The Sandbar staff made it through another Hearts of Gold ball last Saturday.

We had two big bars set up in the "ballroom," otherwise known as the operations center for O’Malley Beverage, the local Anheuser-Busch distributor. Forget the concrete floors and garage doors- the decorations for the ball were spectacular! (And our very own Michelle helped with them.)

Each of our bars had four bartenders, a cooler full of four different bottled beers, red and white wine, and a limited supply of popular liquor and mixers. Dave was the floater/workhorse for the evening- while the rest of us lounged around behind the bars and popped the occasional bottle top, he was constantly moving around and restocking and shuttling supplies between the bars.

Peach and Ted were there dressed in their finery and ready to help out if Dave was too busy. It was a fun night and definitely a change from The Sandbar- everyone was dressed up, for one thing.

The real excitement of the evening, however, came upon our arrival back at The Sandbar.

It was raining and there was a line. We had two truckloads of stuff to carry into the bar- bar tops that Dave had built, leftover liquor, and an assortment of supplies. Some of the not-on-duty staff who were hanging around the bar came out to help unload.

And who was the first person in line when we arrived? Our long lost former doorguy/bartender John!

He’s been back from Australia since September, and he’s been in the bar several times since then, but this was the first time I’d seen him. And of course he informed us that he’s moving to Houston next week. We’re sad to see him go…but he promises to come back for a visit. Houston isn’t quite as far as Australia.