paisleypiper's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- quintessential birthday celebration Quintessential Birthday Celebration in Neatside By Gaberdine Tucker Special to the State City Gossiper For relatives of the mighty Quinn, Cary�s and Kim�s Neatside bungalow was the place to be last Saturday night at the annual happy birthday Quinn dinner party. The house looked spectacular, as always, and the table was set with a tasteful yet subtle white china dishes edged in silver. All of the guests arrived by six o-clock dressed in their fall casual chic ensembles. No guest was more chic than nephew Jason in his trendy t-shirt sporting the word enjoi with three colorful circles on the front. Jason, having surrendered a typical teen evening without pouting to wish his aunt a happy birthday was a joy, although he did get groggy during some of the endless adult banter towards the end of the evening. The hostess wore a casual ensemble of jeans and a cotton party-sweater. With her hair flipping stylishly out in back accentuating gentle reddish highlights, Kim was dazzling as she finished her famous spinach and pear salad and served a tomato and chickpea soup. Cary, a more casual host in rolled up denim painters pants and a soft-yet-stylish tee-shirt, kept the wine glasses flowing with a nice Chianti and impressed all of the guests with his ability to dish out scoops of ice-cream faster than Quinn could cut her rich, gooey fudge cake. After dinner, the well-fed and chatty guests settled into an evening of conversation in the living room with quiet music and soft lighting. The pivotal point in the evening � all evenings have a point when the group either goes the direction of goofiness or remains somewhat regular�arrived with a witty remark by Quinn�s younger brother who observed that his preteen nephew was really masticating. The ever-ready for attention Freddie made certain he had heard his uncle correctly and Jenna gave her brother an amused-yet-motherly look from across the table. Freddie, an extremely intelligent and funny sixth grader saw humor touched with a sense of a right-of-passage in the remark and forged ahead slightly amused and decidedly unruffled. The mother of the birthday girl began the evening in a serious frame of mind, dressed in black and red. A few licks on her toes from the sedated yellow lab, brought her into jovial spirits and she led the group in dinner conversation and anchored the evening�s discussions. But all eyes were on the mighty Quinn enjoying a very happy birthday. After a two-course meal, Quinn opened many presents, modeled her fleece outwear, slippers and luxuriant velvet throw, and made a fuss over two books that her mother gave her with a grand federal bookmark. Clever conversation ranged from the semi-gross talk of teen boys to trivia to tales of family language � the ways families use words and make up words that are unique to that family. Jena and her boys like to use the word deet as a general all-purpose, stand-in word that only they can interpret. After dinner a happy and relaxed Quinn got to tell stories about entertaining old friends and how long a long weekend can really seem. The evening broke up about 11 with hugs exchanged all-around as the tired but contented partygoers headed home. Happy birthday Quinn! 6:51 p.m. - 2002-11-11 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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