Frank's Goodbye Party

Wow—thank you, dear readers, for all your kind comments on my last post. Every bit of advice and encouragement was so helpful. It made me feel a lot better about this somewhat scary move!

I threw a little goodbye party for Frank on Saturday night before he moves this weekend. Nothing fancy—just a few close friends, lots of food and drinks, and some Chicago-themed decoration.

I themed the party "Hello Chicago!" because Frank and I refuse to say goodbye to all of our friends here in the District. Instead, we want them to come visit us in our new Windy City home!

I told our friends at the party, "Frank and I have committed as a couple to only buying couches that are pull-out beds, because we want to be able to host visitors all the time!" That got a good laugh, but I wasn't even kidding. :)

My friend Helen kindly made this banner—I don't know if you can tell, but it says, "Hello Chicago." Thank you to Ruffled Blog for the gorgeous printable!

Most of our friends were able to make it out for the party. We hadn't seen many of them in a long time, what with the holidays and Frank's schedule during finals. We were overjoyed to catch up with everyone. I especially liked making connections between friends who hadn't met before—pretty much my favorite pastime.

One of Frank's sweet friends from the law school brought the most amazing mini cupcakes. We still have some left over and I'm slightly addicted. My only regret from the party was that I didn't get to spend enough time talking with her and Frank's other law school friends who I don't know very well. Frank suggested I get together with them on my own after he leaves. Hmm... should I brave it or not?

I think Frank's goodbye party might have been my favorite I've ever thrown (and that's saying something, because I love every party I've ever thrown). We kept it small and only invited people who have had a big impact on Frank's time in DC. I also kept the food super simple (pre-made appetizers from Trader Joe's) and relied on friends to make the decorations, which reduced my stress in planning. It really was a perfect night. Best of all, Frank said he loved it and had a great time. That's what matters most of all.

Now I need to figure out a way to survive the next few months without Frank around. As sad as I know I'm going to be, there is a silver lining: something tells me sleepovers with my girl friends are going to become a lot more frequent. I'm definitely looking forward to that. :)


Yesterday was the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord and we sang Christmas carols at Mass, so it's not too late to have Christmas decorations up (says my procrastinating side)! If you've posted about yours, please feel free to link to it here... and no, I still haven't taken my Christmas tree down. ;)