In my entire adult life, I have not been more excited about a sporting event. Sure, okay I went to the Olympics in Torino and the World Series when the Tigers were playing, and a few Super Bowls, but none of that means anything if it isn't personal! Over the weekend, due to the wins by both Oregon and Auburn, TCU was "forced" to accept a bid to the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. It's the Granddaddy of all Bowl games and guess who is going?!?!?!? That's right! Yours truly! Tickets have been purchased, plane tickets were bought this morning, housing provided by brother bear Galanty and the excitement level has been amped up to 12. It was a GREAT ending to my weekend! Not only that, but Laura gets to come with me so I'm not in the stands with my face painted alone. How awkward that would have been! I could really only be the T or C or U with no one to follow. How sad, but now I have a partner in crime! I'm not entirely sure this blog entry gives my excitement justice either. If I had rafters where I was right now, I would be hanging from them, in the good way too. If someone wasn't working below me, I would not be able to walk anywhere, I would have to hop, skip and jump with excitement. My face will have a permagrin until Jan 2 when all of this is over. I think that paints a little better picture :o) I'm excited......
But let's recap the weekend, shall we? September 11 was a terrible tragedy, and in the DC area, life was completely changed from that day forward. I know most people view NYC as the headquarters of this crisis, which is where the worse devastation was, but their daily lives have not really changed security wise. Case in point, before September 11, most any one was allowed into the White House to view the Christmas spectacular that was the trees in all the rooms. Since then, you have to know someone pretty high up on a list to get in the doors. Luckily, I do, and I got to go. I don't think you really appreciate what you have around you until you're away from it for a long time. Without pictures, because my friend hasn't sent any to me yet, I'm going to have to paint a virtual picture for you. I'll try to contain my typing ADD for a little while to give this thing justice. First of all, it was cold. Considering that it's been way warmer than normal in this area, this sudden onset of cold was not something we were all prepared for. So only standing around in your jacket, without scarf of gloves was a bit of a buzz kill at the beginning. Because, once again, thanks to the lovely Selehay's who crashed the White House dinner, we now have to stand in three lines of security to make sure you're on the list. And when your finger tips are going numb, it's a bit much. But, once you walk through the last phase of pat downs, it makes it all worth it. You enter through the main doors into a wood panelled hallway of history. You are greeted with the sites, sounds and smells of Christmas. It was the first real time I felt that Christmas was just around the corner. There were rows of garland that lead us to the first group of rooms that held trees. If memory serves, it was the Library, First Ladies room and Music room. All rooms were so warm and inviting and each decorated with a different themed tree. Of course they were roped off so our view was from the doorway, but I was not expecting anything less. As you make your way down the hallway, to the giant staircase, you are blocked off from going further by a guard and partitions. Apparently, Obama himself was in house so the security measures were amped up a bit. I was hoping to "accidentally" run into him which would only make this experience that much more amazing. Considering we couldn't go any further, we make our way up the giant staircase. At the top, we are greeted by a very friendly lady standing at a table asking folks to fill out a Holiday wish card to our troops. I consider this an extremely important stop on the tour and fill out a card, immediately. A friend of mine is deployed this Holiday season, away from his wife and kids and I write a note as if he is the one going to receive it. As, we move on, we head down the main hallway which is lined with dried flower decorations against the windows and past White House Christmas tradition pictures along the wall. These date back so far and have so much history attached to them, it's so interesting to see what goes on behind closed doors. This hallway, leads us to the room containing the gingerbread house of the White House and a decoupage Bo. Also, hanging on the walls are framed pictures of ALL the White House Christmas cards ever sent! It was so interesting to see how even art work progresses throughout the years. How similar in taste some Presidents were. Here's a trivia question for you, who is the only president to have a picture of himself and his wife on their card? The winner gets a big prize from me! As we exit the Christmas card room, we are now heading into the main portion of our tour. Here we head through the main dining room, the red room, the blue room, the ball room, and the grand entrance. Each room is more breathtaking than the next. Each tree, in each room is more exquisitely decorated than the next. Each room you walk into makes you more and more appreciative of where you are. The history of everything that is around you. The detail that has gone into each and every room that you walk through is thought out and on purpose. The grander of it all, is so much to take in. And, then you think, wow, just hours earlier, the President of the United states was standing, RIGHT HERE giving a speech to the country. Or the very next day, the Kennedy Center honorees were sitting in the place where I just walked through! It's really hard to wrap your head around. Or at least it was for me. Although I was making fun of my friend for taking so many pictures, I do hope that he tags me in them on Facebook, so that I can show you just how amazing living here is. As you leave, you are exited by carolers who sing you into the rest of your night. As you walk out of the white house and head down 14th street and look back, it just makes you think of how lucky you have been to do what you just did. If you can, google White House Christmas pictures and see what comes up. And then think to yourself, wow, what a lucky girl she was :o)
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