The Martini Symposium

It's a swanky, black tie affair, this Martini Symposium. Dax and Kim were on the board and allowed to invite a certain number of guests. All kinds of beverages and hors d'ourvres, all you can drink and eat. Bryan was unsure if it was something we should attend. After all, I don't drink alcohol and he didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable at all. But he did like the idea of supporting his friend and business partner. I told him I thought it actually might be fun. Besides, how often do we have a reason to dress up so fancy?

I spent oodles of time shopping for what to wear. Something dressy, but not over the top. An outfit that wouldn't make me feel immodest in the slightest, but that also wouldn't make anyone else feel like I was trying to be "holier than thou" either. I was likely to be the only one there not drinking, so I was already potentially going to stand out. Or so I thought...

The event was being held at the Eccles Mansion in Ogden. It was beautiful and the people attending were equally so, everyone in their best dress. It was fascinating to see what people had chosen to wear. From the formal to the outlandish, it was some serious eye candy.

Truth be told, the whole event was quite the people watching event for me. As I did seem to be the only one in the mansion not consuming any alcohol, it was fascinating to watch the behavior of the people around me as they got increasingly drunk as the night went on. (Disclaimer: though Bryan did taste test three different kinds of alcoholic beverages, he did not get anywhere close to the neighborhood of drunk. All the same, I did fulfill the designated driver role at the end of the night, just in case.)

These people I had only met maybe 10 minutes before, would sling their arm around me and chat like we'd known each other for years. Personal space was non-existent. They got louder...laughing and happy. Some conversations didn't make much sense. Others had a specific topic they wanted to discuss and were very focused and determined as they talked. Some shared extremely personal and intimate details of their lives...things I really did not need to know, but could only laugh at as I wondered if they would remember the next morning what they had said. In fact, one in particular did say something to the effect of, "On a scale of 1-10 in being drunk, I'm probably at an 8.5. I'm can't believe I'm telling you these things. I may regret this later."

So standing out due to my sleeved dress and my lack of drinking? Nah, I'm not sure many people even noticed. It truly was a fascinating and enjoyable evening.