The Triangle Goes Red

This is part of the ticket to the Inaugural luncheon event called Triangle Goes Red for Women, held yesterday, by the American Heart Association. One of our neighbors bought a table and offered tickets to the first nine women who would agree to attend if she gave them a ticket. I am so glad that I decided to take a play-day and go! It's not often I get the opportunity to attend a $100 per plate event!

This is the inside of the ticket. Our Governor's wife was the Honorary Chair for the event; she attended and spoke for a bit. After the luncheon, my group and I were standing in the hall of the Marriott and Mrs. Easley walked by; stopping to say hello. I knew she didn't remember me, so I said ......"When I see you, it is usually December and I am decorating the Mansion for the Holidays, with Mel Day." She replied...."You surely do clean up well! I'd never have recognized you without jeans and a sweatshirt."

Here I am behind the "red dress". They took almost everyone's photo. Too bad that it didn't hide my skirt.

I learned CPR! They had a 30 minute class, and we got to bring home a CPR dummy (head to chest) so we could practice. I had always wanted to learn CPR, but never had the time to sign up for a long class. Now that they can teach the basics in a short time, they do so wherever possible. If you get that opportunity, I hope you'll take it. You can now do CPR without having to do mouth-to-mouth rescusitation, unless you want to.

They also taught some easy ways to exercise, especially if you only have a few minutes, and they gave us a "resistance band" with which to do the exercises. I got my blood sugar and BP checked (both were fine).

The luncheon was very good and unexpectedly so. I knew it would be "heart-healthy", but I didn't think it would be so tasty. The salad was mixed baby greens with strawberries, blueberries and black berries. The two boneless chicken breasts had a very good sauce, and the asparagus was perfectly steamed, and served in a bundle wrapped by a slice of yellow squash that had the middle cored out. Dessert was a raspberry mousse served in a heart-shaped cup of dark chocolate (very yummy)!

The keynote speaker was Rhonda Rich; billed as "a best selling Southern author." I had not heard of her books (What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should) and My Life in the Pits), but she was really funny and if you get a chance to hear her speak, take it.

I took my camera, but none of the photos was good enough. The table centerpieces were two miniature female body forms (covered in red silk) on wrought-iron bases. Each form had a pocket, into which a few white daisies had been placed. Of course, I would have rather seen some red roses or gerbera daisies, but I am sure the flowers were donated and the donor did it cheaply.

Major sponsors for this event were Macy's and Merck. I found it somewhat ironic that Merck was a sponsor, since their product Vi*xx was responsible for many heart attacks and other troubles before it was taken off the market a few years ago. Maybe sponsorship of events like this is part of their pay-back.