Pretty in Pink

Last night I went with some friends to see Pretty in Pink at the Alamo Drafthouse. After we had picked a location, but before we had bought the tickets, I explained that I envisioned us wearing a bunch of pink prom dresses. Surprisingly, none of them backed out!

I quickly went on the hunt for some thrift shop dresses. Any color too close to my skin tone tends to wash me out, so this pale pink was not ideal. (But there's always dye! More on that later...)

Oooh! Love the shape, but the color is even worse than the first one.

Then later that night, I was at the grocery store flipping through Short Hairstyles magazine.

Matt: There's a whole magazine about short hairstyles? 

Sarah: Yes, it's for every person like me who is growing out a chop and doesn't know what to do with it in the mean time.

And who was in the magazine, but Molly Ringwald herself? Well, her 1986 self, anyway. She looks great then and now, and I love her.

Me: Ooh, maybe a perm...

Then I put the magazine down, slowly backed away, and shook that crazy idea from my head. No need to travel down Perm Boulevard again.

I eventually found a perfect dress. Behold!

It was a couple sizes too big, so I had to bring it in a bit. (Sewing montage! During the actual dress sewing scene in the movie, my friend Yvonne leaned over and said, "It's like when Rocky does all that training." Yes. I love movie montages so much.)

I found the middle of the back and folded and sewed. Since the dress was poufy all over, I didn't need to worry about smooth lines too much. It still hung well.

I don't wear strapless tops, so I found a lacy shirt and dyed it fuscia and wore that underneath. Much easier than trying to create a neckline and sleeves. My sewing skillset includes one item: sew a straight line.

Here's how the whole thing turned out:

My kids were a bit put off by all that aggressive pink and my big, curly hair. (I'm wearing more hairspray in that picture than in the past several years combined.)
My outfit definitely leaned more Jem and the Holograms than Andie Walsh. For accuracy, my friend Janell, above right, wins the prize. The Pretty in Pink prom was a sea of pale pastels:

Check out that powder blue sleeve! It's the size of a pillowcase!
Also, did you ever wonder why Blane's nice wavy hair is so terrible in the final scene? It's because they reshot the ending, and he had already cut his hair for another role. It's a wig. An awful, terrible wig.
Also also, the number of ill-fitting sport coats in this movie is astronomical. These richies need to hire a tailor.

Fun bonus, Kendra Scott jewelry was a sponsor of the event, and I won a necklace by correctly answering a trivia question.

Here's something that blew my mind. You know when Blane approaches Andie and Duckie at prom and says, "I always believed in you. (Mumble) just didn't believe in me." I always thought he said "You just didn't believe in me," which is so rotten of him to pretend like he wasn't at fault for ditching her.
But apparently he says, "I just didn't believe in me." That is a pretty big distinction. I mean, he still needs to give her an actual apology, but at least he isn't gaslighting her like I thought.
Incidentally, three out of four of us last night had the same mis-hearing of that line, so perhaps the director should have asked for another, less mumbled take, right?

This is random, but in a post so full of pink formalwear, I feel I must acknowledge the incredible dress I wore to homecoming in 1991. Have I showed it before? Probably.

Pink metallic layers with a white satin cropped jacket. Sigh. I borrowed it from my friend Lisa, and I wish it were hanging in my closet right now.

If you have read all this and still want more Pretty in Pink, there are several "where are they now" articles floating around, since the movie hit 30 years old in 2016. Somewhere in one of them, they describe James Spader's character Steff as a "bouffant-haired Satan". Ha!
And here's a good piece on going back and watching it after developing a modern, feminist sensibility. Team Andie, y'all.

Let's overthink it: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

This is the first in a series of posts that dive into things (mostly books, movies, shows, and music) that could (should?) probably just be enjoyed at face value, but are also fun to dissect and over-analyze. I've already done this before with the Les Miserables movie in 2013--remember the face mask of poop in the sewer?--and the clothes people wear on TV shows, in case you want to dive into the archives.

Let's overthink it!

Theo (5) recently found my original cast recording of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He played the CD in the car and was hooked from the very first song, and Alec (10) soon joined in the love. We listen to it all the time, and the boys argue about which song to play in the kitchen after school.

I am delighted by this; I adore this musical. The narrator is one of my Broadway dream roles. But listening to it with my very literal-minded children who never miss a detail has reminded me of some quibbles I've always had with it. (It's also led me to learn a few new things, such as: What does "took the biscuit" mean? And: Is it really pronounced Ram-uh-sees?)

First up, the "I want" song: Any Dream Will Do. We love the tune and the beautifully rhyming lyrics, and we sing it loudly and dramatically.

"...a CRASH of drums, a FLASH of light, my golden coat flew out of sight..."

You know you want to do a starburst hand motion with that FLASH of light.

But when I really listen to the words, I'm at a loss to say what any of it means.

I closed my eyes, drew back the curtain
To see for certain what I thought I knew
Far far away, someone was weeping
But the world was sleeping
Any dream will do

Who was weeping? And the world was sleeping? What does that mean? Tell me, Tim Rice!
The phrases "what I thought I knew" and "any dream will do" suggest that Joseph was disillusioned by or dissatisfied with his life, but we know from the next two songs that he was the favorite and lived a pretty charmed life, at least initially. I guess he's singing these lines from a perspective later in life? But it's only the second song of the show!

This is kind of my main problem with Joseph. He doesn't have any goals or specific talents. Ok, he can interpret dreams, but I don't get the sense that he worked for that; he was just good at it. Lots of things happen to him, but what action does he take, other than wait around for any old dream that will do?
I suppose we must give him credit for working harder than the rest of the slaves over at Potiphar's place and refusing to have an affair with Potiphar's wife, but aside from that, what does he do? What are his good qualities?
After he correctly interprets Pharaoh's dream and is released from prison, he says, "anyone from anywhere can make it if they get a lucky break." I've always thought that was kind of a weak conclusion. No mention of working hard, being kind, helping others, or, since this is a Bible story, having faith in God. Just hope for your lucky break, y'all.

Jacob was the founder of a whole new nation
Thanks to the number of children he had
He was also known as Israel, but most of the time
His sons and his wives used to call him Dad.

Alec: His wives used to call him Dad?
Sarah: Yeah, that's weird. And gross. I think they should have tried harder to find a better rhyme.

Joseph's mother, she was quite my favorite wife
I never really loved another all my life
And Joseph was my joy because
He reminded me of her 

Jacob wanted to show the world he loved his son
To make it clear that Joseph was the special one
So Jacob bought his son a coat
A multi-colored coat to wear 

So you have a favorite child and declare it over and over to your other 11 kids, and then, to really drive it home, you buy him a fancy coat to ensure that not just his siblings, but the whole community, will know that he's the best one. This is some crappy parenting, Jacob. You need to do better.

As a result of their jealousy, the brothers "tore his coat and flung him in a pit", in other words, brought him into the wilderness to die, then changed their minds and sold him into slavery.
Theo: Wow, those guys are mean to fling him in a pit.
Sarah: Yeah, that's a terrible way to treat your brother, even if you don't like him.
Theo: That's not what I do. Those are the baddest boys I've ever heard of.

Joseph ends up at Potiphar's house and is noticed by the roving eye of Potiphar's wife. We had a whole discussion on slavery and how in a "his word against hers" situation, the servant would never be believed over the lady of the house. Also--

Kid: What does she mean, "Come and lie with me, love"?
Parent: Uh, like, come give me a kiss. But she's married to someone else, so she shouldn't be asking him that. And that's why he tells her "I don't believe in free love."

Heh, heh. Moving on...

Theo loves the drama. When I asked him his favorite part, he said in a mean, growly voice, "Joseph, I'll see you rot in jail!" I repeated it, with the rolled R in "rot", like they do in the show.
"How do you do that, Mom?" he asked as he tried, unsuccessfully, to roll his Rs.

One day in the car, for the first time, Theo and I made it to the very end of the story. Joseph is triumphant, he reunites with his father, and with his last lines he sings (and I am just belting this out from the driver's seat):

Give me my colored coat, my amazing colored coat
Give me my colored coat, my amaaaaa-ziiiiing coooooo-lored-
Theo: But I thought they dipped it! Wait, mom, pause it!

You guys, he asked me to pause it on the final three words of the whole show. I literally could not stop and just held up a hand to him in the back seat.

Sarah:--COOOOOOOAAAAAAAT! Ok, sorry buddy, what did you need?
Theo: Why didn't you pause it when I asked you to?
Sarah: Because it was right at the end; you gotta keep rolling with that finale, you can't stop it on the last word.
Theo: Oh. Ok. How could they give him his coat? I thought they dipped it.
(As in, "they dipped his coat in blood and guts and gore".)
Sarah: Hm. I guess they washed it and then hung onto it.

See how you can't get anything past a kid? They remember everything. And they don't suffer illogical scenarios gladly. So good luck convincing them that anyone from anywhere can make it if they get a lucky break.

Summer snapshot

I've got a recurring Sunday evening alarm set on my phone to remind me to write a weekly recap. It's not exactly a journal, since it's mostly "we did this" and "we did that" rather than any sort of reflection. But I've been doing it fairly regularly since January, and it has worked pretty well. ("It's better than nothing" is my slightly more defeatist version of "Progress is better than perfection".)

I'm often surprised how easily I forget what we did just yesterday, but I've found that scrolling through my calendar and the last several days of photos and texts can help me re-create the timeline.

We did a big road trip in mid-July, which I hope to document here, but it might have to wait until school starts and I have a bit more uninterrupted time to sift through the pictures and memories. In the meantime, here are some fun pics from the last week or so.

 It had been a long time since Matt and I went on an actual date, and even longer since we went to a concert.

Right after we got back from our road trip, my sister was in town for two short visits on either end of another Texas commitment that she had. As a result, I got to see this cool light display on my brother-in-law's new car.

 My cousin and his family visited, so we took them to some fun Austin spots. 

Sunset at Mount Bonnell was pretty lovely. 

We also explored the Capitol. The kids wanted to look down on the rotunda from three increasingly high observation levels. I went along with it, in spite of my terrifying intrusive thoughts any time a child gets near any sort of drop off.

I was much more comfortable once we were on the ground level, appreciating the architectural details. 

We took the kids to a splash pad that we'd never visited before.

I really love the look of those big water drops hanging in midair.

I also loved the overlapping circles pattern as the water pooled near the drain. 

That was harder to catch in a picture, though. 

The big kids are super into cars lately, and sometimes while driving down the road, they will ask for my phone--quick!--so they can take a picture. It's usually for some crazy expensive super car, but the other day it was this charming old Beetle. 

A screenshot of an article I foolishly clicked on, thinking it might have some actual relevant content.

"You desire to have a sexy breast..."

Yes please, just the one.

And I really, really love that among all the warnings and safety regulations posted by the swim center, they saved their biggest font by far for these words: Please have your ID CARD OUT AND READY TO SCAN.

Handguns, smoking, and glass containers are of course prohibited at the pool, but if there's one thing wealthy white suburbanites won't tolerate, it's standing behind you at the front desk as you shuffle through your wallet searching for the card that proves to the teenage lifeguard that you really are one of them.