Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Saturday was my birthday, and I turned 37. My loved ones made me feel special: my mom sent me flowers earlier in the week, the rest of the family mailed cards and gifts and called to wish me happy birthday.

And The Gryphon outdid himself by making me a delicious crepe cake. It's crepes layered with strawberry and fat free whipped topping, with strawberries on top. It reminded me of a very light layer cake, and it was about half the calories and fat of a normal cake.

On Saturday itself, I did a few things for myself earlier in the day, and The Gryphon and I went out in the evening.

First, in the morning, I had an appointment for a facial with the aesthetician at my hair salon. I'd gone in for one earlier in the summer, but that was a half hour long, whereas this was a full hour.

Really, there wasn't much that was different, except that it went on longer. There were the various creams and lotions, the exfoliants, the steam to unblock my pores, the facial massage, cleansing of blackheads and finally a cold cream mask.

It was all very relaxing, but I couldn't keep my mind from wondering. Every time I got too caught up in thought, especially thinking about wedding related tasks that had to be accomplished, the aesthetician asked me everything was OK. I guess my forehead must have tensed up. I assured her everything was fine.

She actually complimented me on how good my skin is looking. I've had a lot of similar compliments lately, so I must be doing something right.

After the facial, I was hungry and wanted something healthy, so I tried the Salad Stop in Media. I remembered that The White Rabbit loved it when he lived in that town. As you can imagine, they offer a wide variety of salads. I ordered the Spinach A La Orange, which included, of course, spinach and mandarin oranges, along with tomatoes, almonds and raisins. It was served with a delicious mango vinaigrette, so delicious I actually took the plastic container of unused dressing home with me for later.

Then I walked up to The Cedar Chest, my favorite consignment store, because she only accepts high quality merchandise in the latest styles. This time, though, she was in transition from summer to fall clothing. I wasn't yet emotionally ready to try on sweaters, so I only got one item: a plum colored knit sleeveless top with some embellishment near the neckline. It will be a great layering piece when it turns cooler.

Normally, I don't buy clothes out of season because my weight continues to fluctuate. I don't want to buy anything that might be too big on me or — horrors! — too small when the season to wear it arrives. The knit top, however, was marked down to $4, so there was very little risk involved.

One of the thoughts that had crossed my mind during my facial was that I ought to pick up a dress for the wedding rehearsal. In particular, I thought I should get myself a little black dress (LBD), since I don't have one. A piece like that would be very wearable for multiple other occasions.

I also wanted to see if I could find a handheld steamer, which could come in handy for last minute touchups of dresses, veils, wraps, et cetera before the wedding. I remembered there had been some wrinkle related issues at my sister's wedding a couple years ago. For example, my brother's wife had actually purchased a steam iron once she arrived, because her dress had picked up a lot of wrinkles on the trip to Vermont. My sister's mother-in-law, who had traveled a shorter distance, had also had troubles with her dress, and her last-minute ironing caused her and her husband to be late for the ceremony.

It's been a couple weeks since I got my dress back from David's Bridal, and even though they handed it back nicely pressed, I'd like to be able to smooth out any wrinkles that have appeared while it's been in my closet.

Next, I drove to the Granite Run Mall, to look for a LBD and a steamer. First, I tried the anchor stores, which was disappointing to say the least. Boscov's had a pretty weak selection of clothing in general. In fact, the only thing I've ever bought there was a pair of Jones New York jeans. Based on what I saw this time, I'm not likely to go back for anything other than jeans.

Their dress department was pretty drab, made up of dresses that were either dowdy, or simply too basic and boring to justify the price.

From there, I tried JCPenney, a place where I've had some success in the past. While they do offer a larger selection of fresh looks, they didn't have much in the way of dresses, and certainly no LBDs. I saw a couple denim shirt dresses, some bias cut dresses (which hug the hips and are terrible for pear-shaped women), but nothing that would have worked.

Then I walked through a couple boutique stores, with no luck. My two favorite stores, The Limited and New York and Company, primarily stocked work and casual clothes with very little after 5. The other boutiques all seemed to be selling junior fashions.

Last, I stopped in Sears to look for a steamer. I walked through the women's department, but nothing caught my eye. They didn't seem to have any steamers, either. Either that, or they were hiding the iron section, which is entirely possible.

Before leaving the Granite Run Mall, I stopped in the freestanding Kohl's, which is right across from the parking lot for Sears. Now, the Kohl's near me has a large department of clothes of fresh, stylish looks, whereas this one appeared to cater to a more conservative client, concentrating on very boxy, almost mannish looking, asexual garments. I got depressed just looking at it!

In the parking lot, I called The Gryphon to tell him that I was stopping one more place on the way home. I'd previously told him that I intended to shop at The Cedar Chest and look for a steamer, but I hadn't told him about the LBD search, mainly because I hadn't thought of shopping for it until the facial.

On the one hand, I had high hopes for Marshall's, as I'd had good luck for them before. Then again, I'd had such terrible luck the rest of the afternoon that I didn't want to get my hopes up. I hadn't tried on anything since The Cedar Chest, since nothing had seemed worth my time.

Marshall's was crowded, due to a change of season sale, I suppose. I headed straight for the dress department and looked through the dresses in my size, cheerfully piling my arms high with dresses to try on. The great thing about Marshall's is that they get dresses from a variety of department stores, and while they might be a season out of date — and therefore much cheaper — I've found that you can often walk away with timeless, classic looking pieces, provided you're willing to try on a lot of items.

While many of the dresses couldn't qualify as a LBD, I figured that the true priority was finding a dress for the rehearsal. After all, I could always find a LBD later. Most of the dresses I tried on looked fairly nice, although I didn't love them. I follow a policy now that I don't buy anything if I don't absolutely love it. It means that I might take longer to find items, but once I do I tend to wear them (with a few exceptions: never go clothes shopping on a day when you're in a giddy, excitable mood, or you'll buy all sorts of things that you might never actually wear).

Then I hit pay dirt. I found a sleeveless black Evan-Picone dress with a wrap top and A-line skirt. It's got ivory piping on the top and an ivory band along the bottom, so it's a little bit of a different take on the LBD As soon as I tried it on, I loved it, and I could see how I could dress it up or dress it down with different accessories, maybe add a jacket for warmth in the colder months.

The best part was that it had originally retailed for $99 and was marked down to $29. Oh, and it's a size 6, which makes me really happy, as I normally wear an 8.

So the LBD in hand, I drove home and took a nap until it was time to get ready to go out with The Gryphon.

More from Alyce's birthday celebration:

September 12, 2007 - ComedySportz Revisited

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

September 2007 Index

Musings Index

What do you think? Share your thoughts
at Alyce's message board (left button):