The Whole Shebang
by Casey Lane Hudgins '08

I love to get dressed up and go out. Winterfest was the perfect excuse for me to do so.

When preparing for a formal there is a whole list of things one must do and plan for. First, you must buy a dress that was a dilemma in itself for me. Then the day of the formal, I had a huge checklist to finish by 10:00 p.m. Hair was the hardest task of the day, the hair "project" started on Friday night. You see, my hair is very straight and fine, so curls do not come easy. I went through a whole process of rolling my hair into curlers, sleeping in them all night, then wearing them around all day Saturday. I had to wait until the last possible minute to take them out so my hair wouldn't fall. Next was the nitty gritty stuff like painting my fingernails, shaving, and steaming my dress. Finally, makeup was the last thing on my list, and then I was ready to go!

This Winterfest was very special to me, because of a surprise. Initially, I was supposed to go to the formal by myself, because my boyfriend had to work. This was a big bummer to me, but it was the inevitable. So, I ran around all day getting ready, and I was starting to think about going by myself. What to do? Are any of my friends going to be there?

Then I get a phone call. It was my boyfriend he had called to say he was going to drive up from Charlotte and go to Winterfest with me; that was my surprise. This is the third formal he has attended with me. He went the past two years and he didn't want to miss it; he knew how much it meant to me. It was the best surprise I had experienced in a while. It made my last winter formal the best yet.

Thinking back, I have enjoyed all of the formals here at Catawba, but nothing will ever compare to the last. I will always have fond memories and plenty of pictures to go with my memories! I had fun all day getting ready, hanging out with friends before, not to mention the surprise, and then the formal itself was so much fun.

It is so hard for me to believe that Saturday marked the last Winterfest ever for me; I am glad that I decided to go and make the best of it. It turns out that this Winter formal had more in store for me than I had planned!