Paper faces on parade!

Today...(or, rather yesterday, since I probably won't get this post up before midnight) we finally enacted the "impromptu" (Improv Kalamazoo...shh) 

Masquerade For the Modern Man and Woman.

Destination:  Westnedge Panera Bread & the Crossroads Mall.  

Mission:  Be nonchalantly amazing.  

Garb of choice:  Formal floor-length gowns & masquerade masks.  (I also nabbed a fringy scarf-shawl accessory and some flipping sweet black ruffled elbow-length gloves {which i have been dying to own for literally years.  This was the perfect excuse}.  Thank you thrift stores!)  I wanted to homemake my mask, which EVERYONE else did, but I didn't have time.  However, I'm quite happy with the one I found.  Feathers abounded.

Attendees:  6 lovely ladies (unfortunately a lot of people wound up unable to come.  It was likely too short notice for the busy collegiates and their jobs.  Mmph).  And...our undercover camerapeople were in a car accident (!) en route, which we didn't discover until afterwards.  (From firsthand Facebook reports, everyone seems mostly fine.)  Also, two of Emily's HPA friends showed up last-minute, dressed, respectively, 1.in a (homemade! Amazing!) Elizabeth Swann style gown, and 2. as The Phantom of the Opera.  'Twas veritably pretty cool, but I didn't get the chance to actually talk to them.

Stop numero uno:  Panera Bread.  

This was all right.  We didn't get too much attention here.  (Unfortunately, we picked the same weekend to do this as Portage Northern's homecoming, so everyone who did stop us was either like, "Dance tonight?  *wink, wink*" or "Oh, you're the homecoming court for Portage Northern!"  We responded with as much proper impromptuness as possible— "No, sorry.  we're just out looking for our princes.  Getting a bite to eat before going to the ball."  (This garnered both some skeptical/wary glances and some laughs and good luck wishes.)  A few employees did tell us we looked lovely, and two little girls passing by the window on the way in just pressed up against it and gaped in awe.  (So adorable.)  However, after our Unofficial Board Meeting In Which we Attempted To Brainstorm For Future Improv Plans But Instead Succeeded Mainly In Merely Reiterating Ideas Which Had Already Been Posted On Our Facebook Site, we decided to relocate to Crossroads Mall.

Stop number two: 

...was much more entertaining.  We split up into three groups and wandered, penniless princesses all, through the verse.  We got a lot more strange looks (you could literally see people whispering, "what the heck?") and queries about our dance of origin. By this time we had managed to relate our story with less stuttering and "Isn't-it-obvious-I'm-making-this-up-on-the-spot?" deer-in-the-headlights look, and it was actually quite fun.  Beth told one lady, "Oh, we're on a mission from King Robert to seek out our true loves! (Slow going.)"  She thought we were hilarious.  The clerk in a CD store we stopped in was even more nonchalant than we were.  (It was the same dude who sold me and Mom the new Daughtry album and the new Skilelt album last year!  Random observation.)  He was just like, "Oh, by the way, we have a whole 'nother box of stuff on sale in the back if you want to look."

We found this awesome store (the name of which I don't remember, sadly, but i'd know it if I saw it) that sold katanas and potted bamboo plants and kimonos and glass dragon statuettes and Oriental tea sets and other much awesomeness that I will go back to investigate if I ever make it back to that mall with money in hand (I had approximately 36¢ on me, all in pennies).  The katanas are unfortunately quite expensive, but who wouldn't want a bamboo plant??  Especially a curlicued one?  In a really awesome vase?  For under $10?  

I had safety-pinned part of the slit in the back of my dress, and it came apart in jcPenney's.  A slighty-older-lady employee ran us down to tell me (with great worry and furtiveness) that I would "be in a lot of hurt in a few minutes" if I didn't fix it.  Haha.  It was kind of embarrassing.  Especially when Beth whispered (loudly), "Quick!  Let's all gather round Kiersten while Cassie fixes it so nobody sees."  Haha...

But—overall—the night was quite a fabulous time, and will definitely have to go in our "Official Big Book" of stuff to do (again, later, when everyone isn't at homecoming!).  If I get a copy of any pictures, I will (try to) add them to this post.

I was originally going to stock up on my sadly neglected French and pretend not to know how to speak English, but i thought that might be going a little overboard, especially as our night was already a little frazzled due to our shrunken group of people and some lack of preorganization. Je ne le regrette pas.