girls (and boys) just wanna have fun

I know I've been Debbie Downer for a few weeks, and from what I hear, so have some of me sweet readers! Life is hectic. And hard. And often times unrewarding. It's human nature to get caught up in the rut and forget our many blessings. Negativity is contagious. But you know what else is? Laughter. And Fun.
I was inspired to have some good old fashioned fun from a Facebook friend who had a little vacay with her significant other. Every picture posted was smiles and good times and silliness,something I have really been missing lately. So last weekend, I took the opportunity to let loose, and I had one heck of a night. Possibly one of the best nights I've had in years.
It all started with a mandatory Military Formal. I usually dislike these events because it's like a high school prom. Only slightly more snobby. Noisy dresses, tight up-dos and wives riding the coattail of their decorated soldier. As my husband is an Officer, I am surrounded by wives who take these things waaaaaay too seriously. I am also forced to be in the same space as people who, for whatever reason (probably because I'm too fun)dislike me or like me too much.

So this Ball started pretty much the same way. I was miffed at the price of the tickets, irritated at the start time, and put out that my husband was tasked to aid a General, and was to accompany said General to the Ball instead of me! I was stag to my own husbands formal. So lame. Luckily, I was able to meet up with one of my single ladies in the parking lot to get a little Amaretto Sour courage. Now, I don't know if it was from the Rangers spanking the Yankees in game 3, or that I was looking (and feeling) fierce in my $60 dress,silky hair and mega-makeup, but once I hit that parking lot, I was READY for a good time. I usually have to get a little tanked to get through these things without saying something I'll regret to someone who thinks they're important, so first stop was the bar. Ahhh... the overpriced bar is my friend. And so is starting a tab. While working on my second drink in ten minutes, in walks one of my dearest friends, looking fabulous in a dress I loaned her, because like me, she too thinks it's ridiculous for a grown woman to wear Taffeta and fuck-me pumps. Then another friend and her husband meet me at the bar and the next thing I know I'm surrounded by good friends, laughter and FUN! Did I mention my husband was looking oh-so-good in his Dress Blues?

Somehow after party plans were made while sitting through the formal portion and oddly enough, WE were part of them. Oh trouble. But I'm getting ahead of myself... because once the formal portion was over, it was Patron and hot dancing to a bad DJ. I even got Derek to push me around the floor with a two-step. We felt the need for speed in our aviator glasses as we stole a friends camera, and Derek pimped out a coworker to the SGM on the dance floor! Oh.. the looks we got were incredible. Our behavior was offensive to some, I hear. I call those people assholes. Did we drink a bit too much? Maybe. Were we loud and obnoxious? Sure. Did we have fun? Hells yes!! Because that's what those things are for right? Comradeship? Fraternity? FUN? Who cares if I do the roger rabbit in my bare feet? If the Colonel and his wife are enjoying the dance floor and gettin' their groove on, why shouldn't I? And ohhh Lord how I did. I think I danced to every good song... when I wasn't at the bar. I even interrupted a conversation to hit it to Ice Ice Baby. We basically closed the place down... I was getting nervous they would run out of top shelf vodka! Just when we thought it was time to head to the car to sober up with the Better Cheddars and Monster I had stashed, we found ourselves en route to Tacoma to meet up at a friends house and walk over to the meat market known as the Swiss. First off, a big shout out to our LDS friends the Louks for being non-drinkers and awesome DD's!Secondly, Liz, your apartment was the perfect distance from fun to home.
So after using shitty kitchen shears to hack up a friends formal dress and make it club appropriate, we were off( me and D still in ball gear) to shake shake shake shake a-shake it some more. Now, the great thing about going to a club as a 35 year old, is you realize what a dipshit you were at 25 and make amends with it. And man, it must have been cougar night fo sho! The people watching was amazing, but the laughter from our table was the BEST. So much fun had in one night, I can't even tell the whole story on one little blog. Great friends, good fun and LOTS of laughs was exactly what I needed to lift the funk I was in.
So if you start to feel the stress of too much real life, grab some friends put on your Sketchers and head out for a good time. And if you're like me, you won't come home 'till 3am!

CRAFT TIME

Ahhh... Fall.The changing colors of the trees, cooler weather and sweaters. The best thing about Fall, though? HALLOWEEN! My favorite holiday. "Why?", you ask. No, not because I love scary, gory creeps and crawlies, although those things are fun. I have always felt that Halloween ushers in the whole Holiday season, even if it doesn't get the full credit.
Every year at this time, the weather starts to change, I get my soup recipes out and we have a family ritual of going through our Halloween/Fall storage boxes and finding treasures we forgot we had. Yes, we decorate for Halloween. Not just pumpkins and fake spider webbing, either. I have scarecrows and light up jack-o-lanterns; Fall wreaths and random craft the kids make. I love to take a trip to the Goodwill and see what fantastic thing I can find to make my own. This year, I was inspired by Dia de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead). While I'm not of Mexican heritage, I have always been moved by this celebration of life. Our family has experienced our fair share of death and sadness, and I think that this observance is a wonderful way to honor those who have passed on. So, as a way to blend my love of Halloween and appreciation of the Dia de los Muertos holiday, we did a little family craft to start our own shrine. I'll be adding to this as the month goes on, but here are our crafts to start.
* the "Sugar Skulls" Are some black and gray glitter Styrofoam skulls I picked up at Ross for like 3 bucks. We added some patches(with glue) and some glitter paint to pizzaz them up. I think they turned out pretty awesome.
* The bucket was a Goodwill find that I spray painted black and decoupaged some Day of the Dead images I found online at http://www.fabricfreak.bigcartel.com and motherhenna.blogspot.com. I added some butterfly stickers and some fake floral for fun.
* last is the candle holder. While it's not really Dia de los Muertos-ish, I thought it was super cool looking. Another Goodwill find, it was a scratched up silver-y, brass-y that a sprayed black and added a large pillar I had laying around. It will fit a taper as well. I like the attached flame snuffer, I think it adds a Gothic charm that is always great for this time of year and it will make a cool backdrop for the framed pictures of our loved ones we plan to display.

I'm not a very crafty person, but Halloween seems to be my muse, and the kids are really into it too! This weekend: finishing up the costumes for the kids. I'm so excited this year. Ruby is going as Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Gracie is The Corpse Bride. This is gonna be an EPIC Halloween!