Month: July 2010

I hate to follow my brothers-in-law anywhere… when we’re driving. They always lose me. Something about how I won’t speed much and they think their vehicles can fly. Or maybe it’s just that I drive like a little old lady, without the impatience and aggression that seems to come so easily to them. Whatever the reason, when I follow I always lose sight of them.

Knowing this, knowing that I can’t count on their assertions that “you can just follow me,” I learned long ago that I need to get an address and figure out how to drive myself there. And I know that I will arrive much much later than they will.

This trip to the wedding was no different.

I very wisely got an address and placed it into my Iphone mapping app, and made sure that it would remember it… before we ever left in a convoy from Ariana’s house. And 20 minutes into a one-hour drive, I had to turn to that nifty little backup plan… when I lost both cars I was following. Both my brothers-in-law left me in the dust. As expected.

And I arrived 15 minutes after everyone else.

I did get there in time for the wedding. Though not before my youngest sister called to make sure we were on our way. And not before everyone was there “a long time ago” and waiting for us.

Somehow, I always end up disappointing people by being myself. How does that happen?

There’s nothing simple or straightforward about getting ready to go to a family event, especially if it’s not just your family. It takes advanced planning. You have to be sure that you have the right dress, accessories, make-up, and gift. Everything is judged.

I know because I’ll spend the wedding judging others.

I’m lucky I already had the dress I needed. I have a habit of buying dress-up clothes every once in a while, just in case, but always with the absolute knowledge I’m never going to need them. Then I do. The same goes with jewelry, for me and to give as gifts. If I see a good sale, and something catches my eye, I buy it and put it away for a rainy day.

So I was almost prepared. The one thing I didn’t have was the right shoes. I’ve been doing a bad job of buying shoes lately. The life of a shoe isn’t that long, at least not for me. It lasts maybe a year, then it has to be replaced. But I haven’t been replacing them lately. As a result, my shoe collection is diminishing.

I did have a pair of shoes that went to the dress I wore, but they weren’t the best choice (they pinched a bit and I’d worn them quite a few times). And, truthfully, I ended up taking them off by the end of the wedding… but I think that may have had more to do with the fact that I danced a lot than with the shoes themselves.

So, I wore a sleeveless black dress with beading around the neckline. I paired that with a lace wrap and some heeled leather sandals, both black. The jewelry was a set of blue topaz (emerald cut) in a nice sterling silver/marcasite setting. The set (necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring) was a present from my sister for Christmas a few years ago. It’s very nice, one of my favorites, and one of the ones I pull out for special occasions.

The most elaborate part of getting prepared to go out for a special event isn’t choosing your wardrobe and accessories. (And I know that I can only speak for myself in this.)The most elaborate part is the makeup. But I’m not going into that here.