Ball

Saturday night was the Humane Society Pet Lover’s Ball.  We were given free entry to the ritzy event due to all of Ali’s hard work on the Paws run.  The event was held at the Port Royal Club, a very exclusive, very beautiful, very fancy club right on the water.  We arrived shortly before sunset which was perfect.  Ali and I got to enjoy a beautiful sunset.  While we were outside we were stopped by a photographer for Gulf Shore Life magazine.  He asked if he could take out picture against the beautiful back drop.  We were happy to oblige.

When we came in we were given two free drink passes each.  The woman also said that the wine and soft drinks were free.  I guess it makes sense, get the people drunk so they are more apt to part with their money at the silent auctions.  We went up to the bar and Ali got a glass of white zinfandel.  For some reason that didn’t count as wine, we had to fork over a drink ticket.  I took the one bartenders recommendation and opted for one of the free drinks they were handing out.  I think she said it was a mimosa.  All I know is one of the ingredients was rum.  I haven’t had any rum for 10 years since it caused me to become almost comatose after imbibing a bit too much on our honeymoon.

I snagged a glass off the tray anyway and took a sip, hey it’s free.  It simply was not good.  The taste of it made me recoil.  I didn’t care, it was free, I was determined to drink it.  Ali and took a look at the various silent auction items.  Some of the packages were interesting.  We actually bid on one of them that included a signed Everblades jersey, free golf and something else I can’t remember.  We knew our bid would not hold up with all of the mega-dollars in the room but it was nice to pretend that we were part of the action.

This was practically a black tie event.  Tons of the men were in tuxedos and the women were primped to the max with ample (often enhanced)cleavage spilling out everywhere.  I pulled out the only suit I own.  I can’t quite remember if I have worn it this century or not.  I decided I needed alcohol to help me break down my normal social road blocks.  I didn’t follow normal good practice with drinking, I mixed, a lot.  After choking down the mimosa I had a cosmopolitan followed by a Heineken and then washed down a couple glasses of red wine.  Beside the beer, none of the other drinks tasted good but they did the trick.  I loosened up a bit.

One of the women from our running club was there unexpectedly so that was nice.  We talked to her and her husband for a bit.  The people that sat around us at our table were all very friendly.  We wound up talking to a few of them quite a bit.  The dinner was buffet style, something I heard the rich people poo poo’d.  They don’t like having to stand in line for their food.  The spread was fantastic as you could expect.  Ali and I both got seconds.

After dinner the live auction started.  They had 6 or 7 items.  The mayor of Naples was the auctioneer.  The item that generated the most money was a guitar that was signed by the Rolling Stones, it pulled in a lofty $5500.    As soon as the auction ended tons of people got up and bolted even though there was live music and dancing.  Within 15 minutes 2/3 of the room had cleared out.

Originally I thought maybe Ali and I would get out and dance a little bit.  However the band played nothing from the last half century and the few people on the floor were old enough to be our grandparents.  We instead just stayed at our table and talked to the people that remained.  It was cool.

We stuck around for awhile, not leaving until 10:30 or so.   I had a few cups of coffee late and had enough of a break from the alcohol that I actually was ok to drive home.  Ali and I had a really good time.  It was fun to rub elbows with a class of society we never would see otherwise.

The rest of the weekend had house chores, yay.  I’m not feeling chatty.  The full moon has me rather locked up this month.