I don't know how to be a girl

One of my dearest friends is getting married on Saturday, and The Dude and I are going to the wedding.

I'm looking forward to it for several reasons. I'm really excited about seeing my friend and his (soon to be) wife again, because it's been entirely too long since I've seen them. I have the kids covered for the weekend, so even though some people might bash me for saying it, I'm looking forward to having about 36 hours of kid-free time. I'm excited to take a little road trip with The Dude (the wedding is in Oklahoma City, so it's about a 3 hour drive each way). And if you remember our road trip to Texas last spring, you might remember my friend Kelly - The Dude and I are going to meet her for lunch on Sunday before we head back to Kansas. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous and unseasonably warm, so we shouldn't have to worry about traveling.

But, along with a venture like this comes problems for me. I'm not a girly girl. I don't own a lot of girl clothes. In fact, as soon as I got the invitation, I had to dig around through my clothes to figure out if I even had something suitable to wear. Of course, no big surprise - I didn't.

The only dresses that I have are only dresses in the loosest sense of the word - they're basically sundresses that I can pull on over a bathing suit to go to the lake. I do have some nicer dresses, but they're summery. Nothing for an evening wedding in January. Ugh.

So I went to my local moms group on facebook with a plea for a dress - I got several suggestions of places to shop and offers from other moms to come and check out their closets. I ended up getting a really cute dress from one of them for next to nothing. Dress dilemma solved.

I have a pair of shoes. I don't particularly like them, but they'll work. I'm not spending money for a pair of shoes that I'll most likely never wear again. And besides, they'll be kicked off and under the table as soon as we get to the reception anyway, if not before.

I can handle the hair and makeup and nails. And jewelry. I'm pretty sure that I have all of that covered.

But I'm learning things in this process. I found out tonight from another group of girlfriends that pantyhose are no longer in style. When did that happen? Has it really been that long since I've worn a dress?

And then there comes the issue of finding an appropriate bra (sorry guys) to wear under it. I don't own one that won't show - so now I'm on a new quest, and I have exactly 5 days to find one. But again, a friend is coming to the rescue, seeing if she can locate one that I can borrow.

Even with all of the stress of finding something to wear, I'm still looking forward to going to the wedding. I'm ecstatic that The Dude is going with me (voluntarily, I might add) and that we're getting the chance to have a little getaway. It'll be fun to get all dressed up (ok, maybe I'm trying to convince myself of that) and go out together.

And yes, we will take pictures. I promise.

But for now, here's a sneak preview. And that's all you get until The Dude and I are both dressed up.