Kappa Alpha Order, Commonwealth Birding, and Let's Be Preppy!

A few weeks ago, Brian over at Commonwealth Birding asked me if I wanted to come out to do a hunt in Richmond. Not only was I geographically unable to attend, but if you were to put this girl on a hunting trip with zero experience, I don't even know what could go wrong. I've always wanted to go clay shooting, but I could never just hop out there to go hunt quail like they do over at CB without any practice. Instead, I suggested that I do a product review and send some guy friends who go to University of Richmond in my place. Jack, a high school classmate of mine is a brother of Kappa Alpha Order, and I thought he might be interested. Jack and I are the two on the end in this picture, all of us are attending my friend Caroline's debutant ball function (I feel like this was a million years ago)...super awkward Katie.

Lucky for me, Jack and a few of his brothers were interested and after talking and exchanging number and names with Brian, the guys at CB were happy to host the KA's in my place! From the looks of all the facebook photos, it seems like they had a wonderful time! 

If anyone lives in the Richmond area with a hankering to hunt quail now that the season is open (thank you email subscription to Garden & Gun Magazine for informing me of that) definitely drop Brian a line. If you just like the little quail logo, they have a bunch of apparel you can buy online. I was sent croakies and a dog collar and both will definitely be used. A few friends of mine here actually have pets that live with them, and I want to find someone who has the initials CB to give it to! It's great that they have a few products beyond just croakies and hats, especially because of hunting, because it gives CB a different market than the usual preppy brands.

I want to extend a HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to Brian and all his co-workers for hosting Jack and the other KA brothers. I'm so glad that we were all able to work together for a great day!

xxKatie

Ballin'

A silly blog title for a beautiful night!!! So, I've been talking about this debutante ball for ages now, and it finally happened! And what a night it was! Let's start at the beginning:

6:00 pm: My friend Adam picked me up to go to the Mayflower in D.C.
6:30 pm: We jam out to Disney, Beyonce and the like
6:45 pm: We make UNBELIEVABLE time and get to D.C. before 7:00. We look for the Mayflower and drive in a few confused gps-hazed circles.
6:50 pm: Adam and I get all of our stuff out of Adam's car and make it into the Lobby where we run into our Deb's mom. I get the keys to the girls' rooms.
7:00 pm: Adam and I shove our stuff into our room and check the place out. We call the rest of the "party" and tell them that our room is finally open.
7:30 pm: The rest of the group settles into our rooms and we watch Jeopardy, where I get the final answer question correct with a response of "Who are the Kurds?". We veg out until 8.
8:00 pm: Vegging is over for the girls at least and we all start to get ready. Since we're girls, we're naturally indecisive on what we want to wear, how to do our hair and what earrings match.
9:30 pm: The girls who got ready on the 10th floor come down for pictures.
9:55 pm: Everyone hops on the elevators and we all make our way down to the lobby of the Mayflower, which is now beginning to fill up with Debs from years past (who are wearing red and green dresses) and the rest of the people who didn't eat the 800 course meal. Also at this time, we run into our "friend" (codenamed Mistletoe) who tends to follow us around.
10:00 pm: We turn in our admittance cards and get cards that say "10:00 presentation: Upper Balcony" for our viewing spot. All 10 of us find a spot right above our Deb's table where she will be presented later.
11:00 pm: After a few more rounds of pictures, the real procession and presentation finally starts (almost an hour off of schedule) with a live band. The 7 debutantes, their dads, and their 2 escorts, are all a part of the presentation. The first was a parade of the debs around this ballroom by their dads, followed by a traditional Waltz. Then the first escort cut in, and for Caroline, this was her brother. After an ADORABLE Waltz with him, the second escort cut in, which was Caroline's dance class partner, Johannes. He can speak 5 languages, and later that night became "YO-HANNIS from YER-MANY". Then, the emcee of the night, which I use that term loosely, called everyone down to the dancefloor for some more Waltz-ing.
12:30 am: A fabulous breakfast room is opened because they know we're kids and we need food, mainly sweets, and lots of it. We all trek into the room to snack and get back out on the dancefloor.
12:35 am: Adam and I "creeper-cam" on Caroline and one of the boys to get a few candid shots of the pair dancing. (Let's just say, mission accomplished, pictured below.)
2:00 am: Yes, it is 2 in the morning on Christmas Eve. We all head back upstairs to get "ready" for bed. We all get into our PJ's and decide we're hungry. A few of the boys head back down to the concierge to see where/if we can get anything to eat. They return with a number of a pizza place, that to our happiness, stays open until 4 am. SCORE!
3:20 am: After eating 3 large pizzas, the girls retire to 2 rooms while the boys head back to their own. We sleep. And sleep. And sleep. Of course, after talking about the whole night in copious amounts of detail. We sleep.
9:00 am: It's an early morning. We all pack up our things finding all the hair devices, makeup and dress bags. Adam, Caitlin, and I all go to the valet parking to get the car and drive home. Again, we rock out to Beyonce, Legally Blonde The Musical, and others.

What a fun night. Seriously, I haven't had this much fun in SO long! If anyone gets the chance to attend (and yes, I mean attend as a guest, not a debutante- too much stress) definitely say yes. It was SO much fun and I know I will remember this night for the rest of my life!!

xxKatie

I'm Going to a Deb Ball!

Yes! A real, Washington D.C. debutante ball, and I couldn't be more excited! There are two parts to this debutante ball: a holiday dance, and then the presentation ball. Tomorrow is actually the holiday dance where we all wear short, cocktail dresses. As advised by a guy friend of mine, very sarcastically he warned me to not "outdress" the debs themselves. Heeding his warning, although I'm sure he never expected this, I'm going in all black believe it or not. I have a beautiful Susana Monaco black dress that's nearly backless, that I absolutely adore. Paired with a pair of black pumps, I want to go very classic. That's me third from the left, I know, with short hair. The girl next to me on the right is the deb herself. She's been up here a few times herself! I am SO excited to go to this.

Now, the other night is the actual presentation ball, where each of the 7 girls are being presented by their fathers. There are two parts to that night itself: a huge 8,000 course meal and then the dancing portion of the ball (which starts at 10:00pm). Caroline, 2 girlfriends, her parents, her escort and her male floor committee are eating dinner and then the rest of the crew comes later. I'm one of the later arrivers. That night, we all have to wear floor-length gowns, prom-esque. The dress I'm wearing is the one on the far right, on my beautiful friend Audrey. Unfortunately, my LP prom dress won't be making an appearance a) because it's a bit too summery and b) because on a 6'0" tall girl, a size 0 prom dress is not floor-length (hence the shin-up picture). That dress was like barely to my ankles. Instead, taking advantage to post a prom picture, I am wearing a friend of mine's dress, a pale blue number that is made of the best material in the world. Along with my platinum Jacks and a little strap adjusting this dress is floor-length, or as close to floor-length as I'm capable of getting. I think the length is perfect really, because I don't need a dress that needs to be lifted up in order to walk around, especially if we're dancing the night away!

If anyone's been to a deb ball, let me know what you do and everything, because I don't really know what to expect! I'll post back with a deb ball debriefing!

xxKatie