An Ode to Dresses

More specifically, Prom Dresses.

This month kicked off the season for one of my favorite organizations, The Ruby Room. A most awesome group that provides dresses, shoes, purses and jewelry to girls (and some boys!) that cannot afford the typical prom apparel. Last year, Anna and I worked as Personal Shoppers and helped pair local teens with the dress of their dreams, or as close to the dream dress as we had.

Originally, we found the Ruby Room when we were researching how to donate our prom dresses. Last year we missed the dress drive, but this year we provided about 12 homecoming/prom/bridesmaid dresses for our local lovely ladies. (Who doesn't love alliteration?)

Almost immediately after I made the decision to save up and buy my own gloriously ridiculous prom dress, I regretted the amount of money I spent on it. So much so, that I vowed to never spend that much on a piece of clothing EVER AGAIN (wedding dress included, my friends). I was always happy to lend my dresses when people wanted to borrow them and I even found ways to "re-wear" them. Read: Fake Homecoming and Faux Prom:

I was more than excited to discover that I could pass my dress on to someone who really needed it. But I was surprised the day Anna and I were preparing to drop them off, I felt a teeny tiny twinge of regret. Not enough to deter me, but enough to make me feel nostalgic. So I captured some of my dresses on film before passing them on.

I give you, a Photographic Ode to Dresses:

All together!

My freshman homecoming dress (as seen on Stephanie above).

My beautiful sparkly purple and blue two-piece worn to my Junior Year Homecoming.

And THEE prom dress, the orange beast (yes there was a reason I chose an orange dress): 

After dropping off the dresses, we spent the rest of the afternoon working on getting the boutique ready for our prom-goers as well as sifting through piles of dresses that needed to be sorted. 

Some of those dresses needed some work done to make them wearable. I snagged one to take home for what I thought was minor repair work, a snap needed to be re-sewn. Nothing too extreme right? After completing that task, I was going to throw the dress on to model what an impressively grotesque example of prom finery it was when I realized that the zipper was pulled out. As I said, this dress was a piece of work: beading, lace up, halter, purply-pink, mermaid cut... I knew some girl would loooooove it. So I did what any sane person was and figured out to sew a zipper into a piece of prom couture. It was totally worth it:

Wait... maybe I should get married in this?

You know this is someone's dream dress... can't wait to find that girl!

YAY! Ruby Room!!!!!

Disclaimer: Although as an "older" (and "wiser"?) lady I may not want to bring a frilly, fancy dress into my life, I do not underestimate the significance of prom and THE prom dress in a young women's life. Prom most definitely is rite of passage for many a lady and I am more than happy to pass on my dresses and to help these girls find their dress. 


**Update: if any of the ladies that read this are looking for ways to donate their dresses, check out this network to find dress drives near you! Also, many high school put on dress drives and if you are in the Puget Sound area, just let me know I will hook you up with the Ruby Room.

XXV xoxo

Today, I dedicate this post and this song to Mr. Duncan Hauenstein.

Why? Oh, you're silly. Obviously because it is Dunc's 25th Birthday!!!!

I'm super excited for our 26th year of life (and 6th year together!), it is gonna be a good one.

Back to the Duncanstein...

Welp, you see, Duncan is pretty much the best person in the world. I'm not even exaggerating. From the first day we met, though I tried to play it cool like I didn't care that much, I knew I had found someone awesome.

See how awesome? He totally gets my weird posing:

Here we are admiring each other our Freshman year in the dorms.

Turns out, we really like this pose...or something similar to it...

So, yes, freshman year, I knew pretty much right then that I had found my lobster, my other half, my Duncan Face! 

But less about me and more about Duncan:

He likes animals:

He likes growing things:

He likes his family:

He likes being a Hauenstein:

He likes coffee (and having two different colored eyes):

(He's also quite attractive.)

He likes being green:

And he likes his store, Whole Food Roosevelt Square

(learning about composting! fun!)

And he likes photography

(learning about landfills! also fun(ish)!)

He also likes a lot of other things, but for the sake of time and brevity, I will finish with this:

Happy Birthday Duncan! I'm excited to be your wife and celebrate birthdays married-style! Although I don't think our celebrations will change much, maybe just some "Happy Birthday Husband" cards... 

I know how much you love golf and all...

You are the love of my life AND the one that I love. Happy Birthday!!!