Sadly, almost 1 year ago, my husband's friend from the police academy was found murdered on the side of a road. He left behind a loving wife of a year and a half and a happy baby girl who was 8 months old. His killer has not been caught yet, but we cling to the hope that that person will be brought to justice. The local sheriff's department set up a bank account in his honor so his widow can continue to pay her bills and provide for their daughter. It was announced at the beginning of the year that the annual Bartenders' Ball would benefit our friend and her daughter, along with Operation Smile and Volunteers of America. Naturally, I went online and bought two tickets and reserved a room at the hotel hosting the large event.
As the ball drew closer, my husband was trying to make excuses for not going because he is uncomfortable with the media and large crowds of people drinking. I told our friend to tell my husband that she had already reserved tickets for us and that she really wanted us to be there. He has an incredibly hard time telling her no, so he obliged and got fitted for a tuxedo. The party was on.
When we finished checking into the hotel, we met up with our crowd and got our armbands. I had purchased the $35.00 armbands that got us into the party, but we quickly upgraded to the $100.00 armbands that got us into the VIP area and unlimited alcohol for the entire function. That's right - unlimited alcohol. Best upgrade I've ever made. During the party, and after my husband had consumed a few beverages, I told him the truth about me having purchased our tickets. He thought it was funny and our friend and her brother told him that they were sorry they had "lied" to him. It was forgiven pretty quickly.
All in all, it was a good party. We stayed together as a group, almost like a group of siblings, and danced the night away.
I guess I should talk a bit about what I wore to the Bartenders' Ball. The theme was "Red Carpet Attire," so the four ladies in our group really turned it out. Our friend wore a beautiful white and blue dress that had a halter neckline and a really pretty updo. Her best friend from high school (and a crafty mommy of three) wore a stunning red dress that worked wonders with her curves and her perfect tan (some people are so lucky). Her victory rolls were the perfect finishing touch. Our friend's partner on the streets (they were on the bike patrol) wore a blue satin dress with crystals on the straps. The blue of her dress perfectly complimented the memorial tattoo on her back for our friend.
I had decided to wear the Zac Posen for Target dress that I had purchased the year before. You know the one - it's the floor-length multicolor dress with black safety pins silk screened all over it. It fit perfectly and I couldn't have been happier with that purchase. Kudos to you, Mr. Posen. My hair, a weird blondish brown - bronde if you will- was put up in an ornate updo that looked like something Joan Holloway would wear in Mad Men (love that show).
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| Joan Halloway-esque (Thakoon for Target shirt and Proenza Schouler for Target cardigan) |
I got my makeup done by the same talented woman who did my makeup for the Adam Lambert concert - see my profile picture. Since I hadn't been in the sun for months, I was a nice ghostly shade of pale, so she evened out my skin tone and gave me a cat eye and a very bright pink lip. I had my toenails painted bright pink and my finger nails done in yellow. I had the guy paint a little black safety pin on one of my thumbs.
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| Thumbs up for safety pins! |
As far as accessories, I didn't wear any jewelry besides my wedding and engagement rings. I felt that the dress had enough power to stand on its own and quite frankly, I think it would have looked cluttered. My purse was a hot pink clutch that I found years ago at an antique mall for less than $10.00. For sentimental purposes, I wore my Iron Fist Zebracorn heels. At almost 5 inches, I was more that a little nervous about walking around and dancing all night in them. The sentimental part comes in because I had worn them the previous August on my birthday and I ran into our friend while he was working guiding pedestrians and drivers in the rain. We stood there talking for about 5 minutes about his daughter, his wife, how blissfully happy he was. So, for him, I wore those bad boys for the entire time, not once taking them off. I'll spare you the brutal photographic evidence of my feet.
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| Iron Fist's Zebracorn Heel |
Here is our picture on the red carpet from that night. I put a heart over my husband's face because he really doesn't want his picture out there, and I respect that. I'm also not going to post pictures of our friends because of privacy issues. I hope that if you take only one thing from this blog, that it's to cherish your friends and family, because they can be taken away from you in an instant. To our friend who was murdered: We love you, we miss you, and we'll never forget you.
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| On the red carpet |
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