The Post In Which I Will Discuss Sparkle Fingers, Jazz Hands, & Reba McEntire.

If you will recall my giddiness a few posts ago, I told you that I was cast as an audience member in the Reba: Invitation Only show that was filmed for CMT. Well, that glorious day has come and gone and I would be remiss in my bloggy duties if I didn't share every single detail with you. You're SO welcome.

The happy occasion took place this past Saturday (aka 3 days ago). As fate and hilarity would have it, it also fell on the day after I hosted 9 8-year-old girls at my house for a sleepover, and was seriously sleep deprived. But if you think exhaustion would keep me from meeting my bff, Reba, then you have come to the wrong blog, little missy.

I decided that a) since I was going to be on CMT and b) I was gonna be mere inches from my Reba, I would fix my hair all fancy like (Fancy is my name...). But after spending way too many minutes trying to fancify my hair, I remembered that my hair is a one man pony show and only has one style and doesn't DO FANCY, so I jumped in the shower, washed it, and started over. I took some pictures of the "fancy hair," but I was even embarrassing myself, so I deleted them off of my camera, thus not posting them on this blog. Sorrrrrrrryyyyyy.

Anyhoo, a couple or 45 minutes late, I jumped in my car and headed to Nashville. I had specific instructions about where to meet and when, and was wearing some HAWT red shoes (which has nothing to do with anything except I felt morally obligated to tell you about my fab shoes) and met our production assistant who took us to the studio. We were told that the studio was hard to find which was the reason for meeting at a gazebo and being escorted there, but I noticed that there were signs everywhere directing us to Studio A, so I'm still a little confused about how one could get lost. But whatev. I think they are just the nicest people ever for escorting us to our location.

We were then escorted behind the scenes - back where the production people, trailers, crew parking was - (side note: I LOVE all things behind the scenes. LOVE IT. I even saw Narvel (Reba's husband) walking out of a trailer carrying a plate of nachos. That. Rocked.) -- and into the studio. The studio was set up like a living room. There were couches, chairs, table/chair combos and we were told individually where to sit. There were about 100 people in the audience (SHUT UP) so everyone had a great seat. I was directed to a sofa where 2 guys were already sitting. They were awesomely friendly, especially the guy sitting next to me. He was bouncy. Literally. He bounced all night long. He screamed and hollered and raised his sparkle fingers to Reba every time she glanced our direction. He was THAT GUY who yelled "I Love You, Reba!" during a camera break. He danced (complete with jazz hands) to every song she sang. He was hilarious and I had a BALL sitting next to him. I don't know how much face time I'll get on camera, because his over-the-top fan antics might've caused the camera operators to avoid our sofa, but it was totally worth it. If you do see me on camera, I'll probably be laughing hysterically at how um, animated he was.

Reba was, of course, awesome. AWESOME. She sang some oldies (The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, Why Haven't I Heard From You, And Still...) as well as a bunch of songs off of her yet to be released album. And let me tell you something. It's gonna be GOOD. There's a song on the album called I Want a Cowboy that I predict will be HUGE for her. It should be The Pioneer Woman's theme song.

After the show, Reba was whisked off stage and was GONE before we could blink. It was her perfect chance to get to hang out with ME for a little while, but she had to complete a little task called "Performing at the Grand Ole Opry" so I let her slide this time. Oh, Nashville and your demands. You are seriously cramping my bff time. But I still love you.

After meeting my girl, Abby (hey Abby!) for dinner at a cool little place called Genghis Grill, I headed home. By this time it was 9:30 PM. I stopped by Starbucks and got a Venti Mocha (I've NEVER ordered a venti anything) because, if you'll recall, I had spent the previous night with 9 squealy girls. I was tired, but happy, and had talked to Spencer for a while on the phone, but was getting really sleepy around Huntsville. I thought about stopping to get a hotel room, but really wanted to be home in my bed more, so kept going. My sleepiness was tossed out the window when I was pulled over by the Athens Police for speeding in a construction zone. It was 11:00, raining, and dark. There was no construction taking place. I never saw a cone, an orange barrel, or a change in speed limit sign. I plead my case and even used the "It's Mother's Day" card, but was given a ticket anyway. NICE JOB, HEARTLESS ATHENS COP. Meanie. So now, my almost free, happy, blissful trip turned into a happy, blissful, trip that will cost me a bunch of American Dollars. Boo. On. That.

Even still, I got to see my Reba. And it was awesome. And you can witness the awesomeness on August 21 on CMT. If I could set my TiVo this far out, I completely would. I'm currently taking bets on how many times I'll consecutively watch the show when it airs.

My bet is 114. But I'm thinking I low-balled that a little....