Monday, November 17, 2008

No spouses were harmed during the course of this dinner

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous going into Saturday night's dinner event. Within about 5 minutes of getting there, I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. The Museum looked fabulous, and our 100 or so people was the perfect number for the space available. Peggy (the events coordinator at the Museum) was there the entire time, so we knew that we could go to her if there were any problems.

As people started arriving, they looked around a bit and everyone expressed what a beautiful place it is, and a great place to have the event. After an hour of hors d'oeuvres and mingling, I was starting to feel more relaxed that everything was going to go well. The head honcho (Mike) at Ken's workplace sat by us again--he sat by us at the Huckabee speech--so that was kind of cool. Mike and a couple of others (including Ken) said a few words, then we proceeded to the buffet line in an orderly and controlled manner. (Ha ha!) About the only question left was whether or not the buffet dinner would be good. Buffets can be tricky things...they can sit there too long and get overdone and dry. Not the case here. They did a great job, and the vegetable lasagna was nice and cheesy, the rosemary chicken was tender and not dried out, and the roast beef was very flavorful. And I loved the roasted veggies, with lots of squash and zucchini, but then I love stuff like that.

I was so pleased with everything, and I'll be writing some very nice letters. I heard from Ken a little bit ago, and he said that there was a conference call about the PAC, and someone made the comment that they feel sorry for whoever plans this event next year, because it will be hard act to follow. Sweeeeet! It was just really neat to be able to have this in South Bend, and have everyone who attended enjoy the Museum and appreciate it so much. It made me proud to be a South Bender.

After we left the Museum, a few of us met at Sean O'Casey's, a replica of an Irish pub downtown. It was a fine end to a fine evening, and I think I can say that a good time was had by all!

Oh, and for those of you wondering about whether or not anyone perished while eating what Ken and I came to call the Mushrooms of Death...I'm happy to report that were no fatalities due to the ingestion of verboten food items! (And the Mushrooms of Death were to die for! Lots of cheese melted on top. Yummm.) But when people were arriving, Ken and I were out at the registration table, so we were there when that particular couple got there. As they were looking for their name tags, the guy said "I'm so-and-so," and this is what his wife said: "He's the one whose wife has all the food allergies!" If I'm lyin' I'm dyin'. Why on earth would anyone define themselves that way? I found that sort of bizarre and sad. However, I encountered the guy in the exhibits after dinner, and he said, "Thank you for taking good care of my wife." I thought that was very kind of him to say, and I'm sure it's really difficult to deal with such severe allergies. I just hope they can kind of take it down a notch, because I still think it's a little presumptuous to expect a buffet dinner to conform to your dietary needs, let alone calling the caterer about it. As a couple of commenters noted, it's probably better to eat something at home and then eat what you can at such a dinner. (And the cost of this dinner was picked up by the head honcho--no one had to pay for it.)

Speaking of not paying, the open bar was a big hit! (wink)

Ken has made an entry about the evening, and put up a slideshow of everyone enjoying themselves. My slideshow focuses on the venue and the cars. There are several shots of the Packard Predictor, because I just LOVE that car! And Laurel, I think you'll see that I'd need a pretty large pantsuit to be able to fit the Predictor in there! Ha!

One final thing. A couple of people commented on Ken's entry about how, based on our picture together, he must be really tall...or else I'm really short. The answer is...both! Ken is fairly tall, at around 6' to 6'1", and yes, I'm very short, topping out at not quite 5'. And in that picture, I even had 2-inch heels on!




20 comments:

  1. Wow! I'm impressed also. Everything looked beautiful!!

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  2. Yeah, it definitely looks like the perfect place for a dinner! You made a lot of great choices. Now, about that Predictor.... yesterday I asked my ex if he'd buy me one. He said, "Errrr.... there IS only one!" Since you refused to sneak it out of there for me, I guess I'll have to find a way to talk the Stude folks out of it. Hmmm....

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  3. I'm The Toweler, and I approve this message :o)

    Thanks for all your work planning our fun evening.

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  4. Congrats on the great dinner! The setting is lovely. I love your pictures of the cars, that Packard Predictor is one sexy car. If I could only get one with Daniel Craig driving it.

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  5. Sucha great place to hold a dinner, and the photo's are great, I see Ken likes the black stuff(Guiness)and glad everyone appreciated the buffet.

    Take care

    Yasmin
    xx

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  6. I love the pictures! I love history... those old cars are fabulous, especially the wagon!

    I'm pretty short too... 5'2! Michael is 6'2... we don't have a lot of pictures together but you can really tell in our pictures that he is much taller.

    Glad all survived the dinner...
    *hugs*
    heather

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  7. Glad to hear you two had a good time....awesome pics! That place looks so cool....i loved seeing all of the cars. XO

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  8. I seem to feel as if I was there...hmmm, maybe it was the 'shrooms...

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  9. Hi Beth,
    Phew ... I'm so relieved. I kept imagining that the woman with the allergies would accidentally chomp on a mushroom and then shriek something melodramatic like "a curse on you, for all eternity" before going into her death throws on the hood of a Vintage Studebaker. She'd look a lot like Norma Desmond and, naturally, the whole thing would be accompanied by thunder and lightning. But I like your version a lot better ... nothing beats a Happy Ending.
    Best,
    Marty

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  10. Wow...you guys clean up really well! Sounds like it was fabulous! Quite a compliment about it being a hard act to follow :0 Good job!

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  11. Awesome slideshow. I think my grandparents had the Hawk, maybe my aunt would remember. I think we can say that your dinner was a smashing success! Congratulations!
    :) Leigh

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  12. Thank you for showing the beautiful cars.

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  13. Glad to hear it went well, and the food was not Barfy! It looked wonderful, and I could see why next year will be a hard act to follow! It sounds like you two enjoyed yourselves as well. Have a great day tomorrow!

    Peace&Love
    Wes

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  14. WOW!! Great cars!! Thanks for sharing!! You two look great!! Sounds like a perfect evening!! You both did a great job!!

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  15. Glad you had a good time. The place looked great, you did a great job ! I love all those cars.
    Awesome!

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  16. I'm glad the evening went well. I love the slideshow. Speaking as one who drives what can only be described as a 'Noddy' car, I enjoyed drooling over those classy jobs. And you're right, the Predictor does look a bit special.

    B. x

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  17. I am so happy to hear the event went well. :) Paul and I have a foot difference in our height as well.. he's 6'2" and I'm 5'2".

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  18. There was a Cadillac dealer near my house that sold Avanti's ... Ken is ONLY 6' ..! I thought he was a GIANT!

    The food allegy lady needs attention, craves it. Wants something special to call attention to herself and be catered to ... no, not a clinical psychologist, but I have slept at a Holiday Inn Express!

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  19. The thing is with all the allergies this woman has why would she want to attempt to eat anything out? There are definitely no guarantees something won't be accidently added or mistaken. The woman cracks me up, I swear. Skye is allergic to chicken. Do you know how many things have chicken broth in them. It's insane. Yet we're not running around saying chicken=death...

    You did an absolutely fabulous job hon. I agree it will be a tough act to follow. I'm betting when it's time to host it in your area again, you will be the first they call. (Hugs)Indigo

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  20. It's hard to say what's more impressive: Coordinating a cool, complex event or the photo slideshow? I didn't know you were so blessed with a camera! The angle of the photos and the cropping were excellent!

    Sorry my comments were so late. It's like I arrived to a party really late.

    -dan

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I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?