Prom Night

In the TV news world, well, not just TV news world, in the Washington news world, the yearly White House Correspondents Dinner is known as "Nerd Prom."

And that's just about right.
A lot of nerdy, smart reporters, dressed in prom dresses and tuxes mix it up with some random celebrities and have small portions of food, take lots of pictures, and try to act like they know about pop culture.

At least, that's how I try to act.
Sadly, I'm such a pop culture dropout. I don't recognize many of the actual celebrities. I can spot low level White House staffers, and Members of Congress like a champ though!

One of my favorite things about WHCD weekend is I always have a hotel room in DC.
And my favorite thing about that hotel room, is that this guy is there!
We make the most of the stay. We make it romantic. And memorable.
So, while it's not really a weekend away, we're able to fake ourselves out, like it is! :)

I'm not the girliest of all girls, but the day of having my hair and makeup did is fun.
And, it's nice to see my co-workers all dressed up, too.
This is my News Director, Rob. He is a great boss!
This is my co-worker, John. The man behind all those tied ties! And my steady correspondents dinner date these days.
And more co-workers, you should know my White House Correspondent, Jennifer by now. And that's my Bureau Chief, Robin. Another great boss!

Our table guest this year was Gov. Bob McDonnell (VA) and his wife, First Lady Maureen McDonnell. I gave her a new name, FLVA. That's FLVA for First Lady of Virginia. Pronounced "Flava!!" Seriously, how fun is that title?? She loved it.
I think the most memorable part of Saturday night this year was our faux motorcade experience.
We were riding in a black SUV, right behind the Governor's SUV, and the Gov's SUV is fitted with blue lights, motorcade like blue lights, you know, because he's got places to go. So, we hit some traffic congestion on the way, we were following behind the Gov's SUV, so when they put the lights on, our driver just drove real fast, real close behind, and we were at the Hilton in no time. Jennifer and I were holding on in the back! What a thrill!
This year, I hardly had any celebrity sightings, at all.
I did picture crash one picture of Amy Pohler. I'm sorry, I still haven't googled her name, so I don't even know if I spelled that correctly.

I did see a lot of actual White House reporters there, which is good. I was particularly glad to see this guy, an old co-worker, a good friend, and White House briefing room buddy, Joe!
President Obama and Seth Meyers were both really funny!

A lot of people ask about how close we get to the President at this dinner. The answer is, not very close at all! I come much closer to him, at work, when I'm covering events at the White House, than I do at this dinner. It's a huge room, and we sit in the back, usually. So, I just watched him on the screen.It was a fun night. The whole walking-on-the-red-carpet thing is kind of surreal. I always come right back down to reality. 24 hours after this, I was watching a group of teenagers play Jenga at church. Such is life. And that is a good thing!