Rejected title: Birthday, party of one
I had absolutely no plans to do much of anything today, other than avoiding work at all costs (read: no Tuesdays with Demure!TM) — I’ll officially do anything to avoid that weekly torturous meeting!
I ended up spending too much money at Old Navy, having a lovely hot pastrami lunch from Togo’s, cleaning up at the Crate & Barrel Outlet in Old Town, getting a slice of triple chocolate mousse cake from the Alexandria Pastry Shop and a sugar-free vanilla latte from S’bucks.
Alas, that was only my morning. 😉
You see, there was this dress I have been coveting since yesterday. It’s black and knee-length, with hot-pink rosettes at the top and a few at the bottom. There’s a hot-pink layer of crinoline beneath the dress, and it’s just freakin’ cute. I’d seen it at Hecht’s (retail price: $120) yesterday when I dropped off my car for service at the Goodyear across the parking lot. What was weird was that, when I walked in, I had a vision that I would see the dress that would’ve been perfect for last weekend’s wedding. And sure enough, I walked up to this fabulous dress immediately.
I had even tried it on, and it was perfect. I rarely try things on that I’m going to buy, let alone things I know I am not going to take out of the store. I grudgingly left the dress, citing financial distress and also having nowhere to wear it.
Shan and I met up for dinner tonight, and the table was full of balloons and gifts and a lovely ice cream cake. After we ate and put all the goodies in my car, we were off to the shops at Landmark Mall for some window-shopping to fill up our evening before the grand “American Idol” finale (I’ve sent 30 votes to Diana already!). And Shan asked to see the dress I have been talking about nonstop.
Let me put in some background. I bought some silver earrings with hot-pink crystals today, and I managed to pass up a tiny hot-pink handbag, figuring I really didn’t have anything to wear with it other than that damn dress that I couldn’t afford. And Shan was wearing hot-pink and black, ironically — the same colors in my beloved dress.
And if you believe in signs, when we went to Hecht’s, there was one dress (in my size!) on the racks, and it was the one I had tried on yesterday, because there were two Maddie hairs on it that hadn’t quite fallen off since my little fashion show for myself. Shan fell in love with the dress and said I had to find a way to have it.
Well, as if divine intervention struck, I suddenly noticed a sign above my head that all dresses and pantsuits were 30 percent off! So I said, fuck it, I don’t need any more signs than this, so I took the dress to the register. Where, of course, I was promptly told that this particular dress wasn’t on sale yet.
Bah. The sale didn’t start till tomorrow, and I was told that said dress shouldn’t have been on that display in the first place.
Shan was having none of it and had them call a manager. I was crushed to watch the salesperson toss my gorgeous dress into a crumpled heap on her desk. Shan scooped the damn thing up and refused to put it down till she argued with the manager that the sale sign didn’t belong over a dress if it wasn’t on sale. She told me we were not leaving the store without it and that I would not pay full price.
Sure enough, the manager let the salesperson ring it up (with tax, it was just under $90). And I already have the earrings to match! (That’s a story for another day — let’s just say that I ended up stepping on the earrings in Claire’s earlier, and I couldn’t find another pair like them, but I hadn’t damaged them and simply had to buy them because they had found me!) Soon, the lovely dress was all wrapped up (on the hanger, of course) and in my hands within minutes. I was so fucking pleased. 🙂
On my last birthday, Shan and I were hoofing around the mall when I saw, fell in love with and bought my emerald ring. I swear, she’s my good luck charm! The ring had been on sale, and I had just been saying earlier that very day how much I had wanted to own something with my birthstone but in a silver setting. The ring sits in a white gold band. How perfect!
I had bemoaned briefly the fact that the dress hadn’t been available when I was shopping for my bridesmaid dress, but she said fuck it, that wedding wasn’t my event and the dress I got tonight was for me to wear to any event of my choosing. I had a minor epiphany — there’s someone in whom I’ve had a passing romantic interest, but I realized this person might never take me to the Kennedy Center or somewhere else fabulous where this dress would belong, so I need to find someone who will take me to the places where I am destined to go. Not that I’d rule someone out for the mere fact that formal attire isn’t part of their vocabulary, but if I want to be a party coordinator (and indeed I do), then I need to not only look the part, but also be the part. And this dress is me and the person I want to be, all at the same time. It’s fun and flirty and formal and funky, all told — like 1964 meets 2004. (Or, in my case, 1974 meets 2004!)
I can’t wait to have somewhere to wear it, but I am truly the type of girl who has the clothes and just needs an occasion, instead of having an occasion and searching high and low for the right thing to wear, like I did for the wedding. And while that dress was a smashing success, it took more effort to find it than I needed at that point in my life. In any event, with the new dress, it’s nice to know that, if a fabulous invitation just happens to crop up, I’ll be ready to accept and be divine on cue. 🙂
All right, so who wants to take me out? 😉