PROCEED O' PARTY!.........

WOW--what a weekend this has been! And for a girl who isn't even .000001 percent Irish, well, I'd say I whooped it up, pretty darned good!

The festivities started on Friday afternoon for the Green Afro girls--we come up with a different theme every single year for the annual Old Forge St. Patrick's Day parade. This year, we went with "Leprechaun Pong--Proceed O' Party"--a takeoff on the Toby Keith song, "Red Solo Cup"....guess you had to go to college to truly understand the significance of red Solo cups and the game of Beer Pong. Anyways, just heard through the grapevine that, once again, we took FIRST PLACE in the parade! Way to go, girls!

I didn't actually take any photos DURING the parade, as I didn't want to try juggling my camera along with the carnations and ping pong balls we were handing out to the crowd, so all of my photos are of us actually getting ready to Proceed O' Party.....As always, a big thanks to Beth T. for letting us use/mess up her home, getting ready!....

If you would like to see some photos of the actual parade, you can always go to the Adirondack Express's website, anytime after this Tuesday.  To check it out--you can get there by clicking right HERE....

We all got to wear these darling O'booties....



Some of our Red Solo cups, waiting for us to put them on.....(oops, and one stand-out GREEN solo cup)....

One of our "secret weapons"--Mason of the O' Green Man Group.....

And our other "secret weapon"--our friend Diane--this was her first year with our group, and she's just so popular, we were sure steal the O'Judge's hearts!..........

Pretty Loretta, always smiling.....

Darling Denise, who for some reason was a bit blurry (and I had only had ONE glass of Sangria at this point--shhhh, don't tell!)......



Sharon and Beth.....always our Ring Leaders....



Our 20's age-group representatives, Renee and Megan, flanking Megan's Aunt O'Sharon.....

Four of us girls....I had to borrow this light green top from O' Sharon, because I don't have ONE green thing in my closet--so strange, for a redhead, no?........and I really don't know what in the heck I was doing with my mouth, here.....

Always lots and lots O' food and drink.........

And where there is lots of food and drink, there will always be teenage boys, snarfing it down!.......



Pretty soon, it was time to start piling out onto the street for the walk to Keyes Pancake House, where everyone lines up for the parade.....you can tell what kind of a day, weather-wise, that we were having: cold and gray and drippy, but at least it wasn't pouring rain, like earlier in the day! Here's the Jeep that cranked our theme song, super loud....(the girls driving were SAINTS, and will never, ever want to hear the song, "Red Solo Cup", ever again, I do suspect!).........

Almost forgot my favorite Pillar Of The Community, Pam, and her sweet daughter Kaylin, home from school on Spring break.....

Check out Kaylin's cute nails.....

Okay ladies...time to get organized for that group photo.........

And here we all are, ready to Proceed O' Partaaaaaay..............

I think a really great time was truly had by all!

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As if Friday's parade wasn't enough, Wink and I were invited, BRIGHT and O'early Saturday marnin', down to Utica to take in their annual parade, from the warmth and comfort of the grand old Fort Schyler Club--a gorgeous old city club run by our friend, Jim Day......here's the only photo I could find, of just one of their many grand old spaces).........

(photo compliments of Gaetano Construction)

I am not kidding when I say that Utica's parade is almost two hours long! Which seemed REALLY long, after our tiny Old Forge parade, which I think lasts about 15 minutes...........

(photo compliments of the Utica Observer Dispatch)

We were so thankful to be inside watching most of the parade, as it was pretty chilly out that morning, and were even more thankful to be invited to stay for the Fort Schyler Club's incredible St. Patrick's Day brunch---a spread fit for a KING!

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See you back in a few days...trying out a few new recipies in anticipation of our sorta-vegetarian, sorta-not daughter's return home for summer. Which should be around May 15th. Believe it or not, we got pretty darned sick of tofu and salmon last year!

Love, Kitten O' Willard