Hollywood style in "the O.C"

We are finding that living in LA is bringing us new experiences all the time.  A couple of weekends ago I told you of a charity gala we attended which turned out to be lovely and very interesting.  Then just this weekend, we had the opportunity to attend another charity, this time a black and white ball in Orange County to raise money for court appointed advocates for children.  I was thoroughly impressed with the enthusiasm shown for helping the children who had been abused and neglected.

But I must say, I was fascinated that the ball was Hollywood worthy.  I have never seen  such glamour up close.  Everything was beaded and jeweled.  While walking through the crowds at the silent auction tables, I noticed many an implant, well nipped face and size 2 waistlines.  There was one other woman with a polka dot dress, who kinda looked me up and down, probably trying to figure out if I were any competition for her dress.  I think the mere fact that her spagetti strapped dress showed off her cleavage and shoulders took me out of the running.

I wasn't really sure how dressy the evening would be so I chose to not be too flashy. My dress is from TJMaxx for $25, I had the purse but bought new fake diamond earrings and a ring.  My sparkle, although bigger than what I normally wear, was decidedly smaller than what I saw other women wearing.  I fell in love with this ring that looks like a flower and kind of like the dots on my dress.  Joseph and Rachel wanted me to wear the other ring I had to chose from, but in the end, I wore what I loved.

The funny thing is that I saw a wedding ring on a woman with a diamond that almost equalled the size of my flower!  Whoa!

I felt really out of place and a little uncomfortable.  "Which one of these is not like the other?"  But holding Joseph's hand made it fun. We've always loved to people watch ever since going to  our first church dances.

Other highlights:  They raised a million dollars for the advocate program. Yea! $18,000 was the final bid for a week trip to Milan fashion week and $15,000 for the Elton John Oscar party (that's certainly something you don't see in North Carolina).  Alan Thick, the actor, was there to present a couple of awards and Taylor Dayne sang at the end for the dance.

Sorry, no more pics of the evening.  We didn't want to embarass ourselves by clicking away with our iPhone, although I was very tempted.

What I learned from the evening: 

•  I loved watching all the glitz, but would probably be more comfortable behind a red velvet rope.  As a matter of fact, if I had my choice between a fancy party with ball gowns and a ranch party where people come in their best pressed jeans, like at Karissa's reception, I would pick the ranch. 
•  Cleavage is very distracting. 
•  It's a good thing we have rich people, because they can be very generous with their time and money.  
•  If you want to stand out, be modest. 
• Anything is fun when I'm with Joseph.