5:02pm
I hug Jenna tightly and bid her, Becky, and Hannah goodbye as they leave for the Stirring Women’s Retreat for the weekend. I run up the stairs two at a time, fully aware that I am way later than I should be, and as I cross the threshold into my room, I realize what I’ve gotten myself into.
5:03pm
Clothes, shoes, nail polish, curling irons, flat irons, cotton balls, makeup brushes, and Pirates of the Caribbean greet me at the door. I step over Eleanor and then Hannah on the way to my closet to begin the beautifying process.
5:11pm
Danae is trying on dress after dress after earring after earring after shoe after shoe and asking our opinions as Hannah, Eleanor and I scramble around searching for the shade of nail polish that will complement our dresses best. We decide that Teri’s dress is the winner and Danae’s beautiful Portland thrift store $10 dress will be saved for a later date.
5:30pm
Danae has joined us in our nail-polishing endeavors. Eleanor gets up to take a shower before the dance as she walks on her heels to the bathroom so as to not smudge the purple polish. Just then, Stefani bursts through the door. Exasperated, a glimpse of relief flashes across her face as she spots the bottles of nail polish scattered across the bed, and with a pleading smile, asks if I could paint her nails with a French tip.
6:15pm
Katie starts curling Eleanor’s hair and we realize that we really only have 15 minutes until we are supposed to meet up with the boys outside. Full panic mode initiated.
6:30pm
We’ve now realized that we are so not on time. I’m running from room to room like a chicken with its head cut off. I made sure to shave my legs that morning (which was brilliant by the way) so I had that done. I bought my dress and shoes and had them ready so that was done. But I had NO idea what to do about my hair or makeup, and neither of those I am any good at. SO I bolted to Danae’s room: no sign of her anywhere. I ran to Hannah and Marissa’s room: aha! Lo and behold, Hillary, Stefani, Hannah, Marissa, AND Danae were in the bathroom getting ready. I start looking for advice by pretending to cry and I get comments on how pretty my dress is (which it is a really pretty shade of deep blue) and Marissa says that she has kind-of-tacky-but-cute-none-the-less eye shadow that matches really well that she can apply for me. Hooray! One down, one to go. Danae then decides something can be done with my hair.
6:45pm
All of us but Cynthia and Katie are outside and ready to go. They tell us to go ahead to dinner. We then realize that we haven’t made reservations anywhere. Sushi is full, Red Robin is full, Olive Garden is full, and…
7:15pm
Strings can take us! We (me, Eleanor, Danae, Hannah, Natalie, Jeff, James, Dustin [Lowe], and Eric) meet Hillary and Stefani’s friend Richard Gere (Caleb) and all sit down to dinner and laugh like crazy at everything that is said (which is not so unusual) and eat delicious Italian food and take pictures and videos and just love each other.
8:45pm
We arrive at the dance and stand in awe of the place it’s held. It’s a beautifully big building that has a gorgeous entryway (which faintly smelled of fish because the bottom floor is a restaurant—what’re you gonna do?) and a beautiful staircase. The formal is upstairs. Our anticipation builds as we ascend our way to the tippy-top. There’s a dance floor against the far wall on which people are more mingling than dancing. There’s a beautiful balcony (that was just the right temperature) to our right which overlooked a lake that reflected the stars and romance that some enjoy at Simpson. There’s a backdrop on the back wall, a white ruffled sheet for a cloud-like floor, a huge umbrella for lighting, and fun props to record the laughs during this event. There are hors d’oeuvres to our left for all our snacking needs. There are tables with white linen cloths that fill the middle of the room in case you dance-til-you-drop. It was a sight.
9:00pm
The party has started.
11:15pm
The DJ finishes his last song (the second to last was “Footloose” which was awesome!) and we take goofy pictures as we wind down after a long night of acting like 5 year olds dancing around the room and starving for attention. We head toward the cars and though normally we would go to Denny’s because, hello, it was a Simpson event, none of us were hungry. So we pile in the cars and laugh all the way to the dorms.
11:40pm
Huddled in the parking lot like penguins hurting for warmth, we decide we are hungry but we definitely want to change into sweats before going anywhere or doing anything. So we shiver toward our respective dorms planning to go to Carl’s Jr. (It’s open 24/7.)
12:40am
Now at Carl’s Jr., Eleanor, Danae, Hannah, Jeff, Dustin, Andrew, James, Eric, and I all sit around different tables (it’s not like it sounds: Jeff, Andrew, James and me at one; Hannah, Dustin and Eric at another; and Eleanor and Danae at a third) and talk about our lives and laugh. Gradually, some leave but others stay and don’t notice the time flying by.
2:22am
We notice the time. Hannah and I are walking back to Morgan and are astounded that it is 2:22 in the am!! *stops dead in tracks with mouth agape* “TWO TWENTY-TWO?!” I believe were my exact words. Although, quickly followed by, “Ah, well, it’s Friday.”
2:26am
Pretty sure I’m asleep.
Anyway, I know this blog wasn’t deep or anything that hugely reflected the inner workings of my mind and soul, but I thought I would display the amazing and unique pull of community on this campus. It is fantastic. And if I were other schools, I’d be jealous.
