Dinner Party and Drawing

I made progress towards three of my new years resolutions

this weekend, and it really paid off.

Last night, I had a birthday dinner party for some of my friends with whom I'd like to become closer. I would consider it a great success. A few people didn't show who said they would, but I was very happy with the turnout. I cooked all day to put together the following menu:

Appetizers:

Chocolate-dipped Bananas

Chocolate-dipped Strawberries

Pineapple and Cream Cheese Dip

Fresh Strawberries

Entrees:

Slow-Roasted Marinated Beef Ribs

Parmesan-Crusted Baked Chicken

Sides:

Mozzarella-Baked Broccoli with Lemon Zest

Spinach Sautée

Dessert:

Caramelized Sautéed Bananas

Being able to cook this much food (which all turned out delicious) was very refreshing. I also really enjoyed the company of the guests. I am typically not a very social person. I get overwhelmed easily and would usually rather be by myself. This was a VERY small get together, as I live in a VERY small dorm/apartment, but the size was perfect for me. There were from 4-5 guests at any given time. They all enjoyed the food and we had some very nice conversations. I am very happy I decided to put this together, despite my initial fears, and the time it took up. I still need work on reaching out and not putting up walls, but I am really pleased with this start.

The other bit of progress I made was in the drawing department. I have been wanting to keep up a sketch book, but never got around to doing regular sketches last year. The other night I got inspired, picked up a pencil and drew. It isn't anything fancy, and my technique needs a lot of work, but thats the whole point. Drawn with mechanical pencil (I couldn't find my drawing pencils) by the light of my LCD alarm clock:

I didn't fully finish it before I fell asleep, but I'm pleased with how such a quick drawing turned out. I am really terrible at drawing faces/heads unless they are the focus of the piece, but I plan to improve that through drawings like these. This is by no means on of my better sketches, and I hope to be able to create more of the caliber of my best piece so far: