
Do you see that beautiful strawberry-blonde on the right? That's my niece. I have 3 nephews and her...so I get to say she's my favorite niece. Somehow I can't help but think that even if I had more than one she would still be my favorite. Her name is Andrea but we call her Andy which has also evoled to Andy-Pandy or Pandy-Pie or just Pandy. Anyway it was her Junior Prom last week and I ran over to my sisters house take a few pix before the kids were whisked away in Limos.

I feel like every time I post I'm apologizing for not posting sooner or not opening my shop. So here is my last sorry, you see this is also Prom Season for me at work. We have several contracts with High schools in the bay area and it's prom and little league season for us which means I work ALOT more than normal. So I am pushing the store opening to the beginning of summer. I need the breathing room to do it right. I have so many designs I want to make and just no time at the moment. So, If you have been waiting on a bag from me I want to thank you for being so patient and hopefully you'll still want me when I'm ready!

I can't believe she's seventeen. I was just nineteen when she was born, and I loved her instantly. In a family full of dark haired Irish she's like a bright star with her beautiful strawberry hair.

And the dress! Prom has come a long way from the late eighties when every dress I had was some shade of
metallic Lame (pronounced La May all though lame totally fits)

I had the prom night from hell once. It wasn't my prom but my friend really wanted to go to the prom with a Junior (we were sophomores) and I agreed to go with her guys friend but I made it VERY clear that this was a very platonic friends only kinda date. I knew him from school and although he was very tall and geeky, what little I knew he seemed nice enough and as long as he understood, there would be no hand holding or kissing or anything remotely close we would be fine. So off I went with my friends to pick out dresses. I loved my dress. It was all white satin, strapless and the skirt had a layer of shimmer tulle over the top. It was actually my least "eighties" dress to look back on.
The night started of badly when I was picked up in my dates (Tommy) parents carpeted van which stunk like cigarettes. There were four couples riding in the van to our dinner destination of Beni Hana's, the Japanese restaurant were you sit around the grill and the chef chops and tosses food in the air. We parked at the restaurant I sat in my seat waiting for Tommy to come around and open my door. Instead I watched as he just stood in front of the van lighting a cigarette while all the other guys helped their dates out of the van. Ewww, he smokes?... I got out on my own and we walked through the parking lot.I had to keep telling him not to walk so close to me because the way he kept swing his cigarette I was going to be set on fire. I was starting to realize my fate, this was going to be a long night. Tommy was not the sweet shy geek that I thought. Just because he didn't say much at school apparently doesn't mean he wasn't a jerk.

See all these cuties above. They had fun on their prom night.
So... just before we reached the door to the restaurant I smelled something funny. OMG! Tommy had hit my dress with his cigarette. Have you seen what happens when flame meets tulle? It melts and spreads like wild fire. I had a hole with a black ring in the top layer of my dress. Thank god this wasn't my prom and I prayed the night would get better.
We sat down for dinner enjoying the banging of spatulas and flipping of food until a miscalculated flip sent a greasy shrimp flying in the air only to land on my lap. Have you seen what happens when a buttery shrimp meets tulle? A greasy shrimp print which by the way perfectly accented the cigarette burn just nicely thank you very much.
We made it through dinner and got to the high school parking lot. We all wanted to get inside but Tommy pulled from the back of the van the beer he had stashed. Now I won't pretend I didn't drink in high school because, well, that would be silly. But...my dad was not yet retired and was always the photographer at my school dances so I couldn't drink until after the dance and I had no desire to drink with Tommy. As we started to walk to the gym in began to rain. I'm not kidding, pouring. Not that I had to worry about my dress at this point and actually it was a bit safer since Tommy had lit another cigarette in the parking lot. Just as we were about to round the corner to enter the gym Tommy literally yanks my arm to spin me around and plants a big sloppy smelly drunk-ass kiss on me. Did I mention he had a mullet and acne?
Well after an hour of being inside the dance and realizing all my attemps to avoid and ignore Tommy were failing miserably I made my way to where the pictures were being taken and told my dad I was going to go call a friend to come pick me up and take me home.
I made my way to the front of the school to use the pay phone to call my friend Scott. Scott came and picked me up in his VW bug with stinger pipes that were so loud you could here him coming 2 minutes before he arrived. Thank god I was about to be home. We were going along in the pouring rain when suddenly the VW went quiet...and we were coasting...and we were Out Of Gas.So I sat on the side of the road in a VW Bug, in the rain for about an hour while Scott walked to get and bring back some gas.
Finally I reached home. Scott dropped me off and I just couldn't wait to take of my soaked, burned and greased dress when I stood there at the door realizing I didn't have my key. I was locked out at 11pm at night in the rain in my prom dress. So I headed into the backyard praying that there was just one window open that I could get through. Now even though we had lived in this house my entire seventeen years the side yard was yet un-lanscaped. Just dirt, actually mud. But there was a window open and I crawled through catching the big hole in my tulle on the lock of the window tearing it to shreds as I fell in the house. And I sat there on the floor beneath the window with half my skirt still stuck to the window and laughed my ass off.

The End.
Hey do you have a good prom story? Tell me, I must know. Make me feel better. Either tell it here or leave a comment with a link to your site telling your story. C'mon it's Prom Season!