Paper Faces on Parade

Last weekend was our company’s annual ball. Back in Chicago, the firm did a formal Christmas party downtown every year in December, but here they break things up. They have one formal, black tie event in the spring (which starts in September in New Zealand) and a more casual event just before Christmas holiday.

The theme for this year’s annual ball – held at Auckland's old Railway Station – was Masquerade, and almost everyone wore a mask. Most people’s were more traditional masquerade masks, but some people – Robert included – got a bit more creative. A whole team of people had large print outs made of different partners’ faces, and put them on sticks to carry around as masks.  My favourite, of course, was Rob’s Batman mask. He found his at the Warehouse, which Kiwis like to think is their version of Target, but only because none of them have ever been to Target. The one downtown is more reminiscent of Big Lots... but I digress.

Please note: My mask is not meant to be Catwoman. It is a fox, and I bought it before Rob bought his.

They also had a photo booth with different props, and pictures are provided below for your entertainment. Some of these people we work with, some of them we are friends with, and some of them we’d never met before.

Roughly half an hour before the party was due to end, the fire alarm in the building went off. Apparently the back half of the building is apartments, and someone back there was making some smoke. A good portion of the party took this as a sign to go home, but we stayed and after 5-10 minutes were allowed back inside for more drinks and dancing. We went for some after-ball drinks at a nearby bar, and then headed home in the wee sma’ hours...

It was Monday before I remembered that we’d lost an hour to Daylight Savings Saturday night, which helped explain why I felt so tired on Sunday despite sleeping in pretty late. Either way – the time difference between us and North America is slightly different from what it was two weeks ago, and will be until you all Fall back in a couple weeks. The time widget on this blog is accurate, and you can always google it!