Material Girls!

Last Sunday, me, my sister, and several friends gathered together for a night of fun.  We were attending a Madonna concert!  Of course, it is never as simple as it sounds.  We were not going to just get dressed and get out the door.  We were going to be seeing the ultimate material girl herself, one of the best style icons in the world.  That requires some planning and prep work.  Fresh off last week’s blog post about Girls Night Out (yup, we left the boys at home), we had a plan. 

We started our day off early, with appointments at Blast Blow Dry Bar in Minneapolis.  My sister had arranged for blowouts and makeup for six of us.  Naturally, the excursion would not be complete without bringing champagne and cupcakes (Dorothy Ann Bakery = yum).  We settled ourselves in for some pampering and girl talk. 

Everyone else was getting their hair curled and blown out but I wanted to get nutty.  Since this blowout was not going to last past the night and I would wake up looking like a former member of Flock of Seagulls the next morning I wanted to be edgy in the moment. So what does that mean?  Faux-hawk, baby!  The stylist working with me took it one step further.  She used pink chalk to color my hair. I felt pretty badass. 

Next, I got my makeup done.  Now, we all know how much I love to do that.  As always, I sat down and looked at the makeup artist and said, “Do whatever you want.  Just make me look cool.”  Yes, she did.  She did a pop of color on my inner lids and a smokey exterior lid.  The middle was left neutral.  Lots of mascara and big old false lashes completed my eyes.  Then she gave me an ombre lip.  I will absolutely be doing that lip again in the future! 

My sister chose to channel an old Madonna look from the early 1990’s (like in the picture).  She was rocking big voluminous curls, a dramatic cat eye and bold red lips.  She even had the mole painted on!  Rawr.

Once we were all glammed up, we drove home to get dressed.  My kidlets were at my sister’s house, since Grandma was babysitting all four grandchildren while dads were deer hunting and moms were partying.  When we pulled up into the driveway, one of the neighborhood kids caught a glimpse of my pink faux-hawk and his jaw dropped.  Sis and I had quite a few giggles over his facial expression.  Our hair and makeup stopped our own kids in their tracks.  I may be having some hard discussions about Biggest and Littlest getting colored hair in the future.  They both LOVED my crazy look, with Biggest repeatedly telling me how pretty I was (say it with me now, “Awwwwwww).  The next hour was a flurry of activity as we finalized our ensembles, printed tickets (whole other drama there), had happy hour, snuggled kidlets, and got back out the door again.

Seeing as how we were making this a night out to remember, we started out with dinner at Barrio Tequila Bar in St. Paul.  I love the food at Barrio.  The tequila laden cocktails ain’t bad either!  We enjoyed some nosh and giggles.  The place was packed with fellow concert goers, which might explain the slower than normal service.  At least we could people watch, which is another joy of going to an concert like Madonna. At dinner alone, we saw lace, crimped hair, tutus, glitter, colored denim, leather pants, you name it! I even had the joy of spotting a couple ladies sporting Hot Mama purchases. 

Once we got bored waiting 30 minutes per round of drinks, we went next door to The Bulldog Lowertown and had a few more cocktails before heading off to the concert.  We were in no hurry, having been warned the Material Girl doesn’t hit the stage before 10:30 pm.  We could be fashionably late too.  Around 9:30, we finally piled all seven of us into a cab, much to the chagrin of the cab driver (he tried to talk us out of it) and headed off to the Excel center.  Once inside, again our eyes were assaulted by all types of crazy fashion choices. 

Now, I am not going to give too much detail regarding the concert itself, since I was not wow’d.  The theatrics were cool.  Madonna is in amazing physical shape.  She played mostly new songs and very few of her classics which made her famous.  I would have liked a little bit more bang for the buck in her performance.  I think my sister summed the night up best when she said, “This is a lot like prom.  All the fun was in the excitement of getting ready and going to dinner.  The event itself is just ok.” 

Overall, the whole day was a smashing success.  We got gussied up, had a good time, and got to be ourselves (not just moms) for a night.  Yay for us Material Girls!

 

 

If you are interested here is what I wore:

Blazer:  Aryn K (similar here)

Sequined Tank:  Free People (similar here)

Coated Skinny:  7 for All Mankind via Hot Mama

Tigris Earrings – Stella & Dot

Chimera Bangle – Stella & Dot

Bardot Spiral Bangle – Stella & Dot

Boots – via DSW