I Went Out There To Work - part 6

And so now you know the reason for the title of these blogs. I went out to California to work at the Life Changing Lives event and what ended up happening was much more!The Caregivers Tea was an event within the event organized by Cindy Crawford(!)--who didn't show  . An afternoon of pampering for people who volunteer. Kirk knew I did work with Operation Make A Life Enriched, Saying Thanks and Remembering (OpMALE STAR, a moral support org for deployed military...) and decided I needed a little pampering too...Wow. Me? Here?It was kinda hard to let them lead me away. But I did need my hair and make up done   Only wish I'd gotten the hair and make up they put me in front of the camera. How mortifying!  The lunch buffet table. All the girly fru-fru food you can eat! See the topiary at the end? Just beyond that was the coffee table! Aaaaaaaand the desserts. Well of course I sampled them all! The little cups there on top had a cheese cake filling with bits of pineapple and edible "pearls" on top. The pink squares were pink chocolate. No foam plates and plasticware hereCindy my hair stylist. She was greatThis is the hair after it was doneSheryl my make up gal. Also awesome. I told her about AnD. Said she might joinFInally, Peggy my manicurist. She had this great Russian(?) accent and did wonders with my nails! Yes, don't I look lovely all done up in my t-shirt and jeans? Geez...Between manicures and daintily gorging myself on free food, there were a number of photo ops to take advantage of. WARNING: I just don't photograph well (my opinion and I think I'm right so don't argue). Cameras just seem to know how to catch me with the dumbest look on my face... ! So please skip the commentary about my dumb expressions, K?See? Don't I look totally stupid? Oh wait. No. That's the dog they were auctioning off. Yes, auctioning. He's a trained assistance dog. The person who "bought" him would, essentially, be paying for his training and he was to be given to a person (probably a Wounded Warrior) who needed his brand of assistance. I gave him a good ear scrubbing. What a nice dogMe and Kirk. He enjoys getting his picture taken as much as I do. Can you tell? The lady who took the pic had to keep backing up in order to get both our face in the picture. He's taaaaaaaaaaaall.Yes, a real Bald Eagle. His name is Challenger. He was a special guest that evening. Click his name and read more about him! More on Challenger later...Remember the big basement clean out I did at my mom's house last fall? Well, in one of the boxes I brought home was this (below). It's my great-grandmother's autograph book. I don't know how my sister and I ended up with it, nor do I know why great-grandma never used it, but I was really glad I'd brought it along. Yep, that's right Idol fans, that's the boy himself, Mr. Bo Bice! I've never been an Idol fan, but I'll be Bo's fan from now on. What a warm and genuine person! Later that evening, he would rock the house...Wonder what great-grandma would think?My afternoon of pampering over, a full tummy and some really good coffee on board, it was time to make my way back to the volunteer room, finish up a few things then get dressed for the gala! I didn't realize till later, not many of the volunteers would get to go. The ones who'd be there would be working. I was going as a guest...TO BE CONTINUED...