Cinderella goes to the ball!

I met Jenni (Walker) Irven back in 2000 through a friend from church, Cherry Fullam. When people ask how we met we could say the Vineyard (our church), Mary Kay (she was a customer and then a recruit), but really it was our love of karaoke. Over the past 9 years Jenni and I have been karaoke buddies and have way too much dirt on each other to ever not be friends. (I can hear her laughing at the comment now.) We've had some great adventures: Colin Hay and Journey at the Fraze, Christmas parties with random karaoke afterwards, Brighton shopping (and getting so lost), Turandot with karaoke with the principals afterwards - you get the point. Our greatest adventure so far would have to be last night, the Art Ball.

Several weeks ago I got an email from Jenni with the title "hee-hee!" and a simple question, "do you have plans for June 13?" Jenni won two tickets to the Art Ball at the Dayton Art Institute from her work, Ball Aerospace. Her husband isn't the tux-wearing type, so she asked me to go as her date. Elated, I said yes. ("YES!!!!") And the planning started.


We decided to wear previous bridesmaids dresses to the ball. Jenni wore the dress from her sister's wedding and I wore the bridesmaids dress from my wedding, Melissa's dress. (It fit perfectly, even the length, which I'm still in awe about.) Jenni got ready at my house and Jason got his Crown Victoria looking great and drove us to the Dayton Art Institute.

I decided not to bring my camera because (1) it wouldn't fit in my purse, (2) Jenni was the only other person I knew, and (3) if I really wanted a picture, I could use my cell phone. Therefore, most of these pictures are stolen from the internet or taken with my cell phone. For many more pictures of the evening, taken by professionals, see the daytondailynews.com photos. Jenni are I are in photo 95 of 111.

The party started at 7:00 pm with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. We arrived a few minutes before 7 and got our table assignment and a $1 poker chip. We walked into the main entrance and headed upstairs where we were handed champagne. We then walked into the atrium where the casino was set up. The first hors d'oeuvre we tried was rare tuna on a rice cracker with spicy tomato jam and micro cilantro. I was so caught up in the moment that I actually ate it, and it was pretty good! (Jason will now expect me to try a little more when we get sushi.)


We went into the great room and tried all the other hors d'oeuvers and loved all of them. I have to list these so you get the idea of with savory ride we gave our tongues:

• Golden crostini with sweet pea puree, goat cheese, prosciutto chip and candied lemon zest. (Loved this but the goat cheese gets stuck in your teeth.)
• Tuscan style mushrooms. (I'm not a mushroom person, but had to have a few of these.)
• Mini chicken wellingtons with pink peppercorn aioli. (Also very yummy!!)
• Smoked mozzarella phyllo cups with truffle-honey and figs. (One of our favorites!)
• Seared duck breast rolls with goat cheese, mango and basil. (Pretty good, but difficult to eat.)
  
• Watermelon, bucheron goat cheese, balsamic & fleur de sel. (Needed more flavor.)
• Apple biscotti, machego (an olive), cider almond butter and rosemary candy. (Definitely our favorite.)
  

Jenni's coworkers from Ball found us in the great room and we had a wonderful time talking about the food, the dresses, the bow ties, and Dayton politics. (I literally ran into former mayor Mike Turner.)

We also decided to try a couple of wines and some martinis. I can't remember the wines and I couldn't find a list anywhere. Jenni got a red wine and I got a white and after trying each other's, we switched. Jenni tried a martini called Drunken Butterfly, and I got a Purple Haze. Jenni's was yummy, mine was... mine was passed around so everyone could taste how much vodka and lime was in it. (It was supposed to be pomegranate, ginger and lime.) It wasn't finished.

It was a bit surreal to be standing in this art museum that was normally very quiet, surrounded by hundreds of people eating and drinking. The noise was unbelievable, but it's not as though they put up anything to absorb sound in a museum. The other thing I noticed is that everyone was using their fingers to get food and no one seemed to mind. One very elegant older couple walked by with their plates loaded with food - not just one of everything, but several of everything. I wondered if they realized there would be a full dinner later. Probably just getting their $300 worth of the experience.

Around 8:20 we got the call to dinner which was a trumpeter playing Revelry, which makes you want to run to your table. I found this very amusing. The salads waiting for us on the tables was mixed mesclun greens & hearts of romaine with red flame & green grapes, crumbled pecorino romano, snipped Italian parsley, crushed hazelnuts and white balsamic vinaigrette. Yes, as tasty as it sounds. For dinner we had garlic & pepper seasoned pan seared bistro fillet with Cabernet reduction atop a crispy semolina potato cake and sauteed shrimp, an asparagus bundle with a zucchini ribbon with a citrus ginger emulsion garnished with mustard oil. Holy stinkin' cow, what a delicious meal!

When Jenni and I sat down at the table, we had decided we didn't want to look at dead deer & pheasant the whole time (Still Life with Game in a Landscape by Jean-Baptiste Oudry), so we sat on the other side of the table to look at other oil paintings. (Unfortunately I'm not remembering the artists or the works of art we were looking at, but there was the usual bits of nudity that you normally see with eighteenth century European art.)

For dessert we went back out into the Great Hall. Our choices were:

• Mini cupcakes topped with butterflies
• Colorful layered almond cake with grand marnier ganache
• Almond macaroons in a variety of spring colors
• Triangle cut chocolate shortbread
• White and milk chocolate shells with assorted mousse
• Key lime tartlets
• Chocolate decadence bites
• Cheesecake lollipops
• Pretzel rods dipped in chocolate
• Toad Hollow Risque dessert wine

I tried a chocolate mini cupcake, the layered almond cake, key lime tartlet, cheesecake lollipop, and the dessert wine. All was incredibly yummy, however the fondant butterfly on the cupcake wasn't so great.

After desserts we headed downstairs to see the Inspirational Artwork, Shimmering Madness by artist Sandy Skoglund.

This is a large piece of 3-D work that is displayed in a corner. When you see this you'll notice a few things. The ladies and the floor are made of jelly beans. The walls behind them are butterflies that flutter every once in awhile. (You stand there waiting for the fluttering to begin just to hear the new people exclaim "oh!") The theme of the night was jelly beans and butterflies, which were part of all the decorations. The other thing you notice is that their heads are on backwards. Are they moms with eyes in the back of their heads? Is this a statement about hindsight? Or maybe the artist just likes surreal art that makes you stand in front of her art work in awe. We had a wonderful time discussing this last night - which is really the point of art.

While we were downstairs waiting for part of the group an older gentleman walked past me and stopped and told me I had a beautiful dress on. Of course I smiled and thanked him. That had to be one of the highlights of the evening!

We then went as a group to get our professional pictures taken. I teased Jenni that it was a good thing that her date was tall - I fit in well in the back row between all the wool tuxedos. After this we headed back upstairs to play our $1 chips. I love the roulette wheel, but they had a modified version of this that looked more like something you'd play at a fair. Jenni and I went for the big bucks and lost quickly. Well, we weren't there to gamble so we headed off to find the dancing.

In the lower level there was jazz music playing with a cigar and martini bar. Upstairs Velvet Crush was playing in the court yard. By this time it was 11pm and the party was just getting started. Jenni and I danced the night away. We started underneath the tent, but this area was very crowded and hot, so we found another dance floor on the other side of the the grass, under the stars with a lot more room. There was a very large fountain that blocked our view of the band, but the music was still very loud. Our favorite part was dancing to "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers (one of my favorite karaoke songs) and singing at the top of our lungs. We danced, sang, and laughed until 1:00 am when the band stopped playing.


We retrieved our shoes and purses from the base of the fountain and decided to walk out to the parking lot barefoot. Amazingly, they let us walk through the music without shoes on. Of course you wouldn't notice this with our long dresses except that we were carrying our shoes. Jason was right there in front of the doors waiting for us. We walked past the very long line of those waiting at valet for their cars and climbed in our carriage and took off for home.

What an incredible evening. Poor Jason had to listen to Jenni and I relive all our favorite moments on the car ride home. I say poor Jason because I'm sure we were half deaf and probably talking much more loudly than what was necessary in the car. However, Jason was thoroughly thanked and he enjoyed our jelly bean favors and the Esther Price chocolates we received.

This blog has taken me hours to write and post links and photos and I know I'm still forgetting somethings. I just hope that my descriptions will put pictures in your mind that will replace the ones I didn't take. Please feel free to ask any questions if I may have left something out and you're curious. :)

Camping in Hocking Hills - Labor Day weekend

We returned to Top of the Caves Campground and this time friends came with us, Jonathan and Becca. We picked out two spots when we were camping 4th of July weekend and hoped for good weather - we got it!

We got to the campground around 7pm Friday night and got our tents set up and our tables situated near the fire ring. We were the last two spots in a row of sites in the trees. As Jason got the fire going, night set in... and our neighbors started showing up. Along with two couples who decided to share a spot next to us, about 20 children showed up with (what we think was) 2 adults. We watched a tent go up near Jonathan & Becca's tent, then a screened in awning, also very close to their tent. And then another tent - even closer to their tent! We were assuming that in their attempt to stay away from the children on the warpath (seriously!) they ended up partially on our site. (This was verified in the morning.)

Quiet hours start at 11pm and we headed to bed. I believe we were the only ones. I was exhausted and fell asleep even with all the noise. Becca had enough around midnight and went around asking people to quiet it down. The people next door were nice, but suggested she talk to the sites with the children. Becca said she intended to. Of course, finding an adult amongst the children running around the fire was difficult. When she finally found an adult, she asked "are we being too loud?" If you have to ask, you already know. The neighbors were quieter, but the children were still wound up for awhile. (This is when you wish it would start raining.)

The next morning we were in better spirits and decided not to say anything to the neighbors about being on our spot. We had plenty of room (we could have fit on the end site) so we just left things as they were. Besides, the neighbors had a cutie little dauchaund dog that we enjoyed saying hi to. The next two nights were much quieter, so we didn't need to worry any further.

Breakfast Saturday morning was bacon and eggs with Jonathan cooking and Jason tending the fire. After breakfast we headed out to see Cantwells Cliffs and Conkle's Hollow.










We had a picnic lunch at Conkle's Hollow and then made a stop at the Grandma's place to get forgotten items and some ice cream. We vegged back at the campsite afterwards while Jason went to get gas. (He finally found a gas station about 15 minutes away!) That evening Jason made a great dinner of cheddar smokies and baked potatoes. Afterwards we made pie iron pies with cressant crusts, cherry (or apple) pie filling and cream cheese. Yummy!!

We also had a great time with the huge bubble wand I had found at Walmart. We quickly discovered the bubbles above the campfire would float upward until they hit the trees or came back down. I'd blow the bubbles (actually wave the wand above the fire), Jonathan would shine a flashlight on it, and Becca would try to capture the bubbles with her camera. They look like UFO's in the pictures, but really, they're just bubbles.

That night we had a visitor. Becca heard rustling and wasn't sure what was going on outside our tent. When she peeked out she saw a raccoon hanging upside from our trash bag. She and Jonathan scared off the scavenger and locked the trash bag up in their car. Jason and I slept through the whole thing.

We got up at 7am Sunday morning and got ready to go hiking at Old Man's Cave. We grabbed some snacks, bottles of water, our cameras, and headed out. Our reward for getting up so early was getting there with basically no one else around. It was wonderful! (And quite a contrast to the pictures I took the 4th of July weekend.) We really enjoyed walking around at our own leisure, taking as many pictures as we could, and then heading back to the campsite to make breakfast. We had breakfast burritos with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole. Yummy!

Oddly enough, most of the children left that morning. About half our neighbors packed up their cars and headed out. This gave us the opportunity to walk around and scout out good spots for the next trip. We also decided to check out the state campground while we were driving around. The upkeep seemed better, but the bathrooms were lacking and the sites didn't have as many trees. We decided shaded spots and private bathrooms at Top of the Caves would keep us coming back there.

That afternoon we headed out to Lake Logan and just hung out watching the boats and the people on the beach. We then headed to Millstone BBQ (same BBQ place we ate at last time) for an early dinner. Our waitress (different than last time) loaded us up with their mini corn muffins to eat for breakfast the next morning. The food there is good, you get plenty to eat without having to get appetizers, and the service is great. Once again, we highly recommend this place!

After dinner we went to play putt putt at Adventure Golf. This was the first time all weekend that it was really hot. There was plenty of goofing around, several holes in one (I got 2!) and Becca learned that if she claimed she could get the ball in in 2 shots, she usually did. Camping just doesn't seem complete without a game of putt putt. (Jonathan got the best score.) Afterwards we headed back to the campsite to veg for awhile.

One last evening of campfire stories and smores. One last attempt by the raccoon to get food. This time it was Jason and I who got up and put the trash and all the food in our car. It was also a horribly cold night. We really need to get sleeping bags!

Monday morning we got up, ate our left-over mini muffins and got our campsite packed up. We took our time and got done around 10:30 am. Much faster than last time! We decided to hit one last cave, Ash Cave, before heading back to Dayton. We were quite impressed by the enormous size of the cave and ended up getting quite a few pictures!





On the way out we saw women with dresses on in the distance. Amish tourists? No, a bridal party! The bride had a gorgeous white dress on with her bridesmaids in apple red. (All David's Bridal dresses.) The mom with them invited us to the upper ridge to view the wedding at 1:30 pm. All I can say is that was one brave bride!

Jonathan and Becca headed back to Dayton but Jason and I decided to stop at Chillicothe to eat lunch at the park where we had our first date. (Yoctangee Park) It was fun reminiscing while walking around and feeding the ducks. One thing though, there were a lot of strange people at the park. We probably won't visit there very often. (Were they there the first time we were and we just didn't notice???)

We got home about the time the temperatures were hitting 90 degrees. We were so thankful for the beautiful weather we had the whole weekend. Such a relaxing and fun weekend. And Jonathan and Becca kept things silly and fun. :) (I'll see if I can't get them to post some thoughts and comments after this post.)