So, this was the last day I was to be in Washington. It was all so surreal and to this day it’s hard to just take in all of that I experienced. But days before I arrived in DC I had received a beautiful invitation to a party that was to take place on the Monday after we had all did our work. That invitation was personally from Mrs. Melania Trump. It was a lovely hunter green with gold lettering on nice caked stock paper that said I was invited to attend a banquet party on the Monday after. I was so excited about that. I remember when I first got picked that I was worried about what to wear at the White House. After I had gotten this invitation, some other things changed. What was I going to wear to a White House party? I am not a very fancy dresser, although deep in my dreams I have always thought pretty ballroom dresses and dresses with petticoat’s and fancy victorian style things are just the most beautiful things I wish I could have worn back in the day. But this had to be not my church dress either. I had ordered a dress from one of my favorite places, Amazon, LOL but when it came in it was NOT White House quality. So two days went by and I ended up going to Belk and trying on like what felt like a hundred dresses from the party line (it was close to Christmas and they had plenty of party dresses for that) I finally found something that I felt looked good on me. A beautiful deep red/burgundy velvet dress that gathered at the top. It was perfect. It was so perfect that the day I found out the colors of the decor for the trees it was the EXACT color of the tree ribbons. Imagine that! But Monday came and some of us girls got a Uber to the gates for the party. It was some kind of cold at about 9 in the morning. When we got close there was a line! A VERY long line. It was like a block from the WH. So we stood in line and at the first gate we had to show our invitation. What? I didn’t bring mine. But thank God I had taken a picture of it and had my email invitation that got me in the first check point. Walking closer and closer we had two more ID checks and another check through metal detectors. Then, we were in. Of course I was with my friend Ginny and Christi and we made our way to a very long inclosed hall looking area that was heated outside the White House. When we got through the metal check, there stood the most handsome Marine all dressed in his blues and he had the most pleasant smile on his face as he said “Welcome we are so glad you are here today”. Just inside the heated area we would be met with other workers there to check in our coats. As we walked up towards the front doors of the White House there were men and women military personnel greeting us all the way to the door. I have never been so overwhelmed with gratitude for our military than I was right then. As we got closer we could hear music and as we had doors opened for us to go in there it was! The Grand Flyer! It was our work, shining so brightly and just inside the door was a full military orchestra playing beautiful holiday music. To the left was more military personnel kind of guarding that one side close to the stairs that actually we decorated that lead to the first families living quarters. We were greeted by people dressed in like server outfits with bow ties and trays of champagne. We immediately saw some more of our friends and well you can just imagine, the picture taking began. Yep, we were finally able to take pictures of our friends and of all the work we had done. About 30 minutes in my friend noticed some people gathering close to the stairs and she said “ Mrs Trump will be coming down those stairs I think”. So what did we do? Me with concert knowledge, I knew that if you want to get close you better act quick. So we did. We waited probably about 30 or 40 minutes and then, there she was!!!!! She came down the residents stairs down right in front of us to a podium waiting there. We clapped, and screamed as she came down and waved at us and took her place. She spoke with such elegance and she was even more beautiful than she is on TV. I like to think that I am a very good read of someone’s character and what kind of person they really are just in a little bit of time I am around them. Even though we did not actually talk to her, I could tell, she has a good heart. I think not only is she beautiful, but she is kind and caring along with smart and extremely on her game. I left there kind of star struck but I just had a gut feeling that she is so much more than anyone gives her credit for and she is all of what you see in being a class act but yet I believe she’s just down to earth as well. After her short speech my friends and I walked around and just took more pictures and then we saw the buffet tables! OH MY GOODNESS. There was one in the State Dining Room and one in the West Room. The food! Oh my goodness. It was a kind of brunch so it was lots of brunch type food. There was French toast, with powder sugar and warm syrup, sausage, bacon, smoked salmon and quiche, hash browns, and some very very good shrimp and grits! There was so much food. The cocktail tables that were throughout had beautiful linens and small silver revere goblets with white roses in them. There were a lot of people there too that had not been on the decorating team. I am not real sure who they were. Maybe workers families or friends of the first family. I’m not real sure. It was a really great time. About 12:00 it was time for me to head out. I had to be heading home on a 5 or 7 hours, I’m not sure. I just know it was a long drive. My friend Christi had to catch a plane too so we both had to head out so we left in a Uber together. That was after we ran around every room and found everyone we wanted to say good bye too. It was a real bitter sweet occasion. We had made so many great friends there that week. Friends that will last a life time and some we may never see again. That week was simply so awesome and it will forever be a highlight of my life and one of the best things I ever accomplished. We were all so much alike. We were all from 47 different states but yet we all had common ground that week. That week we felt comfortable with talking about faith and laughing with each other and at each other. It was a week of learning and teaching and experiencing things in an atmosphere that most of us never had experience. When we left we were still greeted by the awesome military personnel saying goodbye and thanking us for coming. It was a dream for a little ol’ country Lee County/Kershaw County girl. But, I did it. I had officially become a White House decorator in 2025. All the excitement was kind of over and it is all just a beautiful memory. But it will be one I will forever hold dear and I’ll be able to tell my story in the future and to my grandchildren and it will be an accomplishment that I can slay “I did that” and that God put me in just the right place at the right time. I hope you all have enjoyed these White House blogs. I have enjoyed making them and I hope that you have maybe learned something for yourself. That no matter where you’re from, what you have, or what you think you can’t do, just remember, you can. You can do anything you set your mind to and dreams really do come true. Until next time live your live in bloom. {all of the photos that are in these blogs are actual photos I took while i was there.[End]
Sent from my iPad
So, this was the last day I was to be in Washington. It was all so surreal and to this day it’s hard to just take in all of that I experienced. But days before I arrived in DC I had received a beautiful invitation to a party that was to take place on the Monday after we had all did our work. That invitation was personally from Mrs. Melania Trump. It was a lovely hunter green with gold lettering on nice caked stock paper that said I was invited to attend a banquet party on the Monday after. I was so excited about that. I remember when I first got picked that I was worried about what to wear at the White House. After I had gotten this invitation, some other things changed. What was I going to wear to a White House party? I am not a very fancy dresser, although deep in my dreams I have always thought pretty ballroom dresses and dresses with petticoat’s and fancy victorian style things are just the most beautiful things I wish I could have worn back in the day. But this had to be not my church dress either. I had ordered a dress from one of my favorite places, Amazon, LOL but when it came in it was NOT White House quality. So two days went by and I ended up going to Belk and trying on like what felt like a hundred dresses from the party line (it was close to Christmas and they had plenty of party dresses for that) I finally found something that I felt looked good on me. A beautiful deep red/burgundy velvet dress that gathered at the top. It was perfect. It was so perfect that the day I found out the colors of the decor for the trees it was the EXACT color of the tree ribbons. Imagine that! But Monday came and some of us girls got a Uber to the gates for the party. It was some kind of cold at about 9 in the morning. When we got close there was a line! A VERY long line. It was like a block from the WH. So we stood in line and at the first gate we had to show our invitation. What? I didn’t bring mine. But thank God I had taken a picture of it and had my email invitation that got me in the first check point. Walking closer and closer we had two more ID checks and another check through metal detectors. Then, we were in. Of course I was with my friend Ginny and Christi and we made our way to a very long inclosed hall looking area that was heated outside the White House. When we got through the metal check, there stood the most handsome Marine all dressed in his blues and he had the most pleasant smile on his face as he said “Welcome we are so glad you are here today”. Just inside the heated area we would be met with other workers there to check in our coats. As we walked up towards the front doors of the White House there were men and women military personnel greeting us all the way to the door. I have never been so overwhelmed with gratitude for our military than I was right then. As we got closer we could hear music and as we had doors opened for us to go in there it was! The Grand Flyer! It was our work, shining so brightly and just inside the door was a full military orchestra playing beautiful holiday music. To the left was more military personnel kind of guarding that one side close to the stairs that actually we decorated that lead to the first families living quarters. We were greeted by people dressed in like server outfits with bow ties and trays of champagne. We immediately saw some more of our friends and well you can just imagine, the picture taking began. Yep, we were finally able to take pictures of our friends and of all the work we had done. About 30 minutes in my friend noticed some people gathering close to the stairs and she said “ Mrs Trump will be coming down those stairs I think”. So what did we do? Me with concert knowledge, I knew that if you want to get close you better act quick. So we did. We waited probably about 30 or 40 minutes and then, there she was!!!!! She came down the residents stairs down right in front of us to a podium waiting there. We clapped, and screamed as she came down and waved at us and took her place. She spoke with such elegance and she was even more beautiful than she is on TV. I like to think that I am a very good read of someone’s character and what kind of person they really are just in a little bit of time I am around them. Even though we did not actually talk to her, I could tell, she has a good heart. I think not only is she beautiful, but she is kind and caring along with smart and extremely on her game. I left there kind of star struck but I just had a gut feeling that she is so much more than anyone gives her credit for and she is all of what you see in being a class act but yet I believe she’s just down to earth as well. After her short speech my friends and I walked around and just took more pictures and then we saw the buffet tables! OH MY GOODNESS. There was one in the State Dining Room and one in the West Room. The food! Oh my goodness. It was a kind of brunch so it was lots of brunch type food. There was French toast, with powder sugar and warm syrup, sausage, bacon, smoked salmon and quiche, hash browns, and some very very good shrimp and grits! There was so much food. The cocktail tables that were throughout had beautiful linens and small silver revere goblets with white roses in them. There were a lot of people there too that had not been on the decorating team. I am not real sure who they were. Maybe workers families or friends of the first family. I’m not real sure. It was a really great time. About 12:00 it was time for me to head out. I had to be heading home on a 5 or 7 hours, I’m not sure. I just know it was a long drive. My friend Christi had to catch a plane too so we both had to head out so we left in a Uber together. That was after we ran around every room and found everyone we wanted to say good bye too. It was a real bitter sweet occasion. We had made so many great friends there that week. Friends that will last a life time and some we may never see again. That week was simply so awesome and it will forever be a highlight of my life and one of the best things I ever accomplished. We were all so much alike. We were all from 47 different states but yet we all had common ground that week. That week we felt comfortable with talking about faith and laughing with each other and at each other. It was a week of learning and teaching and experiencing things in an atmosphere that most of us never had experience. When we left we were still greeted by the awesome military personnel saying goodbye and thanking us for coming. It was a dream for a little ol’ country Lee County/Kershaw County girl. But, I did it. I had officially become a White House decorator in 2025. All the excitement was kind of over and it is all just a beautiful memory. But it will be one I will forever hold dear and I’ll be able to tell my story in the future and to my grandchildren and it will be an accomplishment that I can slay “I did that” and that God put me in just the right place at the right time. I hope you all have enjoyed these White House blogs. I have enjoyed making them and I hope that you have maybe learned something for yourself. That no matter where you’re from, what you have, or what you think you can’t do, just remember, you can. You can do anything you set your mind to and dreams really do come true. Until next time live your live in bloom. {all of the photos that are in these blogs are actual photos I took while i was there.[End]
Sent from my iPad
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