Every time RWA National Conference comes around, the talk swerves to clothes, shoes, weight loss…yeah. When I heard that How a Cowboy Stole Her Heart was nominated for a RITA® award, I immediately thought “I have to lose twenty pounds and find a dress.” This resulted in several twitter consultation sessions with friends with a lot more fashion sense than me.
For me, Nationals is an excuse to buy new clothes because I don’t that often. I’m not good at shopping. And up until recently, buying clothes was a task I hated. Mostly because things rarely fit, and if they did, I hated how they looked. Or rather, how I looked in them.
I’m still working my way down to a goal weight, and it’s going slowly. But at least these days I don’t have to shop in the plus section, and I didn’t look at the pics from last year’s conference and start to cry (been there, done that).
Ok but I digress. The point is, this is NOT something I’m good at.
Last week my eldest daughter looked at me and said “Promise me that after you wash that sweater you never wear it again.”
I put it in the goodwill bag. The truth is, she’s usually right about these things.
Yesterday my youngest daughter pulled a dress out of my closet and called it a crime of fashion. Asked when exactly I’d ever worn it and what it was still doing in my closet (it’s actually a symbol of the size I used to be…several years ago.).
Last weekend I even sought their approval before buying a pair of shoes at Winners for half price (shoes that I LOVE by the way!). So imagine how horrified they were when I said I was shopping for a dress for the RITA ceremony ALL BY MYSELF.
Granted, there were some interesting moments, like the plum taffeta “thing” that made me look like a giant ruched sausage.
Or the peacock blue taffeta mermaid style dress the girl at one shop suggested because “they didn’t have much selection in my size.” I called her something unflattering in my head.
I tried on a fuchsia sparkly number that was better than I expected and a black and white ball gown type dress that was actually quite cute. Then there was the silver satin number with the keyhole that accented an obscene amount of cleavage…
In the end I came home with something that surprised no one except for the fact that they LOVED it. A classic black gown with just a few different, neat things about it that move it gently away from being ordinary. It’s comfortable and I feel pretty in it, which is important.
My girls? They were most impressed that I did it all by myself.
And the new shoes?
Perfect.
Now I’ve got Saturday night of conference covered, and I can go back to obsessing about the Wednesday through Friday!
Are you a shopper? Do you enjoy clothing shopping or would you rather go to the dentist?
[Ed. Be sure to leave Donna a meaningful comment or question – she’s giving away her Cadence Creek Cowboys duet – The Last Real Cowboy and The Rebel Rancher.
I’m not mad about clothes shopping – although I’d rather spend a whole day traipsing round the shops, then five minutes at the dentist!
I do love book shopping though and am happy spending the whole day in bookshops or browsing online book stores.
For me, nothing in life is worse than going to the dentist (thanks to a few scarring childhood experiences) but I do love shopping in general, especially for the house, but clothes shopping ends up being usually an unpleasent experience for all the reasons you listed and now that I’m a full time author I too will be buying new stuff strictly for Nationals so fingers crossed I good luck with finding things! Congrats on finding a great dress for the Ritas and on your nomination!
Christyne, I’ll see you at the NRCA award event! Funny how none of us truly enjoy the dentist, huh…
Well, nothing quite like young girls to ‘tell the truth’ and give you their honest opinions.. but I’m another hater of shopping for dress up clothes… those things that require special shoes, hose, underpinnings which when totalled up usually cost more than the dress..
LOL Underpinnings. They usually are quite crucial, aren’t they?
I’m slowly working my way down to my goal weight too. When I was able to buy shirts in the “regular” section again, I was jazzed! I never had to buy pants in the plus size area, but I did shirts–pure apple shape here.
Until I loose about 20 more lbs I’m going to continue to hate shopping! LOL
No, I am not much of a shopper nor do I enjoy going to the dentist even though my sister is a dental hygentist and my brother-in-law is a dentist. However, I do not believe that you can’t go wrong with black.
I beleive you cannot go wrong with black.
I like to shop for clothes but it is discouraging when I can’t find what I want that looks good. Congratulations on your nomination and your weight loss.
I used to love going shopping but as I have grown older I have done almost all of my shopping online. I haven’t tried buying a formal dress online but I might be tempted when the price is right. I don’t miss going to the mall. In fact I sort of dread it. Anyhow, congratulations on the nomination. I have enjoyed reading your books.