Prom: Age...not 17

I never went to my own prom. I left school early, did some college time, quit that too...anyway, I suppose I missed out on a few experiences. Now, I am nearly finished with college finally and have a great job as a teacher's aide at a local high school. The prom theme for this year's crop of seniors was "Monte Carlo" and the call went out to staff for volunteers to help with all things prom related. That included card dealing (without money/gambling of course). After the third such cry for card dealers I finally volunteered my services and that is how I finally ended up going to prom at the ripe old age of not seventeen.

This prom thing turned out to be pretty nerve wracking. What to wear? Dress up or not dress up? Go all out or be "normal"? I asked the teacher in charge of prom who helpfully replied, "Oh, just wear whatever. No uniform or anything." Well, ok. But now what? 

I'm lucky my friend Heather is great with fashion and makeup because otherwise I would probably have worn jeans. Ok not really but I was definitely overthinking it. She had me come over and we discussed the pros and cons of two black dresses with a vaguely Egyptian/Greek theme. I didn't have Monte Carlo, so Caesar's Palace would have to do. 

Heather has a fantastic blog called Waisted Dreams that everyone who needs fashion or beauty tips should check out. Plus, she has great stories and weight loss ideas there too. She did my hair and makeup for prom: 

Getting curlers!

Curlers done...on to makeup!

Ok I look solemn here but only because I wasn't supposed to look yet. Oops!

Greek goddess hair? Check! Diva-rific makeup? Check!

Oh yeah. I love it!

Feeling sassy!

Holy cleavage Batman...yes I covered those up before I left! Good thing I took this picture or I'd never have known. Certainly my husband wasn't saying anything...sorry about the strange lighting. You can't see my makeup very well here but it still looked amazing an hour after Heather did it. She is talented! The only difference here is lipstick. I put that on all by myself. Heather did everything else! You can't see my shiny eyes very well in this picture but I got many compliments on them. At prom. From teenage girls. That's hard to do!

This picture makes me sad. I almost didn't post it. I've gained a lot of weight...but now I'm determined to either love it or fix it!

After all the bobby pins came our and I washed as much makeup off as I could manage at midnight, I still was just me. Only I finally made it to prom and you know, it was kinda fun.