On Saturday night, Mike and I attended the GRS Dinner Cruise. It was a formal event so I spent some time before hand shopping, hoping to find a good dress at an affordable price. My good friend Sylvia was kind enough to come with me and help me shop.
After trying several stores with no luck, we went to Sears. They had a few racks of special occasion dresses for 75% off the original price, so I knew I could afford something. The next task was to find someting modest...that is almost impossible! I saw a beautiful dark plum dress, but it had spaghetti straps so I passed it over and found a black and silver dress that met all the requirements. I tried it on, and it fit and it was marked down from 165 to 34.99, so I bought it and brought it home. I tried it on again and I just didn't really love it. I was a little frustrated and bummed. So the next day I went to a thrift store and found a long sparkly green dress that fit for 9.95...only problem was it didn't have sleeves, but I started thinking that I could probably find a black shrug or jacket and make it work. I went to a lot of stores to try and find something and found myself back at Sears. I saw that long beautiful dark plum dress again, and this time I decided to try it on and see if it fit and maybe it would work with a shrug. I tried it on and I loved it! It was originally 134 marked down to 64.99 but I thought it might even be less because all the other dresses on that rack were marked down more, so I checked, and yes it was! I got it for 24.99!
Anyway, now I knew I had to find a shawl or shrug or something to go with it. I looked everywhere and couldn't find anything that I liked. I was starting to worry that I wouldn't be able to wear it. Then on Saturday morning, the day of the cruise, I started thinking that maybe I could make one. I looked on the internet for shrug patterns and found some free ones at modestprom.com. Why not? I went to the fabric store and got the fabric I wanted and came home to try and make one. It turned out to be so easy to make. It took about 1/2 yard which was $5 and it took me about 10 minutes to make it. I even dressed the shrug up a little more by adding a gather to the back of it.
After trying several stores with no luck, we went to Sears. They had a few racks of special occasion dresses for 75% off the original price, so I knew I could afford something. The next task was to find someting modest...that is almost impossible! I saw a beautiful dark plum dress, but it had spaghetti straps so I passed it over and found a black and silver dress that met all the requirements. I tried it on, and it fit and it was marked down from 165 to 34.99, so I bought it and brought it home. I tried it on again and I just didn't really love it. I was a little frustrated and bummed. So the next day I went to a thrift store and found a long sparkly green dress that fit for 9.95...only problem was it didn't have sleeves, but I started thinking that I could probably find a black shrug or jacket and make it work. I went to a lot of stores to try and find something and found myself back at Sears. I saw that long beautiful dark plum dress again, and this time I decided to try it on and see if it fit and maybe it would work with a shrug. I tried it on and I loved it! It was originally 134 marked down to 64.99 but I thought it might even be less because all the other dresses on that rack were marked down more, so I checked, and yes it was! I got it for 24.99!
Anyway, now I knew I had to find a shawl or shrug or something to go with it. I looked everywhere and couldn't find anything that I liked. I was starting to worry that I wouldn't be able to wear it. Then on Saturday morning, the day of the cruise, I started thinking that maybe I could make one. I looked on the internet for shrug patterns and found some free ones at modestprom.com. Why not? I went to the fabric store and got the fabric I wanted and came home to try and make one. It turned out to be so easy to make. It took about 1/2 yard which was $5 and it took me about 10 minutes to make it. I even dressed the shrug up a little more by adding a gather to the back of it.
So after all was said and done my outfit for the evening, including my shoes (I got them on clearance at DSW for 9.99) cost about $40. Not bad, huh? And it's a good thing I was able to get such great deals, because Mike's tux was not as cheap, we decided to buy one for him because we know there will be times in the future when he will need one.
Anyway, I guess I should write a little bit about our night out too, instead of just the prep for it :)
When we arrived in D.C. we boarded the "Spirit of Washington."
We socialized a little and found our seats. It was a wonderful evening, good food, good conversation, and a little dancing too.
We didn't have to worry about our kids either, we left them in the very capable hands of Roger Munns and knew they would be fine. They loved him and had a great time...and I think he really enjoyed himself too.
It was so fun to have a fancy night out, I could get used to it!
