Weekend Whimsy: Party Like it's 1999

In February I wrote about the classes that I took at CHA, including Pat Davenport's "Elegant Glass Etching."  As I mentioned in that post, it was Amanda's first time etching glass, but I had done it once before, way back in 1999.

In 1999, I was 27 years old and single.  As a fifth grade teacher, my workday ended by 4:00 PM.  When I wasn't dancing, my evenings were usually spent crafting, inventing recipes, or planning parties.  For New Year's Eve 1999, I put those three hobbies together to throw my most ambitious party ever.

Somehow, I got the idea in my head that I should host the most fabulous dinner party of all time to celebrate the new millennium.  The dress would be formal, and I would serve a different course every hour on the hour from 7:00 PM until the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2000.  I would pair a different wine with each course. (My guests were spending the night.)  I spent weeks planning the menu, testing recipes, creating games, and working out every last detail.  To serve as place cards, I decided that I would use beautiful glass votives, etched with each guest's initials.

I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me that I didn't actually know how to do glass etching.  No matter!  I went to Michaels and bought etching cream and a dozen votives.  I found a lovely font and printed out each person's initials.  I traced the letters onto contact paper and painstakingly cut them out with a craft knife.  Wow, was that ever difficult!  It took forever and I made many mistakes along the way.  When they were finally done, I applied the contact paper to the votives.  That was hard too!  The actual etching was the easy part.  Here's mine, from back when I was Cindy Jones:
 

Please ignore the wax splotches and poor photography.  I've learned that glass is really difficult to photograph!

I spent the better part of three days preparing the food, every bit of it from scratch.  The menu was as follows:

     7 PM: Spanikopita and Sun-Dried Tomato Palmier appetizers (paired with Fume Blanc)

     8 PM: Salad of Romaine, Pear and Gorgonzola with a Walnut-Bacon Dressing (paired with Pinot Blanc)

     9 PM: Cream of Cauliflower Soup and Cloverleaf Rolls (paired with Chardonnay)

     10 PM: Chicken and Beef Fondue with Baked Potato and Glazed Carrots (paired with Pinot Noir)

     11 PM: Lemon Souffle with Candied Tangerine (paired with Orange Muscat)

     Midnight: Champagne and Assorted Cheeses

I am so glad I put all that effort into throwing an over-the-top party to celebrate a one-in-a-lifetime event.  Of course, I scrapped the party.  Take a look at how I was scrapping nearly twelve years ago, before I'd ever seen a scrapbook magazine, visited a scrapbook store, or met anyone else who scrapbooked:

What great memories!