Stilwell Ball 2016

I wasn't sure that I was going to blog about this year's Ball.  I mean, how many times do you all really want to hear about me getting all dressed up and being awkward?  My guess is once was enough.  But then, I thought about how this is our very last Ball with the 39th Trans Battalion, how great our night was, and how I wasn't sure that I was going to love my dress the same as I did last year's dress but then I ended up loving it soooo much.  And then I thought about how amazing our three years with the 39th have been, all the memories we've made, how we were welcomed with open arms, and how sad I am to be leaving.  And I thought to myself, welp.... all of that deserves a blog post.

Getting ready for a formal event is an entire process, especially for someone like me who is a bit of a perfectionist.  I wanted to look nice but still be comfortable and appropriate.  Believe it or not, but there is proper etiquette on what is appropriate/not appropriate to wear to different military functions, and I'm careful to abide by the guidelines- which tends to stress me out a little bit because I'm neurotic that way.

I have never left a salon after getting my hair done for a formal event and actually liked it.  Every single time I leave a salon with my hair done in some sort of updo I start bawling in the car because I hate my hair that much- even on my wedding day.  I've tried taking pictures into the salon but my hair has never matched the pictures, so I'm not sure if I maybe just have too specific of expectations, or what, but after too many times coming home in tears and my husband having to literally stop me from pulling all of my hair out, I promised him that I would quit wasting money and energy on my hair for formal events. 

While I was getting ready for last year's Ball I threw a little bit of a fit over false eyelashes and didn't have time to attempt anything with my hair so it ended up in a slightly more fancy pony tail than what I normally wear.  So for this year I hoped to do something a little more formal, nevermind that I can barely use a hair straightener.

So to keep my promise to my husband but still have a formal hairstyle, I spent hours watching YouTube videos and managed to do this to my own hair!  Guys, I can't even french braid!  It's really not a whole lot different than the messy bun my hair is almost always in, if not in a pony tail, but I managed to jazz it up with a cool twisty thing on the side, a bun that is actually pinned to my head (for whatever reason I've never been able to get bobby pins to stay in my hair, but this where YouTube was super helpful), and a sparkly barrette!  Can we just take a moment to admire that I got my hair to do this??  It's maybe not all polished and stuff, I had some frizzies going on, but gosh darn it, I DID IT!!

I ordered my dress online from the same website I ordered last year's dress.  I have a black dress, dark blue dress, and now I needed something more "summery" or "spring-ish" so I decided to order a teal/light blue dress for our very last Ball with the 39th.  I was careful to pick something that covered my cleavage- much to my husband's disappointment, but even he can agree that without proper supervision my girls will go a little wild, so it's best to keep them under wraps- and sure to pick a dress that was true to my style while still being a little modest.  I wasn't sure that I'd like it as much as I do my dark blue dress, Eric actually hated the color at first, but I ordered a sash to jazz up the dress, got big sparkly accessories, wore bright pink matte lipstick and fell in love with the entire look more than I thought I would!  And when you feel great, the night is bound to be great too!

I felt very Greek goddess-like and Eric told me that I looked beautiful despite not liking the color, so basically, I was on top of the world.  We started the night off with wine and friends, and then carpooled to the Ramstein Officer's Club with Eric as our designated driver because the taxi company we called never showed up, but we weren't going to let that get in our way of a good time!

Dinner was great!  And as the night went on the number of the same exact selfie's I took with my husband increased with the amount of wine I drank- he was annoyed but the man knows I have no shame when it comes to picture-taking so he smiled for every single selfie anyway, because he loves me.  The night passed quickly as we talked with friends, drank wine (everyone but Eric) and talked about where we are all headed next.  There was a very large group of us when we first moved here three years ago, but now there is just a couple of us "originals" left and we are all moving within two months of each other.  It will be interesting to see how all of our chapters unfold, but it's sad to think we won't be apart of each other's anymore.  

Eric listening to the guest speaker. 

One of these things is not like the others.... 

I'm going to say this a million times between now and when we actually leave Germany:  I am so super duper excited and ready to see what is next on our path!  But even so, it's sad to leave the 39th and hard to imagine that the same friendships we have formed here will be the same anywhere else in the world.

Thanks for the memories 39th Transportation Battalion!  We'll carry you!