ARGH!!! I hate this!!!

I thought that I was off the hook this year. El Esposo has been in Dominican Republic for work for the last two weeks and he was unsure of when he was coming home. That meant that we would be missing his company Christmas party. It is a great party and they really pull out all the stops but I HATE having to get ready for it. For many years when we were still poor, living in an apartment, and paying off school loans I had my standard holiday outfit. I had found a black stretch velvet skirt at Old Navy in the kid's section that I swapped out a different top each year. I did that trick for about 6 or 7 years. Then the party organizers got too creative. One year it was "Country Christmas" and we had to wear country western dressy clothes. It is not hard to find that kind of stuff in Texas. The next year it was "Black & White". I have worn that black dress to lots of events and weddings. And I only spent $21.99 on sale at Anne Taylor Loft. Last year I wore a beautiful leaf green suede leather jacket with western fringe and stitching on the shoulders with a dark green velvet skirt. It was what I wore to my Dad and Val's wedding and it is distinctive enough that if I wore it again "The Wives Club" would be wagging their tongues.

Well, I got the call that El Esposo was headed home to attend the share-holder's meeting and that we were able to go to the Christmas Party. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! In the last 36 hours I have been to four different department and clothing stores, conferenced with El Esposo over the phone and laptop so he could see the choices, conferenced with my bud Johnny Tri to get a second opinion, and then traveled to three different Banana Republic Stores to find a dress that fit.

Today I had to go get the nails done. This is a once a year event for me. Maybe twice if I am lucky. Manicures don't last long in the pool. I can paint my toenails myself but usually I won't put some poor gal through the mess of marathon feet. I had to get the eyebrows waxed. Yeowch! I can tweeze and keep them at bay, but sometimes it is better to let a professional handle that. Since I have been growing my hair out, it looks like C.R.A.P. and I have no idea what to do with it. It is usually pulled back with a headband or under a Head Sweats cap of late and I don't have a curling iron or hot rollers. So I had to go buy hot rollers. Gads, at least I had a $5 off coupon. My TNT buddy Norma was kind enough to agree on short notice to take Buddy to The Movie Tavern to go see BOLT and have a burger. The college age gals that normally watch Buddy are all employees of El Esposo's company so they are unable to babysit since they will be at the party. Did I say that I hated all of this???

The bad part is that I hated laying down two hundred dollars for a dress! Other women do this all the time without a thinking twice and I stood around in the store for 30 minutes before I could take the dress up to the counter to pay. Now it if was a new pair of carbon fiber cycling shoes, or a Blue 70 swim skin, or two new pairs of running shoes I would not blink an eye as I pulled out the cash or the card. Does that make me weird?

Tomorrow I have to mess with make-up and I am dreading it. I have a feeling that I will end up either looking like Tammy Faye Baker or Cindy Lauper. Well, check back later for pics and hopefully I won't look like a dork in this dress.


Later Gators,

Liz