Cruising part 7 - house party tonight!

I'm starting to feel like a hostage to these cruise posts. I'm sort of sick of talking about it. So this one and one more. Then I'm done. And instead of waiting for one a day, I'm just going for it with another one right now.

Champagne is always a welcome addition to any party...

Something we had planned before we embarked on our cruise was that over the course of 7 days we would have three in-room cocktail parties. It was decided they would be before dinner. And it was also decided that Mickey and Diane would host first.

Damn those ladies! They went to the casino and got all sorts of gambling paraphernalia and playing cards and decorated like fiends. They also went to the buffet and got a terrific spread of food as well as ordering from room service. We learned the first night out that pre-dining was the wrong way to go when you plan on stuffing yourself in the next hour.
A winner's cup from the casino, a plate of all you can eat shrimp and the evening's so bright you gotta wear your Prada sunglasses... yep, its Vegas night at Diane and Mickey's!

Almost as good as butter, I love desserts!
(oh, and this is before dinner)

Balloons, poker hands on the wall and all the booze you can drink make for a heck of a party. And check out those sexy Vegas dames in the background!

Robb & Lewis hosted the second cocktail party and by then we had adopted Jared and Quinn.

It was breezy on the balcony, but Lewis manages to open a bottle or two of champagne.

Surprise! It's my belated birthday party! Complete with pinata filled with mini-bar booze bottles. Now here's a tip, don't have me swing at it with another glass bottle without telling me. The blindfold is actually Robb's father's old "peace sign" tie. One of favorite things that used to be his father's. Robb's dad passed away a year ago last August and I was absolutely caught off guard by the peace tie being there and I started to cry. It was extremely nice to have Robb's dad with us for the party that night.

Auntie Di graciously offers me my birthday spanking.

Informal setting before formal night. Our first house party with Jared and Quinn as special bonus guests.

The final party was in our cabin. Mickey, Diane, Robb & Lewis had set the bar way too high. I had no way to compete. I'd been working before we left on the cruise and hadn't planned anything. I did some panic shopping while in Mazatlan but found only crappy paper crowns.

Then I tapped my dear friend on the ship, Ryan, and he hooked me up with a few streamers and some balloons. And when I say a few, what I mean is that when any one opened the door to my cabin there was an audible gasp as they exclaimed, "OH MY GOD!"

I was mostly freaked out because I don't throw parties by myself and by the time the guests were arriving Lyle was well drugged and laid out to rest in Robb & Lewis' cabin due to his motion sickness.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

Robb stepped in and helped me out. He bartended and as you may be able to see here, was able to open a bottle of lovely champagne. Hmmm, that does seem to be a bit of a theme doesn't it?

With no Lyle, I substituted Kyle.

It started to look like a Marx Brothers movie with so many people in one little cabin and so many decorations.

Jean, Jared, Quinn, Lewis and in the back Wade.

Jared knows how to handle large round objects...

From the cocktail party everyone headed to dinner. Even though our cabin steward (on of the "oh my god!" gaspers) kept telling me to not worry about cleaning up the room, I couldn't help myself. I mean, I did make the mess, shouldn't I be just a little bit responsible for cleaning it up? I stayed behind for about 5 minutes and popped all the balloons, pulled all the streamers down (the cabin steward is much shorter then I am) and then sort of raked it all to one corner. When I came back from dinner, the cabin was spotless. Thank you cabin steward! You were a miracle.