Partying like rock stars

So, the SMC Alumnae Club of Georgia (The Few! The Proud! The REAL (Southern) Belles!) hosted a Real Live Alumnae Author Saturday afternoon at Coffee Buy the Book here in beautiful historic Roswell.

We don't have all THAT many events. The only problems with graduating from a women's college in Indiana and having an alumnae club in Georgia are 1. Not many women from Georgia go to colleges in northern Indiana and 2. What with its being a women's college and the graduates being 100% female, a great many of the alumnae are full-time mothers and as such are really, really busy. Usually, if we get fifteen people at an event, it's a big success.

One of the ongoing club events is a bimonthly book club that's been going for about two years. Back in the fall, Mary Beth Ellis '99 contacted us to see if we'd be interested in having her come speak to the club about her new book, Drink to the Lasses, which is a humorous account of her years at Saint Mary's. Of course we accepted enthusiastically and scheduled her appearance for this weekend. We invited the entire alumnae club, not just the book club members, and promised free refreshments and wine.

Since I'm the board member who lives the closest, I was in charge of said refreshments. (I think I might take on a side job as a party planner -- I seem to find myself doing this sort of thing with alarming frequency!) I hit Trader Joe's on Friday afternoon for a case of Two Buck Chuck. There is something so darn satisfying about being able to buy twelve bottles of perfectly good wine for under thirty dollars. I got the nibbles from Edible Expressions, and added to the list of Things I've Learned is that a caterer's opinion of what constitutes "serves 10-12" and my opinion of the same thing are wildly at odds. Serves 10-12 what? Football linebackers? Sumo wrestlers?

Oh well...better to have too much than too little.

Out of the thirty women who RSVPed yes, twenty-eight showed up. We drank a little wine, had a lot of really delicious food, and thoroughly enjoyed Mary Beth's readings and presentation. Although the book's probably got a certain meaning for women who are SMC grads, it's really about college and self-discovery and making the transition from childhood to adulthood, told with unflinching candor and wry humor. (I've written one too many blurbs for annotated bibliographies.)

Anyhow, very cool event, very cool author, and very cool book. Pick one up off of her website or from Amazon and have fun!