it's a gathering!

We've been in our new home for almost a year now and we've only really talked to our immediate left and right neighbors and have waved to a few others.  Darn it!  We're long overdue for a neighborhood gathering!

Last weekend, I gathered up some mental and physical energy and just went for it!  We got home from church on Sunday and I immediately set off to work on the invites!  By bedtime, I finished all 13 of them.  The next day, I was knocking on neighbors doors to let them know of our upcoming gathering and handed them each a fun little reminder to post on their fridges!

The evening finally came.  Brian and I made some rugelahs, corn and black bean salsa, little capreses, and these yummy cucumber boats, while leaving plenty of room on the table for other goodies to come!  We also made sure that the beverage offerings were abundant.  There was plenty of our favorites--whiskey sours, margaritas, martinis, Blue Moon, some wine, and other non-alcoholic drinks for our non-drinking neighbors!  We were ready!

6:00pm came and went.  Brian and I started looking at each other, giving each other "that look", the-nobody's-coming look...  Insert sad face here!

Turns out, people are just being their usual--fashionably late.  Started a little slow, but picked up as people got introduced, drink in hand, and other people started coming.  As much as I tried to shoo people away from the kitchen, they still congregated there!  Must've been for the whiskey sours as I had to make another batch halfway through the night!  Later on in the evening, we had Niko and his friends come down for a little singing performance.  The neighbors had a blast listening and laughing, and singing along!

Everyone had a great time meeting each other.  We are all no longer drive-by wavers to each other.  We now know each other by name.  We shared laughs, drank drinks, broke bread and had a wonderful night!  So much so, that the consensus for the night was that we will gather again - - once a month!  Next month is already scheduled!

Our gathering was long overdue, but was sure worth the wait!