The Turtle I Won

During the weekend, I attended a "party" at the Ihilani at Ko'olina.  At first, I didn't plan to go, but to support the organization I work with, I decided last minute to sign-up for the annual event.  Last year, I had a blast, so I knew it would be just as good this year too!

In the morning, I volunteered and helped set-up decorations. I loved the turtle decoration so much that I wish I could've had one.. (I at least thought to myself).

The best news of all? I ended up winning the turtle on our table that night!  It was too funny and such a weird coincidence.  First, my co-worker won it because his birthday was closest to the day of the party, but the catch was that it had to be passed three times to the right.  I just happened to be sitting three seats to the right, even though originally my seat would not have been there if someone didn't move the name tags around.  Now, my turtle is happily placed on my table at home.  The perfect Christmas decoration for sure...

During the evening, we had a four course meal.  First, there was onion soup.  I started to get a really bad headache, so I couldn't enjoy my food as much as I would've liked to.  I don't think I like onion soup either, from what I tasted at least.  I'm assuming the floating object in the soup was fried cheese bread. LOL I wasn't too sure.  It was worth tasting though.  Now, I know that I won't make onion soup at home, even though I have an awesome looking recipe.

The salad was one of the best parts of the meal ... I definitely needed a salad since I"ve been pigging out on junk food since the summer.

Instead of ordering a meat dish, I chose the lasagna.  It had a portobello mushroom on top and eggplant on the bottom.  Honestly, I wish I had a steak after I tried a bite of D's, but I'm glad to have tried the lasagna at least. My husband had to eat the rest.

My husband had steak.. what a smart guy for choosing it.  I tried a piece and it was absolutely delicious. 

Of course, we had dessert too... Chocolate decadence.

I enjoyed the chocolate the most out of everything on the table... It was SO good.  Luckily, someone left one of theirs behind. ;)

In all honesty, if I didn't have such a bad headache, I would've had a much better time.  However, I couldn't dance that night or enjoy my food.  Also, we waited in line forever for pictures, but I was 2 dollars short and they only take cash.  I guess it was a good thing in a way since I took a photo in front of a Christmas Tree and made prints for cheap.

I tried my best to stay until the end.  I wanted to dance, but there's always next year!  I had a great time mingling and I loved the band.  I'm glad I attended the event.  It's definitely something to look forward to every year.

One lucky lady actually won a round-trip ticket to the Big Island.