Prom Fashion 2012 (Behind the Scenes)

Last weekend was a big event for my boys...PROM. Adam's a Senior & Elijah's a Junior so we had two going this year. I have to say I'm pretty thankful I don't have girls to have to deal with (hair, make-up, dress, shoes=drama & $$!)

Adam decided he didn't want to wear a tux, but Elijah & his friends were all getting decked out and he was excited about getting to wear one. So here's the extent of  the drama a mother with boys faces:

I asked Elijah if he wanted to look different than everyone else. He said, "Sure, whatever." He's a pretty easy going kid and goes with the flow. Well, everyone knows that it's pretty hard for a boy to stand out, especially wearing a tux. The standard is-black or white tux with a vest, bow tie & pocket hanky matching the color of their dates dress. My first question was, "Elijah, what color is your dates dress?" He said, "It's coral." Then a huge grin crossed his face as he went on to say, "I didn't know what color that was when she told me so I said, Oh so you're wearing blue?" I started cracking up. BOYS!

When we got to the tux shop, I had the poor sales guy trying all different sorts of mix & matches on the mannequin for me. Nothing looked quite right & when I'd ask Elijah what he thought, he'd shrug his shoulders & say, "Don't ask me." After a while, I said, "Okay, so would you be okay wearing a ruffled shirt? "Sure, I guess." Wow...this is easy! Now, I know most of you are thinking...ruffles...what the heck? It's not the 70's. But my oldest son Josh did it for his prom years ago & it looked so cool, different & everyone loved it. The kid who was helping us had a concerned look on his face & said, "I'll throw in a plain white shirt at no charge just in case." I know he thought, "What's this poor kids mom doing to him?" We had a coral bow tie (which I wasn't planning on having him wear) a white ruffled shirt, trimmed in black, black vest & tux & a coral hanky to coordinate with his dates dress. So, here's the end result...what do you think? He was the only one wearing it and everyone loved it! More importantly...he did too!

Now Adam on the other hand had his outfit all picked out ahead of time. Black shirt & pants, red bow tie (that you have to tie yourself) and red vans to match his girlfriends red dress. Boys always wait till the last minute to get ready. So Adam had me iron his pants and brand new shirt 20 minutes before we were leaving. No biggy right? Wrong. I finished and then he came in to tell me, his new shirt was too big, he never tried it on. I had to rush and iron another shirt, while he watched a video to try & figure out how to tie his bow tie...which was harder than he thought. He couldn't do it so we took a few pictures at home with it undone

Luckily when we went to our friends house for our first picture stop, there was a lady who knew how to do it. Whew!

Both boys were all decked out & lookin' handsome; Adam went to one house to eat & take a bus with a group of his friends & Elijah headed to his friends house to do the same. We rushed to get pictures of Adam first & then headed over to get pictures of Elijah.

 As you can see...it's quite the event here in Orange County, CA. There's tons of food, sit down dinner w/decorated tables, even parents get more dressed up than normal and run around snapping picture after picture until the bus arrives to whisk our brats oops I meant to say Angels...off to Prom.

 

 

Homecoming Fashion 2011

Over the years fashion & dance rules sure have changed. Most of the kids would rather go with a group of friends rather than have dates. They want to "keep their options open." My hubby never wants to let Elijah go unless he has a date...so I have to tell him, "Times have changed since the 80's!"

So let me share a little Homecoming 2011 Fashion Show with y'all. The boys tend to dress down & have fun with their looks, while the girls follow the latest fashion trends. Luckily the internet has afforded us with an availability to view fashion from all over the world. This definitely helps the girls in their dress/shoe choices, since in our laid back beach community dressing up usually consists of putting on a pair of closed toe shoes instead of flip flops.

 

 

Trenton & my son Elijah (best friends!)

 A BIG thanks to my step-mom Rolene who took these photo's for me while I was in the hospital. It's always a fun event for the parents too. We hang out, eat, drink, visit & take pictures at the pre-dance party. It's quite an evening for everyone!

Strollin' Melrose & Venice Style

Yesterday we took my niece & nephew on the L.A. tour.

FIRST STOP...

Tried on stuff, took pics & ate. It was so ridiculously hot!

niece whitley & my sons gf charmaine

whitley & my sister stacy...who picked out your hat?LOL!

me & my sis were obviously having an ugliest hat contest, who wins?

nice look joshy!

nephew johnny & joshy


you can never have enough shoes!



My son had to leave early to make it back to Orange County in time for work. He called my sister & let her know that there was a nice little present on her car.

They had posted this 2 hr. parking along a street that I always used to park on for hours at a time.

Well NONE of us noticed it. The ticket was hand written & the $55.00 amount was crossed out & they put $60.00. She was so upset. I already had to force her to come with us because she has major family drama going on with one of her sons.

Next we headed to Santa Monica pier. Walked around, sat at the end of the pier, kicked back and listened to this guy.

He had an absolutely incredible voice...who would've thought by looking at him? Goes to show ya...don't judge a man by his appearance.






nothing like a stroll on the santa monica pier...

The final stop ummmm yeah...idk...

What can I say...it's obviously Venice Beach, no questions needed, right? Check out the ladies faces!

My sister has been wanting a jacket that one of her friends got there. We found it right away, but decided to walk down a little further to see if we could find another store selling it to bargain the price. We didn't realize how far we had walked when all of a sudden everyone started closing up their shops.



My niece & I started running back to get to the store before it closed. We ran & ran & ran...but by the time we got there, it was closed! When my sister reached us, I think she wanted to cry. She said, "Wow...I get to pay a $60.00 ticket & I get to go home without my jacket!"

I couldn't help but laugh. I tried not to because I knew she was really upset. She went & sat on the bench away from me.

What a mean sister I am.

But in my defense, I was just shocked at how bad her luck is...& the whole thing was comical. I told her that she'll feel like laughing about it later.

The whole ride home she kept asking, "How do you like my $60.00 jacket?" As she held up her bright yellow parking ticket for us all to see...sending me into a laughing fit again.

On a positive note, my son & nephew went back there today & got the jacket for her...AND, she called on the ticket & they told her it had been voided. I told her, "SEE...everything worked out!"