Reunion Success!

Well ladies and germs - my reunion was held this past Saturday and I would go so far as to say it was a success!

We sold a grand total of 19 tickets in advance.  This was a HUGE concern to me.  We rented this space for a certain amount and based on the number of advance tickets, we ordered food based on the money we had from those sales.  Basically, let's say the room was (these numbers are made up to give an example) $1000, we need to order food and sell enough drinks to pay off $1000.00.  So we ordered half the dollar amount in food, which happened to be pretty much the exact amount of advanced tickets, less fees we had to pay in to certain websites.  So going in we know that we have half the balance covered and that we need to sell X amount of tickets at the door OR sell X dollars in drinks at the bar (can I just mention that I love how the bar sales go towards our room balance, it's fantastic, 'cause Nordeasters can DRINK)!  More on this as the night goes on...

I make myself even more beautiful than usual:

I go to Party City to pick up balloons - due to be ready at 4:00.  They ask my name, "Angela", I tell them.  "Angela, Angela... Angela..." - no balloons to be found.  WTF.  This is not the way I wanted to start my evening.  Finally the dude who took my order the other day comes over and says "Yeah, they're blue... right here" as he grabs a brown bag of balloons not even remotely close to full of He (helium for those not familiar with the periodic table of elements).  SoooOOOoooo... Long conversation short - I was out of there no more than 10 minutes later.  ugh.

I shove 24 balloons into the backseat of my little Yaris:

and drive to NE Minneapolis.

I arrive just after 4:30, and Pam got there about 5:00.  Our reunion was set to start at 6:00 - we didn't have money for decorations aside from balloons, so we set our our balloon bunches and stand around talking to the bartender, Buck.  I know Buck from my previous life in NE, so it's a pretty casual conversation.  He offers to buy both Pam and myself a drink before this event gets hoppin'.  I opt for a shot of tequila to calm my nerves and Pam asks for a weak captain diet as she is hungover from Friday night.  lame.

6:00 rolls around and we have our first pay at the door purchase with a spouse!  2 tickets down at the door, so far, so good!  We didn't really expect to see anyone right at 6, but whatever.. the more people arrive, the less I feel worried.  Shortly after, another couple arrive, prepaid.  Now we're talkin'.  I feel comfortable talking to these people and we talk about music and school... life in general.
I don't even know what time it was when the rest of the people started to arrive, but before I know it we have kind of a lot of people in this room!  On top of that, we've sold a lot of tickets at the door!

The shots and cocktails are flowing like mad - I can just see dollar signs in the are over the bar and I'm thinkin' "We're gonna do this, we will drink the balance away!!".  A bit later Pam comes up to me and says "Paula (the lady who she's been coordinating with to plan and book this gig), said we are good at the bar and we can pay her anytime for the food"  SUCCESS!!  I figure, rather than try to pay with the money in the bank account, let's see what we have sitting at the door for cash.  We have enough to pay her, plus I got the $200 I put in to open the bank account.. PLUS some extra to deposit for our next reunion!

I heard from a lot of people that they heard people talking and read comments about how people were commenting on the price of the reunion and, while it was good feedback, it made me kind of pissed because a) do people think this shit is free; the food, the bartender, the space? b) who the fuck cares!?  Its a fee you have to pay once every 10 years, it's not like we were charging $50/ticket and having nothing to offer?  c) we had NO money before this, as a class... now we can maybe do some fun stuff in another 10 years OR lower the price based on the money we have...   dumb bitches.

The day before the reunion I was contacted by the school's Yearbook advisor and was asked if I wanted a box of year 2000 yearbooks to try and sell - he'd split the cost with me.  OKAY!  Those were a huge hit!  We sold 8 of them and had one out on each table for people to look through!  The people who purchased were walking around having people sign their yearbooks, which was so much fun!  Seriously, I think having those out really helped save the night!  We went through and talked shit about people who didn't come or had lame excuses for not coming (serious excuses were excused).

All in all, it was a super fun night!  People showed up who I generally wanted to see and talk to, no fakey stuff going on... a few faces that I didn't remember but we got past it and made friends now - I think I've added like 15 new facebook contacts since Saturday!

Some pictures to share from the night:

Me before the shot of tequila:

 Pam and I before everyone got there and after the shot of tequila (I absolutely love this picture of us):

Me and my girl, Amy: 

The entire group, at one point, I think more people arrived after this:

Shanee and Ang (I love this girl!!):

A few of the hot ladies, with Shadd P (the ladies man):

So in all... I told you we paid off the space, I got my $200 back, we have some money accruing interest in the bank for the next 10 years... I think about 35 people were there (not everyone signed in, so I can't say for sure).  Not the best turnout, but more than we expected and all wonderful people to see!

The super odd thing... remember the girl from this post - she bought a ticket in advance, you know, cause we were planning it, and she didn't show up.  I felt really bad and everyone was asking where she was - all I could say was "I don't know".  I really thought she'd be there.  I did send her an email the following day and told her she was missed and let her know that we made some money and it was a successful evening.

Parts of me want to try again in 5 years, because since picture have been posting all over facebook, there are a lot of people who regret not coming (whether excused or not) - and I feel like we'd get a better turn out now that one has gone down.  HOWEVER!  HOWEVER!  HOWEVER!  I most likely will not plan another one in 5 years - maybe we'll just have a night to get together at a bar or something.

It's done now - I can sleep soundly again.

Reunion planning drama!

First and foremost - Happy Birthday to one of my best blogging friends - KRYSTEN!!!

So, the reunion is coming along.  It has been myself with 2 other girls (one is my real life BFF).  We are the ones who met in the beginning and came up with the game plan - we created an email address that we all access, along with using google documents (seriously, if you don't or haven't used gDocs, you have NO idea what you are missing) that we share to keep up with what we've finished, where we need help, etc.  It has been a place to talk out our idea amongst 3 people and pros and cons of situations.  We have a few helpers on the side that have done things for us, but we give them 'orders' based on what the 3 of us decide.  It's easier to have few people making decisions than too many.
So... last week Friday, Pam and I (Pam is the real life bff) met to order our food for the night - we are doing apps and hors d'oeuvres - the other girl, who at this point we'll just call "Y", couldn't make it.  No big deal - Pam and I can handle the menu on our own and Y sent us her suggestions anyhow.
So that went off without a hitch and Pam and I left the place feeling pretty upbeat about actually pulling this thing off.. without having to tap into our own funds to support it.

Once I got home, on a Friday night, I open the gDoc and update it telling Y what we ordered (also inputting it to have it saved somewhere other than my unreliable brain).. and things seemed to be fine.  Later that night Y wrote on the gDoc stating that she saw some pin name tags at work and would try and snag them or purchase them as long as she gets reimbursed (keep in mind, up to this point, we have all discussed buying those cheap little stick on name tags).  Myself being in charge of money said... well here, I'll copy and paste the exact verbiage (Y is green, I am red):

9/10/10 - Thinking ahead -- at work I saw some pin name tags (I’ll see if I can snag these).  If not, I can purchase them as long as I get reimbursed.  I get tax-exempt if I use my Officemax card.  I’ll print them off at home in color probably.  

I’m not sure what exactly you’re talking about there, but hopefully they aren’t too expensive?  I’m not sure spending money on name tags needs to be our main focus. whatever is purchased, just make sure you save your receipts.

Notice how I say 'not sure what these are' and end my statement in a question about the cost?  Then go on to say that if something is purchased, I need a receipt to reimburse (which to me implies that I'm open to the idea even though I'm really not because I'm not sure that people want to be putting pin holes in their nice clothes...)
Here is her reply to my red statement/question:
 9/13/10 -- Name tags are important -- since everyone doesn’t really know each other.  I didn’t imply it be our main focus.  Just making sure we’re prepared with some. Plus I was suggesting trying to get a good deal on them if not free.  Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the Gdocs a place for us to put down our ideas?? If not, maybe I’ll let you handle all the details from here on out.  

I wasn't being a bitch, but even if I were or came across as bitchy... shouldn't you have a backbone by the time you're 10 years out of high school and volunteering to help plan a reunion?
So upon reading this I become mildly irate - I wait before replying.  Then I write something along the lines of this (which I added to and deleted from until I came up with this based on trying not to overreact and completely go over the top):

Yep, and I was stating my thoughts as well.  I know we need name tags and I wasn’t suggesting we not get them - just saying that we want to make sure we don’t spend a ton of money on fancy name tags (i also said ‘i don’t know exactly what you’re talking about here’, so for all i know it could be some super extravagant name tag). Notice how i ended with a question mark rather than a period or exclamation point... it was a question about the cost of your thought.   I also didn’t suggest that you were implying we spend a fortune, I’m just trying to keep things in focus... correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the point of sharing this gDoc between 3 people to make sure we cover all the details and all have input on what we do have?  Never once did i say ‘No, we are not doing that’ - i was giving my opinion.  sorry.  I’m glad to take over if you don’t want to help any longer.

Then I go into the email inbox and notice she deleted her name label (we are using gmail and created labels for each of us so we'd know which email are being taken care of by which person).  So I sent her a personal email saying something along the lines of 'after reading your reply in the gdoc and then noticing you deleted your name label I can only assume you're stepping back from planning.  please let me know if that is the case, so I can begin to tend to things.'

I can't be sure if she read my reply in the gdoc or even my email for that matter.  As you can see, her bitch of a reply was posted on Monday and my bitch of a reply was posted that same afternoon.  I also sent the email that Monday afternoon.
I heard nothing back from her.
So yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon I send her another email stating the same thing and asking to please let me know one way or another what she is doing - mind you, I'm being nasty polite in these emails.
THEN... I go on to our eventbrite (sort of like evite) website to take a peek at things and notice that she deleted herself as a part of the planning committee (she was the one in charge of managing that site).  So then I go back to my personal gmail and send one last email to her telling to to disregard both of my previous emails and thanked her for her help up to this point.
My next step was to change ALL passwords to gmail, eventbrite, and every other site that we all had access to.  I also removed her access to the Google document.

Now, it's just Pam and I (and Pam is too sweet to even know what drama is, really).. so whatever - I'm managing the bank account, so I feel stuck in this for the long haul - anyone else who wants to back out surely can.  Passwords and names on websites can and will be changed.

This is the end of my rant for the day - now, understanding that text can and, as of late in society, is often misconstrued; do you think my initial reply (asking about cost and whatnot) was bitchy or did it somehow mislead you into thinking I was saying anything along the lines of 'hell no bitch, we ain't buying these!'
I surely didn't mean it that way... and as many times as I read it... I still don't see it that way.  Obviously I don't want to admit fault in the situation, just because I'm a stubborn person by nature - however, I really truly feel like I did nothing wrong here.

Thoughts one way or another on the situation?  if not, just leave me a comment and remind me that the reunion is just over a week away and it'll all be over soon!

Random v10.12.2

Kind of a follow up to the comments that came yesterday on this post plus a few extra thangs...

On the reunion thing - the girl that I know is going to try and solicit people - I'm okay with it.  If she tries to sell me on something or business, I'm just going to say no thanks, I have a job.  Then walk away.  I just feel bad for the people that are so nice that they can't say no and walk away.  The other crappy thing about it is, I'd really like to be able to talk to her because she was a nice person in HS, not my BFF, but not someone I hated (and I hated a lot of people).  So... I'm going into it with an open mind, especially considering she hasn't purchased a ticket yet AND she RSVP'd maybe on Facebook.

The Hawaii skydiving thing... it looks like it's a no-go and let me tell you why.  First things first, I have sky-dived (sky-dove?) before.  In Wisconsin back in 2007.  Here, have some pictures (gotta love social networking sites to find pictures from the past), click to enlarge:

So anyhow, it's not for fear of doing, even though I did throw my back out of whack that time, I'd take that risk again.  It's more of a itinerary thing.  We fly into Honolulu and land in the evening (5pm) on the 2nd, so obviously that day is out.  Then we stay the night and have a full day to explore Honolulu/Waikiki Beach (the 3rd), stay the night again and take off to Maui on the 4th.  The skydiving is on Oahu and clear on the other side of the island from Honolulu, if they pick you up with their shuttle, you're not returned until 6 hours later, so it really is a whole day event.  Basically we'd be giving up Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head and all the other things there are to see in Honolulu just to jump out of a plane.  Tonight, when I see a star (you know, star light star bright first star I see tonight)... I'm going to wish for Maui to get some sort of skydiving adventure, before we arrive.

I thought there was more to talk about... ugh.. sorry.

SO... on Saturday, Steve and I drove, with his dad and sister, to see his grandma who had fractured her pelvis.  It was a 2+ hour drive and on the way we found an old school metal merry-go-round.
Well.. I've been searching for this type of merry-go-round for quite some time, so I was pretty stoked to find one.  I jump out of the truck with high hopes of taking a spin and having it be just as amazing as when I was little. I grab it and start to run around, I bang my knee as I jump on and sit there while it spins.  Steve comes over, grabs it and starts running around to make it spin faster for me.  I started to feel icky, so I begged him to stop it knowing if I let it spin the rest of the time, I'd puke.  Eventually he did.  I now have a HUGE bruise on my knee and no pictures of the merry-go-round (I was so excited to get on it, I left my camera in the car, even though Steve kept saying... take a picture of it, take a picture of it!  Good boyfriend, bad girlfriend.

Our trip to the Black Hills this weekend... we are camping, real camping in a tent and whatnot, we like it and it's wicked cheap.  Yesterday I had a bomb idea to, rather than hard boil eggs and bring them for breakfast, we'd make camping omelets!  How you ask?  Let me share something amazing with you.  Did you know that you can make omelets in a zip-lock bag?

You need a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag

- Crack 2 eggs (lg or extra-lg) into the quart size Ziploc bag (not more than 2 or it doesn't cook through) Shake to combine them.

- Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc.

- Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake.

- Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

-  Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water. (Do not overcrowd the pan – they really need room to have water all around them.)

- Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

Random v10.12

Isn't it awful to say that someone else's happiness causes my heart pain?  I shouldn't be this way or even care... but it's who I am.  Only time can make these feelings go away and I'm not going anywhere... so time I have.

I'm ready to play fantasy football, I have been for 3 years.  Last year, being next to Steve and his computer all season really solidified that for me; I know how it works, I know what to do, I know who to pick.  Problem being... I don't know how to join a league without having it be strangers.  I don't want to play with strangers.  lame.  I feel left out.

I hate that we've had a link posted for my reunion for just shy of a week and only 2 of the planners have purchased; myself and another.  WTF is wrong with people?  We have 53 'Yes' RSVP's on Facebook... you save $8 by buying in advance, you can pay online OR by check.. whatever is convenient for YOU.
One girl sent me a message on Facebook this weekend asking if she'll be able to view the guestlist... I'm pretty sure she is going to come to the reunion trying to solicit something... I recall her finding me on Facebook and telling me about her 'business' and wanting me to be a part of it.  That outta be fun.  NOT.

Toying with the idea of Skydiving in Hawaii, though we probably won't do it as it's on a different island from where we'll be staying.  The flight over for a day would only add tot he price of the actual jump.  I think that would be amazing.

I've had to hear a story {3 times} today about a guy who cut his foot off with a lawnmower.  That shit grosses me out and I don't need to hear it once!  I want an office with walls.

Going to Rushmore/Crazy Horse/Devil's Tower on Friday... I'm excited to go, not excited for the drive there and back.

Mac and Cheese for lunch today.  I wish I had hot dogs.

Am I crabby today?  It appears as though I'm successfully making my way there.

Today

Things that make me smile today...

The fact that I can so easily laugh about Brett Favre being on a plane to Minnesota right this second.  I really do love football season!

The Minnesota Twins are in first place and 3 games ahead of the White Sox in the AL Central.  We have a 3 game series with them starting tonight!  On top of that, I'm going to the last game of the series on Thursday :)

Thoughts of Hawaii

Starting to plan my reunion and continuing to think of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion with every detail

Love

Reunion Planning

Crap, I am so easily distracted.  My last post, you know.. the random one, was supposed to be a rant .. or a what should I do type of post.... not at all was it meant to be random.

So, I've been out of high school for 10 years now, which usually means a 10 year reunion.  I never signed up for any of that class president stuff because I had no interests and, more so, because I didn't want to be in charge of planning a reunion.
Now with the wonderful world of Facebook, planning has become a lot easier.  So I contacted the class president and asked her what's going on, this was months ago.

By nature, I am a planner (not always my favorite role, but somebody's gotta do it).  So I tell her "let me know how I can help!"  I sincerely meant that.  So we find a venue and since no one else has stepped up to help, we decided together to book it and pick a random date in the fall, thinking that there is just no way you'll be able to make it work for everyone, so just pick it!  Then the next step was to decide on food, but first we wanted to see who else we could get to help.  No one stepped up again and I didn't hear from the Pres for quite some time.  At this point I'm feeling like I'm the only one interested in getting this thing planned.  I have no idea where to start or where to finish.

In the year 2000, new privacy laws went into effect, and we can no longer go to our high school and get contact information for everyone, which means no addresses.  How do we overcome this?  My only idea is to find a yearbook and search the internet (facebook, classmates.com, etc.) for people.  Networking is going to be huge in this.

Being that I sit in front a computer all day for work, it is easy for me to go on Facebook and create an event to get the date out to everyone.  Not only have I created a 'save the date' event on Facebook, I've created a group page for our class.  I feel that that was a great help and a fantastic place to start.

I am beginning to feel like time is running out.  Our date is 2 months out and we don't have a menu (which is essentially easy to decide on),  we've only told people on facebook, we don't have anything in place for accepting payment, we don't even know how much we need to charge.

Is any of this my problem?  No.  Do I still feel a huge amount of pressure to make sure this thing goes off without a hitch?  Yes.

Part of me wants to take a step back and say "I offered my help, but I'm not going to plan the entire thing" but the other part of me wants to kick people in the ass and say "Get off your ass and do your job!"  I'm pretty fed up.

I wanted to start planning this in the early Spring... now here we are 2 months away with nothing but a date and a venue.
Am I right to feel like throwing in the towel?

Please, I need someone to be my voice of reason.