Fashion Faux Pas

I woke up late this morning sort of. Actually, I woke up at my usual time but the dogs were all still asleep and not demanding to be let out so I just laid back and enjoyed listening to their snores instead of getting up and getting ready like I should have been doing.

When I finally just had to get up, I was late enough that I really just had to run downstairs and grab the first thing that was clean. I grabbed: purple plaid capris, a turquoise shirt that says "Hawaii" and a Teal Patagonia fleece pullover (with purple trim so it kind of matches the pants). The t-shirt is really long and the pullover is a little on the short side. I naturally didnt tuck in my shirt or anything.

Shortly after I arrived at work this morning, I went into the bathroom with the full length mirror and I had to gasp. I looked ridiculous! But hey, I punched in on time and it isnt like I have a reputation for being a snappy dresser anyways so I dont have to worry about ruining that. I had to laugh though. My hair was all over the place because I didnt brush it this morning and my t-shirt was enough longer than the pullover to make me look quite weird. It occurred to me that if I added some lime green leg warmers and then a mask that was just a plain black rectangle, I could have a Halloween costume as one of those "What NOT to wear" features in magazines.

I forgot about how silly I looked and decided to run up to the gas station at lunch. As I was waiting in line to pay, I noticed the woman behind me was looking at me in a seriously funny way. All of her body language screamed: THE HORROR!!! I thought that if this woman is a blogger, I might stumble across one of those “you should have seen the big fat woman wearing purple Capri pants in November” posts. Usually such posts end with “What was she thinking when she got dressed this morning”

The truth is I know perfectly well that I look silly. I knew it as I was getting dressed. But sometimes looking silly is worth 15 minutes of peace where one can lie back and be contented just to listen to a dog snore. Really. I guess that is one of the nice things about getting older…one’s priorities change. And one becomes freer in a way. Free enough to wear a red hat with a purple dress (ala Jenny Joseph’s famous poem) and free enough to wear purple plaid Capri pants in November.