Egyptian Gala

On my quest for something more, I decided to splurge a little and attend the Egyptian Gala. I had been looking forward to the event for months. At $250 a person I figured this would be a great chance to mingle in the upper class of Portland. This was my chance to be seen, to make an impression in the community. Mainly it was an excuse to purchase that new Helmut Lang dress and sport a new pair of Dolce Mary Jane's. This is another thing I do in my quest for more. I spend money, mainly money my husband has absolutely no idea of. I imagine if he only knew what I really spend on shopping...well I would be most likely forced to build a house of all my shoe boxes and live in the back yard! I would be forced to stand on the street corner with a sign that reads, "Will work for Gucci". I do suspect he does have some idea of my recent purchases as his side of the closet is starting to shrink and I have been pleading we buy a house with a bigger walk in closet to house all my shoes, coats and handbags. Shopping makes me smile, and so does being a social butterfly.

My husband does not join me in the quest for something more, so I decided to enlist a gal pal of mine to spend the $250 and come with me. She is after all one of the only single gal pals of mine left. I convinced her it would be a nice place to look for a husband :) Having never been married or even asked for that matter, she quickly jumped at the idea of going.

I purchased my ticket straight away but she chose to wait it out. The day before the Gala I am in a panic that she had not yet purchased her ticket. We tried to do it on the web but they were "SOLD OUT". My goodness how could an event held in such a large building ever sell out?? I am not one to take no for an answer so she and I jumped in the car and drove downtown straight away in the hopes to sweet talk our way into another ticket. We arrived 15 minutes later. We were told to wait in the lobby and the manager would be down shortly. As we looked up we saw an older gentleman in his early 50's strolling down the stairs. Ahh, this ought to be easy...two ladies trying to convince a man to let us in to a party. He tells us he is sure there are tickets they can free up but he would not know until the morning of the event. Impatiently I wait all morning, dreading the thought of having to go alone to this Gala. I could imagine myself in my Helmut Lang dress and Dolce shoes, looking great but sitting in a corner drinking alone. No way! Even though I am an extremely social girl, the thought of not having a partner in crime made me a little nervous. At three o'clock I got a call from the marketing director and he snagged us an extra ticket. Now was the time to doll ourselves up.

My gal pal shows up to my salon with Vodka...hmm, not really something I figured either of us needed considering the "open bar". An hour later she is trashed already, and my hopes for a classy evening were starting to diminish. In the car I gave her the lecture of behaving classy as this was not just some dive bar to be falling all over in a drunken stupor. I look over at her in silence and wonder how on earth does she manage to be so thrown together effortlessly and still look so beautiful? Her blond hair twisted up in a messy bun, a crystal hair clip in the back and her bangs bobby pinned to the side of her head. She is glossy eyed and her mouth is covered in a sultry red lipstick... effortlessly beautiful I say to her. As we pull up to the Gala I am filled with excitement. I am after all a lover of Egyptian history having even gone there in the late 90’s for nearly a month. When I was little I wanted to be an Egyptologist. I did not have the funds to go to school for such a thing, so I just bought books and studied on my own.

 We get to the entrance and there is a large and rather smelly Camel. Cute I thought, but I still feel the same about the spitting creatures as I had in Egypt. They were cute, but vile and smelly. The inside was like something out of Arabian nights. There were tents with an assortment of desserts, interesting food and of course bars. Our first 10 minutes were spent in the restroom touching up hair and makeup and taking self inflicted pictures with our cell phones. I was in a hurry to get in line for a cocktail. After another 15 minutes we finally got to the front of the line and were poured our vodka drink of choice down an ice block sculpted like a bottle of Kettle One. My vodka drink was yummy, but strong. No complaint here. My girlfriend on the other hand could not walk one foot without spilling the contents of her drink on herself and the floor. I was anxious to go upstairs and look at the artifacts but I was the only interested party. Looking around I saw men and women of all ages, some with the stench of having too much money. But then again is there such a thing? After all money is a big part of my quest, so what makes these people different? Even when you have a lot of money is there not always the inner need to have more?

 Scouring the room I really didn't see many men who were single and the ones who were, well they were not looking for a single girl such as the likes of my friend. As much as I love her, she drinks way to much for her own good and her level of class at the Gala dropped with every moment spent. I could not help but think to myself I would have had a better time going it alone. Perhaps then I would not have turned five shades of red during the Auction. Had she only been able to sit there and not laugh when everyone else was silent… I quickly made the bathroom excuse and headed to grab another cocktail. The Gala was a wonderful event in itself but my company was lacking. After a few more cocktails and my friend not finding her future husband we decided to call it a night and headed out the door. In reflection, I am thinking next time I am fulfilling my quest, sometimes going the road alone is ok. Next time it will just be me and my Manolo's.