Ballin' it up

 At the Inaugural Ball

Monday was the inauguration, and following all the boring stuff was the fabulous Inaugural Balls! (I mean, pretty much every woman in America was waiting to see who what Michelle would be wearing. Sidebar - apparently she has already promised the Jason Wu gown to the Smithsonian. Second sidebar - remember when one of the Bush daughters was dancing with her father George W. during his first inaugural ball and almost lost her dress? And that, ladies, is why you only wear strapless when you've had it fitted on you so tightly that you can't breathe.)

 Photo of the President and Michelle's lovely dress from here 

I've attended other events and balls in DC, but this was my first inaugural celebration. Apparently there are like 40 different balls over the course of the weekend - I'm pretty sure the President only attends the "official" two (yes, there are two that are "official" -- I think it includes pretty much everyone who works at the White House, the House, and their dates so it takes two separate locations to fit everyone... also, rumor has it that they ran out of food this year! Drama!) 

Anywho, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Michigan Inaugural Celebration at the American History Museum with my betrothed.  (Some states host their own events - The Texas Inaugural Ball has a dress code of "black tie and boots." I have a dream of attending that some day).

 Me and my man in front of part of the counter from the Woolworth's in Greensboro, NC that was the site of the first sit-in of the Civil Rights Movement.

After spending what seemed like an entire lifetime way too long driving around the barricades in the city, we finally made it to The Mall and the American History Museum. I think this was pretty much the best venue ever! Not only was the museum huge (we had all 4 floors open to us), but all the exhibits were open, too.

 I want a co-oo-oo-ool rider...

It seems security is a bit more lax during a private reception, and no one was really patrolling photo-taking in the exhibits. **My disclaimer, however, is that while I am not condoning the breaking-of-rules, I did make sure NOT to use my flash AT ALL. Camera flashes are notoriously damaging to historical artifacts and art and I completely respect the delicate nature of these items. In fact, I once yelled at a guy in Italy who used a flash on a thousand-year-old fresco in the Roman catacombs. I mean, really, that's just rude, dude.**

Cool vintage hand-painted font

Moving on.

There were multiple food and drink stations on every floor. Considering they were feeding around 2,000 people, the food was surprisingly good. A certain date of mine went back for seconds... ahem... 

Aside from exhibits and food, the third floor was mostly just people-watching (it was basically a giant balcony overlooking the floor below), the second floor housed the main dance floor and stage (which was used mainly for mingling, people-watching, and schmoozing... this is DC, afterall), and the first floor had some hostess stations and an official photographer capturing moments in front of the Michigan seal. 

 I like to imagine that there's a couple of spies hidden in this photo somewhere...

But the basement was the best of all: it had the dessert stations, which were all Michigan-based desserts -- Michigan-shaped cookies, Michigan cherry pie, Mackinac Island fudge, homemade ice cream, and several other goodies (I didn't catch the namecards on all of them as I was too distracted by my chocolate mousse...)

Also in the basement were the brand new flight simulators! At least for this party, they were offering a chooser-your-own-adventure, and we could choose from 8 different scenarios and take a private ride. Jason and I chose the 3-D Bermuda Triangle - the highlight was the super adorable sea turtle that was swimming in front of us - I am too easily amazed by 3-D technology. It was only about 5 minutes long, and not quite up to Disney standards, but still not bad for a free museum!

I made Jason go in almost every exhibit with me. I didn't take any photos in the Americana room (the one with Kermit the Frog and Archie Bunker's chair), but if you get the chance to go, it's worth the free admission (ha) to see Elphaba's final dress from Wicked up close. Absolutely gorgeous. #costumedesignernerdingout

 A pair of Dorothy's slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1933 film. Hand-sequined. Yikes.

I took lots of photos in the less-antique-artifact rooms. Jason and I enjoyed watching a brief montage of clips from Julia Child's cooking shows - she can made an omelette in 20 seconds. No lie. And that's not TV magic, that's real time. Jason figured she didn't seem to care if the eggs were fully cooked... I think she's just that good. 

 Julia's actual kitchen!


Our longest walk-through was in the transportation exhibit. It was fun to see all the little details (like this plaster cat chasing a plaster mouse underneath a train) that you might miss if you're there with huge groups of tourists surrounding you. 

 Oh, hey, mousey.


Do these plaster figures creep anyone else out? COSI in Ohio used to have lots of these when I was little in their Walk Through Time and I used to swear they would move... 

Thanks, Michigan, for hosting a fabulous inaugural soiree!