Mardi Gras/Casino Night

First of all, let me say that our neighborhood is AWESOME! I am truly spoiled. There is always something to do... so much so, that my social calendar stays full between church and community obligations... oh, and work, too. I'm so blessed to work AND live in such a great place. Most of the events are very family oriented - bring on the kids and pets! But once a year, we have an 18-and-up event. This year we had a Casino Night at the resort with a Mardi Gras theme.

Here's how it all went down. Each person pays $25 to cover your food. Reasonable. When you arrive at the Ross Bridge "Casino" {sidebar: gambling is illegal in Alabama, so this is how we do it down here}, you are greeted with Mardi Gras beads, a fancy mask, and $500 of "play money." That's $500 each - or $1000 per couple. There were all kinds of games you would find in a Casino - Roulette, Black Jack, Craps, Slots and I'm sure more... but I probably don't know what they're called considering my serious lack-of-casino-experience. You trade your money in for chips and play the night away. There was a great band as a backdrop and and wonderful buffet.

Justin and the guys parked at a Black Jack table and stayed there for the ENTIRE night. The girls wasted our coins on the slots. It was fun to win, but even funner knowing it wasn't real money! At the end, you exchange your coins and chips for tickets. At the front of the ballroom were prizes ranging from golf bags to George Forman grills, and martini glasses to iPod docking stations. You place as many tickets as you have in a basket in front of one or each of the prizes. At the end of the night, they draw tickets to see who wins. Justin and I didn't win a ton of tickets, but we chose to put all our eggs in one basket. We ended up winning a small piece of red luggage.

We enjoyed the night with all our wonderful neighbors, but had a pre-party party at Matt and Amy Anderson's house next door with Dana and Daniel Pittman and John and Emily Haygood. We attended an after-party party at David and Shah Hines' home. They live behind us. We stayed there until after 1:00 am. Whew! Sunday school came awfully early the next day! Below are pictures to document the night. I took so many more, but I felt like these give a good reflection of our fun evening.

Justin and me sporting our Mardi Gras masks. Aren't they great?!
Dana, me, Emily and Amy

That's me on the left and Amy on the right. Amy and her husband Matt live next door and have become good friends. You may recognize them from the snow pictures from January.

We played the slot machines all night. I must have had a lucky streak because it seemed like I was the only one winning. It sort of became a joke that when I sat down to play, I would always win SOMETHING. Dana, Emily, Amy and I took turns at this machine most of the night.

This is my work partner, Kate and her husband, John.

A great picture of our good friends Dana and Daniel Pittman.

A picture of Justin and me sans masks... only Justin's is on the back of his head - hense the ribbon on his forehead.

Jeff Fitzmorris and John Giffin (Kate's husband) had to have won the most tickets! To put this into perspective... TOGETHER, Justin and I won 7 tickets... 7. They must have tripled that EACH.

The little pre-party group ready to head back home after a little dancing. Dana and Daniel, Emily and John, Matt and Amy, me and Justin.

What a fun night! I'm already looking forward to next year!