And the Oscar goes to.....

Us!! ha ha. I wish!! But I did get to attend the 81st Academy Awards and Governor's Ball last night!! I almost don't know where to begin with the post, so I'll go chronologically....

The "night" began when Chris and I started getting ready about noon....I had gone gown shopping VERY late in the game b/c we weren't officially sure if we were going until late January and things just got busy, we were out of town, etc etc, and I didn't find anything I liked. But, in a rare circumstance, I was able to re-wear a bridesmaid gown I already owned! Sage had us in strapless, black Amsale gowns for her wedding and I decided that this was a perfectly elegant choice for the Oscars. I dressed up the outfit with my wedding earrings, borrowed a FANCY bag from Sage and did my best to do something fancy with my hair. We were not allowed to take ANY photos at the show or in the ball (in fact, I almost had my phone taken away after snapping a picture of the dessert at the table), so Chris and I took a photo of ourselves when we got home at the end of the night. So forgive the fact that we look tired and I think my hair and make-up were a bit worn at this point....

So back to the show- we did NOT walk the red carpet (there is a longer explanation of why but it's mainly b/c there weren't enough actual tickets for seats for the company and spouses, so we figured out another system but it's too long to explain) and instead entered through the backstage entrance and so we had no long wait and virtually no security delays because of it. Woohoo! And because of our production passes, we were able to go anywhere in the theater, including backstage, and this also meant we could be on the lobby floor....which is where the champagne was flowing as stars arrived and headed to their seats or to the more exclusive waiting room just off the lobby. Up close, we got to see Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Anne Hathaway, Rob Pattinson, Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Judd Apatow & Leslie Mann, Sean Penn (who looked REALLY tan in person), Viola Davis, Queen Latifah, Miley Cyrus, Hugh Jackman, and ummm.....okay so that might be it for lobby sightings.

During the show, since we didn't technically have seats, we hung out in the balcony box with two other people from the company who did. Chris and I had been to the full rehearsal of the show on Saturday night, so it was okay for us that being in the box meant not seeing a lot of the back portion of the stage. I must say, that all the live performances sounded SO much better in person than they did on television (b/c of course we went home at the end of the night and watched the show on DVR)...though you could understand Hugh Jackman a bit better on television.

For me personally, I thought the show was fantastic! Hugh's opening number was great, he was charming and a lot of fun. I thought the stage design was fantastic and bundling all the costume/make/art direction and then all the tech awards w/Will Smith were good choices. It seemed to get through them a bit quicker and feel a bit more cohesive. Chris was not a huge fan of the Baz Luhrman number and I must say on TV I didn't think it worked as well, but it was SO fun live!! I know some people thought maybe it didn't belong on the Academy Awards show, but I think it's nice to have live performances to break up people just presenting the whole time. And speaking of presenters, I am a bit mixed on the five actors giving the award out together...I like the idea but I did think it contributed to the show going long. I wish the speeches had been a bit shorter, but overall the idea was cute. As was the idea to do some montages of the genres that aren't typically celebrated at the Oscars, like comedy, romance and action...I thought the animation one was a bit long and maybe out of place since there is an animation category now. Finally, I will say that doing the 2009 preview afterwards was a great idea! I can't believe no one thought of it before!! And of course, our upcoming movie JULIE & JULIA with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams was prominently featured (I think it was the third movie).

Anyways, so the show's over and we're heading to the Governor's Ball....It takes place in a large space in the Kodak Theater complex....and truthfully, I was disappointed. I had been in the same space for the MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA and the PETER PAN premiere parties....and I think those were more fun! The Governor's Ball is really a sit down dinner, with Wolfgang Puck as the chef. The tables are totally cramped and every inch of that ballroom was used. They did have live music, passed apps and drinks, as well as a four course meal. Now I will say that the food was great for the most part, but the main dish was braised short rib and I was not a fan. It was kind of mushy actually, though Chris likes that kind of meat so he had half of mine. We had lots of champagne and a martini, but didn't really party too much. The dessert box was really the coolest thing of the night (see right). It was a white chocolate box with a treat in each section. After dessert, we quickly realized how tired we were and headed home around 11:15pm. But yeah, there was live music at the Ball but no dancing and we realized that this is the "dinner" event that people come to first before heading out to the bigger parties, like Vanity Fair, etc etc.

So that was our Oscar night!! It was so fun to be there and to feel all the excitement in the room....Chris made a comment that it was almost surreal, and I agree. Below is a photo of our passes and the little gift we got at the Ball...of course we go the year everything is scaled back and no big gift boxes/bags. Oh well! We can't complain - it was pretty awesome!! p.s. I will do a fashion post later when I get to watch the red carpet stuff and I'll of course add in my two cents on the award winners as well.