Mary Allison's prom dress

Let's take a little stroll together on a prom dress shopping trip. 

For the record, the night we went dress shopping was the night of the Miss America Pageant. And lo and behold what did we see on the tv?  THIS dress!  Except in white.

Most of the dresses she tried on were too big.  THis one was about 2 sizes two big, but she just wanted to get a feel for the look on her.

And this one was HUGE.  But it was enough to let her know if she'd be cool with the color, style, etc.

I personally liked this one.  Classic.  A jersey-esque material.  Would be great to have into college for cocktail/ evening parties and formals.  But not enough bling for miss thing!

This one had a prety back and I liked the material again.  She might need some tighter panties, but that's for discussion on a nother day.

Speaking of tighter panties... we found this awesome little cupcake shop!  So delish!!

Oh.  OK.  Back to MA!

Isn;t that a good look.  ANd just like Ellie, she could size up an entire look by putting on a dress.  "Well, of course I'd have my hair up with this one.  and long showy earrings..."  Yeah.. Of course!

I am SOOO ready for planting my annuals and getting my hands in the dirt.  COme on spring!!  (There's a bird)

We did a little shopping for me too that day.  I showed MA... if I were skinny, this is how I'd dress.  I'd have skinny legs and would wear comfy little artsy jersey skirts, because my butt would be so tiny too.

Ok.  Back to MA.  I wasn't a fan of the nude palette.

Eww.

My complete outfit.  I'd wear a thin tee shirt, because I wouldn't have to worry that the fabric would show my fat rolls.  And of course, it'd always be bright.  Anything with pompom ball trim on it is OK with me.

As in ANNNNYYYY of these!!  I got the lime green one with hot pink balls. (and the lime green with turquoise fringe on the bottom pallette)

Oh yeah!  I have the wallet that corresponds with this and is made by the same company. IN that skinny world, my boobs wouldn't be ENORMOUS and I could actually wear these cute little tees!
If I wore it now, It'd say, "Think HAPPY BE Happy".

I am so inspired by fun window displays!

Ok new dress shop.

Look at all the colors!  And she was pretty much going black and white. Period.

I convinced her to go eat ceniche with me.  It was so dang good.

I was just the dress toter.  I would haul em in and out of the dressing room, while her highness tilted her head and checked herself out!  It's her world, I just live in it!

And after about 20 dresses tried on, and about 200 looked at....

We trucked it on back home, down Interstate 20, with absolutely nothing!

But, it was a memory made!

And because she will be going to college in a few months, we need to make all the memories we can!

She's my girl!

MO

Miss America Pageant 2013

Have I mentioned that my buddy, Judy, threw a super awesome Miss America Pageant Party?!

Wellll,she did!  And guess what else.... that girl can COOK!!  So, we had delicious appetizers and little mini desserts and all kinds of goodies.

My girls loved being part of the big girl party.

Judy is Courtney (CoCo's) mama.  Courtney is KK's first cousin and best friend.

And then there is another first cousin, Lauren.  With all these girly girls, we had ourselves the makings of a true Miss America Pageant.

Everyone took their pen and paper and we began keeping notes on colors of dresses, bathing suits, and talents.

I took it pretty seriously.  I was writing down all my possibles... but then would circle the ones that I just knew would make it.

We were given points in each category (talent, swimwear, etc).  We also got more points for each phase of the pageant, i.e. top 15 to top 10 to top 5, etc.

I was feeling pretty confident til we got to the top 5. And then, if you get one wrong, you automatically get two in the wrong order.  so if you miss 2, you have 4 wrong.  Does that make sense?!

Everybody was motoring along pretty evenly, and then it came... the final 5!

Gabbi checked out somewhere around swimwear!

So as it came down to the wire, wanna know who took home the grand prize?  The TROPHY that Judy custom made just for tonight's competition.

The winner was LAUREN!

Middle rear row... black shirt with crown on.  A good ol girls' night is always in order!

Love being a part of this crazy crew.

MO

More awesome Tucson pics

Believe it or not, I didn't take a camera to Tucson.  I only had the ol' iPhone.  But I think it served me well.

So this is the third and final installment of Tucson 2013.  I can honestly say I am already looking forward to next year.  I just have to figure out which organ to sell between now and then to raise a great deal of money!

I am doing a line of earrings for a local boutique, Herringstone's with all these beads.  I  think they just look like candy.  I htink I've already shown them before, but I can't get enough!

With all the coral and mint and kelly green that is so hot right now, these are going to be great!

I was also taken aback by all this cool leather..

We got into a big long conversation with the guy who actually tanned these leathers and added all of these cool techniues for neat finishes.

Jess and I took a riveting class as well as a class to learn to set snaps in leather.  So, we are all set to start making neato bandito leather bracelets.

I need this shade of purple with gold metals on it for football season!

Ooh OOOOh... I also learned how to do this... enamel copper! 

I bought a little butane torch and some enamel powder and lots of things ready to be made fabulous!

I also bought all the makings for this cute little vessel necklace!!

Were we fab.u.lous or what?!

I had a friend who requested I find her some owl goodies.  I did.  I thought these were so the bomb.com.  they are the cutest little backpacks.  I gave her one and kept one for Gabbi Girl this fall in kindergarten. 

And then I had to shoot this picture to Todd the Bod, as I knew he'd be quite jealous!!

We don't have one of these in Louisiana, or at least one that I know of.

ANd then it was right back to the Gem Mall for more shopping.  The containers... oh... the containers!!

and tools for as far as the eye could see!  Neat tools that you just felt you needed to have even if you had no idea what it was for.

This is all just one dude's tent!!  I cannot imagine transferring all this inventory across the country and setting it all up and taking it all down!!  Whoa.

I bought a whole big bunch of these.  I have always loved tiny containers.  And rest assured, I bought plenty of them.  I am considering moving my jewelry stuff to the cottage, and these will not only be visually appealing, but will also make for a nice way to bring a sampling of LOTS of things out there for me to go and be in the peace and quiet to work on jewelry.

and as cool as they were, they were NOTHING compared to these little corked beauties!!

Oh, and MORE owls... little over the shoulder, messenger style bags. so presh.

It seemed that natural stones in gold mounts were all the rage. 

And I for one, am a fan.

I bought lots of them.  I kept thinking "birthday presents", "favorite things party", "teacher gifts" etc. 

These pics don't really do these justice, but someone had added pewter workers, like miners, climbing up a series of ladders inside this amethyst find.

There's Jessi and her awesome Kelly Moore bag looking for souveniers for her baby girl, Katelyn.

I wanted a gazillion of these burlap bags too, but I knew I was running out of room in the ol' suitcase. 

I took this picture for you, Becky!  your word of the day!

Because all of these amethyst crystal geode-y things were so expensive, I could not understand who would go through all the expense of having all of these big, heavy things shipped to this show.  I mean, they were like 5' tall each.

And marked between $40,00 and $78,000.  Yes.  I mean it.

I am glad Jessi was open minded to go with me to see these types of things, instead f thinking that the only thing we were going to do was look at beads.  Although we did lots and lots of that too!!

I actually did find myself a dinosaur tooth to bring home.  Part of the decor in my cottage!

Now that thar is what I call a quartz crystal!!

and these are just all so interesting! 

Mounds and mounds and mounds of stones!!

I have a couple of rockhounds at my office, so I bought them each a few treats too!

It was a really good time. 

And I wish everyone could go.  If you are the least bit interested in stones, making jewelry, rocks, minerals, etc... you should add Tucson's International Gem and Mineral show to your bucket list.

Can you imagine being the one who cut into this and realized what you'd found?!!

Until the next trip...

MO

(P.S.  Thanks for all the comment love this week!  I believe I have discovered that my hubs's love language is acts of service, although he still won't take the test.)