The Western States Inaugural Ball

President Obama

I’m pretty fortunate.  I was invited to attend the Western States Inaugural Ball which was held at the Washington DC Convention Center.

I was never super close to the stage area so my pictures aren’t the greatest.  Still I decided to post them because I figured some of my friends would get a kick out of them.

Jennifer Lopez Dancing

The evening started with hanging out and talking with friends we ran into.  There were some things I was told about inaugural balls that was true: yes the food was terrible, and the lines to buy the tickets for drinks or to buy the actual drinks was insane.  So what.

The coat check line was like the eagles hotel California.  You could check your coat in, but you could never check it out again.  Note to self, next time wear a coat you can stand to lose, and take it in an place it on the floor somewhere.

Vice President Joesph and Dr. Jill Biden

The lines for the drink tickets were very short if you went to the far end of the huge room (I swear it was close to the size of a football field),  I think I was 6 deep to buy drink tickets.

Now the line for the drinks was very long so I grabbed an extra one and some chips because the food was meh.   Okay it was hot and I was hungry but still it was meh (two different versions of pasta and some veggie crudites and ranch dressing-all  guaranteed to ruin a gown if they dripped).

The Bidens Dancing

There was a band playing rock when we walked in but I don’t have any idea of who they were (sorry).  Later in the evening Marc Anthony came out and sang some seriously great music.

No, I am not a Marc Anthony fan but the beat was very compelling and it was fun watching some great salsa dancers strut their stuff on the floor nearby.  One of his numbers was a song he’d written for Jennifer Lopez when he first met her.  Very sweet.  He brought her out and they sang a duet and then it was a matter of waiting until the big dogs showed up.

President Obama

The Bidens came out next- I think they hit our ball right after the Biden (Delaware) Ball.  They looked really sweet.  The last time I’d seen them together was in Des Moines Iowa.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that President Obama asked him to serve.   Joe was pretty funny when he said at the close of his small speech that he was going to prove to us all that he couldn’t dance. He did okay.

President and Mrs. Obama

Then we all milled about for a bit visiting with friends or making new ones.  I had fun people watching and saw only one blinding display of diamonds.  Very pretty but blinding nonetheless.

Eventually, the President and Mrs. Obama came out.  They looked great together.  The President gave a short speech and then danced with Michelle.

Goofing Around

After they left, there was a massive rush for the doors.  I just stuck around with friends for another hour chatting.  I said I wanted to rest my tootsies, but really it was just a desire to prolong the magic.

I figure I should post at least one picture of myself in my fu-fu dress. Sadly I am super paranoid about privacy on the internet.  I guess you can blame that on the number of hits on my blog looking for mention of Ashley Biden (I think it’s op researchers-no real idea though).  So I doodled with these a bit-yes if you know me you’d recognize my incognito-ishness…but hey what the heck.