Prom 2011

Yes, you read that right. Darrell and I totally rocked out at Prom last weekend. And no--we didn't crash any boring high school dance--it was a legit adult prom (I'd say that the availability of booze set it apart from a high school prom, but let's be real. I was a high school student once. I work in a high school. There's booze to be had if you know who to talk to). Every year the Potentate (head honcho) of the Shrine throws a themed ball, and this year was a Prom theme. But it was even a little bit more awesome than that; the exact theme was "We pick the date, you pick the decade". So Darrell and I rocked a little old-school apparel for the event.

Like the cliche prom pose?

Darrell is sporting a three-piece suit that we found at a second-hand store literally six hours before the event, and I'm wearing a bridesmaid dress that my mom wore in my aunt's wedding back in the early eighties. I felt pretty awesome rocking the off-the-shoulder sleeves.

As a part of the "entertainment" for the night they organized a "name that tune" competition, with the winners of each era (fifties through nineties) competing in an additional challenge to win free drinks for their table. My mom correctly named a tune, so three members from our table had to go up to the front for the "Ball Catch" competition. Here's the rundown--my mom has a bucket of ping-pong balls, I have an ice cream bucket on my head, and our third team member is chasing down strays. I wasn't expecting it to be too bad--until they announced the catch: the balls had to bounce at least once before being caught. Now, I love my mom and all, but bouncing a ping-pong ball to the top of someone's head is no easy task. So, being the young, agile person that I am, I dropped to my knees. And, much to my mom's disbelief, caught the first five balls she bounced. BAM!

And of course, as there always is at Prom, there was plenty of dancing to be had. But, unlike my actual high school prom (which, ironically, was held at the same venue), the music was actually good, and I didn't have to watch people grinding all over each other on the dance floor. Ah, maturity. It's a wonderful thing.

Jitterbugging it up with my dad

They also had a few cool "staged" picture areas complete with props....

and uber-cliche romantic backdrops.

I'm not so good at being romantic--I'm much better at being goofy

We had such a blast, and it was great just to spend some time together after the crazy work hours we've been putting in lately. Now if only we had something like this to look forward to every weekend!