American Idol REWIND.

So I've had a few requests our adventure to American Idol. This is my version of REWIND.

Yesterday:
Curtis calls. We have tickets to American Idol. Lisa (who is a professional violinist that we have become friends with since she plays occasionally at our church) got us in. We have 6 tickets. We have more than 4 friends who like AI. So I was out of the selection process. Curtis asked people that he knew could take the time off and actually wanted to go. Those people ended up being: Me, Curtis, My Dad, Matt & Christie Walker, and since our friend JJ couldn't go, his girlfriend Rachel went.

Slight pause to thank both of our Moms for helping out with the girls today - YOU ROCK!

Today:
Meet at 10:30. Pile in our rockin' Mini Van and head to LA.
10:42 - Stop at Starbucks. YES! (hand in fist drawing arm down by my side...picture it.)
12ish - arrive at the Grove in LA.
SUSHI for lunch. Life could NOT be better.
1:30 - Tell security our name is on the list...get moved to the front of the line. Even though they claim there is no list. (HINT - for future tapings..just mention you are on a list and see what happens...they NEVER checked our name.)
1:32 - walking in line...walk past all the trailers/cars for Dancing With the Stars. As we were waiting, we saw Mario & Adam Carolla. Adam gave the boys a wave...they were happy.
2ish - we are moved into the studio. Smaller studio than it appears on camera...but that is always the case. Lights are on...moved to center seats, right behind where the judges sit. PERFECT.
2:30 - The "idols" start coming on stage. This is for REHEARSAL.
SIDEBAR - our tickets were for Rehearsal not the show.

Rehearsal begins and Ryan walks out. Wearing jeans, Virgina Tech t-shirt, and Black zip up hoodie. My stomach had butterflies. You've got to understand, I have liked Ryan for years and years...back to when he was on a local radio station here. I think he is SO funny, charming, and sweet. I tease Curtis that I have a crush on him. But you don't need to think I am a bad wife...it is innocent. I know who my man is.
Back to Rehearsal.
Ryan is onstage. Everyone is screaming at him. When it quiets down, Curtis, my darling husband yells "MY WIFE LOVES YOU."
Ryan - WHO?
Curtis - MY WIFE
(My hands are covering my face...I'm bright red and feel like I'm going to throw up.)
Ryan - OH YEAH...WE'VE (hear that - WE'VE) been meaning to talk to you about that!
(We're a WE!!!!!)
It was a beautiful moment.

Then they start the dress rehearsal...start to finish...just like the show.

My thoughts (and I will compare from rehearsal to performance)
Michael Jons - good - better in rehearsal.
Sayesha - very good - slightly better in rehearsal.
Jason - same both times...sweet.
Kristy - not a fan, but she made me cry in rehearsal..the line about "sing a song they won't remember tomorrow...sing it anyway" got to me...it was WAY better in rehearsal...but I still enjoyed it.
Dave Cook - LOVE HIM. Song was not the best choice. Better show than rehearsal.
Carly - better in rehearsal. She can sing but I'm not a fan. She looks MEAN.
Dave - also not a fan. CREEPY REHEARSAL MOMENT - before he sang, they had a bunch of girls crowd around him...but some weirdo moms (older than me) snuck in and had their hands on him. Creeped us out. The boys started yelling Dateline. Glad to see there were no older mom types all over him when the show aired.
Brooke - Fun rehearsal moment - As she was getting up to perform, there was a big break. So Matt yelled for Lisa (our violinist friend who was rehearsing.) Brooke says, " Oh you're here for Lisa? And we said yes. And she said, "Oh, she is great." And we said, "We're here for you too! And Dave...And Ryan. :o)

It was a fun rehearsal. Quite relaxed and fun to have them chat with us. We enjoyed seeing the show before the rest of the world. We were actually hoping we'd get to see the show with the rest of the world, but we couldn't figure out how to sneak back in. We were a big group, and a noisy group. So that made it more difficult to sneak in quietly. We thought about trying to get into Dancing With The Stars...but we were slightly under dressed, and Matt called it Dancing with the Boring.

So we headed to the Farmers Market...had some dinner, walked through the Grove where we saw Danny Bonaduchi, the lady from Poltergeist, and Ben Vereen.

Then we hopped in the car...paid an enormous parking fee, and headed home.

It was a great day...