Well, it appears I pulled it off! Despite some last minute cancellations and new attendees, the Murder Mystery Weekend was a rousing success. (If I do say so myself).

Friday night, those of us staying the weekend gathered at a local bar/nightclub to see Dr. Dirty perform.

Saturday, my gal pals and I went shopping for a few party supplies and got our nails done before joining the boys in the hotel's hot tub.

Then the party began. Not only did everyone really get into the spirit of things and dressed in their 1980's best, they really got into playing their roles. I wrote it with the idea that the guests were to improvise their parts based on the information in their clues, and did they ever! High school was never this much fun for me!

I had lesbian love triangles, love children, a catfight, and practically fisticuffs. I kept getting hit on by folks that weren't really supposed to be interested in my character. She was, by the way, a photographer--I must've snapped a few hundred pictures. I borrowed a friend's camera, and cannot wait to see the photos.

Everyone said they had a blast, and are already asking when I'll be doing the next one. It was great seeing my work come to life, better hanging with my good friends, awesome making new friends, and the best was knowing everyone had a good time.

I learned a few lessons along the way, too:

1) Just do a basic draft and leave it be until the commitment deadline. Save any rewrites for the week of the event.

2) Send packs of vitamins to all attendees, so no one ends up in the hospital the week of the event (It's happened two years running).

3) Try not to be such a damn control freak and let people help out.

4) It really doesn't have to be perfect . .. really.

The icing on the cake? I got in a little playtime, too. (Yes, there were primarily swingers in attendance, though the event was billed as vanilla). It's good to be the hostess.

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