party weekend and purty dresses

I've got two formal events to go to this weekend. One Friday night (my work party)  and one Saturday night (his work party). Sunday I've marked 'hangover' on the calendar.

 

So, the big question is, of course, what to wear? Yes, boys,  this is a girl's blog and clothes are very important to me. My girlfriends and I that are attending these events have been twittering about what to wear for weeks. My decision was made over Christmas when I found some dresses at those miraculous outlets at Woodbury Commons outside New Yawk. It was a foregone conclusion that of COURSE I would not wear the same dress on both nights. I mean, yuck!

 

Night one, which is my work party, I figure I should mind my p's and q's a bit and not go full on va va voom. I mean I do WORK with these people after all. So I've decided on a dress I've had for a while (that I asked my mom to send me as it was in storage with her), that I wore previously to some gala event in Austin. It's a long black velvet column by Carmen Mark Valvo, edged around the arms and the deep v neck in gold. It has a matching shawl in black velvet with gold edging. It's very simple, classically elegant and curvy, though it will require a certain amount of  supportive lycra in strategic places.  

 

I found some cute gold shoes to wear with it, after a fairly exhaustive search where I kept saying, 'I want shoes like the ones I saw in that shop window in the next town'.  Then it dawned on me, why don't I just BUY the shoes in the shop window in the next town? So I did. They are not too high heeled, not too shiny and simple enough to wear with my formals or with cute sundresses in summer, so score for me. Also, I can wear them on Saturday night with Dress Two. See me being all economical and shit?

 

Dress Two was one of the two I got in New Yawk over Christmas. It's BCBG, a warm brown color in a stretchy halter neck style.  The bodice is very drapey and tight, almost like a swimming suit that Esther Williams would have worn, and then it all merges into this fantastic very full skirt that I can hold up to shoulder height with both hands and still have lots of drape left in the skirt. A dancing dress for sure. It was on deep deep discount, mostly because I am pretty sure people picked it up and thought it was too long and thin to be wearable...but I am tall and that dress stretches like a mother fucker. (This tactic has served me well in the past, picking up the thing that looks impossibly long and skinny on the hanger but it has stretch out the wazoo.) I'll wear it with gold accessories as well. (I'm testing out nail polish as we speak...and no I did not spill any of it in the bathroom this time.)

 

The other question is, what to do with my hair? I'm a hair idiot, in that if it takes more than a quick blow dry and some goo it ain't gonna happen. So I thought I would make an appointment with a hairdresser for one of the nights and get my hair done by a pro. But then, considering costs, and the fact that all the hairdressers ever do with me is to dry my hair with a diffuser to max the curls out and not get frizz, I decided to just go buy myself a hairdryer that had a diffuser, learn to use that sucker, and do my own big curly hair for the nights. Thus the amount I would have spent on a hairdresser is now sitting in my bathroom in the form of a Vidal Sassoon hairdryer with diffuser. I used it this morning and can see how that thingy does make a difference. Is this the beginning of Karla's Good Hair Era? I dunno. It's sort of a long boring way to dry my hair. I don't know if iIhave patience to do it every day.

 

Of course, all this depends on me not falling and breaking my ass on the ice. It is SLIPPERY out there. One of my co workers fell and badly broke his leg last night. A cast just would NOT match my outfits, so I need to be careful not to follow his example.

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