1 Day, 3 Eras

This post was supposed to be up on Friday, but Landon has not been cooperative. Now the congested little man is finally sleeping and I'm about to follow him as soon as I digest the giant bowl of pasta I finally got to eat (it had been mocking me from the counter for the last two hours I spent trying to put Landon down).

Law School Prom is next Friday and I can't wait. Some people are oddly opposed to the idea of Law School Prom and don't go on "principle", whatever that means, but I can't figure out what's wrong with a night of fancy clothes, friends, eating, drinking, and dancing. Last year's prom was one of the most fun nights I've had in law school (not that that's saying much... one of UChicago's mottos is "where fun comes to die" and it's depressingly accurate). 1L prom did not go as well. It turns out that spending 6 months studying in the library every night just killed the alcohol tolerance I worked so hard to build up in college. I drank a very large quantity of wine and ended the night throwing up all over me, JP, and the cab. We were still a few blocks away, so when the angry cab driver kicked us out, JP handed over all his cash in apology and then carried me the rest of the way home. Thank god he was legally bound to me because he had to have been tempted to leave my sorry self sitting on the curb. Last year I was pregnant, so the open bar was not a concern. And this year I expect that my increased wisdom and maturity, and the fact I have a baby and two papers to look forward to the next morning, will keep us all safe from $100 dry cleaning bills.

One of the best parts about prom is the prom dress shopping. Since JP was off with his boys and Landon was hanging out with his babies, I met up with a couple of friends to take advantage of the big sale at Marshall Fields on State St. (I know it's Macy's now, but it will always be Marshall Fields to me). I had $140 in Macy's store credit to use up, so it was going to be a day of shopping without spending real money! The sale was amazing; hundreds of dresses, some beautiful, some delightfully hideous, marked down enough to make them worth the expense for one night of wear. I ended up with this wonderfully "prommy", perfectly fitted, teal satin dress for $40 (originally $250).

Isn't it fun? I'm wearing my silver shoes and rhinestone jewelry and expect to have a blast on Friday. I also picked up a gorgeous pair of black satin heels for $18, marked down from $120. My companions were also successful in finding their "perfect" dress and we ended the day at my apartment cheering on Landon's nightly rolling show, eating a very random mix of pasta (I had about 1 cup left in six different boxes), and watching "27 Dresses", which was cute, but made better with the drinking of wine and eating of cookie dough.

I just had to take this picture of my counter in the middle of our get together. It captures my social life so well - a simple home gathering complete with wine for the ladies and formula for the Landon (and sadly, his formula costs a lot more than our wine). My friends stayed over until nearly midnight talking - I haven't had a female roommate since my junior year of college, so it was so fun to borrow some for a night. Not so fun was the fact that 10 minutes after they left Landon woke up crying for the first of many times. After a day of feeling very high school with the prom dress shopping, and then very collegey with the late night deep talks over bottles of wine (although in college, midnight was not a late night), the 2, 4:30, and 6 AM baby wake up calls were a sharp reminder of the grown-up present!