This past week I had many firsts for 2010.

Wednesday night my best college pal Beth came into town and we cracked open the first bottle of white wine on my front porch.

Thursday night we lost another kickball game but I happened to score our only point (that isn’t a first for 2010 – that’s a first ever).

Friday morning I mowed the backyard and cranked on the ceiling fans in the house. Friday evening I hosted my first backyard dinner party of 2010 – fired up my grill – and broke out the gin to celebrate both the warm weather and my friend Jeb’s birthday.

Saturday I recovered from Friday and noticed that all the flowers in vases inside the house came from directly outside the house.

Sunday I broke out my white pants (although I’m really not sure it is legal yet) and got my first hint of sunburn on my shoulders.

While these firsts were fully deserving of celebration – I was also able to celebrate Jeb’s birthday, Easter and Greek Easter (which I grew up celebrating) this weekend. I was unable to spend the holiday with my family at my grandfather’s house on the Withlacoochee River in Florida (you can’t make that name up) but I did prepare a number of traditional Thompson dishes this weekend that took me home – from grilled leg of lamb to my Mom’s Greek potato salad and a fancy version of strawberry shortcake. I would have loved to see my family today at Camp Comfort on the Withlacoochee – and would have loved even more to see what Winston would do next to the river – but I was able to get close enough via cell phone and the nostalga of food. I’ll post the recipes this week.