Prom Stuff, and Such

I don't want to sleep for reasons I don't feel like getting into right now. So I'm gonna sit here and write what will probably end up being a very long and super shitty blog post instead. I have decided to write about prom. I will divide it up into nice easy bite-size categories for you so your brain doesn't explode with the teenage-girl-RAH-ness of it all.

First up: The Date


This part is easy because it's the only part I have actually completed so far, kind of. I asked my friend... My friend... My friend UP (for Upper Peninsula, which is where he's going to school) to go with me. And as you know, he said he'd "love to," but he also said he'd have to check on some stuff when he got back from spring break. Lucky dog went to Florida. And as I earlier alluded, there's a bit of a story with UP. No better place to put it than here!

So I met him at this 4-H thing. A thing I only went to because Ducky wanted me to, but it was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I went. UP had to leave a day early, but when he did, I made sure to get his phone number. Another thing I'm really glad I did. For a while after that, when we texted it was mostly just about the upcoming AP US History test. We met in March, and the test was in early May, so as you can imagine it was a little boring and forced for a bit. But I'm glad I persevered and kept talking to him.

Now, at some point, his long-term girlfriend had broken up with him. We're talking LONG long term, like two years long term. Not only was he entirely upset because he was no longer allowed to talk to her, he was upset because he soon learned she had a new boyfriend all of something like (exaggeration warning) two days later.

For some unfathomable reason, he decided I was a good person to vent to. And I am! People vent to me all the time, and I actually kind of like it. Makes my problems seem much less significant. Anyway, we were closer after that and we kept in touch better. Eventually he/we decided it would be an excellent idea to actually hang out, which we hadn't done since March because he lived two hours away from me and I didn't have my license yet.

So we went to a movie in a place that was halfway between my hometown and his. It was Mr. Popper's Penguins, I believe. Excellent date movie, right? Then after that we wandered around the little town some more, which was fun. We just wandered and talked until it was time to go. It was a lot of fun, really.

Then about a week or two went by and we were trying to figure out when we could hang out again. Somehow it came up that he really liked me, and I really liked him. So I very suavely asked if he wanted a girlfriend. He responded positively to that question.

But then I had 4-H Exploration Days, and he had Citizenship Washington Focus, which was another 4-H activity, and we couldn't hang out again until the Fourth of July, about three weeks later. He called me before leaving his house and said that he didn't really want to be in a relationship, especially a long distance one, right before college. I completely understood this, and I was totally okay with it. We still hung out and did the Fourth of July thing. We went to a a beach town and watched the fireworks from Blondie's dad's boat, with her then-boyfriend, the long term one I talked about before. Blondie and I owned UP and then-bf at euchre. It was fun.

The beach town we had gone to was about an hour and half from my house, and then an additional two hours from my house to his, and we got to my house at around 3 a.m., so as per the arrangements we had already made, UP stayed over at my house. Nothing happened, he slept upstairs in my room and I spent the night on the couch. He left early in the morning and all was well.

We made plans to hang out again that summer, but then my phone went haywire and I couldn't communicate for a while, and his truck broke down, and the fates just in general conspired against us. So I haven't seen him since the Fourth of July. But we still talk a lot, and we're close friends, so when the perfect opportunity arose, I had to take it. I believe the conversation went something like this:

UP: I can make anything fun.
Me: Even prom? Cause I don't think that's gonna be fun.
UP: Probably lol. :p
Me: Well would you please then? Haha.
UP: How?
Me: Ugh you're gonna make me actually say it. D'you wanna go to prom with me? And don't feel bad if you don't want to.
UP: When is it?
Me: May 5th, so kinda right after you get back from school lol.
UP: Well, I'll have to check my schedule when I get back, not this Sunday but next week. But I would love to :-)
Me: (on the inside) OH THANK GOD I'M SO HAPPY.
       (on the outside) Okay cool, yeah just lemme know. Awesome! (:

So yeah. Looks like I have a prom date! I'm pretty happy about this. I probably would not have gone to prom if I hadn't been able to find a date. I just think it wouldn't be as much fun alone.

So, moving onwards then. Next category: The Dress!


This is really not even a category I should be writing about yet. I don't have a dress, and the idea I have in my head is not only totally unreasonably, but very self-conflicting. If that's even a thing. Lemme give you the basic parameters of what I want:

-Flowy
-Can wear more than once
-Eco-friendly; "green"
-Short
-Preferably has straps or halter top style
-Unique
-Summery
-Bright colors maybe, or else earthy colors, or maybe just black
-Under $120

It might be possible to get a dress to match up with all of that--right up until the "under $120" part. And my mom freaked out when I said that was my upwards limit! Seriously, some of my friends are buying dresses that they will only wear once that cost upwards of $200. I'm trying to wear mine multiple times, and my price limit is way under that!

I'm willing to give a little on the environmentally-friendly part just a little bit because a) eco-friendly formal dresses are really hard to find b) if you do find them they're generally super expensive, and c) I plan to wear it more than once so that should count for something. I'm willing to forgo the straps or halter top for the right dress, but ideally I won't have another strapless dress. I already have one of those, and I love it, but I only need one. As you can tell, there's a lot of leeway with the color. I think the perfect dress would be in earthy, softer tones, but I also very much like the idea of a brightly colored dress, and I'm a bit partial to black... Even though the aforementioned strapless dress I already own is black.

I'm not willing to give on the length requirement. I wouldn't ever wear a long dress after prom, so I think it would be a waste to get a long dress. That leads me to my next point: I have to be able to wear it more than once. I will not give on this, not ever. Unless, of course, I find the absolute perfect dress that meets all the other requirements, plus one more: it will look stunning underwater. This is because if I were to find this mysterious and probably mythical dress, I would trash it. I would have an epic and wonderful Trash the Dress shoot, and it would be marvelous. But anyways.

I would love for it to be unique. I definitely want to be the only one there in my dress, but more than that, I kinda sorta wanna be the only one there in a dress that looks anything like mine. I want to be the only one there in a dress that includes shells, for instance. I would totally wear a dress that had shells on it. Continuing along this line of thought, I want my dress to be summery and flowy and romantic, kinda. Which also puts it in line with the whole "wearing it more than once" thing.

But I'm quite sure a dress that meets all of these characteristics is either out of my price range or entirely non-existent. Which makes me sad, so lets move on.

Next Category: Shoes and Accessories


I was gonna put these separate, but I'm getting tired so I'll squish them together. Plus, there isn't a whole lot to say for either of them. Shoes first:

I'm not spending more than $20 on shoes. Preferably I'll just wear shoes I already have. But they definitely have to be heels. I'm literally only five feet tall, so they have to have to have to be heels. I have a pair that I like, a pair that I think would work with the basic parameters of my dress.

They are four-inch cork wedges, and they are absolutely adorable. They have light blue, medium blue, spring green, dark green, and brown oval-like dots all over them, and that sounds weird, but it works really well. And they're sandals, exposing my toes and heels and you know, most of my foot. Basically I love these shoes, a lot. I don't wear them much cause I don't wear heels that often, but you know, I really like these shoes and I would definitely wear them to prom. Also they're comfortable, so I wouldn't end up being one of those girls who takes her shoes off and dances barefoot halfway through prom. I feel like that sentence could have been worded better.

Otherwise, yeah, I'll find some shoes to wear. Stilettos are out because they're unspeakably uncomfortable. Wedges are a good bet cause they're comfy and cute all at the same time. Which is great. I'm really tired. So, accessories!

I have a necklace that I'd love to wear if it matches. It's simple, just a pendant on a plain silver chain. I have other chains if the neckline of my dress requires a different length. Oh right, the pendant. It's a little lotus flower. Its petals are all silver and delicate and it has a little red "stone" (read: cut glass) in the center, but it'll match anything because the "stone" is so small you can barely tell what color it is unless you're holding it three inches from your face for some reason.

I also have not one but two anklets I would wear. I mean, I'd only wear one, but I have two options. Whichever one matched, I would wear. The first one is a little brown leather band with a silver stick-type thing (think the kind of stick you'd find in the woods) and a circle that says "embrace life" around it. I'm pretty proud of that anklet, because I converted it from a bookmark to an anklet. I saw potential in it that nobody else saw, not even Blondie, who thought my idea was crazy. Anyways, my other anklet is actually a bracelet that my uncle's mother-in-law gave me. It has colored rocks on it, which makes it really heavy for a bracelet, but it works better as an anklet.

And earrings, I have plenty of those. I'm sure I have a pair somewhere that'll match whatever glorious patch of fabric I decide to swathe myself in for prom.

I'm gonna have Ducky make me a ruffle clutch matching my dress (once I get it) to carry around my stuff in. It will be wonderful and very matchy, I'm sure. Oh, and this ruffle clutch will be made of duct tape, if you forgot/never knew what Ducky's medium was.

So that's it for shoes and accessories. The final category:

This Shit is Expensive.


The other day, I added up what all I expected to have to drop on prom, and it was a lot. Nearly $300! For one night! That includes the following:

-Dress
-Hair
-Dinner
-Tickets
-Accessories
-Shoes
-Pictures
-Other things I forgot, I'm sure

And I decided I don't wanna do the whole corsage/boutaneir (come on, spellcheck! I don't know how to spell it, please tell me!!) thing. I see no reason for UP to buy me a pretty wrist-flower that will fall apart during the night, and I'm quite sure he won't mind not having a pocket-flower of his own. Plus my dress might be green and brown. What would we do then?! What, I ask you, what?!

Anyway, this whole thing is kind of ridiculously expensive. Which is upsetting. So much so that I'm going to storm away from this computer to my bed right now! Hrrumph!

Goodnight,
Razza Ragazza