Monday, December 06, 2010

Party Attire

In the past two weeks, I've been invited to two events with attire suggestions that strike me as funny. The first one was "business casual or cocktail," which feels like a really wide option range. I'm borrowing a friend's long sleeve black wrap dress, which seems like a nice compromise (and helps me avoid buying a winter dress that I'd probably never wear b/c I'm always so cold plus the mall in Chattanooga falls somewhere between frustrating and hopeless). The other invite calls for "dinner party casual." That seems like an unhelpful attire suggestion, but I'm thinking dark jeans and a nice shirt will work.

My neighbor said she once got an invitation that called for "hill country elegant," which sort of sounds like an oxymoron to me. Another friend received an invitation with the suggested attire of "Charleston casual." Whatever happened to the four simple categories of casual, business casual, cocktail, or black tie?

In other news, we're closing on a house next month! The house is in a fantastic location (maybe a mile from where we live now) with a nice size, relatively flat lot (hard to find in this party of town). We'll share our back fence with some of our closest friends, and several people from our church live live within a few blocks. The house needs a LOT of work, but fortunately it was priced accordingly. In fact, the house was never even listed, so we avoided the realtor fees. It's one of those situations where everything just fell into place within a week. We're excited.

Hope you guys are enjoying the Christmas season and not overly busy. I'm doing my best to slow down and enjoy.

p.s. I'm thankful that our Christmas tree is up! I love, love, love sitting in the dark living room with just the tree lights.

13 comments:

HappyascanB said...

Those are some crazy attires! We just went to a function where no attire at all was listed!?! That threw me for a loop but I decided on a dress with tights and boots and was just fine.

Congrats on the house! That's awesome!

I also love sitting in the dark with our tree lit. Molly has a pink tree in her room, and I just rocked her to sleep (something we're trying to break the habit of doing) while gazing at her tree in the dark!

Anonymous said...

At least you are getting invited to parties!! I am considering skipping the tree this year...is that bad? Love you, friend.

Ally said...

HappyascanB: My friend whose son shares Molly's birthday (she was in labor at our wedding:) has been weaning her son off rocking to sleep so he'll learn to self-soothe. I'm learning a lot from you moms!

A2: Yes, that's bad! But I'll only require you to have a tree at one of your residences:) I know a red-head who would love to help you put up a tree. Our tree has totally helped me get in the Christmasy mood.

Pam said...

ugh, I hate all of those crazy dress attire descriptions. I'm with you, what happened to just the simple casual, business, formal, etc.

Congrats on your new home!

laura anne said...

congratulations on the new home Ally! Exciting times.

And just what IS 'Charleston Casual'?

TC said...

No holiday parties in my world.

Which I guess is a good thing? lol Sounds like it based on these attires.

Congrats on the house!

L.C.T. said...

Congrats on the new home!! Sounds great :)

Ally said...

Laura Anne: I have NO idea what Charleston casual is. Or hill country elegant.

Anonymous said...

When I went to Tim's company Christmas party last year, the dress code was "party casual." I asked what that meant, and learned that the planners of the event put together a powerpoint presentation to show what was OK and not OK for men and women. I thought "party casual" sounded like it should include jeans, but it most definitely did not. I wore gray pants, a black shirt, and heels -- and almost felt under-dressed!

I guess it depends what field you're in. I was working at a university, which defines "casual" very differently from the financial sector! :)

Ally said...

r8chel: Wow. Maybe I need inquire further about "dinner party casual."

Ys said...

Wow congratulations on the house - that's amazing news :) Fixing up a house is so much fun. Although we're only renting this one, the landlord has left us do what we want with it cos when we moved in it needed so much work. You'll have heaps of fun :)

ella said...

hi! surprise to hear from me on the blog? i like the new design. congrats on the house! and i'm glad thatch gets to go to work with you.. xoxo

Ally said...

"Ella"--so fun to hear from you in blogland :)