Dear Atlas Blog Readers,

Have you ever done paint by numbers? I mean have you ever done one after kindergarten? I tried one recently with the hope of learning, in some small way, how to actually paint for real.

It didn’t work and I have come to the dramatic realization that I am no Picasso. Not even close. In fact, I’m not even the kid in kindergarten who can color within the lines. I’m that bad at anything in the artistic realm. Even my stick figures look like horribly disfigured abominations.

I feel much the same way when I go to an event that is spectacular. Some people really just have a talent for putting together a celebration. I have come, more and more, to the realization that this is a talent that is artistic in nature and the events that they put together are works of art.

For a little while I believed that being submerged in the presence of such individuals would rub off on me. It hasn’t. I’m constantly reminded of that fact every time I attend a party or an event that is thrown by someone who really knows what they are doing.

I recently had an “I would have never thought of that moment” at a friend’s 25th anniversary. Both my friend and his wife are architects. They design buildings and homes. Where you could even begin to do something like that I have no idea. I tried building a fort once out of pillows and a blanket; within five minutes the city declared it structurally unsound and made me destroy it.

Despite their artistic and visionary natures, my friends happen also to be somewhat simple in their personal lives. They aren’t extravagant, nor are they flamboyant in their tastes. I knew that their anniversary party would be perfect without being showy.

I was right. The gathering took place at their home (which, of course, they designed and built). There were many people there: family, friends, business associates, etc.. Food stations had been set up in different parts of the house. At first, I couldn’t figure out why they hadn’t decided on a single buffet area or something similar. When I got closer to the first station, I discovered why.

When I picked up the plate I was surprised to see that it was a triangle shape. I’d never seen a plate like that before. All of the food at this station had also been cut and shaped in the form of a triangle. The shapes were natural; it wasn’t as if they had taken a hamburger and pressed it into a triangular shape. There were pies, quiche, and the like here.

Across the room a food station was set up with oval dishes. Again, the food had been prepared to naturally match the shape of the plate it was being served in. As I stood at this station and looked back at the “triangle station”, I realized it had been placed below two magnificent wooden beams that started at the floor and met each other at the ceiling in the shape of a triangle.

Similarly, the other food stations complimented some feature in the home. Rectangles, hexagons, squares, cubes . . . you name it.

I had been to my friend’s house many times. I had always admired the beauty of their house. I had seen everything before, but this was the first time that the shapes of the house started to stand out to me. The way that they had been placed together or used as juxtapositions was remarkable.

All that time I had never seen it for the piece of art that it really was and it finally took some shaped dinner plates to open my eyes.

Art. Plain and simple.

I’ll never be able to come up with things like that. It just isn’t in my nature. I’m glad that there are people out there who see the world so differently and can make things like this for the rest of us to enjoy!

Dear Atlas Blog Readers,

So here we are: The first Wednesday of December.

Bust out the eggnog and your best stress-management techniques! It’s time to get real about the Holidays.

A long time ago, I subscribed to the belief that the best way to throw a Christmas or Holiday party was to go to someone else’s Christmas or Holiday Party.

You may agree. You may not.

I’ve seen holiday parties go down from both sides of the serving dish. I’ve watched as my own family events have degenerated into a Chevy Chase, National Lampoon-like disaster . . . only without the laughs or the cute, albeit confused, aunt who sings the Star Spangled Banner instead of saying grace.

I’ve watched my mother literally blink out of existence after my uncle asked her if she had enough sense to buy organic eggnog. Seriously. One minute she was there, the next she wasn’t. She reappeared two days later without a word, looking at us all with a jaundiced eye. We’ve never, ever talked about it.

I’ve been to some great holiday parties and some not-so-great parties. It’s almost a cliché to talk about the person, or persons as the case may be, who have a little too much to drink at the company holiday party and make some bad decisions regarding secret crushes or hatred for bosses . . . but I’ve seen it happen. I once saw two coworkers almost come to blows over the correct pronunciation of some lake in Michigan.

Yes, there’s something about the Holidays that can bring out the crazy. The way I see it, something has to balance out the stress. That’s fine, but it’s always a good idea to make sure that your memories of this time of year are happy ones.

It’s easy to get caught up in all of it, but it’s very important to have fun. The best holiday party I ever attended was, at the beginning, the most confusing thing I’ve ever seen.

I had a girlfriend once whose family had started a tradition of having themed Christmas Parties. There was only one rule: have fun with it. They did.

That particular year’s theme was Santa’s reindeer. I had no idea what it meant. I literally thought that I was supposed to dress up as a reindeer. When I asked her about it my girlfriend would say: “Have fun with it. Be creative.”

My creativity with Santa’s reindeer amounted to some cheap reindeer antlers and a Rudolph nose. I’m good like that.

When I got to the party no one was dressed like a reindeer . . . they weren’t even close. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a reindeer in sight.

I walked up to my girlfriend who was dressed in a red leotard, a tutu, leg warmers and ballet slippers. She saw the confused look on my face, laughed and said, “I’m Dancer. Get it?!”

I did.

Her uncle had on a football helmet with some decent sized football pads underneath his Christmas sweater. He looked at me and said one word: Blitzen.

The cousin with the bow and arrow and little angel wings was Cupid, of course. Others were dressed in similar ways. The real rage of the party was my girlfriend’s father who came down the stairs dressed head to toe in his wife’s close clothes, adorned in jewelry and complete makeup. Everyone stood there looking at him until someone finally shouted out, “VIXEN!!” He blew a kiss, winked and strutted around to thunderous applause.

It was a great deal of fun.

It wasn’t the most traditional party I’d ever been to, but it was one of the best. Don’t be afraid to stretch the limits this Holiday Season . . . and please don’t be the person who tells off their boss at the company party . . . or just shows up with a red clown nose and a cheap pair of reindeer antlers.

Dear Atlas Party Rental Blog Readers,

Sometimes we all have to do things that we don’t want to do. It is just a fact of life that we can’t get away from.

Sometimes there is nothing I want to do more than just sit on the couch and stare at the wall. Inside every man lives the soul of a hermit. You all know it’s true. Sometimes a man just needs to retreat into the depths of his house and loose himself in a cycle of naps, junk food and more naps.

It is a universal truth.

I couldn’t wait for this past weekend because that is exactly what I had planned. I had even gone as far as to plan a very intricate web of excuses and lies (I’m not proud of lying, but sometimes it’s necessary) to avoid any social interaction whatsoever: My friends thought I had some work to do. My family thought I was going out with friends. Work thought I had a big family event I had to go to.

It wasn’t complicated but it was perfect . . . except for the big family event that I had to go to!

I had completely forgotten about it, but a single phone call from my mother reminded me that it was my 7 year-old cousin’s birthday. I tried desperately to get out of it but anyone who has ever gone up against a well-executed guilt trip from their mother knows that that wasn’t happening.

I couldn’t imagine a worse place to be than in my cousin’s back yard as an army of screaming 7 year-olds who were all hopped up on candy and birthday cake looked for an infinite number of ways to cause mass destruction and end all life on the planet as we know it.

It was going to be a very, very bad scene, but there was nothing I could do. I had familial obligations to fulfill (and by that I mean my mother’s wrath would be epic).

So it came to pass that on Saturday after I picked up my mother it was with a great deal of surprise that I learned the birthday party was taking place inside a local science museum. I’d never heard of anything like this before. Growing up I was an extreme nerd (at least that’s what all the other kids used to call me) and I would have loved to have a birthday in a museum. Heck, I would have loved any party in a museum!

When we arrived, I was even more surprised. There were no screaming kids running around hell-bent on destroying life as we know it. In fact it was the exact opposite.

The museum staff was on hand and they were doing cool experiments and mini-shows that educated and mystified the mind. Kids sat in rapture in neat rows as someone dropped Mentos into a 2 liter bottle of soda and watched the ensuing explosion. In other areas the staff was showing off the museum’s animals like snakes, lizards and even a falcon. A FALCON!

As the birthday continued, guided tours of the museum exhibits were offered, or you could wander off on your own and go through the museum at your leisure. This particular place had a great deal of hands-on exhibits and it was educational and fun playing with them.

Again, I was completely surprised; I had never been to a party inside a science museum before. Aware of my Mr. Event duties, I approached the attractive staff member who was holding a pretty cool looking lizard and asked her if they limited the facilities to birthday parties.

“Why do you want to know? Are you Mr. Event or something?” She asked.

I rolled my eyes and started to giggle nervously, “N-n-nooooo,” I stammered and rolled my eyes at the obnoxious suggestion. She looked at me suspiciously but didn’t press the issue further. I’m just smooth like that, you know?

I was amazed to learn that they hosted all kinds of events. In the evenings, after the museum closed, they hosted corporate events, fundraisers, movie screenings and even weddings (which I thought was a little weird, until I realized that I would get married there in a heartbeat)!

For adult events they set up facilities and food stations inside the actual halls and exhibits of the museum. I imagined how cool it would be to be there after hours in a social setting. I certainly had never experienced that before and I thought it could be a great twist in the event realm.

As far as I could tell, the parents and adults were having just as much fun as the children. That is not something that I have experienced at birthday parties in the past! So, the time my mother was done with the whole thing and said we could leave, I pleasantly opted to stay a while longer so I could learn about the mysteries of “Gak”!

It was really a great time. Take a look at some interesting venues like a museum when you’re planning your next event whether it is a birthday, anniversary or networking event. It certainly adds flavor to the standard meeting/ballroom affair!

Until next Wednesday!