Swanky Night on the Town and a Birthday Wish

A close-up of the table decor.

S and I were invited to be guests at a swanky benefit for CONTACT Crisis Line on Saturday night. So we took some time to get cleaned up and go out on the town. I threw the purse camera into the little "dressy black" purse I've got, and pretty much nothing else fit.

I sort of forgot it was there - I mean, I was too excited to be out on the town, in a swanky place, with great company to remember to take photos! But, then after dinner, I remembered, and shot a few photos.

Photos might be a strong word - these "photos" look more like Wal-mart surveillance video stills. But, they'll help me tell the story. Security cameras never lie.

The big 2-1-er.

But, before I go on with the rest of this post - I have to give a shout out and say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my niece Jessica, who turned 21 yesterday - I can't believe it. Amazing. They are all getting too old. Congratulations, Jess - hope you had a great day. (I stole this photo from her Facebook page. It's a good one, no?)

OK, on to the event.

The event was here in town at the Hotel Intercontinental.

It was a well attended affair.

Over there, that's our hostess, my good friend Errika.

Here are me and S.
That slab of pale meat on the right of the photo is also known as my left arm.
Good God.
But doesn't S look nice?

The evening's emcee was Steve Eager from our local FOX 4 TV Station.

Now, had I been picking the emcee from FOX 4 personalities, my money would have been on Evan Andrews, the world's best weatherman. I watch Evan tell me what the weather is going to be every morning, and the guy is almost NEVER wrong. And, he is the only weather personality on in the mornings that gives a complete and thorough forecast. I rely on knowing what's going to happen because it dictates what I do with my sweet dogs - leave them in or out, put them in or out at lunch, etc - and Evan is as reliable as they come. I mean, Steve did a fine job, but Evan - well Evan - he's the man. But I digress.

CONTACT'S President, Benaye Rogers

After the opening remarks and invocation (I didn't get a photo of the invocation preacher - I was BOWING MY HEAD and PRAYING, thank you. Not really good for photo taking.) Benaye took the podium to tell the crowd about CONTACT, thank some special people, introduce some new marketing they are going to have around town and generally fill us all in on what we needed to know. Benaye is our hostess, Errika's, best friend. So, Errika knows a lot about CONTACT and supports it. Benaye also gave a welcome to the volunteer award recipients for this year, Baron James and Heather Hays, also of FOX 4.

Baron and Heather accepting their awards.

A photo op of Benaye, Baron and Heather.

Heather is involved in CONTACT as a volunteer because she was personally touched by suicide - her fiance committed suicide back in 1996, so she does it for him. Baron has been involved with the charity for many years, apparently most notably as the emcee for the Auxiliary's annual Bingo party, which is apparently quite an event.

After the award presentation, Steve Eager came back up to emcee a live auction.

But then the "real" entertainment took the stage.

Craig Ferguson from the Late Late Show entertained us for over an hour.

I am not up late enough to watch his show so I wasn't sure what to expect.
He was funny. Very funny. We laughed hard.

Then, at the end of the evening, he donated some air tickets to LA and tickets to his show to be auctioned off. It allowed the group to raise another several thousand dollars.

He was a real sport.

It was a great night out on the town for a good cause.
Thanks, Errika, for the invite.

Update on the tub - still - not - working. Grrrrr....S has a plan though. He's still working through his plan. I'll keep you posted.

Update on the bike riding - we did get one long ride in on Sunday night. It was very windy, and somehow we were driving INTO the wind for at least 2/3 of the time. The water was very choppy on the lake. It was nice, though. And, I found a place in Indianapolis that rents out bikes, so when I go up there next weekend for my niece's wedding, I can do a long ride up there and not miss a weekend of training. This week in the evenings, I'll concentrate on shorter rides that are hilly again. I'm getting better at the hills. That's a good sign. See you tomorrow.