Bravo, ladies of the Santa Maria Country Club! Your “Ladies Friendship Luncheon and Fashion Show” was such a stylish success.
This is the seventh year this group has held this event, designed to bring together tennis, golf, and social members. The luncheon benefits a different nonprofit each time. This year, the focus was on the Wounded Warriors Project.
Chairperson Sandi Johnson told me, “With all that is going on, we felt Wounded Warriors, even though it isn’t locally based, was an appropriate choice.”
The theme was a rousing red, white, and blue. White tablecloths and chair covers. Big red bows around the chair tops. Blue covers across the tablecloths. The dining room, with a runway bisecting the length of the room, looked spectacular.
Tall centerpieces featuring red roses and small orchids were the work of Pat Chandler and Stacia Paulsey, who also created a dramatic centerpiece for the foyer. As you entered, you saw a huge arrangement of red and white roses, punctuated by sparkling gold starbursts. Around the base of the flowers were visor caps from the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force.
Reservations chairlady Barbara Eggert reported that almost 200 tickets at $50 each had been sold.
Such a fun, fun afternoon. No wonder it was a full house.
We enjoyed hot chicken salad in puff pastry, lovely vegetables, and a salad. Dessert was red strawberries dipped in white chocolate and served with a cookie shaped like a star (patriotic theme, remember?).
Of course, there were the essentials—Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc—at each table.
Linda Downer coordinated the fashion part of the fete, while Terry Diamond was in charge of logistics. There were 15 models with three clothing changes each, making a total of 45 different outfits sashaying down that long runway.
In the tent adjacent to the club, models dressed in hot-for-fall outfits from Coldwater Creek in Santa Barbara, Sue’s place in Lompoc, and the Madonna Inn Boutique in San Luis Obispo.
Artist Kathleen Fenton, attorney Karen O’Neill, investment advisor Virginia Souza, and funny-lady-at-large Lou Glenn were among the attendees. Sandy Caughell brought guests Leslie Mesa and Lynn Arensdorf, whose daughter-in-law Courtney Arensdorf thought up the name for the Discovery Museum’s upcoming Bippity Boppity Boo Ball.
What a pleasant surprise to run into Kerry Main Aller, who was there with her mom, published author Patti Dickinson. Google Patti to find the titles of her two nonfiction books published by the University of Oklahoma and University of Nebraska presses. She also has a fiction book, a political thriller, just published.
Fashion show planners thoughtfully recruited Mike Valdez, the handsome young golf pro, to be the only male model. He earned hoots, cheers, and whistles when he appeared on the runway.
Jackie Brunello, thank you for the mimosa and the hot-off-the-press news flash from club president Sylvia Ng that the Golden Valley Altrusa Club (the newest Altrusa in town) will open “a world of amazement and enchantment” for children two days after Thanksgiving.
Golden Valley’s holiday fundraiser (involving trees to be raffled off) will be ensconced in the space that is now occupied by the Halloween Store between Costco and Trader Joe’s.
Methinks adults will also find this to be “a world of amazement and enchantment.”
If you want to contact Hobnobbing With Helen, you may contact her at helenthom232@yahoo.com.
This article appears in Sep 22-29, 2011.