March 16

It's been a whirlwind 36 hours. Sunday afternoon, I road tripped it to Hollywood with three other gals --two friends and one new friend I didn't know prior to the trip-- to attend the season premiere of "Dancing with the Stars" today. (Which I will still call "today" even though it's technically 3 AM on Wednesday; I just rolled in so I couldn't write before now.)

I'm wiped out, but the experience was a real blessing to me. It was fun to hang out with other women for a slightly extended period of time. It was amazing to meet Sadie Robertson (who was last season's runner-up). It was really amazing when Derek Hough showed up in the holding area and I got to shake his hand and wound up being visible in the season-starting video clip he took and posted to Instagram.

Although those things all pale in comparison with the truly big things in this life, it was nice to just have a good time and enjoy something I've appreciated for a long time now in person, and I thank God for the blessing.