love is blonde

In the last week, me and my trusty iPhone have had a few close encounters of the celebrity kind. Unfortunately, my iPhone, despite being shiny, sleek, and lustworthy, has a HORRIBLE camera. Crappy focus, no flash, and the slowest shutter speed known to man.

For example, can you identify the celebrity in this photo?

Yeah, I didn’t think so. Here’s a hint: Look directly to the left of the rainbow umbrella:

Okay, I’ll give you a little more help:

I know it doesn’t even look like Angie a woman, but I swear, it’s her. She is in DC filming Salt, and they were shooting a chase scene on the escalators at Archives Metro station today.

(Normally I don’t go to Archives station, except today I had jury duty, and I got chosen! But that’s a post for another day…)

Okay, here’s another really bad celebrity pic:

Ten bonus points go to anyone who doesn’t live in DC who can tell me the people in the photo. You DC folks should know these people so NEGATIVE ten points if you don’t know.

It’s President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, and the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Err, Nancy Pelosi’s hair. The Honorable Nancy Pelosi’s hair.

The sad thing is, I was standing right next to them, and this is the best photo I could get! Perhaps because I was sort of trying to be sly, since we were at a private event and I didn’t think they’d appreciate my iPhone up in their faces. I don’t want to get a dead fish sent to my house.

Your turn now: Who has a good, recent celeb sighting story for me? Entertain me with whatever you’ve got so I have comments to read tomorrow on my breaks during the trial! (!!!)

Just a few photos for now. I’m still processing and writing up my account of an amazing and adventurous and arduous week…

Unfortunately, the weekend began with an all-nighter at the office.  The sun rose over the Capitol Building during my taxi ride home.

My boss treated the ladies in the office to updos and professional makeup before the inaugural ball. Good idea in theory, but the way it all went down ended up being completely ridiculous. A story for later, definitely.

This was the first time I’d ever seen my husband in a tuxedo, and I thought he looked pretty darn cute. I was wearing hot pink tights under my dress. It was FREEZING outside!

We went to the Biden Home States Ball, held in the ballroom of the Washington Convention Center. My husband is from Delaware and his first political job was working for Joe Biden, so he was especially excited. Jill looked stunning in her red dress.

The highlight of the evening came when the new President and First Lady took the stage to dance. It is so clear from their body language that they absolutely adore and love each other. It’s amazing. Michelle’s dress was fabulous, and I would pay a million dollars to have her toned arms.

There’s so much more to tell, like how we were in the doomed Purple Line and never made it into the swearing in ceremony, despite leaving the house at sunrise to walk to the Capitol and standing in “line” for four hours with hard-to-score tickets. And the crazy work hours my coworkers and I logged in planning and executing two client events per day on top of all of the official inaugural events and hospitality duties. It was a sprint and a marathon all at once, and it took some determination to enjoy the privilege in the face of stress and exhaustion. But, and I can now honestly say this following a rejuvenating five hour nap, it was all worth it to be a small part of history.

Michelle Obama will be the one true Belle of the Balls, but yours truly will be there to watch. That’s right, I am going to one of the Official Presidential Inaugural Balls…TWO WEEKS FROM TONIGHT.

I had months to pick out a prom dress, a year to plan my wedding, and…fourteen days to get ready for Washington’s biggest night perhaps ever. Hold me.

Note to self: Why didn’t you start your diet last year?…Do those Hollywood Diets really work?…How many minutes can I devote to the treadmill in the next two weeks?

Oh well, no time for major weight loss now, I have to make the most of what I’ve got. Dress code is officially Black Tie, so let’s talk about attire:

• Husband’s Tuxedo: Purchased tonight! Men have it so easy. We just need to buy a sexy cummerbund and bowtie to complete the look. Do you think anyone has ever said “sexy cummerbund” before? Gah! I’m having flashbacks to 7th grade choir concerts.
• My Dress: Here is where I need your help. Is it an absolute rule that I wear a floor length gown? On one hand, yes, it is Black Tie, but on the other hand, it’s the new millennium, when “rules” are no longer “rules,” right? And I have to work overtime like a madwoman over the next two weeks, so there isn’t a lot of time for shopping. And we’re already spending a lot of money on this even without the dress. And….again with the fatness thing. UGH. So — can I wear this dress?

[Pausing for a moment while you go look at the dress. I wore it to a black tie wedding in 2007, but that was for my friend, and she couldn't turn me away at the door for my dress being too short.]

Assuming you tell me it’s okay to wear that dress (but be honest!), then how should I do my hair and accessories? I just feel like an old frumpy, lumpy married lady who forgot how to look hot. Send in the troops!

Deep breaths. Right now I’m try to shove away my insecurities and just be grateful to have this amazing opportunity. Plus, It helps to know that my dress will not be as bad as Eleanor Roosevelt’s.

In case there is any doubt remaining that I am the oldest, most boring 20something in town, I am going to blog about the grand opening of a grocery store in my neighborhood. Because, let’s be honest, I was pretty psyched about it.

Hello, Mr. Teeter, nice to meet you. May I call you Harris?

Harris and I got off to a fabulous start when I was the lucky winner of a $25 gift card just for signing up for the VIC rewards program. Cha-ching! Mama likeys free things.

True story: Last year my sister-in-law and I drove to the Carolinas to visit our other college roommate. (The same girl with a crush on the Ninja Turtle Rafael, as a matter of fact.) In giving us directions to her apartment, she said in her best Alabamian accent, “Go ’round the jig at the teeter.”

Being that I am from Colorado and sister-in-law is from Delaware, we had no freaking clue what she was talking about with all this jig teeter business. But now I know better, because I too live around the jig from the Teeter. And boy is she purdy.

There were tons of freebies tonight. Free wine. Free beer. Free cheese. Free ice cream. More wine, a lot of wine. I was kind of in love. (I overheard one woman threaten to stand at one particular wine stand and ask for refills all night, which didn’t go over too well. Security please!)

Better than the wine was the sheer beauty of the place. You have never seen a grocery store like it. It was pristine. It was an obsessive-compulsive’s heaven. Just look at these rows. Endless neat and tidy, fully stocked rows.

Something tells me it won’t be hard to spend my $25. But what should I buy first?

Some people review books. Others review products. Today, dear readers, we are going to review a wedding. First Daughter Jenna Bush’s wedding, to be precise.

I’ve made my support for Democrats pretty clear, and I’m no fan of Mr. President GWB. However, I’m not afraid to say, despite the fact I don’t know her, I really like Jenna Bush. When she was going through her collegiate drinking antics, so was I. Granted, I never got arrested, but I lived in New Orleans, where basically nothing is illegal.

When I moved to DC, the Bush twins were also in DC. They kept a low profile; I liked that. I think it’s pretty cool that of all the things Jenna could have done career-wise, she became a DC public charter school teacher (and the school wasn’t in ritzy Georgetown or anything). Then she did UNICEF work and wrote a book about an HIV-positive single mother in Panama….and, damn, the girl is sounding more like a globally-minded liberal activist than a princess of privilege.

Jenna got married on Saturday at her family’s ranch in Texas. She could have chosen a fancypants DC wedding at the White House with 600+ guests, but instead she chose a relatively small (for the daughter of the leader of the free world!), relatively simple affair.

Okay, and maybe I’m just a little biased. Because this photo:

Kinds reminds me of my own wedding:

Except my arms are not as skinny. Dangit!

I think Jenna’s dress was so pretty, and I loved that her hair was not-too-updone (unlike Mrs. Cindy McCain — good lord what is with that hair, woman?). Don’t you agree?

Mostly, I think you can just feel the love in these photos. This looks like the wedding of a truly happy couple, not two kids who just want to play dress up and put on a good show.

Plus, the pastor who married them endorsed Barack Obama. Too funny, really.

I do have one little tiny thing I’d like to mention though. What the heck was up with twin sister Barbara’s floral head wreath? Is this a Texas thing I never learned about? Did Jenna want to make sure that her twin wouldn’t outshine her own beauty? Did a bird build a nest on her head during the benediction? Somebody please explain!!!

I say: Best wishes to the happy couple! What do you all think?