Grand Opening Party... Sunday, June 2

It was the day of the Grand Opening Party which, for anyone that knows me, meant I had been cringing this day for awhile.  I don’t like parties because I don’t like crowds of people.  Crowds of people mean also meeting new people and I don’t really like meeting new people actually.  I like to stick to my small crew of friends.

The guest list was around 100 but a little over 150 people showed up.  Many of my Flipside Fitness ladies showed up as did many of our Hulk members.  Some of my friends had traveled hours just to come today and I was so touched by that!!!  Four of these 150 people really made the party for me though – two of my boxercise guys, one boxercise gal and my “cousin-in-law”.  I had asked one of my boxercise guys to take photos of the event and he and another boxercise guy came early to help out.  They proved to be quite the miracle workers with the slide show I had prepared but was struggling to make work on our Google TV. 

It was a busy, busy party, too busy to even want to go back and repeat all the details here but I’ll go into some.  We had food galore lining the mirrored walls, Korean kids running around with parents doing their own thing (and a kid that had to go to the hospital for stitches to prove it), family in one corner of the club and friends scattered all over the club.  It was a sensory overload of activity but my mind was way too preoccupied with three things: keeping the floor spill-free and food-free, keeping the kids out of the ring, and keeping people out from behind the juice bar. 

I knew going into the party that this wouldn’t be my scene but Snickers wanted to keep some Korean customs so I went along with it.  Hey, he’s my husband and sometimes you just have to do what the person you loves wants to do even if you don’t.  Today was definitely one of those days.  So though I was sweating running around in heels and nice clothes, I did the Korean custom of handing out rice cake to all the neighboring shops.  And yes, we had the party catered. Thankfully we didn’t have the pigs head though – a Korean custom that is way more expensive than people know.  Despite no pig’s head, Korean friends gave us envelops of money so we more than broke even with our expenses.  That was a huge bonus. Many of my foreign friends, and even some of my more westernized Korean friends, gave us gifts.  I thought that was super awesome.  It was definitely more sentimental to me considering the things they gave – homemade jam, a green basket full of green things for my juice bar, and a “survival overnight bag” for when I sleep at the club.  Those gifts I’ll never forget!!!

Most of our party guests left around 8pm but then one of my boxercise gals showed up.  It was perfect timing too because I had yet to sit down and relax.  I had spent the whole party running around, mingling and making sure I had greeted all my guests.  Felt so good to sit down with her and just do nothing but chit chat.  No sooner had she left but then my boxing promoter showed up, followed by a wave of Snickers’ Korean friends. 

By the time all these late comers left, it was now about midnight.  The party had started at 5pm.  They wanted me to go bowling with them but the only thing I had eaten all day was a small piece of rice cake and two cups of coffee.  I should note that the fact that I don’t eat when I’m busy or stressed definitely accounted for today’s total lack of food eaten. 

I just wanted them all to leave.  It had been an overly long and overly busy day.  I just wanted to be left alone to clean.  Snickers’ cousin Brooklyn decided to stay with me, to keep me company.  He too isn’t a fan of parties and many times earlier on today I had caught him sitting outside our side door, on the side step.  I joined him a couple of times; it was a nice breather from the backed club of people inside.  Snickers ended up leaving his bowling game early and coming back to the club.  I finally got to eat something around 2am. 

At 3am we called it a night.  I was beyond exhausted.