Saint Barbara's Ball

A few weekends ago Tyler and I got to go to our first ever Army Ball. When he told me he had signed us up for it, I was pretty excited. I was looking forward to getting dressed up and attending a 'ball'. Thankfully, I already had a dress; so we didn't have to go out and by one. Several years ago, I had found a ball dress at the Goodwill in Washington. It was pretty (despite having velvet one it....UCK!) and inexpensive. I'm so glad I picked it up because it definitely came in handy this past weekend. The only thing left was to find shoes that matched it. We went to downtown Kaiserslautern and found plenty of shoe stores to pick from. We walked into this particular store and I was like a kid in a candy store. There were shoes everywhere! I was a little overwhelmed actually....but in a good way :) There were just so many pretty shoes. A sales associate came over and spoke to me in German. My heart nearly sank because I needed her help but I couldn't understand her; but when Tyler said something in English, she switched right over and spoked the clearest English. Quite a few people here know English and I was glad she was one of them! This whole scene just makes me want to learn German even more. We moved into their country and we expect them to know our language; but we don't learn their's. It's not right, especially when they have taken the time to learn English. But that's just my pet peeve. When I told her what I was looking for, she brought me these, and I fell in love.  She said they were made by a London designer named L.K. Bennet. That's nice, but I don't shop by designers, so it didn't matter to me like it probably should have. Honestly I was even more excited that they were on sale. The whole store was having a special sale and I was just happy to have caught the sale. My mother has had a very strong influence on me :)

Then the night of the ball came and it was time to get ready. That was fun. I had never been to anything like a ball and I thoroughly enjoyed getting dressed up. Tyler looked great in his Class A's and I felt good in my dress. When we got there the first thing we did was get our picture taken; which was perfect because I had been wanting a picture of us with Tyler in his uniform. The whole night was fun. It started out with the normal national anthem and the toasts and introductions and such. The coolest thing to see was the Table of Remembrance. Remembering the soldiers who would not be there and listening to the semblance of each item on the table. It was very touching to see it firsthand. Dinner was delicious. I had the chicken cordon bleu and Tyler had steak medallions. We enjoyed the conversation with people. I met  a few other women and had fun. Unfortunately neither Tyler nor I know how do dance; but I really want to learn! After watching other couples get up there and dance, I am definitely going to convince Tyler to learn how to dance with me. It would be nice go on the dance floor and actually know what to do.  I don't have any pictures of the ball, unfortunately. The