Got our groove on at the Cherry Blossom Ball last night. The venue was gorgeous, the food was tasty, the drinks were free, and everyone looked fabulous. K-Dub and I agreed that next year they need to do red carpet arrivals complete with paparrazi so that after the event we could all go online and play Fashion Police as after the Oscars, etc. My only beef was with the 2 bands that played. With serious dancers (I R SRS DANCR. THIS R SRS EVENT.) making up a good 1/4 of the crowd I was hoping that the organizers would have provided for a variety of ballroom music, but the first band played swing and foxtrot almost exclusively (they did manage one rumba after one of us went up and requested it) and the second band played swing and hustle almost exclusively. Still, I had a very good time. The Lieutenant and I invented a new way for ladies to gauge the fun factor of a ballroom event: how many times did you see the ceiling? (Me: 5) I also danced with someone new, "Jim Belushi," who is rather a blowhard but whose dancing ability at least matches his braggadocio. We danced a hustle that went on...and on...and on, inciting him to try progressively more complex combinations while I just prayed I wouldn't pass out. I know the basic hustle step, and hustle is a dance that responds well to the "just keep doing the basic" survival technique, but when you're being flung and twisted around the floor by a flirty character who is also a perfect stranger, panic starts to creep in. As I told K-Dub, though, I'm just competitive enough that a part of me was thinking the whole time, "Bitch, I can dance anything you throw at me." Which was...mostly true.


A couple pretty good pictures of the venue and the band:




Me with K-Dub:

I said "You look so tan. How do you do that?" She says it's self-tanner but I think she secretly goes to the beach on weekends.

Chef B. and her Internet boyfriend:

I aspire to be Chef B. when I grow up. She is independently wealthy, smokin' hot, rocking her grey hair, AND she's an avid Democratic activist.

Daniel's friend P. and his current arm candy:


When ballroom makeup goes horribly, terribly wrong:

This lady (and her partner) are the head teachers at Overpriced Studio Across Town. Every time I see her, she is wearing approximately this much makeup and clothes that look 20 years out of style. I don't get it, but then I don't get anything about them.

Nose-smoosh!

Everybody, now: aaaaawww!

Pauline is re-starting her First Friday dances at the Sports Hall of Fame in May and is planning to include an exhibition. She wants dancer1957 and me to dance and I want to take the opportunity to do a rumba to Timbaland/One Republic's "Apologize." Will I be borrowing some steps from Helio & Julianne? Probably.