An entry I wrote just before I ventured to Mark’s office party on Saturday has gone AWOL. I hate it when that happens. And it was so clever, and of course none of it is coming back to me right now.
Here’s a photo of what I wore. I went with the items I actually purchased for this occasion. Please excuse the colour balance in this photo. The walls in our WC really aren’t that sickly looking. The top is pink. It’s made out of the kind of fabric that is wrinkled-on-purpose. During my long shopping expedition on Friday afternoon I noticed a lot of clothing like this, and to be honest I can’t say that I’m very comfortable with the wrinkles. I admit, it sure is practical. You can ball up your clothes, stuff them in a corner of your drawer and they’ll always come out looking fine… but there’s a small part of me that knows wrinkled=sloppy. I blame my mother for that.
I decided to wear the pants I bought too. They’re not of the wrinkly variety, instead, they’re a sheet of black polyester cut so it falls into two tube-like shapes. But it was the best I could do. Who would have thought it would be so hard to find BLACK pants? The only reason I couldn’t wear my old black dress pants was because I bought them (along with a full third of the clothes in my closet) during The Summer I was Very Svelte when suddenly shopping become fun again.
I am no longer that aerodynamic, so, back to the malls we go. The new pair did get hemmed. In my last post I alluded to using tape or staples to hold up the hem, but I didn’t go that route. I had them done professionally!
When I wear black pants I worry about looking like a waiter. I wrote this in my lost post, but I now realize – more precisely – that I feared that I would look like an USHER. These pants are more USHER than WAITER. Why? Because they have a swath of black satin around the hips (not like a belt, it is part of the pant) as well as 1” wide satin stripes down the outside of each leg.
They also have pockets at the side. This, along with the hemming issue was making it hard for me to justify their purchase. Pockets in dress pants, as well all know, make hips look even wider because they’re accentuating that what we’d prefer to minimize. At the same time I am a pocket gal. I feel lost without them.
I thought I would buy some new shoes, but my budget was stretched thin to begin with. Happily, I discovered a cool pair of strappy shoes in my closet. I was digging around for a different pair and came across a mysterious shoebox. What’s in here? HA! Shoes I had forgotten about! Three inch heels. Yay! And I wore fishnet thigh-highs under the big wide black pants. They were moss green (that’s why they were on sale I guess) and when I put them on they made my feet look totally jaundiced.
I am fairly certain no one was looking down at feet on Saturday night. If anything, they were looking at my wrinkled top and wondering if I’d misplaced my iron.
All that to say the party was fun. Mark didn’t win any door prizes this time. (Remember last year?) As usual, the DJ was awful (who plays the Macarana nowadays, and more importantly, WHY???) and I was happy I ordered the vegetarian entree. We got to chatting with a fun group of people and that’s what makes all the difference at ye ol’ office party. It’s all about the people.
And today? Today I’m just tired. :)
