65 Roses Charity Sports Auction

Happy, happy Monday ya'll!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!!!

Mine was great!

I left off telling you guys that I was attending a charity event last week.

The charity event is called 65 Roses Sports Auction to benefit Cystic Fibrosis.

This year the event was again held in the Sheraton Hotel at Station Square in Pittsburgh. In the past it was held at McFadden's bar (I personally enjoyed that more).

When it was moved to the Sheraton the food was better at first (sit down nice meal of stuffed chicken breast, etc) but now it has declined to less than bar food - LOL! In my humble opinion...

So, I had gone for about four years when it was at McFadden's and it was hosted by the Steelers player Brett Keisel. He always recruited really good, current, 1st string players like Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, Hines Ward, etc. I have some great footballs from those days!!! Then it was turned over to Cam Heyard to host and now to player Stephan Tuitt and it just keeps going further down hill. This year we only had like two players I have heard of and the rest were alum (from the 1977 and 1979 Steelers and they were not even popular alum).  I am sure this sounds terrible but when you pay $150 donation for the football (and you know how great it used to be) it is a let down when no popular players show up.

Anyway, this was the first year for Tuitt to host it so I thought it may turn around so I attended again this year.  Unfortunately the players that showed were no better than the past few years. Needless to say, it is still a charity donation but I will not go again.

So let me give the down low....

Here is the welcome sign to the event thanking the sponsors...

Here is me and Kathy that I attended with at our lucky 13 table - LOL!!!

And here is the table of Steelers (past and present) lined up to sign the balls...you take your football down the line and get it signed (one at a time) by each player!  It was amazing when it was the popular players!!! That is Stephan Tuitt #91 in the black sweater talking to thew first person in line to be signed. And then down the line was J. Hargrave #79, R. Nix #45, I Nwokeji #64, and T. Matakevich #44...those are the current players. Then there was four alumni..Charlie Batch whom we all know and love (he does soooo much charity throughout Pittsburgh), Robin Cole, Ron Loder and Edmund Nelson.

 Here is the completely signed football...it is going to be a present for a family member so I cannot say who (in case they actually read my blog - LOL!)

After the signing was dinner...I took a little of everything to show you all what the selection was...they had pork and burger sliders, mini pierogies, mac and cheese and green beans. With the exception of the green beans; it was a carb fest! LOL! They called it tailgate food - I guess that is true.

 And dessert...they did have every dessert under the sun!

 After dinner and dessert was a presentation called "A Day in the Life" and it was a sweet little girl that was diagnosed when she was three with CF. She explained all about their life with the disease and what is required daily just to live "normally". So at least our donations help!!

Then was held an auction for so autographed memorabilia and also a silent acution.  Here is an example of the silent auction items...

A signed copy of Madden 2019 (signed by Antonio Brown himself) and an X Box...

And this football signed by JuJu Smith-Schuster....

 Here is the bidding sheet for it when we left....

We did not bid on anything so we left before they collected the silent action items.

It was a fun night out with friends but I would not go again. I have a friend on the board of CF and I have given her this feedback and they do not seem to care enough to change anything so I guess that says it all. I am bummed it has gone downhill rather than grown better.

Here are the past posts I could find...

2013
2014

How was your weekend?!?! What did you do? Anything exciting?!?! Ever get disappointed when an event is not what you are hoping it would be?

Happy Monday ya'll!!!

Cystic Fibrosis - A Passion for Wine Event

I had the priveledge of voulteering at an amazing event this past weekend! It was called a Passion for Wine and it was to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis.

I was really excited to be able to go help out for a couple reasons. I used to work for a gentleman that has a son with Cystic Fibrosis and I know what a devastating diagnosis that can be.  Also because I got to get really dressed up! I never get to dress up so this was REALLY fun!!! I went out and bought new shoes and a new cocktail dress for the occasion! Sooo fun! I loved every second of dressing up and primping for my beautiful dress.  I could definitely get used to the lifestyle of the rich and famous!!!

Here is the best picture I have of my shoes! Love these babies!!! They were so comfy. They are Calvin Klein and so worth the extra cost!

Here is the classic bedroom shot of the new dress from the full length mirror! This is a size smaller than I was expecting to buy so I was soooo excited!! The dress is here.

Here is a brighter shot in the bathroom mirror after makeup was done.

These were the centerpieces on the tables...so pretty!

Here is a shot of the decor! The event was held in the PPG Wintergarden in Pittsburgh, PA. The building looked amazing~

And this is a shot of the silent auction area. There were so many donated items for auction...really amazing stuff!

This is me and my work friend Kathy that I volunteered with! She is the one that got me connected with CF and their fundraisers. She has been helping them for over TEN years~~!

This is a picture with the women I know from CF. On the left is Carol and Kathy is on the right. Obviously, that leaves me in the middle! HA

Kathy and I were assigned to a wine station. Here is the wine  we were going to be pouring all night. Apparently it was good as we were the first tasting station to run out. Although, if you ask Kathy, shell say it was because I filled the glasses too full! HA

Another shot of Kathy and I presenting our wine!

There were a total of five wines to taste throughout the room (Kathy and I had one). In all, there were six food tasting stations. Obviously a cheese & grape station and also a dessert station. The other four stations were manned by some of Pittsburgh's most award winning local restaurants. My favorite just happened to be right next to me. The sign below is what the restaurant was presenting to patrons to taste.

 This is Chef Kevin Sousa from Superior Motors. He has already started many successful restaurants in Pittsburgh and has now sold them all to start Superior Motors. It will be open in the Spring 2015 hopefully! You can find out all about this amazing restaurant here. It will all be locally sourced, funded, operated and will give back to the struggling community of Braddock, PA. Amazing man - he really is a gentleman with a vision. And an amazing Chef~~~

This is a closeup of his plate! So delicious!

The second restaurant was Seviche. These guys are always amazing! So yummy!

Sonoma had a fantastic tuna dish!

Another favorite is always Nine on Nine. They had an amazing spiced ostrich that everyone was talking about. Seriously so yummy! It is not on the menu yet but due to the crowd reaction, the chef said he may be adding it soon! Check it out - its truly amazing~

I did not get a picture of the cheese station or the dessert station but I did manage to get a few pictures of the delicious pastries and macaroons that were on the dessert station before I ate them of course! HA! The were baked by Gaby et Jules. AMAZING is all I can say!

Had to try one of each...actually I may have had two or three of each! Seriously amazing desserts!

 The night was awesome and so much fun! I loved spending time with Kathy and Carol and we met a new friend MaryBeth that I did not get a pidcture of. I will see her in a month at the next fundraiser and I cannot wait! The event raised $183,00.00 for CF!!! I call that a success!!! Thanks for allowing me the pleasure to volunteer! I can't wait for the next event!!

Do you volunteer? If so, what is the reason and for which charity(ies)?

 

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