Silent auction!

Tonight, I went to my first ever charity gala ball. It was the annual black tie fundraising event for this chinese foundation that helps the elderly and youth. T was a judge for their scholarship program and they gave us tickets as a thank you. Pretty huge event, close to 1,000 people, held at the convention centre.

Besides dinner and dancing, they had a big silent auction and prize drawings. We've only ever been to one event in the past that had a silent auction, and I must say I find them stressful when you really want something... Keep checking the list, but not seem too eager, but dread anyone you see hovering around... Anyway, they had over 300 items: jewelry, certificates for big chinese banquets, tea sets... Our bid? A plain ol' DVD player. Our current one just happened to break this afternoon!!! They had two for auction, so we put in the first bid for one of them. We checked twice over the course of the evening and no one had out-bid us or bid on the other one... It wasn't until about 10-15 minutes before they closed that someone bid on the other one... And then someone out-bid that person, but luckily not ours! So now, we have a new DVD player! Very exciting, I like winning stuff :). We were not lucky on the other prizes, but the evening was fun. Got to dress up (T made use of his tuxedo and brand new, real - not clip-on, bowtie!), met new people, and had a nice dinner. All for a good cause.

Okay okay, truth be told I bid on a giant teddy bear :) never would have thought I'd be willing to pay over $100 for a giant stuffed animal, but it's for a good cause right? We lost that bid, but probably a good thing as we saw how everyone kept touching the poor bear...