You're checking you bank account for spray tan money, you're watching your caloric intake like a hawk, and you're using class time to online shop for a dress. Ladies, you know what time of year it is. Formal Season. The period of time during which it is acceptable to prioritize making a pro and con list for each potential date over studying for finals. The time during which your stress is caused by finding shoes to match your dress, as opposed to actual school work. Formal season is a beautiful thing, my fellow sorority women, and this year, I was fortunate (a word I use lightly) enough to experience a new aspect of this joyous time. I was invited to a fraternity's formal, and with that, took on the traditional task of decorating a cooler for my date. Yes, an insulated cooler for keeping beverages chilled. Why it ever became a tradition to paint a cooler for your date, I do not know, but I can tell you one thing. I deserve an award. To anyone that has ever gone through the rigorous cooler painting process, you too deserve an award. To anyone that has not, I will do my best to summarize the steps for you.
1. Be prepared to spend you life savings on supplies.
2. Get ready to sand the outside and receive the arm workout of your life.
3. Cry a little.
4. Start with a layer of primer. Feels pointless. Very necessary.
5. Stalk Pinterest boards for hours searching for fratty captions and different uses for alcoholic beverages.
6. Find a SICK design and get to work.
7. Realize you have the skills of a 4 year old and toss that idea.
8. Discover that Mod Podge is your best friend and just glue things on.
9. Spell something wrong and have to paint over it.
10. Get paint on your floor, the couch, your clothes and your carpet.
11. Contemplate if this boy's cooler is worth your mental sanity.
12. Paint a sunset. Write a fratty quote and/or country song lyric.
13. Scribble on a "Formal 2016" and end this long journey of cooler art.
14. Realize that you are actually proud of yourself and refuse to give him the cooler.
15. Jk, he's taking you to formal. Give him the damn cooler.
16. Celebrate. It's Formal Season, girl.
Of course, these steps are a tad exaggerated. As I sit in my common room staring at my half-done cooler, I have mixed emotions. Part of me wants to throw it out the window, while the other part wants to drop everything I'm doing to work on it. Painting a cooler for a frat boy is a roller coaster of emotions. If you are ever "lucky" enough to have the opportunity to create one, prepare your schedule and bank account, but give it a whirl. It's a great way to bond with friends who are in the same boat as you, and to release your creative side. With that being said, this cooler is my first and last. The end.
