This Blessed Plot, This Earth, This Realm: Gala Extravaganza!

Last night was the C of I Scholarship Gala/Advance the Legacy Campaign Kick-off. Which, of course, meant getting gussied up and drinking and dancing the night away. I didn't have too much time in between school getting out and heading into Boise so I did my hair and makeup that morning after my run at 6:30 and managed to keep myself looking decent. I had some errands to run on my way into Boise to pick up some accessories and made it to the Center on the Grove at 5:15 to change into concert black and wait for the rest of the trio.

Katie, Tim and I spent about an hour playing all the usuals. For the most part we sounded good but folks, let me tell you, it is a lot harder to sightread music when you play the same thing over and over again. There were more than a few times that Katie and I got pretty lost and Tim had to whisper to us what measure we were on. But people listened (for the most part) and our payment was getting into the gala for free so Katie and I went to go change into our dresses. Out front there was a silent auction and inside the beautiful room were all the gorgeously decorated tables and dinner. I ran into one of my students from last semester and we chatted about the gala. I think his quote sums it up the best: I've never been under one roof with some much money before. Too true, Alex, too true. It would have been lovely to have enough money that you could donate and big in an auction. The food for dinner was quite good and I chatted with Ben and Brian at my table.

Then there were a bunch of kinda boring speeches. The one thing I liked was the new campaign video they had created and it made me so proud to be a College of Idaho alumna (and now faculty!). The funny part was that one of my students from last semester was in the video... going and working in the library.... which I'm pretty sure he didn't often do... good times. Then began the auction- question: how does an auctioneer learn how to speak like they do? And how good of a rapper must he be? Just thoughts, folks, just thoughts. During the auction, we chatted, drank, wandered and ran into alumni we hadn't seen for years or professors who were out on the town for the night. A crazy swing band began to play, dressed in the greatest outfits ever. Major fail on my part for now getting a picture. Lots of dancing and shenanigans.

Eventually I had to bow out because of exhaustion and the call of my bed being too strong. It was 19F as I was driving home and falling into the guest room bed at Brooke's with its electric blanket was heavenly! Still, overall the gala was a blast. Another epic fail on my part for not getting a picture of the entire outfit (I tried in the mirror when I got home but it didn't work out too well) so just imagine ;) Can't wait for next year!