Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Post-Inaugural Ball exhaustion

We didn't get back from the GWU Inaugural Ball last night until around 1am, and William and Thomas (our friends from AZ) didn't leave for the airport until 2:30am, but here I am at 8:15am updating my blog! I should still be in bed, but the kids have school this morning and Hubby has work, so someone has to be the responsible parent around here and get everyone moving. ;) I'll head back to bed in a minute, but just wanted to get a quick post out about last night. Pictures will be up as soon as I'm feeling more awake.

Our ride into DC was blissfully uneventful. There were more than a few well-dressed guests on the Metro, including an adorable Navy couple that scored tickets to the Commander-in-Chief Ball. (I gave them my email address, so hopefully they'll send me pictures of President Obama's dance with Michelle!) Once we got off the Metro, we hailed a cab to our pre-selected restaurant of the evening, Napoleon. The service was ok, but the food was fabulous! My Coq au Vin was divine, and the appetizers we ordered (Apple & Brie Crepe Chips and Croque Monsieur) were perfect matches for each other. Honestly, I think that I had a better time at dinner with Hubby and friends, having a great conversation over great food, than I did at the Ball!

The big reason that the Ball wasn't such a hit was the fact that they waaaaaay oversold the event. I read somewhere that there were 5200 attendees expected, and for all I know, there may have been more. You could barely move in most places; the coat checks were crowded (though we managed to get in and out quickly due to our exquisite planning!) and the ballrooms (several were reserved for our event) were so packed that you could not move for several minutes in any direction. There were far too many overprimped and inappropriately dressed young co-eds, though as Hubby mentioned, the painfully skewed male-to-female ratio made the evening more visually enjoyable for him (grumble!). We also felt like the old fogies of the night, as at least 80% of the crowd consisted of undergrads. It really was a prom-like atmosphere. I did manage to bump into two girls from my grad program, so the evening wasn't a complete wash. Hubby and I also got to do some dancing (if swaying in a cattle car is dancing) in the ballroom with the "swing" band. The dance floors were way too small, the areas set aside for food were way too big, and there was no place to sit down. And not only did we have a heck of a time finding the bar, drinks were $8 each! Even my tiny water bottle was overpriced at $2.

Still, it was fun to dress up with friends and have a night out, and at least I can say that I got to go to one of the many inaugural balls for the 44th President. I'm glad I did it, but unless I can score tickets to one of the "official" balls with the A-list performers and guests, I don't think I'll be going to another ball any time soon.