So it's Spain

After a month of epic battles, penalties, fouls, yellow cards, lots of drama, vuvuzelas, gooooooooooools, red cards, tiros de esquina, goal kicks, himnos nacionales, and more Univision than I've ever watched in my life, the 2010 FIFA World Cup is over. And fittingly, a team from Chile's group hoisted the cup- only it wasn't Chile. Spain, the team who'd never won before but who was many experts' dark-horse candidate after Brasil and Argentina, beat Holland 1-0 with a goal by Iniesta in the 115th minute (just 5 minutes before the match would go to penalties, the part of soccer I could live without).

More exciting than the Gran Final de la Cupa Mundial, though, was the fact that 18 of my friends, and 2 of their kids, came over to my pad to celebrate! These guys (and gals) are mostly friends from small group- with a few "friends of friends" mixed in- although I know all of them, and nearly all had been over to the place before. So 10 lbs of beef, over 50 cans of soda, 15 ears of corn, 3 lbs of charcoal, 3 different batches of smoothies (2 of peaches, 1 of blueberries), hand-made tortillas, oatmeal cookies, 20 cupcakes (I learned that to soften up icing, 5-8 seconds in the microwave is plenty of time... because after 30 seconds, it's melted and starting to burn), 10 bottles of water, a bag of ice, 6 avocadoes, 3 tomatoes, 1/2 an onion, and chunks of cilantro (these made excellent guacamole which was gone well before the game actually started)-- all of which cost over $100-- these combined for a delicious way to cap off a month of excellent soccer.

Here are a few pics!