Insomniac's Holiday Party...

Last night Ben's work threw their big year end bash/holiday party in Hollywood. The party was just blocks away from Mann's Old Chinese Theater at a mansion/estate that dates all the way back to 1907. The place was pretty sweet... it definitely had that old school Hollywood vibe with the huge palm trees, and big, bulby, white string lights everywhere. I would totally love to go back there during the daylight hours and see a bit more of the place and walk around it's huge gardens. I always forget just how close we live to downtown Los Angeles and the whole Hollywood scene.

This year the party's entertainment was gambling... nothing real, all with fake money, but you could win prizes at the end of the night if you had enough winnings... which we didn't, apparently $1500 wasn't enough to stake a claim at any of those prizes... I guess you truly had to be a high roller. They had a craps table, roulette, blackjack and 24 Texas Hold'em. A buffet of fancy, Hollywood style comfort food which included lobster macaroni and cheese, little mini chicken and veggie pot pies, mini thin crust pizzas (which were by far everybody's favorite), some potato, squashy thing and it truly wouldn't be Hollywood without some sushi. There were also waiters going around with hor'dourves of all sorts of fun stuff from grilled cheese to tuna tartar, all the way to lobster corn dogs... sounds gross, but it was the best thing there. It's true what they say... everything is better deep fried and on a stick. :) And of course it wouldn't be an official Insomniac party without an open bar. There was also a dessert and coffee bar, which we ate dinner so late into the evening we didn't really feel like dessert. Ben and I were at the poker table for the vast majority of the night acting like complete idiots, laughing our heads off and having a blast. It truly was a fun evening with some great friends that we have there. Can't wait until next years party! ;)

Here's a picture of the place so you can have some reference... I obviously didn't take it since we were there when it was dark! The place is called Wattle's Mansion, just in case you wanted to know.

Ben losing all our "money" at the poker table... he had quite a stack of chips going there for awhile.

Dennis was our dealer for the night (in the white shirt), he was really cool and made the whole experience a ton of fun. All of us at the table were totally awful at playing poker and had no ideal what the official rules were. The whole night he was giving us some great tips and advice if we were ever to play for real.