Dancing with the Stars!!!

Last night we went to the taping of Dancing with the Stars. It was the Season 8 premiere with all 13 couples dancing. In order to get tickets, you sign up on a waiting list and they email you when your name comes up. I had opportunities in the past, but I couldn't leave Rachel for that long, so I just put my name back on the list. This past Thursday I got an email with a link to get tickets for the Monday night season premiere. I was SO excited.

My friend Ann and I drove down and met my mom and Julianna. We were numbers 139-142. As we walked into the studio, we were headed up to the balconies. They had filled up the front row and there was one seat left. One of us needed to fill it and the rest of us were headed all the way to the other end of the second row. But it was the end of the balcony where the hosts sometimes come up and announce, so there was a good chance to be on TV or say hi to the hosts. Ann ended up sitting there and we went down to the end of the second row. There was still 35 minutes before the show started, so we checked out our view and tried to pick out anyone famous in the VIP seats.

We were in the balcony over the judges, so we knew we wouldn't be able to see them, we also couldn't see the band or anything on the stage, but we had a decent view of the dance floor. Then someone on the floor (we were up above on the balcony) moved the curtain next to us and we realized that we had an awesome view of backstage!!! We were right over the back room where the dancers get their scores and wait to go on. Some of the dancers were starting to trickle onto the set and we could see them warming up, getting last minute costume fixes and hair adjustments. It was so much fun to watch all the behind the scenes stuff.

When the show got underway, the band started playing and we stood up to cheer. As the couples walked down the stairs and lined up, I actually had chills (which made me laugh at myself). But it really was kind of surreal to watch it all live. So we would watch the dance on the floor and then as soon as they went backstage or to commercial, we spied on them from the balcony. At one point David Alan Grier happened to look up and see Mom checking them all out. He smiled at waved at her and she waved back!!

There are definitely a couple weirdos and some bad dancers this season. But there are also some stand outs and some favorites. I won't bore you with details because you either already watched the show and know all this stuff, or you didn't watch the show and you don't care! After the show, Ann and I stopped for dinner at Mel's Diner in Hollywood, which was fun too. We were starving by 7pm and my avocado burger was delish!

The night was a:

**Note: I just finished watching the show (I Tivo-ed it) and you can see the back of Ann clapping next to Tom in the beginning. Also, I spotted Mom, Jules and I about three times. And by that I mean I recognized where we were and what we were wearing and recognized those blurry figures as us!

Also, after the show, we ran over to Nordstrom to use their "women's lounge". On our way out we were invited to the premiere of Sunshine Cleaning, Amy Adam's new movie. We considered and then asked what it was rated (R) and remembered that we were starving! But that would have been a fun adventure too.