Last minute shopping success

Once again I was excited and surprised to get to talk to Bryan on Monday night. He filled me in on "playing marine" out in b.f.e (bum f. egypt) and also to pass along some last minute info. He informed me that there was a Marine Ball coming up on Friday, September 10th. This is a very formal event for the marines where the men wear their dress blues and the women wear floor length gowns. From what I've gathered through doing a little research and talking with other military wives it's supposed to be a night to honor and celebrate the Marines and gives them another reason to party and drink til the cows come home!

Now I'm not sure just how long he knew about all of this, but he didn't feel the need to pass any of it along my way until only 3 weeks before hand. If you're a girl and you've ever tried to get ready for prom, you know that this kind of thing takes time! On top of it all, being the middle of August, it's still too far away from homecomming season for anything floor length and prom season doesn't really start until November. Most places take up to 3 weeks alone just to oder the dress and get it rush delivered. I was going into panic mode when after searching every store in St.Cloud I found literally NOTHING that would work! Luckily I have an amazing friend to counter balance my psychotic episodes who drove us both down to the Mall of America today to try our luck there. 6 hours later and this is what we've come up with!

You honestly have no idea how hard it was to find a long black dress that was not covered in glitter or showed more skin than a bakini! More than that, this all was very last minute for something that people take months to get ready for and was definitely not in the budget. I found both the dress and the shoes on clearance and am hoping that I can borrow some cute jewelry to complete the look. Not sure if I want to go with something black and chunky or more diamond looking. Now just to get those arms in some sort of shape other than round and I should be set!

I'm nervous and excited for the ball because I've obviously never been to one before and everyone says that they're a blast. On the other hand, I will have only been out there for a whopping 4 days and will know almost absolutely NO ONE! Being a newbie is also another very intimidating factor. Some military wives have been known to be very judgemental of other wives or girlfriends joining their groups. It's like being in high school all over again, ugh! I am honestly just hoping to have fun, spend some time with Bryan and his friends, and not make myself into an embarassing spectacle where everyone points and laughs. Again, I'm feeling very small and intimidated by all of this and it has a tendency to freak me out at random times during the day. So I'm crossing my fingers and saying a few prayers about this one.