Seven - course dinner for twelve at the kitchen table at Brennan's, with wines to complement each dish and autographed cookbooks as a souvenir ........... $2,976.60

Stretch Hummer to take us about six miles each way and wait for us in between ..... $905.45

Spending the company's money instead of my own .... priceless!

It was a very nice evening, I have to admit. One of the invitees cancelled at 5:00 -- and we were leaving at 6:00. I really hated to waste the seat at the table, so I invited a couple of others from his company who showed up at our booth. Of course, everyone had other plans, but one of the already-busy invitees brought a co-worker over to take his place. The man was a stranger to me, but not for long. It is very difficult to stay strangers when you drink that much wine together!

A word about stretch Hummers -- don't. They look so cool from the outside, but the ceiling is very low and there is only one door. At 5', I was okay making my way from the door to the front, but the tall guys had a problem. Everyone agreed that the idea was terrific, but the reality did not match up.

Our table was literally in the kitchen, and set with so many wine glasses we didn't know where they would put our plates. We had our own -- I'm not sure what to call him, somewhere between a tour guide and a waiter. He would describe each wine, the grapes that were used, the process, etc., and each course. Let's see how much I can remember: we began with champagne, went through a few whites, then rose, and finished with reds. The courses were turtle soup, some sort of crab on a fried green tomato, a chacuterie plate (hope I spelled that right), salmon, veal, cheese plate, and dessert. In between courses we were encouraged to walk around the kitchen. At the beginning of the evening we had to be alert for waiters laden with heavy trays and moving fast. Come to think of it, as the evening wore on and the traffic slowed in the kitchen, we all seemed less inclined to get out of our chairs. Surely it wasn't all that wine we were drinking! The big boss took me aside and told me he had asked for cookbooks to be given to each person -- warning me, I guess, that the bill was going to be even bigger than I expected. Trust me, once the dinner bill goes over $1000, I really don't notice another $300. Some of the guys (cause, yeah, as usual I was the only female) asked the chef to put their wife's name on the flyleaf. We had a lot of fun coaching them on the line to use when they got home, something on the lines of Honey, this boring business dinner turned out to be in a nice place, and I missed your company so much, so I brought you this cookbook so you can cook all this good stuff for me. That should work, don't you think?

Oil at $70 a barrel is very good for the business I'm in, and this year's big trade show was packed like I haven't seen in years. The parking garage was already full when I got there Thursday morning, and I ended up parking in the basketball stadium garage. When I got back there that night about 11:00, I discovered it was an automatic pay gate to get out. No problem, I have a credit card. Oh wait, it doesn't take credit cards, and it says I only owe $2.00. Oh dear, I only have one $1 bill. I'll give it a $20. Ching, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching -- am I in Las Vegas? I seem to have hit a jackpot. You have no idea how heavy $18 worth of quarters is. I was scooping them out of the coin return and literally throwing them at my purse. The next morning, after only five hours of sleep and running out the door to keep an appointment, I picked up my purse and almost fell over from the weight. I had no idea what was in there -- did I steal a coffee cup? a bottle of wine? what in the hell is in this purse? I am going now to write on my whiteboard:

I will NOT drink champagne and seven different wines in a single evening.

I will not.

Well ..... maybe if I just sip next time ....