The last dress I bought was for a wedding last summer.
Before that I think it was my fathers college graduation in 2007…or maybe the black knit dress for a fundraiser last May.
Regardless, it’s sufficient to say that dresses are not my go-to wardrobe selection of choice. Mostly it’s tough to curl up on the couch with a book or a beer and watch the game when you have to make sure to be careful and not flash the room full of guy…friends. They laugh a lot. Then you have to punch them in the arm. Then they punch back. And you bruise cause you are a delicate flower and they are big oafs who punch each other in the arm all the time. It’s a vicious cycle.
Which is why I was extremely surprised this past weekend visiting one of my best friends in San Francisco to not buy one or even two but THREE new dresses as we spent almost all day Saturday shopping.
Are you all with me so far? Not only did I buy three dresses, but I went shopping for clothes for more than 35 minutes.
Photo Credit: Getty Images – Marcus Luconi
There’s something about being in a different place that bring out a different side of youself. Not moving to a new place, but traveling and visiting. It’s like you have an open persmission to do things you would never do before and try things you’ve never tried.
For example, two of the dresses were purchased at a magical place called A Miner Miracle. On top of being a fantastic non-profit organization that helps low income men, women & young professionals with their careers and futures, it is also a beautiful store that sells samples of name brand designers like Anne Taylor, Calvin Klein & Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit. And they sell the samples for a ridiculously (seriously…RIDICULOUSLY!) reasonable price. It is almost worth a $300 trip to San Fran to avoid The Maine Mall markup on these garments!
But I digress. With my arms loaded with clothes to try on with Jenny we walked back to the dressing rooms.
Dressing rooms is probably not the best way to describe it though. Dressing ROOM might be more appropriate. Big empty studio with a couple racks in the center, full length $10 mirrors leaning against the wall and heat lamps is best. I stared at Jenny. There was no way she expected me to strip down to my boy shorts and bra and try on stuff.
But that’s what you do at A Miner Miracle.
Even for a girl who spent her teen years in theatre/music/dance/perfomance backstage dressing rooms where it was weird for girls to be fully clothed, this was a daunting task to say the least! So I tried on a couple shirts with my jeans. I can do this I kept saying again and again in my head. I can spend seconds with a flash of skin trying on tops. Then I got to the dresses. And I tried a couple on over jeans. Eventually the jeans came off.
Then it was time to change out of one dress and into another. I was stuck. The gloves…er…dress…had to come off. And it did. And the woman on the other side of the racks glanced over. And I gulped as I slipped the new brown, teal & lime sundress over my head. Turning to look in the mirror I spun a little to see the full dress effect.
“That’s cute, you should definitely get that one,” she said. Jenny jumped up and down squealing. Another woman smiled.
Stepping outside our comfort zones, being in those awkward places and getting a little girl-ified in the process…a necessary event for anyone in the dating scene. Really, it’s necessary for all of us.
But especially for us single people.
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