Tis' the Season to Par-tae

This weekend was my company’s holiday party. I had been looking forward to the party ALL year since it was so much fun last year. Last year they had a ‘casino’ after dinner, which was great. It had been a long time since I had gambled, and I forgot how much I loved it! At the end of the night they had a raffle for various prizes/gift cards. One prize was the birthday package that included your birthday off of work. I wanted it SO bad that I talked about winning it all night…and I did! Talk about luck! John and I made sure to take advantage of the extra three-day weekend, so we went to Tahoe. Of course I wanted to gamble some more! I had just started at the party!

This year the party was in Avila and they had hired a DJ and magician instead of having the gambling. I was pretty disappointed that I would be able to beat my co-workers at Black Jack, but it was still just as fun as last year.

How many of you have hairdressers that style your hair so perfect after you get your haircut? Well I learned last year to schedule my December haircut on the day of the party so I could take advantage of my hair lookin’ good. So I highly recommend that to all of you...be wise in the way of scheduling your hair cuts.

I also decided to get my eye make up done at Gottschalk’s. I had called Sephora, but do you know that they make up half of your face, and then instruct you on how to do the other half?? Have you ever heard of that? There is NO WAY I could match the work of a make up artist! Plus…how are you supposed to see what she is doing if you have your eyes closed? I could understand if you went with a friend and could watch them put the make up on, but who are they kidding? At least at Estee Lauder they just have a minimum purchase of two items. I think that is a way better idea to avoid people taking advantage of a free make over. Don’t you go to professionals because YOU CAN'T do it? Anyway my chick totally rocked, and I’m thinking about getting it done this weekend as well. (We have another party).

I was also lucky enough to find a new dress at the end of the week that even had red in it! What are the chances? As you can see from the photo I was also able to get John to agree to wear a matching tie. Look how nicely we match! It took maybe 10 YEARS before John would even fathom wearing something that matched. Let me tell you that I’m so glad he has matured!

The party started with cocktail hour, which was pretty good. The bartender however was a little slow. I kind of felt sorry for him because he was by himself, trying to serve maybe 80 peeps? I first ordered a cosmo (as he did not have the ingredients for a lemon drop). It was surprisingly good…well maybe that was because I couldn’t taste the alcohol! I later met up with another co-worker who tells me she got a vodka and cranberry and it was like 95% vodka! And she told me she didn’t even tip him! What the heck? I totally got the shaft! John told me that I should take off my sweater and bend over the bar to show him some goods…then maybe that way I’d get a stronger drink. I passed on that suggestion.

Here is Sam, myself and Jen pre-dinner:

Here is John and I. This is the best photo we had of the night, and look who stuck her big mug in it?? Yeah some random waitress! I tried to have Jen take another but somehow the camera got put on video mode and it didn't work. By the time we got it fixed, we had to dance. I'll just have to blur her out if I ever print it.

Right before our main courses were served the magician came over to our table to show us some tricks. I was totally lucky as he picked me to be his semi assistant! His first trick was awesome. He had me pick a book (out of two) and then he was flipping the pages towards me and then when he was done he told me to remember one of the words. Then he told John to pick an object in the room and to think about it. He said he wasn’t going to read our minds, but he called it something else. Anyway, he asked me how many syllables my word had and then asked me about the shape of the first word. I can’t remember the questions he asked John, but needless to say the guessed my word and John’s object!!!!!! I can kind of understand how he figured out mine, because he could have just memorized the words in the book….but John’s was the Exit sign! Totally random!

He also did some really cool card tricks. He was working with one guy at our table specifically and at a table next to ours this one guy kept yelling out different cards trying to confuse the dude, and let me tell you a fight almost broke out! Well maybe not, but it could have! The magician told the heckler to ‘Shut the F*%k up.’ And it totally bruised the heckler’s ego! So then the heckler started talking about meeting him out in the back parking lot. Pretty funny.

After dinner the dancing started and it was really fun. One of the hits with the crowd was when they played YMCA. The DJ had brought out all of the different village people hats as well. Who doesn't have fun when props are involved? I didn’t think John was going to make it on the floor for that one but then all of the sudden he shows up with a sailor hat and a bottle of wine! I was trying to get him to go set it down, as that’s not the type of impression I really wanted him to make on my boss, but it didn’t work. I later realized that I think he was just using that as a prop, because he wasn’t even drinking any white wine! What a turd.

I was a little concerned that they wouldn’t play many modern songs, which they didn’t…but they did play Sexy Back. It was an all female crowd until John came out and then proceeded to dance with each lady…including my boss! It was really funny.

I think the dancing only lasted an hour because there is a noise ordinance in Avila that it needs to be quiet at 10pm! Can you believe that one? It was such a bummer because everyone was really starting to get down and dance right before the DJ quit.

The night closed with the raffle where I didn’t win ANYTHING! I am SO mad. I was totally spoiled in winning last year AND winning one of the best gifts. Jen won though, so I was happy for her. She got a baking basket that had a ton of pink kitchenware. It was really cute. I’m hoping that next year they might have a few big gifts, but also have small amount gift cards for everyone. I think it would be nice if everyone got to leave with something. It was a major bummer coming home empty handed.

Even though the 'official' party ended, a big group of us headed down the street to the one bar in town, Mr. Rick’s. I was really surprised at how nice it was in there. For some reason I thought it would be totally scummy like The John’s Club in Fortuna. (Sorry non-Humboldt peeps, there is definitely not a website for the John’s club. Maybe I’ll get a photo of it when I’m home in a few weeks).

John and I played a round of pool and won, but we only played once because you needed 5 quarters to play. Who carried quarters around with them? I almost went out side and started begging for some change, but decided to pass. My boss and her husband were even part of the after party crowd! I was totally impressed…especially when we all left after midnight because we were so tired, and they were still going strong!

I can’t wait for next year! I’ll try to get the photos on ofoto this week, but until then, here are some of my favorite dancing photos:

This was a coaster that they had at the bar we went to after the party. As you can see I'm really proud to be associated with Humboldt. Who wouldn't be?