Every year I host two parties...one in the spring and one in the fall. It began as a celebration of the completion of my screened porch, and just became a regular thing. I've been doing this since 2002, and I really enjoy it. It's really more of an open house....I just invite friends to drop by and visit. Most everyone knows everyone else, but not always. The first parties were a bit stressful, because I hadn't done anything like that for many years, but now it has gotten so easy the parties almost throw themselves (thank god for Costco!). Anyway, I've got one coming up this weekend and I'm really hoping for good weather. That's really the only thing that makes these parties difficult. If the weather is bad, we all have to crowd into my tiny house. Nice weather means we can spill out into the backyard where there's plenty of room to stretch out. I love having my friends over for these shindigs, and if I'm late throwing one, I'll get questions about "When's the next porch party?", so I guess that means my friends enjoy them as much as I do. I went out today and bought another couple of strings of lights...one is just multi-colored globes, and the other is a string of pink flamingos. I just love them!