it's that time of year again...

Prom dress shopping.

Lauren announced months ago that she would be going to her Senior Prom with or without a date. It appears that it will be the 'without' version. The Prom is March 15, so she insinuated yesterday that she reaaaaaalllllllyyyyyy needed me to take her shopping this weekend for a dress. She decided that her friend, Mandi, should join us so that I would not convince her to pick something she really didn't want. Smart girl. I raised her right.

We started out at David's Bridal, which proved to be the best source for last year's Prom dress (we got a deal on a great dress for $120 that only needed hemming, which I am more than capable of doing). We walked through the aisles and pulled out 5 dresses for Lauren to try on. She ended up loving the very first one she tried on...it had a tag stating $180. Apparantly that is still a 'steal' according to Lauren (who quickly informed me that most girls spend $400-500 on a dress -- who are these girls????!!!!). I decided it would fit in the budget since we were skipping the limo expenses we had last year. We proceeded to the register to finalize our first Prom 2008 transaction. After a few moments with the cashier pushing all kinds of buttons over and over again on the register, she said "that will be $32.99". I figured I did not hear her correctly and said "say what?" with a strange look on my face. She repeated "$32.99" with a strange look on her face. I asked her if she was kidding and she said "I doublechecked it just to make sure -- it was on sale for $25". I showed my extreme appreciation of a blessing by exclaiming "Praise the Lord!" ... very....loudly. I do love a good sale, especially when it is a surprise.

We then stopped by a few shoe stores looking for shoes, but had no luck. Lauren mentioned that we must find some Girl Scout cookies because we had not been approached by anyone yet to buy any and "We MUST have Girl Scout cookies, mommy". We decided to take a lunch break for mexican food at Jalapeno's and celebrate our great deal on the dress, only to see a table set up outside selling...you guessed it...Girl Scout cookies! Lauren and Mandi went cookie shopping while I waited at the table for our order.

After lunch, we stopped by several stores in the mall looking for shoes. Still no luck. We decided to try Payless and hit the jackpot. A cute pair of black patent leather low-heeled shoes for $19.99.

Yes, we are dressed for the Prom for less than $60. That is what I call a successful day of Prom dress shopping.

eta: So, what am I grateful for today?

1. Quality time with my daughter
2. An excellent deal on prom paraphernalia