Sometimes ugly can be fun

What do you get when you mix ugly Christmas sweaters, white elephant gifts, and a bunch of moms who got out of bedtime duty??  A really fun night!

Last night was the annual Christmas party for my MOPS leadership team.  The instructions: Wear an ugly Christmas sweater.  Love it!  Why?  Well, dressing up stresses me out.  Probably because I am a lot of this:

and not so much this:

When you are deficient in the glamor department, sometimes dressing up isn't so fun.  But tell me to ham it up and I am all over that.  Here is my ensemble:

Thank you Walmart!  I knew you wouldn't let me down.  Oh and sorry if I offended anyone who bought this vest in a non-ironic way.

As you can see I decided that some mall bangs would go really great with the ugly vest, because really don't they go better with everything!   You don't know what mall bangs are?  Here is a definition from Urban Dictionary:  The putrid late 80's-early 90's hair "style" in which a female utilizes most of the can of Aqua Net to jack her bangs up to a height that rivals the girl's body height.

Achieving this look actually turned out to be harder than I originally thought.  I am in my 30's, so I am no stranger to the ingredients for a good fly catcher.  I mean that was my one elementary school goal- to feather and tease my bangs to their maximum possible height....oh and also to marry Jake Ryan (the awesome bangs would of course help me with that).  So I searched the recesses of my brain and remembered that I needed a curling iron, hair spray, and a brush for teasing of course, because you can not forget the teasing (I bet you had no idea that this turned into a style blog)!

I stood there in the bathroom with all my big hair tools desperately trying to make these mall bangs happen.  I picked up the curling iron and asked myself, "what would 10 year old Katie do."  Then I remembered that 10 year old Katie could never get her bangs to soar.  My sister, Kristy?  Now she had bangs of legendary height.  My friend, Shelby Farrell?  I would have traded my New Kids on the Block lunchbox for her locks.   But my bangs.... well my bangs always fell flat, which is exactly what was happening last night.  What was I doing wrong?  I mean this wasn't rocket science.  I was wanting this:

But I was getting a little more of this:

It was Ed Grimley with less volume.

Just when I was losing hope, I was saved........by my husband.  Yup, that's right.  Apparently I can add 80's hair stylist to his long list of obnoxious talents.  He reminded me that I needed to spray the bangs while they were in the curling iron.  Why does he know this?   I just.. really... don't want to know.  But it worked!  I used so much hairspray that driving my giant SUV to the party seemed environmentally friendly in comparison.

When all was said and done, my husband's advice worked.  I was no Shelby Farrell but it would have to do.  I topped off my look with, what else, frosted pink lips and blue eyeshadow.  And please, by all means, feel free to steal my beauty secrets.

It was a lot of fun but I have to say that I am so glad that big hair has not made a come back.  It was a lot of work!!

A few more pictures from the night:

 
 Okay, I swear at some point this will turn back into a blog about running, training, etc.  Right now my fitness routine is pretty boring.  (Example post:  I pedaled and read a magazine.  I sipped some water and then I kept pedaling.)  BUT, I wore a shoe today!  A real, honest to goodness shoe, so I can almost feel the treadmill belt moving under my feet.  I am hopeful that 4 weeks can be cut down to three or two week of no running.  Maybe it's the blue eyeshadow talking, but I am feeling pretty confident that I will be running again soon!    
 
Be honest, what infamous 80's look did you rock (if you are too young just keep that to yourself because I do NOT want to feel old)?

Are you a Mary Katherine or a Grace Kelly (aka do you like to dress up or goof around for Holiday Parties)?