Happy 4th of July or How I Worked 20 Hours of Overtime in 1 Weekend

As part of our work abroad, we are expected to entertain, eat and drink for our country.  We host parties, dinners, lunches and cocktail hours for our contacts all in the name of representation.  Put on a dress and put on show!  Our premier event every year here in Mexico, and posts all over the world, is the 4th of July party.  This year two other junior officers and I were put in charge of bringing the host's vision to life.  The other 2 were the creative powers, and I was their practical go-getter who took their ideas, and made them possible...they only love me for my warrant and knowledge of the FAR (again, Federal Acquisition Regulations, c'mon, keep up!).  We will be henceforth known as the 4th of July Brain Trust...and given the nature of my work it's only fitting that we have an acronym...4OJBT it is! Since I was technically on duty, certain rules about photos apply, so I have inserted some measures to protect the innocent, but this was so crazy, I had to immortalize it for all time in el blog.

The preparations are underway!  We had an assortment of all-American appetizers for the party.  Here we have an out-of-this world cranberry dipping sauce for some fried chicken.  Cranberry sauce is not something that Mexicans eat.  I had to order 50 lbs. of it from the US to pull this off.

Here a fellow member of the 4OJBT and I are pondering what to do with these rad flower balls.  I thought we should play baseball with them, but was quickly overruled.  Little did we know, we were being watched by some scary ghosts.

Here we have the dessert artist working those tarts.  The desserts were amazing...more on that later!

This was one of my favorite sights of the day.  Look at all those figs.  I just want to jump in and swim around!  I should be careful what I wish for...

This photo shows my dedication to our country and patriotism.  I had to get in this pool and set all of those floating lanterns in place.  We tried just throwing one in, but each one had this sack of rocks attached by fishing line hooked onto it as a counter-weight, so when we threw them, they sank and were wrecked.  It was determined that someone had to get in and place each one.  Did I mention that this pool was not heated, and the water was about 40 degrees F?  Beings that my cold tolerance was deemed to be highest of the 4OJBT, I agreed to get in.  Despite my winning smile, I am freezing.  It took about 3 hours for my body temperature to return to normal, but the pool looked amazing, so it was worth it.

Here we have the dessert table, all dressed up and designed by Eric.  The 4OJBT acknowledged its need for a trained professional to help with our design needs.  Eric was called in to design the party layout in all ways.  He even whipped up some last minute curtains for some unsightly bathroom windows out of pillowcases!  The host was so impressed, he said that Eric would be called upon to design future party layouts.  Good work begets more work!

Here we have the finished product of the pastry chefs' hard work.  Those chocolate tarts second in from the left are covered in edible glitter.  I think I know what my next online purchase will be!

These decorations and others like them adorned the food trays as they circulated the party.  This particular one is made from 1 orange, and those rings are unbroken.  The guy making them tried to show me how to do it, but my mind boggled and could not compute the artisticness.

Finally, after the party is underway, and everyone is having a swingin' good time, Eric and I can relax and have our photo taken.  A job well-done by all!

A quick thank you to the other members of the 4OJBT for providing me with some of these pictures.