Attitude Check

As I was saying earlier, I was not at all in the mood for the holiday season. Although I am still not feeling that festive in regards to Christmas, my attitude towards New Year's Eve just lightened a bit. For weeks I've been seeing these ads on TV for the Behnaz Sarafpour line at Target. Perhaps you've seen them too--models in cute girlie mini-dresses with poufy skirts and strapless tops gallivanting around New York City enroute to some place fabulous. I've been secretly lusting over them despite myself, partially because they're the sort of outfits I never wear. My sorted history with self image and body issues normally paralyzes me when it comes to thinking in a fashion-forward frame of mind. I have great style but I never exercise it because I always thing "why bother wearing something funky and cool? It would look so much more ravishing on a skinny girl."

Well that's certainly no way to live, now is it?

So I was IMing with L, and we were discussing clothing as we tend to do because she has fabulous clothes and we share similar style mentalities (although she actually puts her ideas into practice, whereas I normally just wear jeans and a sweater), and I was suddenly inspired to buy something frothy and fun and girly and fabulous for New Year's Eve. And then I remembered the Behnaz line, so I hopped over to Target.com and discovered a lovely purple strapless number with a short poufy skirt and I immediately bought it. It was only 36 dollars, so why not? I normally run in the other direction of strapless frocks, convinced that my imperfect form would look wrong in them. But for 36 dollars, it's okay to experiment, right? A few clicks later, it was purchased, and my attitude towards New Year's Eve festivities has changed remarkably. Now the proud owner of a totally impractical, ultra-femme frock, I almost can't wait to get down to some pre-2007 fun. In a sense, I feel like this dress is a good metaphor for the night itself--fleeting, carefree, and not something to be taken overly seriously in any way, shape, or form. So different from my usual serious-cynical self.

Even better, I told a friend at work about it, and she proceeded to invite me to a dinner party! Now I have yet another option for the night. Regardless of what I end up doing, I will be all dressed up with some place to go.