Vote early, Vote often

Nathaniel joined me this morning to kick off the start of Early Voting in Maryland. It was pretty exciting to mark the "X" next to my own name! I lingered just a bit before hitting submit. Here's to victory!

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

"Hi," she said quite sheepishly, "I've missed you."

Hello there, dear readers. I presume the only ones to get this will be those who have me in a feed or some sort of reader. I mean, when someone hasn't posted in almost two months, you kind of stop checking, right?

Well, I'm back. For today. No promises about tomorrow or next week. But, for today, I'm back.

And, I'm going to let you in on a big secret. Well, not a secret, really, but something I haven't shared with you, my dear readers: I'm running for office. Yes, that's right. I have yard signs (and even get to see them when driving down the road, which is very strange), campaign literature, a website and even a few endorsements. I was given a passing mention on a prominent news site and subsequently a prominent blogger was outraged on my behalf (and on behalf of the other even more amazing women who weren't mentioned either).

I'm running for School Board in our county and campaign season is in full swing. Every. Single. Day. I have campaign stuff to do, usually more than what I can possibly finish in a day. And, of course, it's summertime and Lucas and Nathaniel are both home with me all day (ya' know, cuz I'm also a stay-at-home mom!) and so life is insane. But, also really, really exciting. Abel is 110% on board with this and so incredibly supportive. (Thank goodness, because, if he wasn't? None of this would be possible.) When I don't feel like I can do One. More. Meeting. or knock on One. More. Door. He pushes me to do it, to go, to smile, to knock, to talk, because we believe in this effort and we know that it is worth it. Worth it for our sons and their future. Worth it for all the children in our county. Worth it.

But, now that my "secret" is out to you, friends, I'll be even more honest. It isn't just being busy that has kept me from blogging (but it is being too busy that has kept me from reading and commenting on your blogs, however, and I truly am missing you!), it's also a feeling of being too exposed.

I am putting myself out there, publicly, and asking thousands of people to either vote for me or against me. To say: yes or no. To me. And, even though I have not ever blogged anonymously, and I do think it is a very good thing that voters could google me and come here and learn more about me than literally any other candidate on their ballot, it is also a little scary. Because it's me. Yes or no to me. And, damn, does that cause some major writer's block!

But, with the wonderful encouragement of my dear friend, Dr. Blondie, I decided to come back, let you in on my adventure, ask you to cheer me on (and if, by God, you live very near to me, I ask you for your vote!), and support me in my cozy corner of the world here on Smiling Mama. A corner I hold near and dear to my heart and a corner that I have been missing very much.

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Remembering my moment as a speechwriter for Eunice Kennedy Shriver

This morning I'm fondly remembering Eunice Kennedy Shriver who passed away earlier today at age 88. Below is an entry originally published on May 21, 2008 about the time I met Mrs. Shriver and her husband, Sargent. It was truly a highlight of my life!


It’s Commencement-time across the country and famous and not-so-famous people are addressing the nation’s Class of 2008. This morning as I was driving into work, there was a short story on NPR about Maria Shriver putting an Obama sign on the front lawn of their California home and Arny following suite with a McCain sign.

It reminded me of one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

It was Commencement 2004 and I was working at a local university. My department had the unlucky task of working commencement every year (which also always fell on Mother’s Day), handling the VIPs, press and other behind-the-scenes details. That year my sister was graduating from the same university so I was technically excused from working. However, my boss did offer me one opportunity, for which I will be eternally grateful.

You see, two people receiving honorary degrees that afternoon were Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Two of my heroes. Knowing what it would mean to me to meet them, my boss offered me the opportunity to “staff” them that morning. Of course I jumped on the opportunity.

Mr. Shriver took most of my time and attention. I knew he was suffering from Alzheimer’s but was surprised at its toll. He was amazingly kind, personable, funny and attentive to me, but also asked the same things over and over again and needed constant attention.

Mrs. Shriver was perhaps the most elegant person I’ve ever encountered in real life. She was very kind but also quite reserved.

At one point, however, Mrs. Shriver asked me to go over her speech with her. We sat down and she started reading it quietly to me. She began, “Throughout my life I’ve been known as many things. I’ve been known and John’s sister and Bobby’s sister and Ted’s sister. I’ve been known as Sargent’s wife. Now, I’m best known as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mother-in-law.”

I know it is rude to interrupt. But, I just couldn’t help myself. I quipped, “But you’re still a Democrat!”

Laughing she said, “That’s a great line!” and proceeded to hand-write it into the speech!

Minutes later I was standing back stage as she addressed the crowd and when she got to my line the crowd went wild—laughing and cheering. I was beaming.

Due to the length of the ceremony and their advanced age, Mr. and Mrs. Shriver left the stage immediately after receiving their degrees and giving their remarks. As I escorted them out of the building and into their waiting car, Mrs. Shriver thanked me for the great line.

It really did make the speech.

And, it was one of the best moments of my life.


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Randomness punctuated

So I am not going to die from an infection in my jaw that has spread to my brain. Nor am I already dead from it, despite what you may have surmised due to my lack of recent posts. I did drive up to Pennsylvania on Friday to see my oral surgeon who picked out a few stray pieces of bone from my gums and prescribed an antibiotic just to be sure.

And then Saturday and Sunday flew by in a total and complete blur. I'm serious. At this moment, I can. not. remember. what. we. did.


[Thinking hard.]


Oh, yes. Now I remember.

Saturday morning Abel and Lucas went for a "hike in the forest" aka the National Arboretum, a truly under-appreciated gem just a few miles from our house, while I finished my display, copied fliers and purchased additional white vinegar and baking soda to take my green cleaning show on the road to a local "Going Green on a Budget" fair.

Whenever I do things like that, I always thoroughly enjoy and have tons of energy during the talking and schmoozing and whatnot but then afterwards am completely wiped out and drained of every ounce of energy. This is now I know that I really am an introvert though I think most people would never guess that. Extroverts would find themselves refilled and recharged rather than exhausted after being with people all afternoon, right?

On a side note, I took this really interesting course in college which explored US Presidents based on their character, personality, etc. It was fascinating to find that many of our past presidents were introverts, too. You'd think all politicians are extroverts, wouldn't you?

Sunday. Lucas was really bad. At Mass. Again. Despite me using every single trick I can possibly think of. The worst part is that I had taken my mom's advice to sit up front--we're talking the first pew--in hopes he'd be distracted! by! the! transfiguration! happening! priest! talking! and! the! choir! singing!

He wasn't.


[And this concludes my apparent attempt at breaking the Guinness Book of World records for most punctuation used inappropriately in a post. Thank you.]

DC's Ultimate Celebrity Sighting: President Obama

I just can't stop thinking and talking about our Obama sighting on Friday night. So exciting! I'm over at DC Metro Moms today with another blog post about it. Go check it out here!

Only in Washington

A few weeks ago, Abel and I went to our parish school's Casino Night fundraiser. As part of the festivities (and money raising) they held a silent and live auction as well. Abel was just itching to bid on something in the live auction and ended up winning us 2 tickets to the Washington Wizards v. Chicago Bulls game which was last night. Despite living in the DC-area for many, many years we'd only been to one other Wizards game--when Michael Jordon was playing for them. Neither of us are huge fans of basketball but he ended up winning the tickets for less then the face value of one ticket so we were happy to have a basketball date night.

As we approached the arena we noticed that the lines were coming out the door. That was strange, we'd never seen anything like that before. When we got in, we realized that the Secret Service was there checking every bag and putting each person through the magnetometer.

Was Obama there?

It would make sense. We all know he's a huge basketball fan and the Bulls are his home team.

When we got to our seats, I started scanning all the boxes for some sign that the President might be up there. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though. Then, just a few minutes into the game, the crowd erupted! President Obama and about six other guys walked in and took seats on the floor! Wow! The crowd went wild. Can you imagine the players? Playing through those cheers: cheers that weren't for them but were for the biggest person they could ever hope to have in their stands? Wow!

Our auction-won tickets were pretty great--we were directly behind one of the baskets, about 22 rows off the floor. Obama sat in the corner on the opposite side so we had a very clear view of him for the entire game. Both Abel and I admitted that we watched Obama much more than the game! My stomach was just jumping the entire time. I just couldn't believe he was there. I just kept thinking that I hoped he was able to relax and enjoy himself for those 4 quarters of basketball. He's got so much pressure on him, I'm sure he needed it.

Inauguration and the Purple Gate, Part 3

Okay, okay, I promise* this is the last thing I am going to write about the purple gate debacle at the inauguration.


Oh my gosh. I totally was going to write on my first "Inauguration and the Purple Gate Debacle" post that purple gaters should demand a do-over. But, I didn't write that. Because, you know, that was just so totally impossible it wasn't worth the screen space.

But there was a do-over!

Yes, indeed.

Late last night Chief Justice John Roberts went over to the White House and Obama re-took the oath. It was just a tad bit annoying how badly Roberts flubbed the oath on Tuesday afternoon. White House Council Greg Craig said this was done for "an abundance of caution." Which I think was a smart idea considering that as of December some crazies were still trying to claim that Obama wasn't an American citizen.

But, I do think an opportunity was missed--purple ticket holders should have been invited to the do-over!!

Oh, and here's your fun fact of the day. According to the American Bar Association Journal, two other presidents have re-taken the oath of office: Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur. (Chester Arthur? Who the heck is he?)


*fingers crossed. I'm hoping to move beyond the purple gate by tomorrow when Favorite Things Friday will resume. But, if something comes up, I'll be forced to revisit the subject!

Inauguration and the Purple Gate, Part 2

Wow.

Obviously I knew that there were thousands of fellow purple gate ticket holders who, like me, were unable to get into the inauguration, because I was standing in the mob scene yesterday morning with them. But, for some reason, I was still surprised when later in the evening at a fun, low-key election night party, I heard that several people had the same experience. And then the comments just started flowing in on my previous post. People who Googled "inauguration purple gate" got my post at the top of the page--my blog traffic increased by 150%.

On one hand, it is nice to know that Abel and I weren't alone in our disappointing experience. On the other hand, I feel so terrible for the many, many people whose stories were much worse than ours. Thank goodness we weren't actually inside the 3rd street tunnel. I am certain I would have really freaked out. Thank goodness we hadn't spent thousands of dollars to get to Washington, DC for the event. I truly count our blessings and hope that all those other folks are, at some point, able to look back on the day with some positive feelings and not just the bitter disappointment and anger they most certainly were entitled to feel initially.

Here are some updates on the story in general.

1) The saga of the purple gate and purple ticket holders is getting reported in the news media.

The Washington Post has reported it. Laura Sullivan reported the story on NPR. Interesting to note that Sullivan reports that the DC Police take no responsibility for that section, despite the fact that the very few people "in charge" that I did see were indeed DC Police Officers. The Secret Service has no comment (my guess is that they never comment) and the Capitol Police hadn't returned NPR's phone calls for the story.

2) Congressional leaders have taken notice.

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies issued a statement today saying that the committee "deeply regrets that some ticket holders were not able to get to their ticketed sections, primarily in the purple and blue sections. They promise to "thoroughly examine every aspect...to prevent similar problems."

Alaska Representative Don Young is circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter. While Young would be pretty far down the list of my favorite Members of Congress, his letter reportedly states, "it was a failure in planning and organization which must be explained." The fact that he plans to send it to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA.), chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, will certainly make one of my anonymous commenters happy.

4) The story is all over the blogosphere. Seems that many bloggers had purple tickets, including Queen of Spain, Mama Bird Diaries, Technosailor and I'm sure many, many others. Maybe by 2013 they'll be smart enough to give the bloggers tickets to the sections that do work :)

5) Finally, to finish on a light note: purple ticket holders (and others) left out of the ceremony can commiserate on Facebook! Join the "Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom" group. As of this posting there are more than 2,000 members, including yours truly, of course!

Inauguration Day and the Purple Gate Debacle

What a glorious day!

I'm still a bit chilly but my fingers have thawed. So, as promised, here's my story of Inauguration Day.

We breezed into the city in 20 minutes. I'm not kidding. I have spent weeks obsessing about our transportation plan--metro? metro bus? walk? What do to? Then, just a few days ago it hit me--everyone, and I mean everyone, was either planning to walk or take Metro. The bridges from Virginia were closed but the routes from Maryland were wide open.

Dare we go against all recommendations to take public transportation and actually just drive?

When I first suggested it, Abel laughed. Then, I ran the idea by our cab driver Sunday night and his reply was "brilliant!". The more we thought about it, the more it just made sense. I figured if we hopped on 50W to NY Ave. then cut down south and even got a few miles we'd be golden. We could park in a neighborhood and walk from there. We left our house by about 7:10am and literally zipped into the city--zero traffic. We made it the whole way directly to Abel's work parking space 1 block from Union Station in just under 20 minutes.

Cha-ching!

We even used the bathroom there quickly before walking the few blocks to our purple gate.

Oh, purple gate, purple gate, how you let me down.

It has already been named "Purple Gate Conspiracy".

Read the comments here.

It all started out fine. Yes, hoards of people and long lines and some confusion, but that was expected. People were happy, talking to their neighbors, a few cheers of "Yes we can!" and "Fired up! Ready to Go!" could be heard in different sections of the line. Then, we--and hundreds and thousands of other purple ticket holders around us--started to get nervous as it approached 9am then 9:30am then 10am then 10:30am then 11am with NO MOVEMENT. Well, slight movement, but I'm convinced that was just the crowd condensing itself.

Something went terribly, terribly wrong at the purple gate.

Thousands of people, including us, didn't get in.

Mostly the crowd was jovial. At first. Then people started to get upset. There was chanting "let us in! let us in!"

Rumors were flying. Some people said that they heard that they "forgot" to post guards at the purple gate. Others said the purple gate had already closed.

One woman was quite certain "they" would realize what was wrong when "they" looked out and saw that the purple section was empty. (Um, lady, who, exactly, is "they"?) One woman called her Member of Congress. (Honey, trust me, the lowest staffer is the one manning the office today; everyone else, including your Member, is already in place to watch the inauguration!) Another woman (why were these all women?) was convinced they'd hold the ceremony and wait for us to all get in. (Yeah, we all know that Obama is for the people, but there's this little thing called the Constitution that is pretty clear about when this show needs to happen.)

So, as it inched closer to noon and the line continued to be at a standstill, we decided to bail. We briskly walked back the 4ish blocks to Abel's office and caught the oath and speech on TV.

I'd like to think that all my tears were tears of joy and hope (and relief!) for this historical moment. But, I have to be honest that some of them were most certainly tears of disappointment.

The important thing is that this moment has happened. The important thing is that this dawn has come. It does not matter if I was on this side of the fence or that side of the fence when it happened.

Yes we did!


P.S. We left immediately after the benediction and got home in less than 15 minutes. Needless to say, our friends who were watching Lucas were shocked to see us back so soon!

Inaugural Ball Bust?

I remember reading this article by Roxanne Roberts back in early January and snickering to myself about how true it was. She writes:

"Every four years I warn starry-eyed rookies about the inaugural balls, and every four years they ignore my hard-earned advice. I feel like the mom who tells her lovesick teenage daughter, "Trust me, he's going to break your heart." Does the daughter listen? Of course not. She says, "But this one is different."

Prior to last night, I had been to two inaugural balls and my heart was indeed broken with each one. Don't get me wrong, I loved getting dressed up--I purchased new long gowns and accessories for the inaugural ball I attended with some college friends in 1997 and for the "official" ball Abel and I attended in 2001 at which George W. and Laura made an appearance.

Each of those balls, however, confirmed Roberts' cautions as well as those noted in this article: long outdoor lines, horrors at the coat check, little-to-no food, long lines to purchase drink tickets then to secure actual drinks, no dancing and an absolute crush of people.

I snickered back in early January because I knew I wasn't going to succumb to the dream this year that "it will be different." I'd already decided we wouldn't be wasting our money on an inaugural ball.

But then, I got caught up in the excitement. Abel scored tickets through work (read: free for us!), we got a babysitter, I had a dress. We decided to go.

Ugh.

Don't get me wrong. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to go, to say "I was there." It was fun to get a dead-of-winter pedicure, to get dressed up, to stroll in with Abel (who looked so fantastic in his tux we need to figure out another opportunity for him to wear it soon!) and to celebrate this amazing time for our nation.

But.

It was not fun to stand in a long line outside the ball with bare legs and very strappy sandals. It was not fun to walk about 100 yards to go to the bathroom at the Amtrak gate at Union Station with the hoards of train and Metro passengers coming into town for the festivities. It was not fun to wait forever to purchase tickets to purchase drinks--$7 for mixed drinks and $6 for wine. It was not fun to then stand in another long line to actually purchase the drinks. It was not fun to be in a crush of people the entire night and even have my foot rolled over by a suitcase (hello lady, really you needed to bring you suitcase into the black tie ball?).

But.

It was fun to stand right next to George Lopez. It was fun to see Rosario Dawson and Rosie Perez. Apparently J-Lo, Marc Anthony, Shakira, David Archuleta and my cartoon-voice-crush, Wilmer Valderrama were there as well. (The true account is that we didn't lay eyes on these last few stars, but, you know, history gets, um, revised all the time....)

In truth, I've already forgotten the cold and the lines. And I quite clearly remember how nice Abel and I looked and that I got to see J-Lo and Wilmer in person.

Right?

Inaugural preparations

Friday afternoon Lucas and I headed over to Capitol Hill to physically pick up our inauguration tickets. Abel was on the Hill already so met us there. I'm so glad he did because those office buildings are like mazes and he knew exactly how to get to each office and through the tunnels between buildings. Another bonus was that we had an early dinner together (before he went back to work) which was a treat since he's been working so many late nights recently.

It ends up, dear readers, that we secured a grand total of 6 inaugural tickets. It was a true bounty. The first four, which we've known about since December, came courtesy of my sister having requested them from her San Diego Republican representative the day after the election. The last two were a huge surprise and came from my own congresswoman because of my political and community activism, along with early support for her campaign.

While I was incredibly grateful to have an abundance of tickets, it also left me in an extremely difficult situation. You see, everyone I know is desperately seeking one of these 240,000 tickets which give you entry to the closest viewing points of the inauguration. Back when we had just 4, we promised 2 to my aunt and uncle. After much deliberation and a good friend deciding the cold and crowds were too much, we gave the other 2 to my cousins so that whole family will be able to enjoy the inauguration together. Abel and I will be taking the slightly better tickets from our rep. If there's one thing this experience taught me, it's that I don't think I every really want to win the lottery because the decisions about who to give gifts/money to would just kill me.

So yesterday we headed out to one of those outdoors stores to purchase wool socks, hunter-type (but not camo) long underwear and hand warmers. I feel slightly prepared for the hours and hours of cold weather we'll be exposed to.

Then, last night at approximately 9pm, after finally securing a babysitter, we decided to attend an inaugural ball tonight! I can't believe how calmly I'm taking this spontaneous plan but I'm actually really looking forward to it. Abel already had the tickets through work and was planning to go solo (and mostly work/network there) but once we had the babysitter and he mentioned that Marc Anthony would be performing. Well, come on! Let's do it! I have a dress that will be fine. It's not floor length but I can't tell you how many black-tie events I've been to in this city where women have worn not-to-the-floor dresses.

So I've added a new item to my inaugural prep. checklist: get pedicure!

Inauguration Tickets

I'm almost bursting with the news that it looks like we have tickets to attend the Inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States! But, just like when we attended his acceptance of the nomination in Denver, I don't think I'll truly believe it until I'm physically holding the tickets in my hand.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in the DC-area, coverage of the inauguration festivities has mostly centered around the sheer number of people expected to attend. Estimates range as high as 4 million people. They are talking about things like a ratio of people to port-a-potties of 16,000 to 1. Let me repeat that: 1 toilet for every 16,000 people. They also say that if you are coming from 2 miles or less you shouldn't even attempt taking the Metro but should just walk.

To be honest, all these statistics scare the crap out of me and as much as I had said we'd be down on the Mall no matter what, recently we'd pretty much resigned ourselves to watching the big event on TV with some friends.

Now that equation has changed.

If we have tickets we have to go!

So, I'm mentally preparing myself for a gruelling day. Thinking through the absolute warmest items of clothing I own--or need to purchase.

And I'm starting to get really, really excited.

Inauguration Plans

Just in case your inauguration plans included asking to stay with us, I'm sorry to report we're booked! Read about it here!

Change

This is what I did while glued to MSNBC last night...

A New Day

I just cried my eyes out through President-elect Obama's speech. It is impossible to put my emotions into words. But, the thing that is forefront in my mind is that my almost three year old Hispanic son, my half-Mexican son, will never think that only a white man can be elected President of the United States of America. Amazing.

Nervous Energy

I know many, many people, like me, have had a lot of nervous energy yesterday and today. What have they done with that energy? Many have phone banked or knocked on doors for their candidate. Or, they've obsessively checked websites, blogs and the news. Or they facebooked or twittered or blogged.

What did I do with my nervous energy?

Why, I baked cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.

My first batch--double batch, actually--was sugar cookies cut out with my donkey shaped cookie cutter purchased at the Democratic Convention. Aren't they adorable?


I plan to decorate these 60 or so donkeys tonight. They're for a Thursday night potluck social (which everyone but me is scared to refer to as a Victory Celebration) for the local progressive group I'm co-chair of. I plan to decorate them while watching the returns tonight. I briefly (very briefly) thought of decorating one with the state flag of every state that goes for Obama. Instead I'll just use red, blue and white icing. I'm sure I can make some sort of semblance of stars and strips and the Obama logo!

The second batch--again, a double batch--was chocolate chip. Yum! Yum!


My adorable helper who decided today was a "no pants" day!



Ooey gooey goodness fresh from the oven! (Are you hungry yet?)


For the first time in about the past 6 or so elections (and with all the special elections 'round these parts in the past year, those 6 have all happened pretty recently!) I'm not working the polls this election. Our precinct and the entire state of Maryland will go pretty solidly for Obama so there's no need for volunteers to be out in the cold and rain. But, I thought it would be nice for some of the after-work voters, who are sure to be in a very L O N G line to have a little snack. So, I've packed up these 70 or so cookies and am about to walk over to my polling place to hand them out.

My sister asked if I would take the cookies away from anyone planning to vote for McCain! I did think about it :) but my confidence in our victory has made me magnanimous. After all, we're in tough times and post-election need to be united not divided. What better to unite us than chocolate chip cookies?

Don't you wish you voted at my precinct?!

The Election

I plan to head to the polls at about 10am tomorrow morning, hoping that most of the before-work voters will be done by then and I'll breeze right through the line. We'll see how that goes. It just occurred to me that about 24 hours from now I will have cast my vote for Barack Obama. It literally makes me tear up just thinking about it.

Barack Obama won't be the only important vote I cast, though. I'll also vote for a constitutional amendment to allow early voting in Maryland (seriously, I feel like everyone I know has already voted early in their state!) and against a constitutional amendment to allow slot machine gambling in Maryland. This is why I'll be voting against slots.

Here's another thing that made me tear up today. I have a feeling it is going to be a pretty emotional few days.

Photo from this blog. And I'm all about the flag but dude, what is with that jacket?

Working Mom Blues

I am feeling rather bleh these days. I think primarily it is my dissatisfaction with my job. I e-mailed Abel on Monday and all the message said was "I want to quit." I really do want to quit. But, that would be pretty stupid for multiple reasons, including:

1) The Economy Stupid.
2) Abel's job is still very much up in the air.
3) My hours, etc. are a mom's dream -- 20 hours, 2.5 days a week, very flexible...
4) I start to go a little crazy after too many days at home.

But, it also would be great for many reasons. And, in my mind that list is much longer than the four reasons listed above. I know I can make it through the holidays. Then we'll reassess. My dream situation is that Congress comes back for a lame duck session and passes the language to secure Abel's job. Then, he gets a big fat raise for basically saving the entire industry. Then I can quit my job and stay at home with Lucas. But, the big fat raise will still allow us to send Lucas to this wonderful 1/2 day nursery school in our town so I'll still get some time to myself during which I'll clean the house, cook amazing healthy meals, volunteer at our local public school and of course BLOG.

Sound good?

Yes!

Okay team let's make it happen!

Democratic National Convention: Day 2

On Wednesday, after about 5 hours of sleep, we got up and headed to the Maryland Delegation hotel for the Delegation breakfast. We had to be there because immediately following breakfast each day, they opened up the sign-up sheet for the lottery for the extra credentials. Credentials, you see, are like gold. They are what get you into the actual Convention. We were desperate to get some.

Although we were exhausted, we were energized by that morning's speakers--Governor Duval Patrick of Massachusetts and Speaker Nancy Pelosi!

From breakfast we headed downtown to try to crash the Creative Coalition event for the movie 14 Women, a film about the 14 women U.S. Senator's in the 109th Congress. We got in! And, so Abel and I found ourselves in the same room as Tim Daly, Anne Hathaway, Annette Benning (who was being honored), Susan Sarandon (who walked right by me!), Matthew Modine and Angela Bassett. I also got to chat with Senator Debbie Stabenow which was extra-exciting for me because I worked for her campaign when she first ran for Congress.

After that star-studded event we walked over to the Denver Convention Center (not to be confused with the Pepsi Center where the actual Convention was taking place). We had heard that Hillary was going to have an event for her Delegates that afternoon. And, we heard that they weren't going to be checking names to get in. So, of course we wanted to be there!

On the way to get in line for the Hillary event, we literally ran into Speaker Nancy Pelosi signing her new book. Of course I jumped in line! Her daughter, Christine, was there signing her book as well. I bought both and got them both signed. In the brief seconds it took them each to sign my book, I took the opportunity to mention that Speaker Pelosi and I share an alma mater!

Books in hand, we continued down the hall to discover that, despite it being more than two hours before the Hillary event was slated to begin, there were literally hundreds of people in line already. I guess we weren't the only people to find out they were planning to let everyone in!

We got in line.

And stood in line.

For two hours.

I was very tired and very hungry. I started to feel it wasn't worth it--even if they let us into the room on time, I knew the program would start late. It was going to be a standing-only event. So, we got out of line. And, as we were about to leave, we saw two friends working the door for the press. They waved us over and put us in line at the back of the press. The best part? The press were the first ones let into the room! We ended up getting standing immediately behind the up-front section reserved for wheelchairs. I was still tired and hungry and we still had to wait another 45 minutes before Hillary came into the room. It ended up being the speech where she officially released her delegates and we were right up front! It was truly an historical moment. I'm glad I was there.

We grabbed a quick slice of pizza and made our way back to the house where we were staying. Desperate for a nap, I laid down for about 45 minutes when Abel came in to tell me that someone else in the house had given us their credentials for the convention that evening. Woo hoo!

We left immediately.

It ended up being a huge disappointment. First, due to several delays including protesters on bicycles blocking traffic, it took forever to get there. In security, my Sigg water bottle got confiscated. It ended up that our "Special Guest" Hall credentials were the lowest of the low. By the time we got there the Fire Marshall had declared the conventional hall to be over-capacity so all we could do was peek in over the 5-10 other people peering into each opening. Our only real option was to watch the speeches on TV from the hallway of the Convention!

Willing to try anything, I stood by the down escalator and asked everyone with "Floor" credentials (the best ones) if they were leaving for the evening. If they answered yes, I asked if they would give us their credentials. After about dozen no's (yes they were leaving, no they wouldn't give up their credentials--I knew it was unlikely as they're major souvenir items but a girl's gotta' try, right?) the security guard told me that even if I did get Floor credentials it was too late and they weren't letting any more people in, now matter what credentials they had.

Eventually, completely deflated, we left and headed over to that night's Maryland Delegation party hosted by Governor O'Malley at Fado. O'Malley is a musician and at one point two other Governor's were on stage playing with him.

Even though the actual convention was a huge disapointment for us, it was an incredible day.


Day 2 Fun Fact: Wednesday morning we received our 3rd canvas "swag" bag since arriving. That's 3 bags in about 22 hours!

Democratic National Convention: Day 1

We arrived in Denver last Tuesday--the convention technically started on Monday and the parties started a few days before that, but Tuesday was Day 1 for us. About mid-way into the flight, I spilled my drink on myself. I'm such a klutz that I am surprised this was the first time I've spilled something during a flight. However, even though I wasn't surprised, I was pretty upset. I mean, it looked like I had peed my pants! Abel had the idea to point those little air things down at myself and--miraculously!--it dried completely by the time we landed.

So you have to keep in mind that for a political junkie, sighting high-profile politicians (especially outside of Washington) is like a regular person sighting celebrities. At baggage claim we saw Mitt Romney walking briskly by. Abel and I get a kick out of Mitt Romney because in a Washington Post article he was described as "the spit-shined guy in the middle of the debate photo: Even from far away, you can tell that he has, inside those wingtips, a pedicure." So true! Anyway, we were both certain it was him, but it seemed odd for two reasons. One: why in the world was he coming into Denver during the Democratic convention? Two: he was pulling his own bag but seemed to have several empty-handed staffers with him. Later, when we saw him on TV at the convention giving the "R" spin we realized it was definitely him. I suspect those "staffers" were actually security.

Our Denver host picked us up and we were off to our first official event--a luncheon at the Botanic Gardens for the Maryland Delegation. It was so fun to see people we know and meet many others. Basically every Maryland Democratic politician was there. And, the Botanic Gardens themselves are gorgeous! If we ever make it back to the Mile High City I'd love to spend more time there.

After dinner with Abel's bosses (and our only real meal of the entire trip!) we headed over to the Performing Arts Center for the African American Legacy Gala. We had VIP tickets and so after the cocktail reception scored second row seats to the Boyz II Men concert. I wasn't really ever a huge Boyz II Men fan but they sang lots of their old and great songs. Amazing how the words just come back to you. The most fun was that they handed out roses during I'll Make Love to You and I totally scored one.


Day 1 Fun Fact: We got to bed around 1:30am Mountain time which is 3:30am Eastern. So, considering the alarm went off at 5:45am to get to the airport that morning, our first day was about 23 hours long.