepped up their game. The staff did a good job at keeping the drinks coming and taking care of us, I would have another party there easily. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
We gave a few hours of free time to everyone before dinner. Our friends from Washington came back to our house and hung out. It was quite nice, we need to hang out with those guys more often. We went on a walk in between bouts of rain, which helped me wake up a bit before driving back downtown for dinner.
While driving to the restaurant, it was discovered by my dad that we didn’t actually have reservations. The employee who was supposed to mark down that 30 people were coming to their restaurant at 6pm had NOT done his job so the poor staff was completely taken by surprise. They truly stepped up, however. They made some people move and created a space for us within 15 minutes of our arrival. It was really impressive and made me love the place forever. Shout to Steuben’s on 17th! They deserve as many kudos as I can give. The food of course was delicious and the service was amazing (thanks Gabby!). They gave us some free appetizers to tide us over while they cooked our food. I really enjoyed that dinner and it was a lovely way to say goodbye to everyone.
I am so pleased with how it all was pulled off and I’m proud of Gene and myself for planning and running it. I think I should put this on my resume. I’m finally getting my energy levels back up and am almost ready to start planning the next big trip.
Thanks to everyone who came to the shindig and made it something special.
Check out all the pictures from the shindig here.
Just Lauren 