Gah! It’s What Not to Wear!

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you already know how I feel about Clinton Kelly of What Not to Wear fame.  You already know that I love him and wrote a post about how great he is.  You may not know, however, that he read said blog post and claimed that I am a “fun little blogger.”  Me!  I, knowing when to milk a good quote when I see one, added it to my street cred page.  (Stacy London, I love you, too.  Feel free to say something incredibly flattering about me.)

Then, my bloggy homegirl for life, Amanda (Dumb Mom) of parenting By dummies, emailed me.  GUESS WHAT I’M GOING TO BE ON WHAT NOT TO WEAR GETTING MADE OVER DO YOU WANT TO COME TO MY BIG REVEAL IN WASHINGTON, D.C.?

I read it.  I blinked.  I blinked again.  I quietly and calmly responded with, “What the what?  Heck yeahhhh!”

Amanda has a major sweatpants-in-public problem.  That’s why she ended up on the show.  If you have a major sweatpants-in-public problem, but can’t manage to finagle a spot on What Not to Wear, I’ll be addressing this issue later this week.

So, I bought a train ticket.  My friend Trav lives in DC, and he graciously offered to let me use his apartment while he stayed with friends for the weekend.  Five hour ride down, five hour ride back up.  You think I’d use the time to blog, right?  I tried.

Could I fit ONE MORE method of communication in this picture?

But, alas, I forgot about how easily I get motion sickness.  So I mostly tried to sit still and listen to Pandora on my phone.  And take pictures that no one cares about.

That's train station action behind me.

Friday night was the big reveal.  Amanda, who had been away from her fam for a full week, would be showing off the fashiony magic that Stacy and Clinton conjured up.  Angie (of Seriously a Homemaker fame, and yes, my arch-nemesis in the You’re Not Chubby Challenge) picked me up and we headed off to the hotel for the big reveal.  First stop, the ladies’ room.

Angie issues? Check.

Cute shoes? Check.

Respectable clothing? Check.

Yay!  We’re ready to see Amanda!

Except the production people weren’t ready for us to see Amanda.  So there was a lot of waiting.  And a lot of hot, hot lights.  And some sweating and shifting from foot to foot (thanks a lot, cute shoes.  Thanks a lot).  But in the midst of the waiting (while standing because we had to mingle for the camera), Angie and I met Stacy of Justice Fergie and Amy of teach mama.  We’re friends now, and I spent a good part of each train ride surfing their sites through the wee little screen on my phone.

L to R: Angie, Amy, Stacy, and your favorite person in the world

And, we met Amanda’s family – soooo cute!  We chatted up her adorable kids and her very nice husband.  I tried playing T-Rex with Kid #3 (How to play T-Rex: shove your arms into your sleeves until only your hands show.  Walk like a dinosaur and make T-Rex sounds.), but he wasn’t having it.

Two of the three kids, and the husband. Aw!

And we waited some more.  And more.  And chatted.  And obeyed the production people who were telling us to stand over here, stand over there, wave your hands in the air, shake your — anyway.  Lots of waiting.  Lots of waiting.  But the end result? Totally worth it.

Dang!!!  Hot!!!  I want your shoes!  And your dress!  And the Spanx to go with it.

Me: “Sum up your experience in three words.”
Amanda: “Awesome officially upped.”

and a bonus four…

“Spanx are my BFF.”  Amanda Dumb Mom, 2010.

There you have it!  Look for Amanda’s episode next April.

Angie mentioned that she wore pajama pants to the grocery store.  I responded with “Ew.”  Don’t wear pajama pants to the grocery store, y’all!  This needs another post altogether.  A What Not to Wear, A Guide for Stay at Home Moms and Other Humans, the Nice Girl Edition.

Angie and I took advantage of the night, bundled up, and partied like only stay at home moms can.  We drove around, got lost, shivered cause it was about 2 degrees outside, got winked at by some underage college boys, and finally hit up “the best burger joint” around.

We updated each other on where we were in our You’re Not Chubby Challenge.  Neither of us have lost weight, but Angie HAS lost inches.  And her clothes fit better.  Which means I need to up my game.  Badly.

Right after I eat this burger.  Angie started playing dirty.  “My friend will have some cheese fries, a shake, that giant chocolate chip cookie over there, some bacon on her burger…”

But really?  The food was pretty good.

I didn't drink that shake.

A few other things happened this weekend that I’ll get to blogging about eventually.  (One highlight?  Eating dinner at this amazing tapas place with Trav and his girlfriend.  Dates wrapped in bacon, amazing sangria… ahhh.)

Oh, a sidenote to Amtrak.  Your train was super cold going down to DC.  So, coming back up to Connecticut, I bundled up accordingly.  Sweater.  Scarf.  Coat.

Incognito shot on the train. Hello, there are people everywhere. Watching you. Like Big Brother.

Except this train was the boiling hot train.  The boiling hot train from hell.  I swear, people were going to start rioting.  Yelling, pestering the assistant conductor.  One woman threatened, “I’m going to strip down to my underwear.”  The response, “This is an old train.  The temperature’s hard to regulate.”

I pulled off my scarf, pulled up my hair… and ate ice.

My face is actually bright red in this picture. And it's hard for me to get to bright red.

Get it together, Amtrak!  :)