Mediterranean
A couple of weeks ago our company had a terrific party.
I work at an advertising firm and one of our biggest clients hired us for its largest ad campaign ever. Everyone was very excited. To celebrate, our boss decided to threw a party. This party was going to be anything but ordinary. The theme was the Mediterranean because that was where the commercial was being filmed.
Everyone received a personalized invitation in their mail box. On the front of the postcard was a picture of a beach with the bluest water you've ever seen. The location, date and time were written on the back. "Bring your swimsuit and a guest" was written near the bottom. The tenth floor of our building has a club house and 25 meter pool. I couldn't wait!
My husband and I both wore our swimsuits underneath our clothes. I was so amazed by the enormous effort used to transform the tenth floor into a Medeterranean paradise. Real flowers and trees had been placed against the walls between the backdrops of beach scenes on two sides and forest and a Mediterranean village scene on the others. There were old-fashioned striped tents that people could change in. There was a stack of fold-out lounging chairs and large umbrellas and white sand covered the pool deck. Heat lamps hung from the ceiling and the air was a perfect 80 degrees.
Kids were playing in the huge pool and were supervised by a hired lifeguard.
There was plenty of room on the white sand deck for people to relax, talk or lay out. Many guests lounged on towels or beach chairs.
Mediterranean music played in the background. At times the songs were Italian, others were more French, Spanish and even Greek. All of it was definitely romantic.
Frank and I visited with some of my co-workers. Everyone was having a wonderful time!
The buffet table was loaded with Mediterranean style appetizers: Stuffed grape leaves, artichoke dip, artichokes with butter sauce, stuffed green olives with cheese, brie and crackers, a loaf of rosemary bread with several kinds of cheese. There was lots of fruit juices and Italian sodas for everyone and wine for the adults. The best was the Italian spumonti ice cream for dessert!
The photographer was a comical Italian man. He first would tell a joke then take the picture while everyone was laughing.
After the meal, Frank and I went swimming. Eventually nearly the whole office was in the pool playing Marco Polo. It was hysterical!
Later look-a-likes of the 3 tenors gave a terrific performance! No one could believe they were not the genuine articles. All the female guests wanted their pictures taken with them.
Later that week, the head of my department ,Janice, made color copies of the collage she made of all the pictures the photographer took at the party and handed them out. It turned out so nice I had it framed and hung it on the wall of my cubicle as a memento.