Our social calendar rarely includes anything too fancy – much less Black Tie apparel – but last weekend afforded a couple of opportuntities to break out of my jeans and sweater mold during away-from-work time and actually dress up! Friday night was the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner at University Plaza where Ken Meyer was named 2007 Springfieldian – a well-deserved honor to the man who earned the naming rights to my fitness center and has shared generously with our community. Lots of schmoozing with friends, great salad, excellent wine on the table (not plentiful at 1 bottle for 10 people but it was a decent cab) and tough steak – 3 out of 4 ain’t bad!
Saturday night was the American Heart Association ball at the Oasis featuring open bar, first rate meal, silent and live auctions and a killer band. Our “free” admission ended up earning us lots of airline miles on the credit card after we scored some goodies on the silent auction and then participated in a “group buy” at the live auction. Suffice it to saw that when Cox administrators bid against St. John’s physicians, it cost us a LOT to win! Stay tuned later in the spring for the story of how “Cox Takes Over St. John’s” (at their suite at Hammons Field!) All for a good cause and best of all, I got to see how the real fashionistas in Springfield dress for these gigs – including a couple of gentlemen who looked outstanding in their tuxedos. We ended the evening at the Bodega Bar enjoying a drink with friends and seeing downtown Springfield on a Saturday night after 11:00 – something we rarely do.
A great weekend full of rich food, many more drinks than normal, late hours and best of all, excellent opportunities for peope-watching since we all know that humans are much more interesting to watch than critters in a zoo. Which begs the question – why don’t we put certain people (I could nominate a few!) behind bars and let intelligent animals like my dog Mulligan watch them?
