Rapid ramblings of a working party planner.

It really is amazing how time has flown. I just completed my sixth month on the job. I know. Crazy. I now really GET what they mean when they say, "Well, that's Healthcare for ya." or when I talk about how fast-paced everything is and get the usual response of, "Welcome to Healthcare." There are four of us (CORPORATE recruiters) who started at the same time, and we're still having a hard time keeping up with the crazy-fast pace, crazy-heavy workload, and "do it right now" expectations.

I do feel like I recognize people and acronyms a little better, I don't get lost as often driving in the Medical Center, and my multi-tasking skills are sharpening. I am about to get an iPhone (thanks to Dad) from which I can Facebook and Tweet more effectively, so that's exciting. I have been warned that it will take all I have not to bury my head in it, but we'll have to wait and see.

In the midst of making another to-do list and contemplating summer vacation, it just hit me. Davis will turn two in, well, two weeks. Meaning, I have a party to plan and if Miss Manners were the hostess, her guests would have received the invites by... yesterday!

So, Jack agreed to have their parties together with one condition... Davis has his own party theme, and Jack has his own. He wants to decorate the room down the middle so "his friends would know which side of the party is his." So, we're going with it. I called Party City last night to see when they closed. It was 8:20pm, and they closed at 9:00pm. Perfect. I work best under pressure. I threw Jack in the car (excited about a post-bedtime excursion) and we were on a 30-minute mission.

Half Hot Wheels, half Jungle Animals, half the expense. And, it has all the makings of another "only the Griffins..." type experience for our guests.

It's interesting how differently I am approaching the party planning now that I am working. No on-line comparison shopping and overthinking, no custom printed invites with 3-d embellishments. No hand-made banners, elaborate menus... not even a Gigantic pinata. And, it will be just as much fun. The extra costs for convenience? Add it in. See it at Party City? Buy it. What if Walmart has it at better price? Oh well. Left the coupon at home? Forget it.

I remind myself that the Mom whose party decorations look like this...

...loves her child no more than the Mom whose party decorations look like this...

I was also reminded this week that I still have not blogged about their LAST year's parties. Yes, that would be Davis' FIRST BIRTHDAY. Oh, which reminded me... we ended up cancelling his party the night before because our air conditioning went out. Poor second-borns.

So, all the time I just saved with my streamlined party-supply purchasing, I have decided to spend finally blogging about last year's b-day events. Makes perfect sense. It will be much more productive than, oh, the pile of laundry waiting for me behind the pantry door. I am sure when Jeff says, "Honey, did WE wash any of my underwear?" (And by WE, he means ME.) I will say, "No, but I did do something WAY BETTER... I finally got last year's birthday party posts done."

He'll be so excited.