The Party Was Fabulous!!

We started the evening by meeting for 4:30 Mass. Mindy sat completely on top of my purse four times. I don't know why she was crowding me. I was afraid that my brand new iPhone was damaged. After Mass, I leaned over and said to her, "thank goodness I got the Apple Care plan!" It seems to be working okay.

From Church, we walked over to the school cafeteria where the dinner/auction was held. Stephanie, Mindy and I had a great time bidding on dozens of items. At one point, Butch came over and said, "you better make sure you aren't bidding against each other." Seriously? We're not that stupid! We snagged some really great stuff and a couple of things I didn't really want. I'll explain below.

 I snapped these pictures before it got too crowded. There were 250 people---a great turn out.

 A few of Stephanie's friends---Beth  here, Jimmy and Meg below.

 Stephanie and Nicky.

 The jury is still out on the camera on my new phone. It's supposed to be incredible, but not for me. I need to go take a class and see what I'm doing wrong. Of course, this was across the table in a dark room. I made the picture closer before snapping it. Still, I think it's pretty good of my girlies! Mindy, left and Stephanie on the right. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of David and Linda---friends of ours that rounded out our table. They were at the buffet when I took the pictures.

Just some of the "swag" we snagged. We got the gift card tree that had over $250 worth of gift cards. We only paid $100 for them. Great Christmas gifts for the teens. Stephanie and Mindy had a few things that are not pictured here. I'm tellin' ya, we made out!

 The wooden cross is from the St. Cecilia Motherhouse. When they added a wing and did a major renovation a couple of years ago, this wood came from the original floor dating back to 1880. The plates are another story. A friend from bridge made them. I felt bad that no one was bidding on them. I bid on the set in the back---they are some kind of foil decoupaged things. They cannot be immersed in water, plus there are only four of them. It was sort of a "mercy" bid. Stephanie and Mindy, thinking I wanted them, bid on the other set on my behalf. This set has a heart, club, spade and diamond. I'm thinking hostess gifts.

 The tailgate basket is pretty cute. That's going to be a Christmas gift too. Ignore the banana, that was breakfast.

 I forgot to add this handmade rosary to my collection above. It's really pretty with glass beads. I might give this to someone I think could benefit from it. I don't leave home without one!

Besides the fun things we bought, I was happy that the Cajun dinner that we, along with the Broussard's donated was in the live auction and went for $575. We've done many dinners with the Broussards over the years. They are our Cajun friends from Lafayette, LA. and are excellent cooks. Butch and I help with the prep work the night before and usually host it at our house. Bruce gives a little cooking demonstration. We serve before dinner drinks and wine during. It's a lot of fun.

That's about it. I made a new---very simple recipe tonight. I'll share it tomorrow.