Day 13. Festive Attire Expected

What is your Holiday go to outfit?  What makes you feel festive and look good?  Is it a Christmas sweater (ugly, ironic, or otherwise?), a special Christmas tie? A little black (or green) dress with a festive scarf? A pair of shiny vinyl pants?  What is your signature holiday look?

Can't find a pic of the green pants, but this is festive as #&$@!

For many years, maybe too many, Kat had a pair of green stretch velvet pants.  We purchased them in 1993 at the Avenue or someplace like that in the Shawnee mall.  They were hanging on the clearance rack and I think we paid $5 for them. Best $5 purchase EVER.  They were versatile, Kat wore them with a sweaters and boots, tunic tops and flats, tank tops and sheer shirts and heels.  A variety of really great looks for $5.

Some years the pants fit more like leggings, and other years more like harem pants.  The thing about was not only did they look good on Kat, they made her feel good about how she looked.  She wore them to our Christmas party, to work parties, to church, to her bingo group, and even to work.  It was a sad sad day when she had to formally retire those pants, but they literally fell apart in the wash.  Not much you can do with that.

So, what is your go to piece?  What makes you feel and look good and holiday ready?  If you live in the OKC area I hope you are planning on wearing It when you come to the party next weekend!  

"I'm getting nothing FOUR Christmas. . ."

Day 4

Today is Denver’s “Red Ball” in honor of World AIDS Day. The “Red Ball” is a big event with a fire and ice fashion show. Because At The Beach, the company I work for, is one of the official sponsors of this fundraising events, Kat and I will be there. It is not the biggest event we have attended for work this year, but it is a big deal.

In preparation for this event, Kat went and bought a new outfit. It took several shopping trips, and there was the whole question about how red her outfit should be, what was ‘red ribbon red’” anyway? Kat was not the only one with wardrobe questions however. As this event is not a black tie event, I don’t need to wear a tuxedo. I do have a suit to wear, but of course it’s not red. Texas Jay suggested I opt for a red tie and red vest with a black shirt. That is festive right?
I went to the formal wear store and let me tell you, renting a red vest and tie sounds easier than it is. Again with the whole, ‘what color red is best?’ Also, I really liked the red and black paisley vest, but can I get away with a patterned vest and a black and white pinstripe shirt? Sure mixing patterns is hot right now, but can I get away with it? Several text messages back and forth to Texas Jay and I managed to pick a vest.

Yesterday Matthew and I went to pick it up. I have been struggling with a concern that when I wear this vest that it won’t say hip and trendy, it will say fat man in a red and white suit. I tried the vest on at the store and was thinking that it looked good, and that I was definitely headed in the ‘hip and trendy’ direction.

When I walked out of the dressing room, Matthew looked up and said “Hey Santa!”

This is my own personal wardrobe malfunction!

Wiskers on Kittens. . .

My favorite things

If you know me you have heard me say “you’re my favorite”

Apparently I say it often, and to a large number of people.

I have been known to say it to my nieces. And, umm . . . sometimes they hear me say to the other nieces. Or I post it on facebook and it incites something.

I tell the boys, “Matthew don’t tell Paul, but you are my favorite”, then I get up and go to sit next to Paul and say, “Now Paul, don’t tell Matthew but you really are my favorite”. Then they both laugh and yell that they can both hear me saying that.

I always deny that I have said it. “No, no, no, I said he was fragrant, but you, YOU are my favorite.” Some might say I am too easy with the whole favorite thing, or that I am misappropriating language to mean something other than what it does.

But when I say it I am sincere. Really.

Saturday night at the Christmas Party I got called on it, big time. About 20 of my closest friends and family all showed up wearing shirts that had my picture on them and on the back they said “Judson’s favorite” or some variation of that theme. Kat’s shirt said #1 Favorite in rhinestones. The boy’s shirts said “One of his favorite things”. Other shirts said “no, REALLY, I am his favorite”, “Uncle Judson’s favorite”, “Don’t tell the others, but I’m his favorite”, “Judson said I was his favorite”, “You might think you’re his favorite, but really I am.” “Favorite M.I.L” and “favorite F.I.L” Heather went all out and her shirt said “Judson’s favorite” on the front and had miniature Christmas lights. Her friend Shannon had planned to wear a shirt that said “Judson doesn’t know it yet, but I am his favorite”. Najah was going to wear a shirt, but instead made the statement that people who are insecure feel the need to broadcast the nature of their relationship, but she is confident in the knowledge that she really is my favorite, so no t-shirt was necessary.

I am a little embarrassed by the whole thing. I am going to blame the eggnog, or the cranberry punch, and surely the fact that this was the last party we will have in OKC had nothing to do with anything I felt that could be mistaken for a real emotion.

Currently I am in the market for a new compliment to give out. “You are adorable” is one option. “You’re feet do not stink” is another. I will let you know what I decide. Until then, you are my favorite. Really.

Festive Attire

I was asked to write about the Christmas I got leather pants. I would, except that I never received leather pants for Christmas. The pants in question were vinyl. Black shiny vinyl. They were not a Christmas present either, I purchased them myself to wear to my 31st birthday celebration. In case you are not aware, my birthday is not in December, it is in March. If you want to see me in the pants, there is a picture on my blogger profile thingy over there on the left side of your screen. I will wait while you go look.

Contrary to what people say, I have not worn the pants to our Christmas party, and I am not exactly planning to either. I have worn them to my birthday party, to Kathleen’s birthday party, to several Halloween parties, to Heather’s birthday party, out to the clubs, and once, just once, I wore them to a company Christmas party.

Before I continue I will say this. They are just pants. Yes, they are shiny, and vinyl and it is recommended that you put lotion on the outside of the pant legs so they don’t squeak when you walk, but they really are just pants. They are not a lifestyle choice, or a fashion statement, they are just pants. I bought them when I was 31 for my shiny pant birthday when 2 other coworkers bought the same pants, and some others showed up for the party in leather pants, leopard print pants, or silver pleather pants.

Christmas 2005 my boss had a huge company party at his palatial mansion over by the state capital. Attendance at these annual events was mandatory, everyone got all dressed up, the girls from Tulsa all came dressed as hookers, (don’t ask), everyone over imbibed, employee awards were given, and then usually the boss took a group out after to see a drag show, unless there was naked swimming, or people getting in the hot tub in their underwear. Are you sure you want to be reading this? It sounds pretty depraved. (For the record, I was not a naked swimmer)

If you are still with me, I didn’t particularly want to go. Work is . . . well it is work, and in 2005 so many of my coworkers were at least 10 years younger than I was. But I understand what the word mandatory means, so I was going. The pants I had planned to wear were your basic black dress slacks. Either I forgot to pick them up from the dry cleaners, or I forgot to lose the 10lbs necessary to get them buttoned. Who can say? So there it was, the babysitter was there Kat looked fabulous in her pretty dress and my choice was the aforementioned pants that didn’t fit, or the khakis I wore every day. Kat suggested the vinyl pants, and since it is not like the party is a formal event (hence the hooker wear), I wore them.

You would not believe the big deal people made about the pants. Seriously? They are just pants. You would have thought they were made of cellophane they way people carried on. I wore them with a nice dress shirt, so it’s not like I was all Billy Idol or anything for the party. But clearly, as people are still talking about it 5 years later it made a lasting impression. I could make a statement about some people have nothing better to do than talk about a pair of pants I wore to a party once. I asked Kat if she thought I looked bad, because it is her job to not let me leave the house looking bad, and she said no, that I looked really Really REALLY good in the pants. My friend Candi, who also has a pair of the pants, suggested that the big deal is that it surprised so many of my coworkers don’t know me at all and it surprised them.

So, does this have anything to do with Christmas? I guess only if I wear them to this year’s party.