Well the day of the Fabulous Finalists Mixer has finally arrived! I woke up this morning very anxious to leave work, get dolled up, and head to the mixer. Work seemed to go by slower than ever with the anticipation of our "all white" party. When the time finally came, I rushed home to get ready in order to make it to Atlantic Station a little early to meet up with some of the other veterans for a quick dinner at Strip. As we sat and chatted about auditions and the night that was soon to begin, we approached the issue of separation. What if one of us doesn't make it back? How will we handle it? What will be our next step or substitution of the countless hours that we spend together at practice and games every week? For now we just have to do what we can to avoid that happening, and that includes giving it our all at the mixer!

A few minutes before 8pm we walked across the street in our abundance of white to Ten Pin Alley to mix, mingle, and show Hawks fans why we deserve to be on the court for another season! Everyone looked absolutely gorgeous tonight, and I know that picking this team is going to be a tough decision. We spent a little time socializing with all of the finalists before being split up into three groups to go out and mingle in. We also were paired with another girl within our group to walk around with. When it was our group's turn to go out, we lined up for a quick introduction to the crowd. Then it was time to go out, speak to the fans, and hand out ballots to vote for your favorite three dancers. Our socializing time was cut short as we were asked to line back up for what I like to call, our "Miss America questions", which would be picked at random from a list that was read off to us at 90 mph right before we left with our group. We stepped up to the microphone one at a time to answer one of these random questions from Chad, the host for the night.

As everyone stood in a line and waited to be called up for their question, we couldn't help but wonder what question we would be asked and if it would be something that we could answer off the top of our heads. This was the only part of the entire night that I was not looking forward to, but I pushed myself not to let that show as I waited to be called. Something or someone higher up (I like to think it was God) was definitely on my side tonight. As we lined up to be called for our one shot at speaking in front of this crowd, Lindsay, a rookie finalist expressed her concern to me about getting the question "If you could do anything and get away with it what would you do, and why?" I thought about it for a second and agreed that it would be a totally unfair question because you are going to look bad no matter what you say. I jokingly said that because I was so exhausted this week, I would probably just sleep in and not go to work...If she had not said this to me I don't know if I would have been able to get through my question because somehow that is the exact question that was thrown at me! Thank you Lindsay!

After my group's questioning was complete we headed back to the room where the remainder of the finalists waited to go out for their turn. The hard part was over for me and it was time to rest my feet and take some pictures. The other two groups mingled, answered their questions, and then the night quickly came to an end. This year's mixer was definitely less stressful than my first year going through it and I was able to enjoy talking to the fans and meeting new people. This week has gone by a lot faster than I expected and it is almost time for the final audition! A little more choreography to learn and then Saturday will be here before I know it! Hope to see you at STATS on Saturday!