Welcome to our Bat Mitzvah-Birthday-Baseball Weekend!! Yesterday and last night, Avery's Bat Mitzvah - Avery is the daughter of our friends Steve & Jen. Held at the lovely Temple Israel, it was a gorgeous and fun ceremony, just the right balance of religious imagery, calls to our better instincts, and flat-out humor. As Steve so perfectly closed his heartfelt speech to Avery - you can't always be young, but you can always be immature. Yeah, baby!

Post-ceremony we headed into a festive brunch reception, catered by D'Amico, always a good move. (D'Amico catered our wedding, it was fabulous. And if you're in the market for other great catering, Silver Service can't be beat either. There are my vendor recommendations for the day - you're welcome, ha.) Fun to catch up with John's former Parsinen, Kaplan, Rosberg & Gotlieb partners. Fun to listen to Steve and his dad play a little jazz for the group (Steve's dad is a sometimes jazz pianist, Steve a sometimes bass player; both are fantastic, especially together). Fun to completely indulge in champagne, pastries, salads, smoked salmon with all the accoutrements, and naughty, naughty tortes, mousses, and cakes. Uff.

Then home for a long, long walk. Long walk, whew. Had to prep myself for the next party, the evening soiree. If you've never been to a Bat/Bar Mitzvah (and I hadn't until I met John), it's quite the event. Akin to a wedding celebration, really, but 13-year old style. Religious ceremony/brunch during the day, followed by a full-on par-tay in the evening. Avery's party was at the Wirth Chalet, in Theodore Wirth Park, a terrific party spot. Especially on such a gorgeous evening. Mexican was the theme (there's always a theme), so I was one happy camper, drinking beer and eating tortilla chips...ole, baby! Yum. The core of the evening party is the DJ, aka Master of Ceremonies. There are DJs who specialize in Bar/Bat Mitzvah's and for good reason - there is definitely an art to herding and entertaining 13-year olds and man, are they good at it. Marty the One Man Party is The Guy, but he lives in NYC now and it costs big moolah to have him personally at your event. However, he employs a team of other guys, who are just as good, and so one of his protegees had the music a-pounding before we even arrived. As one parent pointed out, the resulting sound is a nightmarish (to adult ears only, of course) combination of screaming teenage girls over power-bass. But hey, it's all in good fun, and the kids have a BLAST. Total blast. Adults too! We danced, and chatted, and popped in the photo booth for pics, and had ourselves a grand old time. Congratulations to Avery! And thanks to Steve and Jen for two (!) great parties!

Today, another party, John's former law partner (it's Parsinen old home weekend!) Jeff Robbins' 50th birthday open house, followed by a Nathan baseball game. And a very light dinner, whew, not sure what, cuz I know there'll be more treats at Jeff's party. Treats Be Gone! Ohhh, but they're sooo gooood...