Wednesday's Words for April 28, 2010

Some women are so naturally well turned-out. You’ve seen them, I’m sure. Everything they wear goes together beautifully. Their hair and make-up are done to perfection. Their flawless magnificence leaves you in awe. They are style, grace, and elegance all together in one package.

And then there’s me.

Well put together isn’t familiar territory for me, at least not without a lot of careful thought and planning.

Getting ready to attend the RT Booklovers’ Convention in Columbus, I gave a lot of careful thought and planning to my appearance. This time, I was going to do it right. This time, I was going to begin that thinking and planning weeks ahead, so that I could put my best foot forward. And what did I reap for my efforts? Well, let’s just say the Ashbury family had a lot of fine laughs in the last several days.

I arrived in Columbus yesterday wearing the universal travel outfit of blue jeans, blouse and sneakers. The event officially begins today and goes until Saturday. There are a couple of dinners, for which one either dresses in costume or in what we used to refer to as semi-formal wear. I don’t do costumes. Maybe someday I might, but not in my current mind set.

I’m privileged this year, along with some of my sister-Sirens, to be able to help represent my publisher in Club RT, and so each day I want to appear as professional as it is possible for me to appear. In order to do this, of course, I had to have a list.

I’ve made lists in the past as you well know, and they were all well and good. But this year I felt I needed something more. This year I needed a mega-list.
I wanted to plan not only the clothing I would wear for each “segment of time” – that is, for example, Wednesday during the day, and then Wednesday dinner and evening—but also I needed to plan my accessories.

I have some inexpensive and diverse necklaces, watches, and bracelets. I have four pairs of shoes (each of which was purchased for less than twenty dollars). Deciding which pair of shoes to wear with each outfit was simple enough; the jewellery was a bit more of a challenge.

For example, once I chose what looked best with each ensemble, how would I ever remember what I’d chosen, deciding a week ahead of the event as I did?

I came up with a simple plan. Since I had divided the time of the convention into eight segments for choosing my clothes, I put my chosen accessories into little baggies. Then I wrote the numbers, one through eight, on the baggies. Of course, some baggies have two numbers on them. One has one item slated for a third outfit, but hey, it all more or less has all worked out.

I fail to see what’s so funny about this. I thought I was going to have to scrape my entire family off the floor they were laughing so hard.

Here’s the favorite scenario: Knock at the door. “Morgan, are you ready?” Morgan: “One minute. I thought bag number three went with outfit number three but now, I wonder if I should take one item out of bag number eight? Or maybe, I should switch bag number eight for bag number two, and add something from bag number five. You go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

My beloved, who tries valiantly not to laugh too hard on the outside while cackling like a hyena on the inside, said that he really shouldn’t say anything, because he never makes a list and always forgets something he’d really meant to bring. I told him he could rest easy, because his favorite joke—if I wear my Thursday undies on Wednesday, does it screw up my entire week?—wouldn’t apply this time, because I didn’t even put undies on the list!

To which he replied, sotto vocé, that he hoped I wouldn’t therefore forget to pack them all together.

Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury