Grown Up Dinner Party

Well since I promised some of you an entry about my first ever "Grown Up" Dinner Party...here goes.

Rita and I decided to have a dinner party and invite 2 couples whom (or is it who? I never get that right....) we do not know that well. We (translation...Rita) decided to have it at my place. Now, I am sure I have told most everyone I know that I have psycho dogs (Buffy & Bodie).....they are great but bark like crazy when we have company over. I thought the best thing to do would be to grill and enjoy the beautiful weather on the "veranda" (translation...DECK) so that they would not be able to jump all over the guests.
First let me say that I had a very busy day Sat. I went to Jennifer's store for a Swap/Shop day and I had a blast! If you are interested in cool scrapbook supplies you should check out her website www.photoscrapic.com Ok...commercial over! *LOL* Anyway, once I left there I had to rush home to finish cleaning...luckily step-monster took some initiative and started cleaning before I got there so it was basically straighten and finishing touches.
Rita is great about decorating for any occasion, so we set up 2 tables w/ candles and fall flowers beside the pond "Sugar Britches" recently put in for me. It was lovely except it gave everyone a great view of our other dog Dusty. He doesn't like company either! He only barked non-stop for about 1/2 the evening so I guess it worked out ok! *LOL*
Our menu for the evening was Grilled Chicken w/ Baked Potato, grilled veggies and Salad. We also had Apple Cobbler and Vanilla Icecream for dessert....nothing more American than that right? "Sugar Britches" is an excellent griller but after the little discussion (translation....ARGUMENT) we had Friday night I was not entirely sure he would even be there! So I decided to do a lemon pepper marinade for the chicken and prepare the grilled veggies ahead of time...just in case I had to man the grill as well. This did not sit well with "SB" but he adjusted and went with it! *L* Just as we finished setting everything up our guests arrived. I had each one fill out a little questionaire about themselves and after dinner we played "Guess Who" I thought this would be a good way to get to know everyone a little better and it was! Like I didn't know "SB" thought our first date was at a CLUB! We actually went to dinner and a movie! *L* Anyway, everyone seemed to love the food and the company so I guess it was a success! Rita has now started planning our next soiree (sp?) so stayed tuned for further updates!