Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Homecoming

I went to my first school dance this past weekend! :) I'm homeschooled, so I don't normally have the opportunity to go to prom or anything like that unless someone invites me to their school, but my friend TJ asked me to go with him to his Homecoming at the beginning of the month.

My parents were awesome and helped me pull together everything I needed. My dad and I spent the entire afternoon going to every single shoe store within an hour from our house to find shoes that were preferably not heels (because ew, who would be able to dance in those for more than like ten minutes), and my mom arranged for a friend to do my hair and makeup. We even did a trial run two nights before the dance just to make sure everything went smoothly.

I guess in my area of Pennsylvania, Homecoming dresses are traditionally short, but I found this long blue gown that I loved, so I said to heck with it and made it work. It's TARDIS blue with silvery sequins in the middle. My mom and I were looking for shoe/purse/wrap color ideas, and bright red looked great with the dress. Then I realized that someone else looked fantastic in TARDIS blue and bright red.


So not only did I end up going with red accents, but then I fell in love with the idea of doing hair and makeup like Peggy Carter.


And the theme was classic Hollywood, so the vintage look totally worked!

This was from the trial run.
And this is from the night of! Desiree did an awesome job with hair and makeup.
You can see the curls in the back here.
Scout was fascinated by my makeup. She kept trying to lick the lipstick off.
We took approximately a bazillion* pictures before we left.
With Max.
With my (probably extremely tired from tons of shopping) parents.
With TJ. He almost wore suspenders to complete his eleventh Doctor look, but apparently they were against the dress code at his school (???). Once we got there we counted at least a dozen guys wearing suspenders though, so he was really mad for not just going with it.
With TJ and his friends.
With TJ's parents.
With my parents again!
TJ got me a wrist corsage that was super pretty and totally went with the dress.
The tickets looked awesome, too.
TJ hates this picture because we caught him mid-laugh, but I'm never letting him forget that it exists.
At the dance.
The dance was LOUD. I was losing my voice by the end of it trying to talk over the music. But the decorations were cool because there were old-fashioned movie posters up everywhere along with gold stars. They even had a station with Polaroid cameras so you could take pictures. I got to meet a bunch of TJ's friends from band, and we all danced lots (like dorks, of course). We ate marshmallows dipped in chocolate and managed not to get any on ourselves.

We even survived the "grinding circle" (which is apparently a thing now and is exactly how it sounds). We didn't go through it on purpose, but there was a conga line going by, so we joined the train, and whoever was leading it thought it would be a good idea to go DIRECTLY THROUGH HELL. And then everyone proceeded to DISPERSE into the crowd of people grinding on each other. So of course after TJ and I managed to escape, we both at the same time said, "It's like the maze in Harry Potter four when it's closing in on them!"

'Cause we're nerds.

So yeah, it was tons of fun. :) I'd totally go again if I could!

*a totally real and valid number.

What were your school dances like? Any crazy stories? Leave a comment!

9 comments:

Carly said...

I'm so glad you had fun at your first school dance! You look amazing in your fancy dress and awesome hair makeup. I love the TARDIS blue. I opted out of heels as well. XD Which was a good choice because I wouldn't have been able to "dance" without them. Yikes, "the grinding circle"... I'm glad you survived that! It's been a norm at almost all of the dances I've been to. Haha, I don't really have any crazy stories other than my failed attempt at air guitar this one time... I find that I have more fun behind the scenes planning the dance than actually being on the dance floor, but I always love taking pictures. I hope you get to go to another fun school dance!

Zelia said...

Kate, I showed your incredible -photo to some of my friends. I heard so many comments asking me if you ever thought of being a model. You totally could be one. You are tall , beautiful, poised, etc. I am glad you had fun. You are so gorgeous and sweet. I love you lots.

Jimmy said...

Kate--You looked incredibly beautiful! And I'm glad that you had fun.

My high school dances were great. It was the 80s and I'm sure my dance moves were inspired by MTV, back when they showed music videos.

(Okay, enough with the humility. Truth is from the first time I saw Grease I knew my calling in life was to be the Danny Zuko of every high school dance.)

Unknown said...

Aren't you thankful for being home-schooled? You've been spared a nearly constant circle grind. I wasn't home schooled, but I was fortunate (of course I didn't think it fortunate ate the time) to get a 40s, maybe older, schooling. I went through grade school in one-room school houses (we got electric lights when I was in the fourth grade. I went to a Christian boarding school for high school. We not only didn't have a school dance, we weren't even allowed to dance. I's hard to believe that I graduated in '62. By that time public schools were just beginning the sexual revolution. I taught 11th-12th grade English for one year, the 91-92 school year. By then high school was a total snake pit. I'm no prude, but society has reversed several thousand years of progress. You're pictures and account of your experience of your first high school prom were fascinating. Please do yourself a favor and don't rush into the sewer of modern 'adulthood,' sure to await you in college and beyond.

The Magic Violinist said...

@Carly

Thank you!! :) I'm a big fan of blue when it comes to clothing. Good choice on the no heels decision. Even my feet were hurting afterwards and I was wearing comfortable shoes! I had no idea a "grinding circle" was a thing until my school friends warned me about it. It's no joke. Everyone should have failed attempts to play air guitar at a dance. It's so much more fun that way. I met some of the girls who helped get the decorations set up and they had tons of fun doing it, too!

@Zelia

Thank you! Ha ha, I'm nowhere near graceful enough to be a model. You should've seen how many times I tripped over my own two feet dancing. I had tons of fun! I love you, too.

@Jimmy

Thank you! :) The dance moves in music videos from the 80s honestly look like a lot more fun than the music videos now. LOL, believe in that dream.

@Jesse

Very! I don't think I was missing out much in that particular aspect of the dance, but it was fun to get even a little taste for the traditional school life. And a taste is perfect for me. ;) Wow, I can't imagine not being allowed to dance. It's so much fun! I definitely won't be rushing into anything. Time passes quickly enough already. :P

Boquinha said...

You did a FABULOUS job putting it all together and it was absolutely our pleasure to help you, even with all the craziness. So exciting!

The Magic Violinist said...

@Boquinha

Thank you! :) It was crazy, but it was worth it.

Theater Guy said...

I went to a prom where most of the people who wore heels took them off to dance. Not that I really paid attention to what they were and weren't doing with their shoes. My friend Chloe spends more time than anyone I know dancing at things like that. A prom is an obvious example, but she seems to know where all the parties in town are going to be. I think you did a great job with the dress. I'm a Doctor Who fan myself, and couldn't believe when they started removing it from Netflix. I have this other friend who talked with a homeschooler who's group did a prom equivalent called a Spring Fling in the spring for all the homeschoolers in the group within a certain range.

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