This year my July 17 birthday falls on a Saturday–the perfect day of the week for a party, right? Please join me and other fine friends for festivities! I have some other friends with birthdays right around the same time too, so we can celebrate them as well.

Though not every dish will be high-carb, many usually are. For one thing, there will be a bunch of fruit.

Outdoors will likely be pleasant enough, so we’ll chill in the back yard/deck like most other times here.

* FOOD

– Any food you bring, if it’s raw and/or organic, that’s extra nice! But please make sure it’s at least vegan, i.e. free of any/all animal products–red meat, poultry, marine animals, dairy (milk, butter, cheese, cream, ice cream, yogurt, whey, casein, etc.), eggs, lard, gelatin, bee products (honey, pollen).

– You don’t have to be vegan yourself, just the food! Please be careful about that. I will be making sure of this by removing from reach anything we don’t want someone to eat accidentally!

– It doesn’t have to be fancy food either (plain fruit or salad/greens is welcome), although extra food prep efforts are always appreciated!

– When feasible please do include a complete list of ingredients for those of us concerned about specifics.

– Even if you run out of time, don’t know what to bring, etc., it’s quite alright to come empty-handed! There will be enough for everyone from those who WILL provide food, that we’d rather enjoy your company than miss out on the gift of your presence/time, please!

– No need for plates, cups, utensils–I have plenty of all those here.

* PARKING

– It’s been working well, so let’s keep doing it this way: Please parallel park along the left/west side of the gravel driveway which branches to your left as you drive in.

– If that fills up, one “lane” of parked cars can fit on the left/west half of the paved driveway also (straight ahead as you drive in), up to the garage door. Again, just parallel park with the other cars.

– Wherever you park, just make room for others parked ahead of and behind you to get around you if they decide to leave before you.

– It’s best to park back end in first, as it’s harder to see going backwards when it gets dark. If you’re leaving driving forward, your headlights give you a lot of light to see in the dark.

– Carpooling is cool…please offer or ask for rides in the comments section.

* TIMES

Feel free to arrive whenever works best for you, as long as it’s ONLY ON TIME OR LATER than the start time, please! As we all know, better late than never! There’s no real predetermined end time either (I picked the one showing here arbitrarily, as the form doesn’t let you leave it open ended), it just depends how long people want to stay. Playing that by ear has worked best.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!