Inaugural Parade & Ball

I have to do a post about the excitement of the Presidential Inauguration. I've always heard about how the military bands get to take part in the parade and ceremonies, and it was thrilling to be a part of all the to-do. 

My pictures are out of chronological order, but these first few are from the Western Ball, one of the official balls held in the George Washington Convention Center. My boyfriend was able to get tickets so after the parade I quickly cleaned up and we had a fun and fancy evening at this event. 

The featured performer of the night was Marc Anthony. 

I'd never heard him live before, and I must say, I was blown away. I've heard a lot of great salsa performers in Dallas, and his singing and band were top-notch. His show was one of the highlights of the entire day for me. Here is a picture of him singing a duet with the fabulous J. Lo. 

Barack Obama was very busy on that Tuesday night. He made an appearance at all the official balls and showed up at ours around midnight. 

He made a brief speech and danced with the First Lady to "At Last." It was pretty cool to see my new boss in person. The Biden's also made a cameo. 

Before I got to do all this fancy stuff, I was hard at work earning that paycheck.... The Field Band had the great honor of  leading the Inaugural Parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. I don't know if this picture can truly depict how FREEZING COLD I was the entire time. Even with layers on under my uniform, the cold was simply brutal. We all managed to survive, although my low quarter shoes somehow developed a huge gaping crack on the top and will need to be retired. 

So from my 3:00am wakeup until I finally fell asleep sometime after 1:00am, it was a long and eventful day. Definitely one full of memories... just another adventure I'm having in my new life up here in DC!