When I last left off, it was Saturday June 30th. Kirios’ house had no power, my apartment did. And we had a lovely dinner with my cousin who lives in Gaithersburg and her parents who were visiting from Florida… If you’ve been following along, you’ll note that there haven’t been any parties yet. But now it’s Saturday night, so time to start!

Saturday night marked the much anticipated return of “Fancy Party,” an epic college tradition created and hosted by my friend Joel. I met Joel in the beginning of my time at the University of Maryland while at an event for freshmen in the business school – we were the only freshmen who attended. Lucky for us, there were other eager freshmen out there, and it didn’t take long before we had a good group of folks getting involved in activities at the Smith School, collaborating on group projects for class, and just hanging out. Sophomore year Joel and his roommates decided to throw a college party unlike any other – one with exclusively high quality liquor and beer. Ladies were encouraged to dress in cocktail attire; gentlemen were expected to wear jackets. Tuxedos and prom dresses weren’t discouraged. Fancy Party was born.

Over the past 3 ½ years since graduating, I’ve tried to keep in touch with my friends from B-school… I along with everyone else who is still in the DC metro area make an effort to attend young alumni events which generally lets us get together a couple of times a year. For everyone else, well, there’s Facebook stalking. When Joel decided it was time to resurrect the Fancy Party tradition, my college nostalgia kicked into full gear and I told Kirios to get excited. Actually, I told him so many times he problem doubted the affair could live up to the hype.

I picked out a black cocktail dress – the last from my dress shopping spree which I had yet to wear – and matched it with patent leather heels and my fresh manicure. Kirios was planning to wear his grey suit. He got a little freaked out about the 100 degree weather and went back and forth for a while. He ended up arriving in the suit, but never had the jacket on. His desire for a seersucker suit grew, to my dismay (although one party goer was rocking a seersucker bow tie and cumberbund). Looking spiffy, we brought along some crackers and two of my favorite cheeses I’ve tried with Kirios so far; creamy toscano with cracked pepper – we had it with espresso when we tried it in December – and a tasty cheese soaked in syrah. We had to keep it classy!

The party lived up to my expectations, and it was a real treat to see everyone, particularly a few friends who were visiting from out of town. Kirios had a great time too. At 11pm, shortly after we arrived, he downed his first five-hour energy drink. Those things scare me. A lot. I protested, and told him that I really didn’t want him to be awake five hours from now. I retracted my statement at 3:15am when I requested that he, my designated driver, embark on the 30 minute drive home. We went to sleep exactly five hours later at 4am. It still scares me though… Kirios also learned never to offer anyone a ride home without first asking where they lived. Thankfully, my friend from Philadelphia declined his offer.

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that I slept until noon Sunday morning. I definitely needed to, because there were still more parties to come and people to see!

Thanks, Joel!