And so the party season begins

We had a wonderful time at the party on Saturday night. The evening started and Ken was terribly bored, not really wanting to put on a fake smile and socialize with people he doesn't know that well. I left him at the table fussing over the camera while I made the rounds around the room. He really isn't a social person in that way and finds it very difficult to make small talk. Unlike me who can walk into a room of strangers and know everyone and their life story by the end of the night. He is convinced I have TELL ME YOUR SECRETS stamped on my forehead LOL

Of course the tables were assigned seats, the hostess's way of making sure there is adequate mingling going on. We were seated with a couple I knew fairly well, a man I didn't really care for prior to the night but his girlfriend ended up being delightful and another woman who I didn't know at all. There were two empty spots at our table directly to the left of Ken as the evening started, half way through the salad, a couple showed up but I had never seen them before.

As we heard them talking to the single woman I didn't know, I heard an English accent but I couldn't quite place where. They both had accents from different parts of England and we did a bit of speculating over dinner as to the specific region. After the main course was served and we were passing around the coffee caraf while waiting for the CAKE (yes I ate cake) to show up, I found a moment and introduced ourselves. It turned out that they were indeed from England and while she was originally from the north, she moved to the south at a young enough age to have her northern accent soften. The man as it turned out was from the SAME place as Ken! Well that was it, he had someone to talk to for the rest of the night. He has lived in the states for 15 years so his accent has softened but once he started laughing and talking to Ken you could hear that accent coming right back out again. We all compared stories about England, life in Florida vs life in England. We all agreed England...nice to visit but we don't want to live there, too bloody cold. I smiled and laughed as they talked with lust in their eyes about Christmas Puddings. We compared shopping tips and where to find all of the English food favorites. We told them where to find Christmas pudding and mince pies and they told us about a fish and chips shop that I know Ken wants to visit VERY soon. Fish and chips are one of the things he really misses. I may surprise him and take him up there after he gets his first paycheck to "celebrate" his new job. I'm hoping they serve something other than fish and chips because while I do enjoy fish and chips, they are far too greasy for me to eat. Yes, our hostess did a really good job putting us with the English couple. I thanked her for that several times.

I also got a chance to see some friends I hadn't seen in almost a year. I heard a few sad stories and got a chance to catch up with some lovely people who I respect and admire greatly. I thought the banquet food would be blah but honestly, I'd give it a 9/10, it was really delicious and the banquet staff were awesome! All in all the night was a lot of fun. Unfortunately Ken brought our little Cannon camera and not my new Sony and the shots didn't turn out that great. As soon as I have time this week, I'll go through them and see if there are any worth posting.