California Dreaming: Life Might not be the party Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

“Are those goodie bags or ashes?...”

There was another production rehearsal in Ballroom C this morning, but yesterday it just felt a little chaotic with so many girls in one room, so my “four little Musketeer” group decided to take it upon ourselves to find a quiet corner or hallway somewhere in the hotel and rehearse with a smaller group so we would be fantastic when Janet and Rob rehearsed us all together. So here was the scene (if you can imagine this with me): Lindsay, Coreena, Christyn, and I meet down in the lobby sporting baggy t-shirts, tank tops, shorts, yoga pants- obviously our finest attire- and decide we will “wing it” on finding our own room to practice. As we walk under the roaring waterfall and through the lobby’s scattered leather seats, we hear an increasing bump of music coming from “our” main ballroom. A Quinceañera. Wonderful. Teal-ish ribbons streamed down from the doorways and giggling teenagers in white dresses with matching satin teal ribbons spilled through the door. The upbeat music and chatter from what sounded like an enormous crowd filled the hotel hallway as the blissful girls let the door open and close. We all looked at each other as the murmured sound of music and commotion was muffled through the now closed door. The ballroom was out.

Onto our next location: the lobby outside of the “gala” room past the restaurant. We checked a few rooms on our way but the rooms were either locked or occupied. To our surprise the same teal colors lined the hall outside the conference room and there were party favors in cellophane bags lined neatly up on the tables. “Curious isn’t it?” I thought to myself. It must be an extension of the party. There were people coming in and out of the room, but it was certainly much quieter than the previous club-like atmosphere. But it was logical to assume that with the same colors it was part of the party, right? So we thought… There we were- laughing, screeching, busting dance moves out in the hall- when a teary-eyed polite woman emerged from the room, her small frail hand gripping the door and softly exclaimed, “would you girls please try to keep it down, we are trying to have a funeral in here.” ………………….. [insert foot in mouth here.] Perhaps the hotel had left over Quinceañera colors that they passed onto the funeral service? Who knew hotels even accommodated funerals? Well, we did not.

Fast forward to us cheering when we discovered the last corner available in the hotel. There were no lights on, it was very narrow, and there was nowhere to set my laptop to view our video; alas, it was perfect. We started our dance instruction and I was so proud of myself to know so much of that dance! Contrary to what most people might think, it is actually rather difficult to learn a dance from a video. But we had fun with it! We laughed so hard for the next hour we almost ended up rolling on the carpet. It was a pleasant reminder that the simplest moments can bring the greatest happiness.

We headed over to lunch in Pattie and Bernie's room- which was TACO BELL! We gobbled that up quite fast as we piled around their room happily munching on items from Taco Bell's "Fresca" menu. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched who ate Taco Bell and who did not. Like Bob said... you've missed the train if you are worried about that now!

After lunch we had a few hours to get ready to be down in the lobby by 5:30 PM to load the buses and head over to dinner. Little did I know that the house we were about to encounter was one of the most unbelievable houses I had ever seen. It was the neatest idea, too. The house had this huge gate at the entrance and then we had to be "shuttled" down to the house. Men drove up with SUV's and threw the tailgates open and we piled in with our feet dangling over the edges and happily watched the winding road get closer and closer, passing shrubs of all shapes, and green grass so pristine I could have sworn it was fake.