Celebration and An Auction

Chris, Christiane and Champagne to toast Penn Law Commencement 2009.

From the moment Christiane arrived on Friday until Tuesday morning when all took off for their separate activities of the week, the mood was one of celebration. Friday evening we enjoyed a "picnic" of Whole Foods treats, conversation and laughter on the patio.

Saturday the crowd shopped until we dropped at King of Prussia Mall before heading home for an absolutely delicious dinner of Schnitzel, Cucumber Salad, New Potatoes and the most delicious Vanilla Pudding with Strawberries, all prepared by Heinz and Gaby and washed down with multiple bottles of wine.

On Sunday we joined the huge crowd in attendance at the Penn Law reception and toured the law school while sipping on champagne. After only a short break for coffee at the Penn Bookstore/Barnes and Noble, it was time for the LL.M farewell party to which friends and family of the grads had been invited. That event featured an open bar, buffet dinner, dancing and lots of laughs, and it was great fun! Suzanne, Tony and Julian arrived in the middle of that party, and the level of hilarity was kicked up yet another notch.

The Penn LL.M Class of 2009
Students in this program come from all over the world, and for almost all of them, this was the first time they had experienced a real cap and gown commencement experience. They were loving every moment of it!

Gaby, Heinz, Bianca, Tony, Suzanne, Chris, Julian, Christiane and Dale obviously enjoying the party.

Monday morning at 8:30 I was at Franklin Field saving seats for the rest of the group and awaiting the beginning of the official Penn Commencement 2009. Dale and I had spent the night on Mark and Janet's boat in order to assure that all of our guests actually had a bed to sleep in so it was easy for me to be first on the scene. A brisk and chilly wind was blowing, but by the time the ceremony began, the sun had begun to slightly warm the air. It took over 45 minutes for all of the graduates to march into the stadium. Oh, I do love the sound of "Pomp and Circumstance". The excellent speaker was a personal hero of mine, Eric Schmidt, creator of Google!! How did ever live without Google?
After that ceremony, we raced home via two cabs so that all could change for the Law School Commencement being held at the magnificent Academy of Music that afternoon. I ordered cheesesteaks for all (except for an eggplant parm for me), and by 2:20 we were in line outside the theatre. Dale joined us, and we all ended up high in the second balcony with a bird's eye view of the ceremony. It was then that we read in the program that Chris received the Award for Excellence in the LL.M program! Watching 300 Law grads and 90 LL.M grads receive their diplomas occupied the better part of the afternoon, and by 5:30 we were more than ready to toast our honor grad over cocktails in the ritzy Ritz Carlton Lobby Bar. Dinner followed at Estia, a beautiful Greek/seafood restaurant, where ours was but one of many a graduation celebration being held there. The atmosphere was unbelievably festive.
Congratulations to Chris for a job extremely well done!!

Tuesday morning Chris and Christiane left for Miami Beach and a well-deserved bit of R and R before he begins to prepare for the New York Bar.
Suzanne, Tony and Julian headed home to Richmond. Heinz and Gaby followed them for a short visit before visiting Washington, DC and Rehobeth Beach.
I set out for New York on the Bolt Bus to help Julian and Rene prepare for their final auction gala. We spent a busy afternoon setting up the party, preparing bid numbers, making signs and instruction sheets, and taking care of all kinds of last minute details.
"Stayin' Alive" Auction for Metaphor Contemporary Art, and just a sampling of all the wonderful work available.

Let the party and the final bidding begin!

I was so busy serving as one of the auction captains and absentee bidders that I had no time for party photography. There was an "official" papparazzo appointed to document the action so look for photos from that source soon.

While the final figures are not in as yet, the auction appeared to be a success. The party was well attended and the bidding was fast and furious, especially during the final fifteen minutes. Many of the online bidders had asked for absentee bidding, and most of them were successful in getting what they wanted. An excellent time was had by bidders and auction workers alike. The last on site accounts were settled by 10, but it was almost 3 AM by the time we finished cleaning up, drinking a Renetini, rehashing the event, enjoying a midnight dinner of Moules/Frites and Sancerre wine at a wonderful little neighborhood French bistro, rehashing the event again, drinking another glass of wine and finally unwinding enough to even think about going to sleep! The morning after the auction found Julian relaxing in his beautiful oasis of a garden on Seeley Street before heading back to Metaphor to work on those final figures.

After working all afternoon with Julian and Rene on the final charges and on-line bid results, I had to catch the bus back to Philadelphia in time to preside over the South Jersey Ski Club meeting. I finally we got home at 10 last night, and this morning it was back to work as usual. The house was quiet today, however with Chris and Christiane returning late tonight and Heinz and Gaby returning tomorrow, the Brandywine B and B will be full once more.

Let another lively weekend begin!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend and the Official Beginning of Summer Everyone!