Success!: Friday, October 30, 2009

I'm happily exhausted from the fundraiser I hosted last night to benefit the mission of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. The event was a success by any measure: many people attended, many people actually shopped, and most importantly, I think most had a lot of fun! I haven't been able to tally the total yet but I think we (me and my fabulous vendors) raised about $1,000, which isn't bad considering I planned it in about a month's time. Of course, after doing a post-mortem with my friend Christy later in the evening, I already know all of things I will do differently for next year's event to make it an even bigger success and to hopefully at least DOUBLE the amount of money we're able to donate.

Below are several shots from the event set-up so you can all see what beautiful and unique items we had on hand. I was too busy greeting attendees and selling drink tickets to take any shots of all of the folks who came but I'd like thank each and every one of them. In particular, I'd like to thank the man who came by with his second wife to tell me, with tears in his eyes, about his first wife's six-year battle with ovarian cancer. She happened to be treated by one of Dr. E's partners. I'd also like to thank the woman who attended who told me about her mother's courageous battle with the disease and how much she appreciated me doing the event. Oh, and I'd like to thank the endometrial cancer survivor who came to thank me for the holding the event, made a large donation, and put out literature about the upcoming inaugural Gyncological Cancer Foundation's Race to End Women's Cancer, which I'm participating in on Sunday, November 8. And finally, I'd like to thank my Aunt Annie, who happened to be in town for business, who surprised me by stopping by with my Uncle Chris (who also shopped for his wife) and purchasing a fabulous (and expensive) necklace from my friend Paula.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the team at Food Matters for their great food and service; to all of my sweet and talented vendors for participating; and to all of my friends, family, and complete strangers for turning out and shopping! You have no idea how much it means to me.

I did a little play on words for the drink tickets. Clever me. I know...not really so clever.

Brooke and Christy figuring out the best way to display all of Brooke's stationery.

(PMC)2's beautiful silver jewelry. Thanks to Paula Coupe for participating.
I love Simple Terms' handmade cards and gift tags. Thanks to Brooke Harris for participating.

Walton Street Stationers has the best selection of cute personalized stationery, napkins, gift enclosures, invitations, etc. Thanks to Nancy Smith for participating and for her constant generosity.

All Dolled Up's unique stone earrings are fabulous! Thanks to Marlea Hebert for shipping her stuff down from Philly for the event and thanks to Brooke, Christy, and Greta for selling it.

I love Wendy Jarmol's stone and gold work creations. Thanks so much for participating, Wendy!