2012 New York Junior League Winter Ball + An Exhale Spa Giveaway!

I’m just going to recycle my own corny jokes here–I had a ball last night at my Junior League Winter Ball! (2011 post, 2010 post)

The primping was a little more low-key than last year–no make-up done, but I did get nails and hair done.

I was supposed to meet up for the Junior League running group in the morning, but I took one look at the fog and rain in the morning and decided to pass and spend the morning cleaning and organizing my apartment for my upcoming move.

I kept telling myself I’d run on the treadmill instead, but around noon, I realized I had to meet Melissa and Ashley at 1. I went to the little gym in my building, decided to hop on and do intervals, and lasted for all of five minutes, because I was not feeling it in the least. Old Theodora used to lie to herself and still call that a workout, but This Theodora is just laughing at herself and a little bummed she couldn’t get it together yesterday.

I met Melissa and Ashley at my favorite nail place near my apartment for some mani-pedis.

Sexy Divide by Essie. I don’t see the divide. I think it’s just straight-out sexy.

Lacey came over afterwards, and we ran some errands together before our hair appointments.

We went to Dry Bar, which is happiness and sunshine in a hair salon. The interior is light, cheery and gorgeously decorated. This place made me so happy.

So Dry Bar only does blowouts and updos. They give you a little lookbook for you to pick your blowout from. Since my dress was flowy (and I can’t do anything to my hair myself other than straighten it), I wanted something relaxed and sexy, so I went for the “Mai Tai,” which is described as wavy and beachy.

I was nervous after the Miss Piggy incident on my birthday, so it took me a while to relax, despite the massive glass of wine they gave me. The other awesome thing about Dry Bar? iPhone charging stations at each station. I’d actually never gotten a blowout before my birthday, but if I do ever go for a blowout again, I am totally coming back here.

I LOVED my hair. She dried it and did loose curls with a round brush and then did more loose curls with a curling iron, keeping the ends out so that they were more wavy than curly.

I hightailed it back to my apartment, speed-applied makeup, walked Bailey and turned around to hightail it up to The Pierre. Since my committee does PR for the league, we had to get there early to greet any press that arrived. Tumblrs, do you recognize Lauren? We’ve been internet friends for years, but finally met recently when our paths crossed through the NYJL.

I’m not going to lie–I’m in love with my dress. I was contemplating just doing Rent the Runway, which is what most of my friends did, but I ended up stopping in the Rent the Runway sample sale the other day and getting this Nicole Miller beauty. Full price: $695. What I paid? $100. Major score.

I spent the next few hours shadowing our president and shuttling her to talk to any members of the press who wanted to talk to her and making sure the photographers got photos of her and our Mistress of Ceremonies, Sade Baderinwa from ABC News.

I’d actually joined my committee a few years ago when I was contemplating a career switch to PR. I have lots of respect for those who do PR well (and, um, less respect for those who don’t), but I learned through this committee it wasn’t something I was interested in full-time. (I do work for a PR firm, but 90% of my job is social media strategy; I only do a little bit of pitching.)

Shannon, my Junior League other half.

Lacey, Shannon, Jen and me. (Same crew from 4th of July last year, and some of my BFFs in the city.)

While the Winter Ball is a great party, it’s also one of our biggest fundraisers–usually raising around $500,000 in one night, which goes to fund our community programs. This year’s theme was Moonlight in Marrakesh, and The Pierre was decked out in lush, exotic Moroccan tapestries and lots of bright jewel tones.

This is about all you get for the inside and decor, sorry. I went from working the event to enjoying it pretty quickly and didn’t take many photos.

Oh, wait. There’s the program? And some bubbly.

And…cappuccino?

Apparently I’m all mature or something, because I managed to wake up without a hangover today, despite the open bar. I knew I wanted to get the run in I missed yesterday, so I tried to refrain from being overserved. Oh, and I guess that late-night pizza must have helped.

I got in a 6-7 mile run (not sure because I accidentally stopped my Garmin at one point) with Laura and then went to a blogger meetup at 16 Handles afterwards, and it was nice to not feel like I was dying from too much champagne.

At the ball, we got swag bags with a bunch of free passes to fitness studios and discounts to other places…

Which brings me to you!

There’s an Exhale pass in there I can’t use–it’s for first-time visitors or those who haven’t visited in the last six months. Well, I went in December (no post about that one, but here’s my review of my first time at Core Fusion), so I can’t use it–and I know I’d stick it in a folder and forget about it a few months from now. So! I have one pass for Exhale that includes:

• unlimited Core Fusion + yoga classes
• a $25 gift towards a select spa therapy + 20 percent off any other spa therapies
• 20 percent off personal training
• 10 percent off “wellbeing boutique purchases”

Exhale has locations in Atlanta, Boston, Bridgehampton, Chicago, Dallas, L.A., Miami, NYC, Palm Beach and Turks + Caicos–but if you think you might be traveling to one of those places (or if you want to take me to Turks + Caicos), feel free to enter, anyway!

To enter, just leave a comment telling me your favorite nail color or favorite way to wear your hair for special events. (Going for real deep here.) This giveaway will be open until 11:59pm EST on March 6.