Word of the Day: Tea

Today I'm hosting a bridal tea for my dear friend Rebecca. The tea is my version of a "shower" -- a word which I and many other women my age have come to despise because of the sheer number of them we've been invited to. Thus when, as the Maid of Honor, I was put in the position to host one, I went with the tea.

This isn't just an ordinary tea either. I never do anything halfway. If it can't be done properly, I'd rather not do it at all. I've made scones, strawberry cream puffs, blueberry cream tarts, and lamingtons (which are bite-sized pieces of cake covering in chocolate and coconut). Angela is bringing heart-shaped sugar cookies and cucumber sandwiches and Timoni is bringing salmon and crackers. The tea selection is equally as expansive. I have three kinds of hot tea and three kinds of iced tea, including the famous Prickly Pear tea I brought back from Arizona.

But, the best part about the tea is that I finally get to tell Rebecca a very funny story that I've been keeping from her for a few weeks. I had her fiancee meet me a few weeks ago at a shopping center by her house so I could video tape him for a game we'll be playing at the tea. He had to tell her a little white lie to get there without her knowing, which was that he was going to swing by the post office on the way home (they were in two cars and both headed home). If that was really what he was doing, it would take him approximately 5 minutes extra.

On my way to meet him, I nearly wrecked my car in to the median when a spider walked across the driver's side door right by my arm. My dad once warned me that if I didn't get over my fear of spiders I would one day wreck my car because of it. I didn't wreck, but I did freak out. I tried to kill it, but of course it fell to my feet instead. The rest of the drive I prayed "Please don't let it crawl on me, please don't let it crawl on me". When I arrived, Toss was standing there. I got out like a crazy woman flailing my arms and doing the Jerry MaGuire dance ("I'm not going to do what you all think I'm going to do, which is just FREAK OUT!"). Of course, I couldn't get back in the car until the spider was confirmed dead, so Toss chased the thing around the floorboard until it was dead.

Needless to say, we weren't done with the taping in five minutes. So we had to create a story to tell Rebecca that was believeable. We decided the best option was to tell her that some crazy woman was freaking out about a spider in her car and he had to be a gentleman and kill it for her. Not only did she believe the story, she actually told it to me a week later when we were having our dresses fitted. So now I'm especially excited to tell her that the crazy woman was actually me.