NAIOP Night of the Stars

(You said you wanted pictures… so you got ‘em!)

Man, what a night! This is my second year now on the NAIOP Night of the Stars committee. Last year we had a great turnout and pretty good event... but this year (besides the one part about Anthony not being able to come... my company didn't have room at our table for him this year, sorry sweetie) was far superior in most every way. The venue was better and brand new, the food was out of this world... and OH, we were up for 5 awards this year instead of just 1... and instead of loosing like we did last year (son of a...) WE WON 3 out of the 5! Like I said, what a night! Here I am with Ryan, my stand in date for the night. Ryan is a hilarious coworker and friend of mine who really came through for me later in the evening… more about that later…

Here's a shot of our committee... well at least most of them... aww we look like such a fun lovin' bunch!

We started off with a PREP party - no, not a party to prepare for the night... although that's basically what it was... it was the Pacific Real Estate Partners party, followed by the reception where Stephanie and I took our annual photograph together. We took some fun ones where our drinks and purses were put down, but those didn't come out and the photographer caught up to us a little later to take this shot... it will have to do...

I was a drink and a half in at this point, making the rounds, talking to folks, livin' it up in my fancy dress with my fancy hair. Then it was time for dinner. Gather around everybody! Group photo! (We tried to get Kristin in this one, she was at our table too, but it's like she's the Chair of the committee and in charge of the event or something cuz she had "more important things to do"... hmmm) Pictured from left to right, then left to right again... Dennis Rattie (one of my bosses/VP of Tarragon), Liz Rattie (Dennis' wonderful wife), Stephanie Keller (hot chick I work with, oh, she's my friend too...), Helene Sautou (lovely french woman I work with), Heidi Stumph (our Wells Fargo rep), Kurt Jensen (Kristin's husband), ME (Amy Benezra), Ryan Hitt (my coworker and friend and seating buddy for the evening) and Darrin Martin (our CFO and class clown).

Oh, and of course the night wouldn’t be complete without Stephanie’s famous pose…

We started the evening with an awesome soup - it was a soup DUO! WHOA! Granny Smith Apple and Butternut Squash - delish forealdo! And so pretty!

And don't forget the frozen soufflé with candied orange rind and red wine sauce.... mmmm, a palette cleanser!

And then of course the entre. Double Sea Bass for me please, I don't eat that cow stuff. Thanks Ryan, for taking this photo when I left for the restroom... I wouldn't want to forget this memory. This was the part where I told Ryan, "Ryan, I have to pee... you are under strict orders NOT to let the servers take my plate away, ok?" Man, Ryan is the BOMB! He protected my meal with his life, cuz you know how servers are... food-and-beverage-take-away-as-fast-as-they-canners... at least I think that's what happened cuz when I got back I was the only one with a plate! YESSS! Thank you, Ryan!

And let's not forget dessert. Man. This pastry chef is a perfectionist and a master of his craft. I met him at our tasting and when one of his soufflés fell, he was so embarrassed he didn't want to present it to us at the tasting, he was just so bummed. I totally bonded with him and his OCD nature... and then I new he was my kind of dude when he gave me this amazing chocolate dessert to try. Can I take this to go please? Oh, no to go boxes at fancy tastings? Shoot. Here's the finished product...

As dessert was being eaten and cleared throughout the grand ballroom, the evening began. Shortly thereafter we honored two members of the industry for their contributions: Larry Benaroya (who asked me earlier that night when I introduced myself, "who are your parents"... does everyone know the Benezras? I'm thinking, you are a freaking Benaroya, and you know who I am? Sheesh!) and Marvin Stein. Sadly, Mr. Stein passed away recently, but his daughter and son were there to accept on his behalf. I knew the son looked familiar, but it didn't click until later on... I was touched by his speech, but then realized why he was such a good speaker and how honored I was to be in the same room with him - it was Garth Stein! Author of The Art of Racing in the Rain! (and two other books, which I have read) If you haven't read it, The Art of Racing in the Rain (pardon my misuse of the MLA format or whatever back there) is the book that really got me excited about reading books again. Thank you Garth Stein!

It wasn't long before one of our 5 nominations came up... and wouldn't you know it! We won Retail Development of the Year for Sunrise Village! This is a project located in Puyallup, we're pretty proud!

Then we were up for two other awards, Industrial Development of the Year and Mixed Use Development of the Year. We lost. As Pepe the King Prawn would say, "Let's not talk about it, ok?"

Finally, Deal of the Year... and the winner is... TARRAGON for Centralia North Corporate Park. Oh yeah BOOOOYYYYYY. Dennis accepted on our behalf, and I gotta tell you, the dude did a great job. Great speech, and he just looked so gosh darned proud up there. Like his kid was graduating from high school or something, he was just beaming with pride. Too bad Liz was in the bathroom the whole time... sorry Liz!

And then, for the last award of the night... Developer of the Year! You guessed it... we WON! We effing WON that $hit! Man! Of all the awards, that was obviously the one we wanted most. And not to sound too full of ourselves, but I think we pretty much had this in the bag, and if we didn't win, even against the other 8 or 10 nominees, we might all just quit NAIOP on the spot... all 8 or so of us in the organization... but luckily for NAIOP the right decision was made!

Joe (our company President/Fearless Leader/most awesome boss I've ever worked for) got up to accept the award and pointed at each of us, his team members, and asked us to come on stage with him. Really, it sounds lame, but I was really honored. Corny as it is, this is the biggest deal of the year for our industry, and I was pretty darned stoked to get to be a part of it all. Here are a couple of photos of all of us. First a shot of us headed up to the stage… oh, that’s my dress from the back… nice…

Stephanie, Me, Laura Delaney, Helene, Kristin Jensen, Ryan, Darrin, Murphy (aka "Murph D-O-double-G" or "Johnny iPhone") McCullough, Dennis and Joe Blattner.

I was trying so hard to smile, but not smile too much... but then Stephanie was whispering (not that quietly) to me... and I was trying really hard not to laugh... so in ALL of the photos I just look really pi$$ed off... And in this one I look kinda like I have to pee... but I didn't have to pee...

Ahh, that's much better! See, I look happy here! Cuz I was!! Here's Murphy Dogg, Kristin, Dennis, Helene, Darrin, Me, Steph, Ryan, Laura and Joe. YAY Tarragon!

Needless to say that a celebration was in order. Those of us who could went off to STIR for a little paaarrrtay! Anthony was able to join us there, so that is why he is not only IN the photos, but not dressed up as much as the rest of us :) Of the photos taken, only some have been allowed on the world wide web... Stephanie has some pretty serious veto power I guess... and I'm not mean enough to put some of those online... I mean... they are pretty bad. You know the faces you make when you don't realize that someone is taking a freeze frame of you... so you don't mean to look all messed up, but it just comes out that way... yeah, those kind of bad photos... but here's what we can show you...

Not sure I remember taking this one… but at least I wasn’t the one doing the funky chicken… it was that last Jager shot that did us in… ugg…

And so, there it is again… the famous Stephanie pose… but this time we’re all in on the action… Sorry Steph - certainly not your most flattering photo (she's really a knock out... I swear!)

And this is the last one of the night… I thought we were still doing the Stephanie… and turns out I didn’t get the memo… And sorry Steph – I know you probably didn’t want this one posted… but this was the face you were making at me all night… the “I’m trying to concentrate…. Focus… but I shouldn’t have had that last shot of Jager…” I do what I always do in this case… I blame Dennis…