Shopping, Dining and More!

What's a girl to do when she has a work party to attend and nothing sparkly or cleavage-revealing to wear?

Go shopping!

And what did I find?

Yeah, something sparkly and cleavage-revealing! OK, you can't really tell from the picture, but the entire neckline of the pink top is lined with tacky pink rhinestones and little fake pearls. That shirt is actually a halter, thus the conservative-a-fying black cardigan. I tried on the ensemble in the store, and told the sales girl that I love it, but that I don't really have great fashion sense and maybe they shouldn't go together at all. She made SUCH a face. And she actually said she thought the jeweled neckline didn't go with the sweater at all. But my concern was about doing the "layered" thing with the pink hanging out the bottom. She said that was fine. So I bought it.

I also got a pair of black dress pants and an orange silk tank with a cute pleated-ish neck line. For the party, I wore the tops above with a black skirt and then casual-ized it with my standard black sparkly flip flops.

I actually got a lot of compliments on the look, and my stock response was always something in the neighborhood of, "I got drunk and bedazzled the hell out of it this afternoon." I am really sad that the sparkle didn't show up in any of the pictures. However, I do get points for having on more color than most people.

I'm not going to talk about the cast party, except to say that I had too much champagne. I did stay clothed, didn't dance on any tables, and only made a moderate ass out of myself in front of my bosses (but didn't really say much I wouldn't have said sober... just not all at one time). And that guy who interviewed me for that job that I'm 99% sure I didn't get? I smiled and said HELLO! a little too loud, and he possibly scurried away after that.

The reservations girls (a.k.a. me and my minions) with the Chef. This photo was obviously taken after I decided that I would not pose for a picture without my champagne in-hand!

The after-party was at Jelly Rolls, and when we got there (around 10), the place was still mostly empty and there was no one singing along. Hello? Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" needs me to yell "WANTED... DEAD OR ALIVE" at the top of my lungs. Most of the tables turned around to look at me and I just smiled and waved. My audience! Finally! And at the end of the song, the piano guy thanked me. :-)

After that, some of my co-workers were dancing and the security guys came up multiple times to ask them to sit down. Perhaps because they were right in front of the stage? Well, whatever! That was the closest I've ever come to being kicked out of anywhere. But all told, there were probably 20-30 of us there, and maybe 20 others who weren't us. And they (for the most part) weren't behaving too badly.

For the record, I switched to water once we got to Jelly Rolls. All the bubbles had given me wicked heart burn, and I was really worried about puking. Scott bailed out of work early to drive me and Harp Girl home. Good thing, because my throat hurts from all the "singing" I did, and I can't imagine what I would feel like today if I had stayed.

One thing I noticed last night is that the two guys who didn't have anything at all to drink probably had the most fun. Sure, they weren't dancing or "singing" - but they had a front-row seat to some pretty spectacular shenanigans... AND they'll remember more than the rest of us. On the other end of the spectrum, I behaved myself so that I didn't wake up this morning ashamed of myself. That's more than I can say for some of my other co-workers!