Dancing the Night Away!

Foster and I attended the annual Ohio National Guard Winter Dinner and Dance. They decided to hold it in a hotel this year, making it convenient and safer for those who wanted to drink and have a little fun. Foster and I had tossed the decision back and forth on whether to get a room. We decided that if I was not pregnant this month ( I would have found out 7 days before the ball), then we would get a room so that neither one of us had to be the responsible adult and drive us home. I have to admit, although I would love nothing more than to have Rosalynn here, or be pregnant with her brother or sister, it is the little things like this that make me look on the positive side of not having children to worry about. (I have to look at the bright side to keep myself sane).

I had to work the night before so I was afraid I would be exhausted. I had to get my nails done before my hair appointment with the girls at 2pm. I woke up at 11 and rolled myself out of bed, headed to the salon, and got a manicure and pedicure. Foster packed our bags, and when I got back we headed towards the hotel. I met the girls at the salon, and the hair artists commenced on out locks. They hair style came out beautiful!!

MINE! LOVE IT!!

Foster and a few of the guys decided to head to a local bar and start drinking while watching rugby while I headed to the next step in my transformation, makeup! If you remember I told you I was going to go to Macy's to get my makeup done, well, they did not have a MAC counter at this Macy's so I went to the Lancome counter instead. As I mentioned, I spent WAY more than their minimum, but I came away with some great skin products. I really need to switch up my skin regimen after the pregnancy because my skin has not been the same, and I have quite a few more wrinkles than I did a year ago.

As I was getting my makeup done, my best friend JJ showed up because she just happened to be int he area. We got to talk and hang out for a little bit, it had been WAY too long!

Once the prep work was done, foster and I went to the hotel room where Mr and Mrs Prince met up with us for a few cocktails prior to the event. This is when I snuck into the bedroom to put the finishing touches to my look, I put on the dress and jewelry. When I emerged from the bathroom, Foster's jaw dropped. He was so pleased with the look I had put together, and even admitted that the money was worth it because I looked "Beautiful, classy and stunning". I will show you this picture, but Foster is not happy, because he is missing his jacket, but it is the ONLY full length picture I have of my dress. Make sure to check out the shoes!

Foster and I all dressed up! (minus his jacket:-)

Mr and Mrs Prince

Foster goofing off

Who knows! they were messin with the camera!

When we went downstairs tot eh ball, there were TONS of people there. I thoroughly enjoy going to these events, because I am such a social butterfly. Everyone from the first FEMALE Ohio TAG was present, to the CSM of the Ohio Army National Guard. The TAG informed me that regardless of whether Foster was able to attend this year's NAGUS conference in Milwaukee, I was coming. "Well yes Ma'am!" I responded as we both started laughing. I don't know how I can say no to that, so I guess I am attending the conference in August!

When I went looking for people from my unit, they were nowhere to be found. I know I have a small unit, but I was kind of hoping at least one of the officers would be present. I stopped by to talk to my Battalion Commander, and asked her if she knew where my unit was seated, and she said "You are it!". I laughed and told her I left my uniform at home and it was too small anyway.

Of course I came armed with my camera, and got some great photos!

The boys!

Our new FIRST FEMALE TAG and her hubby!

love these guys!

and them too! look at her heals! Hot!

Foster is taking us BOTH to the ball next year since her hubby will be deployed:-) We are getting matching dresses and she is dying her air red...then it will be his ultimate fantasy!

The funniest story of the night was when Foster ate the leftovers off his boss' wife's plate! She had a whole piece of salmon she didn't even touch, and I guess all the drinking had made Foster hungry, so he asked her a total of three times if she minded if she was SURE she wasn't going to eat it, and she insisted he take it, but of course as soon as he ate it, we would not let him live it down. From what I hear, his boss is still teasing him about it at work, and making TALL tails out of the story, jokingly saying Foster stole the food and was eating off of every one's plates. I warned him they would never let him live that down! Of course we took a picture of him pretending to take her dessert too!

His boss is hilarious and always likes to tease Foster because of how well he takes it!

Around 1 AM Foster was about to drop. I took him upstairs and tucked him into bed and then headed back down to the hotel bar to spend more time with the girls! We sat by an outdoor fire and chatted with the CSM (Command Sergeant Major) for about another hour. He was stationed with Foster on their last deployment, and for a while we were chatting and every time I mentioned something about myself, he would respond "I know,"

I responded, "Now, I know since I am in the Army there are things that you can find out that way, but how the heck do you know some of these personal things?!?!"

He said, "Well, Foster told me so much about you! He talked about you for a year straight and I probably know more about you than you can imagine."

That scares me just a little bit! But at the same time, it was flattering to know that Foster talked so much about me while he was deployed, and to such an important man. By the end of the evening we were toasting champagne, and I learned a lot more about him too, so I didn't feel so odd.

Overall it was a pretty amazing night, and I really enjoyed spending such a special night with Foster. I am already looking forward to next year's ball!

Military Ball Dress Shopping!!

Although life has been a little boring as of late, the next few months is bringing some new adventures. Of course I am looking forward to graduation this March, but there are two more events I am looking forward to almost just as much, The National Guard Winter Dinner and dance, and the Women of Faith Conference (I will post about this later).

In a few weeks Foster and I will be attending the National Guard's Winter Dinner and Dance. One of my fellow military wives called me yesterday wondering if I would be interested in getting my makeup and hair done with her. Of course I was interested! I LOVE getting pampered! I bought a coupon off of groupon.com for a facial at 70% off (I promise, this is NOT a plug) you NEED to check out this site if you have not already!. I am getting a mani/pedi I also got a coupon off of groupon.com, and then on the day of the ball I will be going and getting my hair and makeup done with the girls. I have a trick to getting a good makeover, pay the money, but get something in return. Instead of paying $50 at a salon for professional makeup application and leaving with nothing but an empty wallet and a face that only lasts one evening, the MAC counter at your local department store will do a free scheduled makeover and you buy $50 worth of products. I LOVE this, because I already use MAC, and always need something added to my makeup collection, and they do an amazing job. However the downside is I usually walk away spending a lot more than $50.

Yesterday my mom journeyed through the weather to stay with me. She is leaving for the Virgin Islands tomorrow, and she was afraid she would get snowed in at her house so she came to stay with me! I only live about 15 minutes from the airport. After talking to my friend about the ball, she said she was going out dress shopping. I figured I would too because I didn't want to wait for the last minute. Since I don't like going shopping by myself, I waited for my mom to arrive and we were off to find a ball gown.

I was really nervous about this, because I am about 2 sizes bigger than before I was pregnant. I am extremely self conscience about my body, and not happy with anything I have put on recently. I see pictures of myself, and I am disgusted at the way my body looks, so I was dreading the dress shopping.

Our first stop was Nordstrom's. I felt so out of place in this store, because I was dressed to go to the gym after shopping, but the sales associate was sooooooo helpful. She helped me pick out a few beautiful gowns and helped give an outsider's opinion on each of them. I found one gown that I absolutely loved. It was elegant, sexy, but EXTREMELY expensive! It was slimming and flattered me and my curves, but I was a little fidgety in the gown because it clung a little too much to my hips because of the material it was made of. If I'm not comfortable, I will be self conscience all night, so I made a note in my head to come back if I couldn't find anything better.

The next dress I tried on was also beautiful, but red is often a hard color for me to pull off because of my hair color. The gathering at the waist was perfect to hide that little baby fat still settled around my midsection, and the one shoulder was perfect to make my shoulders look smaller than they are. I liked it, but it was just not what I was looking for.

Mom and I decided to head over to Macy's. I was confident that I would find an appropriate dress for a decent price since the holidays have passed. THEY HAD NOTHING!!! I mean NOTHING!!! I was baffled. I have never had an issue finding a gown at Macy's, but it seemed they sold every long gown for the holidays and only had a few select ones left over. The ones that were in my size were hideous, and the ones I liked didn't have my size. Before I got too frustrated, mom had an idea to head over to David's Bridal. I was hesitant, because I wasn't looking for a bridesmaid's dress, however, I recalled that they do have a party dress section. As we were looking through the racks, mom came across a dress so elegant, so beautiful, it would never pass as a bridesmaid's dress. I was so excited. I grabbed a few different colors, red, black, and navy blue, and headed to the dressing room. When I emerged in the black version of the gown, heads turned. It fit perfectly, it is so elegant and classy. I felt beautiful. Many of you women know that even if you have a few extra pounds, if you feel beautiful, you look beautiful to those around you. You exude a confidence that people stand up and take notice of. As soon as I topped the dress off with these heels, I just knew it was the outfit!

I know, I am sure you all want to see the dress too, but Foster will not see it until the night of the ball, so neither will you. I haven't been this excited about a gown since my wedding dress!