You call this a vacation?!?

I've officially decided that I am going to need a vacation to recover from this supposed "vacation" when I get back home. Tomorrow is my parent's big luau--it's the 10th year that we've done this so you'd think I would have learned by now that there is no rest or relaxation to be found when it comes to luau preparations...

First off, you know you're in trouble when there is an actual written manual to follow on how to have a luau--or the ULTIMATE luau, as it's called in our book. My sister made this a few years ago as a present for my mom (We're weird, we know.) There is a section on everything from guests, shopping lists, recipes, and more--much, MUCH more. Basically, anytime there is a question on what needs to be done, we have to check the book. This year we actually started calling it the Luau Bible.

THE SCHEDULE--I know you can't see it in the first picture but we also have a section that includes a detailed hour-by-hour schedule. Here's a pic of our Saturday timeline. Just keep in mind that this hour-by-hour nonsense starts on Thursday! My sister, a.k.a. "The Schedule Nazi," spends the entire 72 hours leading up to the party telling us how we are soooo far behind schedule. Somehow we always manage to pull it off... Also, I guess we're lucky that we have an entry "reminding us" that at 4pm the PARTY STARTS! I'd hate for us to forget to start the luau if we didn't have it on "the schedule."

We may gripe and complain but getting ready for the luau is actually fun. Relaxing? Definitely not. But we must like something about...either that or we're just gluttons for punishment.