I've been a migraine sufferer on and off for about 15 years now. I'm never quite sure when they're going to strike or how bad. Mine don't seem to go according to the weather and I've never been able to pinpoint them to any particular food. Surprisingly, and luckily, when I was pregnant both times and unable to take any medication, they were practically non-existent. Lately, they've been hitting hard and sometimes medication works, sometimes it doesn't. Anyway, my point was going to be that I try not to let them control my life but there are certain times when I just can't help it. Last Thursday was one of those times.
I was supposed to go to The Teresa Group Holiday Auction in Mississauga with my girlfriends, Marianne and Marlene, and a bunch of their friends and co-workers. I went two years ago and it was a lot of fun. The Teresa Group is a non-profit organization who's cause is children afflicted with or affected by HIV/AIDS. I believe this Auction is their major fundraiser and it keeps getting bigger every year and by the sounds of it they outdid themselves this year.
It's a dinner followed by a Live Auction and then there is also a Silent Auction that this year had almost 300 items you could bid on...huge baskets of toys, sporting event tickets, autographed sports memorabilia and electronics.
They also always have special guests and this year those included Bobby Allison from Nascar, former NHLers Johnny Bower, Ron Ellis, Bobby Baun and the gentlemen I particularly wanted to see...Anthony Zuiker (creator of the CSI series) and Robert Hall who plays Dr. Robbins on the Vegas CSI show. Then the icing on the cake (well, it would have been for me anyway!) they announced at the last minute that they were bringing in the Stanley Cup! I'm a huge hockey fan and would have loved to find my beloved Bruins on it...I know, I probably would have had to dust off the names since it was so long ago (there, for all my Bruins hating friends, I said it for you!).
The Live Auction this year included 15 different items...big ticket items, mostly trips. The one that I would have loved was a trip that included air fare for two to Los Angeles, accommodations and...a walk on role on CSI:NY!! Apparently there were two people bidding heavily and it actually got up to $11,000! At that point, Anthony Zuiker got up and added that it would be first class tickets, he would personally pick the people up and escort them and it was now going to be for four people, not just 2! Bidding between the two then got up to $17500, the auctioneer said the next bid would get it and someone other than the two main bidders yelled out. The auctioneer yelled sold and that was that...he got it. Sooooo....Anthony Zuiker, after talking to the other bidders, offered them both the exact same deal and they took it!!!
Another item was a guitar signed by the Rolling Stones. I don't know what the bidding was at but Marlene's husband, Cameron, kept saying how great a deal that was. All of a sudden his arm shot up and he yelled "thirty one hundred"! Apparently, and I can just picture this, the look on Marlene's face was priceless...she had no idea he was going to bid!! Needless to say he didn't end up getting it, it went for over six thousand.
Anyway, as you can probably tell, I wasn't able to go, I had a migraine on and off for two days, and unfortunately, missed all this fun!!


Marlene's husband Cameron and their friend Craig