12-13-2023, 05:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-13-2023, 05:49 PM by CanuckGirl.)
Ladies;
I'm a few weeks late posting about this event, but we had our Gala back near the end of Nov on the 24th and 25th leaving on the 26th, here's a write up I did about it, and some pics.
In the end it all went well, but I was really stressed Fri and into Sat what with making sure all the little details were right, some last minute things came up as there always seems to be.
On Sat we had to chase out to get the food we ordered for the AGM, and it went well, running from 12 to 1 PM, instead of our usual 2-3 hours, keeping a lid on the time was very important, as the makeup ladies were arriving right after that.
One of the big items of business is to have a President and board of directors for the upcoming year, and since no one was vying for my job, I’ve been given the mandate to continue as your President for another year! All of the current board members are also staying on, with newish member Chloe coming on as a director!
Through one of the other members I was given a contact with a makeup instructor at a local Community College, who after some discussion put our event out to her students asking if any would like to do makeovers.
All the students need to do at least 20 hours of volunteer work pertaining to their course, I got 6 applicants and out of them I selected 2. I was a bit nervous hoping that they would be on time and do nice work, but I needn't have worried as they were punctual and also did a great job!
Everyone loved the work they did.
The other concern was our banquet room was changed from the small one to the larger one, and I wasn’t sure about the sound for our shows as I had worked it out for the small room, then at the last minute our venue got changed because the party who was going to be in the large room cancelled.
One of the Xpressions directors also performs live from time to time and she brought some of her sound equipment and after an hour of messing around we got things about right.
Come dinner time, Mirella, the Dress Lady, brought a large rack of beautiful dresses for the fashion show, she arrived as the guests were arriving for the happy hour too. I'd bought a portable change room, basically a tall tent so that the girls could change in the room without going back to their rooms.
Several people tried on dresses, including myself.
Being busy with things, including trying on the aforementioned dress, I was the very last person to get my dinner!
Not to worry as there was lots left!
Everyone said the food was excellent, and I agree with that wholeheartedly, in my humble opinion it really was one of the best banquet dinners I've ever had.
The food is typically very good at this place but I think they outdid themselves this time.
Then a few speeches were made and I introduced the board, including our newest director, Chloe.
With the formalities over it was entertainment time!
My friend Dee and I decided to do a small drag style show, me on the keys, Dee doing her usual karaoke style.
Dee opened the show with some Abba, then we took a break for some more fashion show tryouts.
What great fun the models had putting a new dress on parading around the room showing it off!
This also gave me a chance to go and change from my long dinner gown into my 60’s GoGo girl outfit which got a huge positive reaction from the room, and honestly much more than I expected!
Next it was my turn to entertain, and I started with John Lennon’s “Imagine”. We passed out the words to it during the break so that everyone could join in if they wished, and Dee got quite a few singing along with me.
When it was my turn to play the next piece, Bohemian Rhapsody I made a terrible hash of it at first, then restarted and did a decent job, but I was too shaken (not stirred, that's another story} to really play it with the verve it deserved. My excuse, too much stuff on my mind to properly concentrate. The arrangement I play is very much like the original, long and very complex.
After a small break and a costume change Dee did Tina Turner, first “The Best” one of her biggest hits, then "Proud Mary". For the tune latter Dee got a whole lot of people up dancing with her at the front, and everyone had a blast.
Then I did another costume change into a beautiful long blue dress with a hip high slit on one side for my final number.
Dee and I have been friends for some time and have performed on the same shows but had never actually worked together like this before, so we had some technology issues at times. But at the end of the show we got a huge number of compliments everyone seemed to have a great time despite our struggles.
As I’d been so busy with making sure everything was going well I didn’t get to do any Black Friday shopping I decided to lead myself into temptation by stopping at a few stores in the nearby plaza after we checked out of the hotel on Sunday.
So of course I saw so many beautiful clothes I just had to buy some! Two dresses, one from Mirella on Sat night, then another one from LeChateau and a lovely black pleated faux leather pleated skirt from Suzy Shier, midi length this time. Then next door at the Guess outlet store I bought a lovely ivory colour coat with fur collar. Not for use all the time as it will show the dirt like crazy!
Amy
I now have to (supposedly) purge a few items from my closet!
Here are a few more pics from the weekend. If any of the girls here are interested we usually hold it on the last full weekend of Nov, which is when Black Friday is, though it seems like Black Friday is now the whole month of Nov.
Amy
I'm a few weeks late posting about this event, but we had our Gala back near the end of Nov on the 24th and 25th leaving on the 26th, here's a write up I did about it, and some pics.
In the end it all went well, but I was really stressed Fri and into Sat what with making sure all the little details were right, some last minute things came up as there always seems to be.
On Sat we had to chase out to get the food we ordered for the AGM, and it went well, running from 12 to 1 PM, instead of our usual 2-3 hours, keeping a lid on the time was very important, as the makeup ladies were arriving right after that.
One of the big items of business is to have a President and board of directors for the upcoming year, and since no one was vying for my job, I’ve been given the mandate to continue as your President for another year! All of the current board members are also staying on, with newish member Chloe coming on as a director!
Through one of the other members I was given a contact with a makeup instructor at a local Community College, who after some discussion put our event out to her students asking if any would like to do makeovers.
All the students need to do at least 20 hours of volunteer work pertaining to their course, I got 6 applicants and out of them I selected 2. I was a bit nervous hoping that they would be on time and do nice work, but I needn't have worried as they were punctual and also did a great job!
Everyone loved the work they did.
The other concern was our banquet room was changed from the small one to the larger one, and I wasn’t sure about the sound for our shows as I had worked it out for the small room, then at the last minute our venue got changed because the party who was going to be in the large room cancelled.
One of the Xpressions directors also performs live from time to time and she brought some of her sound equipment and after an hour of messing around we got things about right.
Come dinner time, Mirella, the Dress Lady, brought a large rack of beautiful dresses for the fashion show, she arrived as the guests were arriving for the happy hour too. I'd bought a portable change room, basically a tall tent so that the girls could change in the room without going back to their rooms.
Several people tried on dresses, including myself.
Being busy with things, including trying on the aforementioned dress, I was the very last person to get my dinner!
Not to worry as there was lots left!
Everyone said the food was excellent, and I agree with that wholeheartedly, in my humble opinion it really was one of the best banquet dinners I've ever had.
The food is typically very good at this place but I think they outdid themselves this time.
Then a few speeches were made and I introduced the board, including our newest director, Chloe.
With the formalities over it was entertainment time!
My friend Dee and I decided to do a small drag style show, me on the keys, Dee doing her usual karaoke style.
Dee opened the show with some Abba, then we took a break for some more fashion show tryouts.
What great fun the models had putting a new dress on parading around the room showing it off!
This also gave me a chance to go and change from my long dinner gown into my 60’s GoGo girl outfit which got a huge positive reaction from the room, and honestly much more than I expected!
Next it was my turn to entertain, and I started with John Lennon’s “Imagine”. We passed out the words to it during the break so that everyone could join in if they wished, and Dee got quite a few singing along with me.
When it was my turn to play the next piece, Bohemian Rhapsody I made a terrible hash of it at first, then restarted and did a decent job, but I was too shaken (not stirred, that's another story} to really play it with the verve it deserved. My excuse, too much stuff on my mind to properly concentrate. The arrangement I play is very much like the original, long and very complex.
After a small break and a costume change Dee did Tina Turner, first “The Best” one of her biggest hits, then "Proud Mary". For the tune latter Dee got a whole lot of people up dancing with her at the front, and everyone had a blast.
Then I did another costume change into a beautiful long blue dress with a hip high slit on one side for my final number.
Dee and I have been friends for some time and have performed on the same shows but had never actually worked together like this before, so we had some technology issues at times. But at the end of the show we got a huge number of compliments everyone seemed to have a great time despite our struggles.
As I’d been so busy with making sure everything was going well I didn’t get to do any Black Friday shopping I decided to lead myself into temptation by stopping at a few stores in the nearby plaza after we checked out of the hotel on Sunday.
So of course I saw so many beautiful clothes I just had to buy some! Two dresses, one from Mirella on Sat night, then another one from LeChateau and a lovely black pleated faux leather pleated skirt from Suzy Shier, midi length this time. Then next door at the Guess outlet store I bought a lovely ivory colour coat with fur collar. Not for use all the time as it will show the dirt like crazy!
Amy
I now have to (supposedly) purge a few items from my closet!
Here are a few more pics from the weekend. If any of the girls here are interested we usually hold it on the last full weekend of Nov, which is when Black Friday is, though it seems like Black Friday is now the whole month of Nov.
Amy
