Partied out

(Yay! I got a "Best of Holidailies" nod for my New York entry! *beams*)

The silent auction at our company Christmas party was a huge success. Tons of items were brought in, and the bidding was fierce on a few items. My cookies turned out to be good items. One basket went for $50, the other went for $45.

I'm not sure which was which, but I saw the auction organizers walk one basket over to the president of my company. THAT should be interesting. I hope she likes them! :)

It was strange being in the Park Plaza hotel for the Christmas party. The only other times I've been in that hotel have been for Arisia, and the hotel is a much different place when a couple thousand geeks aren't taking over the joint.

Everyone looked fabulous. Although officially it's not a formal event, almost everyone dresses up. I wore a black blouse, red silk embroidered jacket, red skirt, and ruby velvet mary jane style slippers (which I LOVE, by the way... I highly recommend that every woman on this earth splurge in at least one pair of ruby slippers. You'll feel like a princess.)

I left the party with a basket of cookies from my competitor and a wonderful gift basket of handmade candles and bath fizz balls scented with tea. I plan on having a wonderful soak in the tub at some point in the next few weeks! :) I tried for a couple other things, but quickly was outbid and the prices were going up a bit too fast for my tastes.

As things were winding down, I gave Erich a call to see what he'd like to do after work. He agreed to meet me at the hotel bar, have a drink (which we so rarely do after work that it really is a treat), and then grab dinner at the oyster bar before heading home. It would work out perfectly since I drove the distance from Providence to Boston this morning to avoid going out in the rain as much as possible. By around 5, the rain had almost stopped, but traffic would still be bad for a while.

Erich arrived at the hotel sometime just before six. We had martinis, and Erich mentioned that although oysters sounded good, he really wanted sushi. We decided to head back to the car and find something around Providence.

We returned home just before eight o'clock. While I freshened up upstairs, Erich turned on the TV-- the Charlie Brown Christmas Special was on, which we both plunked on the couch to watch. Some weird newer one followed, which we weren't interested in since it didn't speak to our childhoods. The TV went off, and we headed back out into the cold.

One stop down I-95, we came to a Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar. Erich had never experienced the extremely entertaining steakhouse style cooking before, so we sat at one of the tables surrounding a grill. Our chef went crazy with the cooking-- I always love watching the hibatchi cooks and the beautiful art of their grilling style (I know there's an offical name for it... but it's past midnight and I'm at a loss).

The food was great. We brought tons of leftovers home.

And now I only want to crawl into my comfy bed with Erich, the cats, and sleep until whenever my brain decides it's time to get up!

'Night...

~ Mel.