Mother-of-the-Bride Dress, or Being the World's Worst Shopper

I went shopping alone for a dress for Anna's wedding in June. I'm a terrible shopper, friends. I suffer with chronic indecision. (Choosing a dish at a restaurant is also a nightmare.) Adam declined to go to town with me when he discovered that I was intending ... to shop for a dress.
I went to the same shop where I found dresses for Philip's and Peter's weddings, a lovely consignment shop in New Bern, Twice As Nice. Two cheerful, helpful girls patiently aided me:

 Yes, I asked to take their picture and told them they would be on a blog post. They were sweet.

Now, the dresses in the order in which I tried them on. I am about a size 16. I have a large bust, plus a good bit of hip and tummy. My poor leg veins look like a NYC road map, so shorter skirts are out. Certain necklines are also ill-advised. 

too frilly,
looks like pajamas

too snug,
must not accentuate bust!

too big,
terrible shape

not too bad,
I dislike geometric patterns.

quite frumpy,
too large

best thus far,
the cut of the bust is wrong

the dress of a 3-part outfit,
not very fancy

same dress with its jacket,
looking rather drab

now it's the skirt and jacket
(as a blouse). better neckline

Everyone prefers this one.
Nice fit. Good fabric

 At this point I reclothed, posted some photos on facebook, and asked for friends' opinions. Most preferred the last one -- the blue/black geometric pattern with the short black jacket. I confess: it makes me look my best. But I dislike geometric patterns, and I don't like skirts that fall just below my knee. So all my inability to decide kicked in! Naturally, I thought I'd try on more dresses ...

The salesgirl found this dress.

We added a little jacket.
Still dislike geometry.

I returned to the 3 piece outfit.
The girls found a white shell.

Inexplicably, I return to the drab dress.
I now notice my hip bulges.

A salesgirl found a lovely, lacy shawl to lighten the look.

This last outfit looks better in person. The dress falls just above the ankle. I bought this one. In addition, I'll have the skirt and blouse if I want them. I'll find some comfy white sandals and a dangley silver necklace.
Before handing over my credit card, I texted Adam and asked his opinion. He knows me. He knows I won't like the geometric patterns or the shorter skirt. He knows I opt for hippie farm-wife clothing whenever possible, and little black jackets are just not me, no matter how much better they suit my body type. He recommended the long dress and the white lacy drape.
Then one of the salesgirls asked me two crucial questions:
"Which one of the dresses makes you feel pretty?"
and,
"Which one of the dresses makes you feel comfortable?"
I can't tell you why, but I won't ever feel pretty with geometric patterns across my tummy. And I'll never feel comfortable in a skirt that shows all my lower legs. I would have to wear pantyhose, probably support hose. In June. I hate all pantyhose passionately. With the long dress, I can get by with no pantyhose whatsoever, and no one will ever know!

Why do we choose to wear things that we know aren't the most attractive option? At some point in my life did I define myself in such a way that I'm now compelled to buy dresses that are less than flattering? There's nothing wrong with the longer dress. I just have ... preferences. And they affect my clothes shopping. But it takes me two hours, two salesgirls, a host of facebook friends, and a few texts with my husband, to figure it all out.

Tra la la!! One more item on the wedding check-list is ticked off! :)

To Calm the Inner Beast

Maggie is growing like a weed! Today she was wallowing in a pile of pine straw, happy as a clam.

Awwww! Not too bad for a mutt who only cost us $25.

Puppies can be quite good for the human spirit. They make us smile and laugh. We all need to relax our spirits. Another way to do this is coloring -- did you know that? Adult coloring books are the latest thing! If you wander into Michael's or other craft stores, you'll see them. I bought a coloring book recently at Ollie's, a discount store. It cost $5.79.

It's a lovely book with pretty pictures of some mandalas in the front -- circular designs with intricate patterns. Other coloring books have intricate drawings of animals, paisley designs, flowers, and other patterns.

Here's the mandala I just started today:

So many pretty ones! This will keep me busy in my few quiet, leisure moments. Coloring is viewed now as a stress-reliever. If you think of the hours you spent coloring as a child, you might remember its effect. The focus and concentration, and attention to simple things, the self-control of motor skills -- these things contribute to an inner feeling of calm.

Plus, it's pretty! I used my 50% off coupon at Michael's to get some decent colored pencils.

Although our temperatures the past couple of days have been (sadly) quite warm (80 degrees), autumn still advances around us.

These pics are from New Bern Thursday. When I shopped at Michael's, I had two receipts and for each one I received a 50% off coupon to use NEXT time! So excited. I already know items I want to buy for Julia for Christmas, or for my soap business. Anyway, on the way out to the car, somehow I dropped/lost one of those coupons. Boohoo :( I was SO sad. A coupon like that, to me, is worth anything from $6 to $20. Lots of items at Michael's I simply won't buy if I don't have a 50% off coupon. Julia and I drove away, but that lost coupon bothered me. I felt as if I'd left a $20 bill in the parking lot. After a few other errands, I told Julia I had to go back through that part of the parking lot and look. And guess what? I found it! Hooray! I use those coupons (plus sales on yarn) to keep my business costs down all winter, and to buy Christmas presents.

How's your autumn coming along? Are you happy and calm, or frantic and worried? Do some coloring, pet a puppy, and view some leaves before they all fall to the ground. It's beautiful out there!

Wednesdays in Town

On Wednesdays I take Julia to her college classes in New Bern. I try to occupy myself for a few hours. Last week I spent most of the time at the local shopping mall. These malls are struggling to make ends meet. I found two works plastering over a large section of wall. (Sorry about poor quality photo.)

I asked, and they said this had been a store front. But the store closed and the mall couldn't find a new tenant, even with the holiday season coming. They don't want people seeing a vacant spot, so they're paying to have it finished over.
I bought a pair of work shoes, since I'm on my feet much of the time, and legs were aching. These are Sketchers with memory foam, on sale. Wonderful!

Other empty walls nearby are covered with large photos of the New Bern police department from various years. The one you see here looks very like Andy Griffith and Barney Fife.

A little branch of the police force has a presence here in the mall. When I go there on Wednesday mornings, its populated with elderly walkers and ladies waiting for their crocheting class at Michael's. No criminals around.

(Evidently our mall was in a bit of bother because it swiped a photographer's picture. You can read his response here.)
My contact photo on my phone was Awful! It was a random photo I took of myself while learning how the phone worked. So I sat in the car and took more selfies to replace it. Julia caught me. She reprimanded me. "Mom! Are you taking selfies? Stop it!"

I put on lip stick and combed my hair. In other words, I tried! I still think I'm looking rather aged.
Anyway, THIS week (today), I parked at the college and looked at the autumn leaves, enjoying Christmas music and knitting away. It was quite calm.

I took along my warm chai and Adam's pumpkin scones. I did drift to the mall briefly, found some marked-down yarn at Michael's, clearance shoes at Shoe Dept., and a couple of Christmas presents for the girls with my Michael's coupons. Yes, I've started light Christmas shopping.
And here's the short list of a few books I want for Christmas. I put them here so I won't forget them when Adam asks, "What Do You Want For Christmas?":

Susan Branch's latest book -- it sounds so fun!

 These two Elizabeth Goudge books seem to me to be her best. I've read Green Dolphin Street and The Dean's Watch. Loved them both. These are hard to find el-cheapo, but they are on Amazon for $13-$16 each.

What's on your Christmas list? Are you shopping yet?

Shoes

I've been a bit absentee. Lots going on: wedding, graduations, travel, homeschooling-morphing-into-dual-enrollment, musical rehearsals/performances-around-the-corner. Bits of stress going on too, but I can't really chat about that. Sometimes more than just bits.
So, to put on a happy face, let's talk about shoes!
Here are the ones I bought for the wedding. Remember? $4. Very simple straps.

hat tip to Julia's feet

A profile shot. Love the heel, and those are the new rubber caps put on by the funny shoe repair man with the pet chicken.

Apparently these are up-scale shoes, but my feet really don't know the difference.

I adore how it says they were made ... not just in Italy ... but in the mountains of Italy! These are not valley shoes - hahaha!

Julia found her dress for the wedding at J.C. Penney. It's so absolutely perfect -- great fit, modest, elegant, cool. We both love it.

Don't all we 50-something women remember those days when we were a perfect size and shopping was so easy?

Her shoes for the wedding:

Julia is not actually a member of the wedding party; she doesn't have an official role, so I thought it was legal to share her clothes with you ahead of time :)

Adam's been doing a lot of bee work too. I'll talk about that in the next post.

A Treasure Trove

Today Adam and I dropped by a store I'd heard of from friends. They told me I might find an egg cup here.

It's in Bridgeton, about 30 minutes away for us, and on the way to New Bern, so we stopped on our way to "big town."
They have lovely stuff, and lots of it. China ~

Silver and silverplate ~

Cool antique items ~

Adam toodled around. I asked the owner if she had any egg cups, and within five minutes she had found me FOUR egg cups!

Here they are. All very reasonably priced. I'll show you more close up shots of them in another post. They're adorable, unique. I wasn't expecting to find four. But the one I have now is already chipped and probably not long for this world.

Kirkman's has loads and loads of wonderful things. They have about 40 vendors who have booths here and sell their antiques and collectibles. No junk here. Cool crocks, hat boxes, old books, just everything.

The store is clean and neat, and doesn't smell moldy and dusty like some antiquey stores.

Even beautiful old doorknobs.

I think this will be one of my go-to places to browse and window-shop. I can't really get much more "stuff" into my house; we don't have space. But I love to look :) And the scent of the store was appealing -- they must've had some neat candle burning somewhere. And the music was lovely, old '40s romantic tunes. And ceiling fans humming overhead. It was relaxing. If you're ever in the New Bern area, plan to visit Kirkman's -- it's worth it.