Hunting and Galaing-

I spent yesterday cleaning my bathroom, recovering from a vicious all-you-can-drink Ketel One martini bar, and watching Stick It. I feel so proud.

Haley Graham: Stop being so nasty, Joanne.
Joanne: It's not called gym-nice-stics.

Okay, so I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me.

Backtracking to Friday evening. I met KK, Franky, the Mack, and company at the Big Hunt to help celebrate KK's birthday. They'd all been to dinner at Levante's first, so it was a little irritating to be the only person even remotely sober in the group (I was saving up for Saturday night's gala). Brando and his crew of visiting friends arrived at midnight to sit on the roof deck and get drinks. I was happy to have everyone gathering in one location completely coincidentally. At around 1am, I offered the Mack and Franky and ride home since, and I quote myself here, "There will be very few times that I'm sober, and you're drunk. Let me offer you a ride if I can."

Saturday, District Belle and I hit Nail Avenue in Van Ness for mani/ pedis and then brunch at Cafe Deluxe. It took me until my technician showed me the $36 price tag to remember what it was that made me like this random salon Jenny'd taken me to about three months ago. Ah, it's ridiculously cheap. I'd forgotten.

Pitch and I got all dolled up in black tie (even though the invite said black tie optional which technically means anyone under 35 doesn't have to wear a tux or gown, but, of course, everyone wore tuxes anyways. I adhered to the optional part and went cocktail length with my dress.) He picked me up at 6:15pm, and we headed down to the Andrew Mellon Auditorium for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Man of the Year Awards Gala.

A red carpet welcomed us into the historic and elegantly designed auditorium. We noshed on meat heavy appetizers, which I thought were a strange choice considering so many do-gooders are vegetarians or vegans. But, I was content with my chicken salad wrapped in dough and tied with a piece of basil.

The silent auction items were provided by the 12 candidates and included everything from VIP tents at polo matches to original paintings of lillies. A Ketel One, all ice, martini bar offered delicious drink options that proved deadly for my sobriety that evening. We sat down at our tables and enjoyed waiters refilling our wine glasses, caprese salad, steak main dish, and strawberry shortcake dessert.

Noah, our candidate, came in second for Man of the Year. In two months, he raised $60,000 completely through a grassroots campaign. In total, the candidates raised about $859,000 in 2 months. That's amazing considering this email from Noah last week:

More importantly, the money we raise goes to help people like my grandfather, who passed away from multiple myeloma, and my friend, Kerry, who is fighting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

$1000 Provides one week's salary for a medical researcher at NIH, Johns Hopkins or GW who may discover key information for developing curative treatments for blood cancers.

$500 Provides a patient with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma financial aid to support medical treatment and travel to medical appointments for one year.

$200 Provides funding for a Family Support Group Program for one year where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members mediated by a trained facilitator.

$100 Helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.

$50 Covers the cost of one CT scan.

$25 Covers the cost of one prescription co-payment.

Thanks again! I can't do this without you!

-Noah
After the gala, we drove down to Brando's roommate's going away party in Ballston where we met up with District Belle and Sassy. I could only stick around for an hour before I was ready to pass out. I made it home by 2am and fell right asleep. What a fun night!

Now, I'm in detox for the week... or the rest of the morning.... okay, okay... for the next hour.