The CSC Gala Happenings

Okay, you've feasted your eyes on the live auction items. You can come back to them. But now, I'd like you to take a look at the silent auction.

Needless to say, our auction committee did an amazing job. Jeff Buchek spread his web of connections across St. Louis, every basket Jamie Beauchamp seemed cooler and more extravagant than the next, Kelli McDonald coordinated dozens of items, and Julie Harig must have gone door-to-door in Clayton based on the number of items she solicited. Bill Winfrey pulled many a string, and Kalen Olson, volunteer extraordinaire, contributed a number of really great items. And Mary Tramelli--she must know every designer and artist in town!

That's just to name a few. They did an amazing job to pull a variety of exciting items together for you. I could describe each and every one of them, but Cindy Leonard has already graciously done that for you. If you click on those pictoral items (wait for 15 seconds or so for the page to load), you'll see searchable lists of all the items. A few of my favorites are highlighted below:

The entire Super Silent auction: I don't want to say that these are the creme of the crop, because there are so many great items scattered over the course of the auction, but these are the items that will be available for bidding wars that last well into the night. The Super Silent Auction closes at 10:30 instead of 8:00 for the rest of the auctions, so you'll have plenty of time to place your bids.

I have to say, I'm honored that the entire CSC staff would contribute the way they did in the next section. They all found a way to give to the auction as a way to thank all of you who give to the CSC. I don't want to toot my own horn, but take a look at Item #69. Just something to think about.

There are a ton of great restaurants in the Dining section, and I made sure that two of my favorite restaurants in town contributed. See #100 (Iron Barley) and #157 (Atlas Restaurant). If you need a taste-tester for those restaurants, give me a call.

I'm also particularly fond of Item #208, a pass for a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Ebsworth Park, which is just off 270. What's that, you say? A Wright house in St. Louis? That's right--I've toured this place, and it's amazing. It's a treasure, and it's so close. I'd recommend the tour even if you don't win this item.

The getaways are amazing, and so many community members contributed to the health and beauty section that I couldn't highlight just one. And check out Home and Garden! You could completely redo your home through this one auction section.

There are tons of cute items in the kids section, including Kid's Day In (#602) and Kid's Day Out (#613) baskets that have an entire day's worth of goodies and activities in one place.

I'm salivating just looking at the sports section. There are tons of Cardinals tickets and golf packages, and even two passes to the 2008 U.S. Open Women's Championship, which is held at Interlachen, where Kalen's father is the course pro! How cool is that?

The Miscellaneous section has a variety of really interesting items. My girlfriend's aunt, who lives in Honolulu, just shipped over the items for #812, the Hawaiian basket. Those items truly are authentic. And I'm really pleased with #834, the Best of Both Worlds basket. What worlds are those, you might ask? Missouri and Virginia, of course. The basket includes a set of wine glasses, a bottle of premier Virginia wine and equally good Missouri wine, along with goodies associated with both states. It's a wine tasting in a basket.

I could go on and on, but you're probably more interested in just reading the descriptions yourselves. We're stuffing and sending out the actual auction booklets tomorrow, so all of you who RSVPed will have hard copies in a few days. For everyone else...send in your RSVP so you can be part of this experience!