Funky Formal (or channeling my inner Paris Hilton)

This past weekend was a school fundraiser/dance called the Funky Formal. A good friend of mine (Scrabble buddy Michelle) has been putting on a "Funky Formal" for several years now. Michelle started it because one our friends mentioned one time that she had never gone to any of her proms in high school (just like me I might mention) so Michelle decided to throw a party with a "prom" type theme. People come dressed in all kinds of fun, funny and funky attire. I had been to one before wearing an emerald green bridesmade dress with a huge bow on the butt that I found at Value Village. This year Michelle let the school take it over to use as a fundraiser. I was all prepared to head to Value Village, DI or Goodwill to purchase something truly hideous when I heard that Ross Dress for Less had "prom" dresses on sale super cheap. Since I had been somewhat of a procrastinator, this being the Friday before the Saturday of the dance, Ross sounded like a good deal. I was sure I could finde something hideous there just as easy as the good will stores.

When I got there, I proceeded to pull a variety of dresses off the wrack (some hideous and some not so hideous) and headed to the dressing room with six dresses in tow. When I tried on the red dress I just couldn't pass it up despite the alarming cleavage. Why you might wonder? Well, because for once in a long, long time, I felt beautiful! It's a simple as that. It has been a long, long time since I went into a dressing room, tried something on and thought "That looks really good!" Generally I just settle for "That doesn't look bad."

So, once I settled on the dress (despite super anxiety) I found this really great pair of shoes (also at Ross) that sealed the deal. They had acrylic heels and a rhinestone band over the plastic shoe part (hows that for a really great description). Cinderella shoes. The dress actually cost less than the shoes and the shoes!

On my way home I stopped by my friend Dianne's house for some moral courage (plus she makes jewelry and I was hoping she had something she could loan me for the night). I told her I was going for something totally out of character for me and when she saw me with the dress on, she said I had accomplished that. She loaned me a huge "cocktail ring", a gauzy shoulder scarf (knowning my cleavage issues) and whipped up a pair of dangly earrings while I waited. She was so amazingly supportive of my whole silliness!

I was determined to go full out on the whole prom thing! I never got to go to a prom so this was going to be my chance. Armed with the accessories, I decided that I definitely had to get an up-do and paint my toenails. I bought some nail polish that night and set an appointment for Saturday afternoon at the Gene Juarez Hair Academy to get the updo the next day. Getting the updo on Saturday was totally fun. It actually made me laugh out loud several times. I told the girl "You can do whatever you want, the more over-the-top the better" She was so excited. I think it was her first up-do that she had ever done on her own. Afterwards she was so proud she had to parade me around to show off her handiwork. It was fun. When I stood in line to pay, right in front of me was a little teenaged girl with her up-do, which made me laugh again. I was smiling all the way home. (It's in sepia because it brings out the hair definition.)

I hadn't shown Dennis anything that I was wearing so it was totally fun to surprise him with the whole ensemble. Spencer thought it was fabulous and took pictures. Tucker had a hard time getting over that this person all dressed up was his mom. We had a super fun time at the dance and everyone told me how nice I looked--okay most people told me I looked beautiful or gorgeous but we always have a tendency to downplay things like that. I felt beautiful.

And that is the point of this rather long-winded post. Once in awhile, everyone needs to feel that they are beautiful or that they look especially nice. Too often (at least for me) we go through life just being the same day to day. Sure we get new clothes or occasionally dress up. But how often do most ordinary people get to go all out and wear something amazing. How often do we really feel beautiful outside and in both at the same time? It wasn't just the dress, it was the combination of the whole process--getting the dress, getting my hair done, painting my nails, wearing the jewelry, going out with my husband for the evening, realizing that all that running was paying off, finally going to "prom" even though it was 30 years later...all of it combined together just kind of made me giddy. And for one evening, giddy was a wonderful thing to feel.