One Big Party

I made it back from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and it felt good to be back in my own bed again. There were so many celebrities there like Brad Pitt, Angelina, Matt Damon, Kevin Bacon...and I didn't see any of them! Actually I think they all left earlier in the week, except for Kevin Bacon who actually was downstairs in the theatre while we were watching George Clooney's Michael Clayton movie on Friday night. I had an amazing time in Toronto and really the entire trip can be summed up in separate phrases: NO SLEEP; FREE; COLD

NO SLEEP

In case you forgot I was at TIFF because our company was putting on the Canadian Sponsorship Forum and were partnering with TIFF for it. So during the day I spent all my time attending sessions, helping out where needed, meeting delegates, etc. Then in the evening it was just party, party, party! I was out partying every night until somewhere between 2:00am - 3:00am. That wouldn't be so bad except that I had to be back down at the forum and working again by 6:30am -7:00am. This basically meant no sleep, but it was worth it.

The first night we went to a party with just our delegates to Casa Loma. This was an old historic castle and was pretty cool. ET Canada was using the castle to do some filming so there was a lot of ET stuff around. When we left I even saw Cheryl Hickey up on the outdoor stage doing her show.

After that party was over around 9:00pm we went back to the hotel, hopped onto another bus and went to the after party of the movie premiere New York City Serenade. It was sponsored by Audi and Hello Magazine and it was packed in there. It was a great party and after leaving I also got a gift bag, but it mostly had girl things in it like shampoo, a hair straightener, a book, etc. Not too much I wanted. (Yes, the picture below is of a co-ed bathroom with a glass wall with water running down it!)

On Saturday night we watched the closing night movie Emotional Arithmetic and I was so tired I dozed off for a bit. After that it was off to the Official Closing Night Gala party at the Harbourfront. I finally made it back to the hotel around 3:00am and back to my room by 3:45am as we all just hung out in the lobby for a while. Needless to say, there was very little sleep.

FREE

The coolest part about all the parties was that everything was free. Every party we went to had free food and drinks and some people took full advantage of it. Not being much of a drinker I stuck mostly to Coke, Sprite and Red Rain (similar to Red Bull). The problem with the food was that it is mostly appetizer type food and so although you are eating all the time you don't really feel full. There was some larger type food around. At the Cosa Loma party there was curry chicken which was really good. At the closing night gala there was a lot more including mini burgers, spicy chicken, crepes, lamb stew, cornbread, etc. It was really good but the lineups were really long and so Ididn't eat much until much later in the evening.

COLD

Somewhere along the line someone forgot to tell all of us that the closing night gala party was going to be outside...right along the harbourfront! This meant all the cold air from off the lake was blowing right into the party area and it was COLD. Most of the girls were wearing cocktail dresses and were instantly freezing. But after people started drinking they started to forget about it. Also, most of the guys instantly lost their suit jackets and the girls were wearing them to keep warm!

Later on in the night I decided it was time to warm up and wanted to sneak into the VIP lounge which was indoors. Another guy and I went over there and noticed that security wasn't really checking people for wristbands so I walked right on by them and nobody stopped me. There was practically no one in there so I ate some food (no lineups in there!) and then the other guy came in too. I noticed a back entrance leading out of the area and asked one of the server girls what was back there. She told me the kitchen. That's odd I thought as I saw people coming and going from near there. Then she told me that I should go upstairs to the VIP lounge which was much nicer, which was also through that back entrance. I glanced down the hallway towards the staircase that led up to the next floor where the VIP lounge was. There were two big security guards blocking the stairs and checking people for blue bracelets before they were allowed up there. I put my thinking cap on and decided that I had to get by them either with a distraction or by pretending I belonged there.

Then it hit me. We grabbed a drink each and when the server girls went from the kitchen to the upstairs we followed right behind them. We walked right past the security guards and they never stopped us as they figured we were with the girls. It worked like a charm and we were up in the VIP lounge. It was much warmer in there with nice white couches, etc. I went out to the deck and they had a table with marshmallows on skeweres. Then the girls roasts the marshmallow for you over a flame and you can then dip it in either dark or white chocolate with some sort of alcohol in it. It was really good! We didn't see any real famous people up there, but then again I wouldn't recognize them anyway so there could have been.

Finally we left and went back to where everyone else was. The party ended shortly after and we all went back to the hotel. It was great to get back into my bed again!

Overall it was an awesome time there. Too bad I didn't see more celebrities, but maybe next time!