But more exciting, to me, was to have a place to practice being a girl. I spent most of my childhood in speedos, tennis shoes or soccer cleats. I was outside all the time. I blew my nose in my t-shirt, had twigs in my hair (and lice in second grade if I recall correctly) and hung around with the three boys in my neighborhood. (One that would years later actually hit on me over Facebook implying he'd be happy to party with me when I was in town -- if I got his drift -- even though we are both married with kids -- classy. Defriend.)
Anyway, a lot of girls that I know have love affairs with dress shoes OR they just have a lot of shoes. I usually get by with 7 pairs, 4 of with are of some sport variety. Lately, ever since I lost the weight, I've been wanting to try different kinds of clothes, different kinds of shoes and -- heaven forbid -- make up.
So last night I played dress up. I got all dolled up in red, and I put on a pair of 4 1/2" heels that I bought online from Aldo. I had only been walking around the house to practice in them, so wearing them on uneven concrete surfaces was a challenge. I just kept whispering to myself, "Step on your heel not on your toes, step on your heels not on your toes." It worked. I had very little ankle shaking. And my friend Ian of the North sent me a video to watch about how to score the bottom of your heels with scissors so they're not so slippery and you can get some grip. (Thanks, Ian!)
Like me, Minnie has always been an outdoors kind of girl. She grew up a swimmer, and in the last year has become a runner. She's a diehard White Sox and Blackhawks fan. She's lithe and lovely. She showed up in a red tank top and a hot pair of jeans and a pair of adorable plaid heels.
"My flip flops are in my purse," she whispered to me as we were moving along in the registration line for the drawings and to make our donations. "Mine are in the car," I whispered back.
We grabbed our drinks and appetizers and found some comfy couch seating near the bar (since the table area in front of the mini stage was already filled up by 5:05 p.m.)
Then we chatted and met a new friend, who is an amazing woman, mother and artist. Suddenly, there was a man in a suit and a yellow tie and vest in front of me handing me a card. "Yeah, this one is for you. You get this for having (pause while he raises his eyebrows) great shoes."
I thanked him and grinned from ear to ear. The card was an invite to compete in the high heel contest at the end of the night. The moment was almost as amusing to me as when the little old man at the National Cathedral in D.C. asked me to help him out and then handed me a pitcher of holy water and pushed me down the aisle during communion to deliver to the clergy. I was just there to see my friends from Millikin sing. But there I was an athiest with holy water... and 10 years later... Loosey in a high heels contest.
Fifteen minutes later another guy with a tie was in our area checking out our shoes and choosing carefully.
There was a group of 3 women next to us that looked -- hot.
Finally he handed one to the woman wearing Leopard print pointy heels, one to me and one to Minnie. I handed mine back to him telling him I already got one. The earlier yellow tie guy came by and said, "Well, that might be a nice sign for you at the end of the night if we both chose you." (Nice that after one small sangria, I can't hold a card upright... good thing I sobered up before the contest, right?)
Alas, neither of us was chosen as a finalist. :-) But it was still very fun, and I was pleased that we were able to raise funding for 65 kids to visit Larkin's Place for free. Amy Armstrong's work for Larkin's Place is amazing, and I love what she's doing for the children in C-U.
In the end I did win a door prize. One that I was least likely to use: a purple and gold Juicy Couture purse. (I think it'll hit consignment later today.)
But at least it wasn't the basket of Fannie May candy, which I probably would have tried to consume the entirety of on the way home.
I am totally looking forward to the next one. But for now, I'm excited that tonight is date night with MacTroll. I made 6 p.m. reservations for X-man to go to Little Gym, and 6:30 p.m. reservations for us to eat at Bacaro. I think there's a black skirt, red shirt and black leather caged shoes in my future.
Oh, and MacTroll's reaction to me suddenly being 5'11" last night. "I suddenly feel like Tom Cruise to Cameron Diaz in Knight and Day." It actually really weirded him out. Because his next sentence was, "I'm glad you're going out alone." -- So he wouldn't feel short next to me. Too bad those caged shoes are also 4" tall wedges tonight. He'll have to get over it.
He did get an ear full from me when I put the shoes on in the closet and he freaked out that they might be putting dents in the new wood floors. Seriously? Seriously? Of all the mammals in this house (including himself) he's worried about ME doing damage to the floors? In the 3 seconds he'd seen me in the heels (the first pair I'd worn out since I was in Toronto in March)? Puh-leez. And concern for the floors were his first reaction. Not, "You're hot." But "Don't wear those on the new floors, they'll make dents. I've seen it in the Apple office in Reston!"
Hoser.
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