My leukemia's back.

[N F C]

Good morning Team Rachel

 

[getaclue]

Good morning Team Rachel. Stay warm, and dry.

 

[Blooie]

Okay, jeans my new Spina Bifida T-shirt with Kendra's name on it will be the dress for the Biopsy Bash. Of course, you all can wear anything you are comfortable in....I just get confused because with all these events Ken and I have to attend, I never know for sure what to wear until I see the other ladies. <sigh>

 

[bruceha2000]

You have to travel with a steamer trunk!

 

[Blooie]

You ain't far off, Bruce. Sometimes I need "business casual", casual, formal, and semi-formal. A couple of times I've needed to bring 2 formals, and needed to be dressed and ready for pictures -in a formal - by 8am. As proud of Ken as I am, I'll be glad when this is over! He can wear the same Grand Lodge uniform or tuxedo to everything. He takes an overnight bag and a suit bag with that stuff. I need forty eleventy bags for a two day event.

 

[getaclue]

Blooie, my mother had to do that too. Dad was in the Lodge (past master), and mom was in Eastern Star (past worthy matron). He could pack everything he needed in a briefcase, but mom needed several pieces of luggage just for an overnight, or weekend trip.

 

[Blooie]

Blooie, my mother had to do that too. Dad was in the Lodge (past master), and mom was in Eastern Star (past worthy matron). He could pack everything he needed in a briefcase, but mom needed several pieces of luggage just for an overnight, or weekend trip.

The struggle is real! Ken will become Grand Master of Wyoming in August, so the next year will be a never ending life of traveling and playing dress-up. I just slap on my Lee Press On Smile and go for it. Shoot, it's already started, but fortunately....uh, I mean...unfortuntately I've been able to get out of a lot of it the past few months. That's about to come to a screeching halt!

 

[getaclue]

I can tell you some of what she learned, and bought over time to simplify things. Pick a color, either black, or navy blue (she chose black). Get a women's suit jacket, matching skirt, and slacks. That covers business formal, and semi-formal. It also covers casual, since you can just use the slacks, and a top. She packed 4 tops, usually in cream, light blue, gray, and white, 1 fancy, 1 casual, 2 semi fancy. She made two formal long skirts (you can have them made), one in black, the other in silvery gray, with matching formal tops, so when put together they looked like a formal gown, BUT the material, and patterns she picked was so the skirts, and tops could interchange with the other set. The gray top worked perfectly with the gray formal skirt, AND the black formal skirt, and the black top with both the black, and the gray formal skirt. They were made in such a way that they looked almost like formal dresses. They had some rhinestones, glitz, and lace. That actually gave her 4 formals, while only packing 2. Through the years, she did this with other color combinations too. 2-3 pairs of black shoes, 1 pair of heels, 1 pair of flats, and a pair of nice black sneakers, or sandals depending on time of year are optional. Add pajamas, a housecoat, and slippers, and you're done with clothes. She spent more time packing her toiletries than her clothes.

 

[getaclue]

Oh, both of the formal tops worked with the business skirt, if cocktail length semi-formal is needed.

 

[Blooie]

Pay no attention to me....I just like to whine, and I'm darn good at it! Toiletries and sundries are covered. Whenever I buy a product, I buy two. One for the house, one goes in the overnight, in travel sizes if possible. I keep extra unmentionables, jammies, and hose packed at all times, so all I have to do is add meds and that's ready to go. Your mom sounds like a very smart lady! Eastern Star requires a lot more dressing up, so she had it wired! I'm not in Star, no desire to join either, despite a lot of cajoling about it. For 26 years as a Navy wife I had to join this and had to be part of that.....Navy Wives' Enlisted Club, Navy Wives' Officer's Club, Navy Relief, Ombudsman....<shudder> No more wives' organizations for this cookie!

I've learned that one set of black chiffon pants and a few colorful dressy tops cover a lot of events very well, both formal and informal. Add a glitzy top and it's formal. Add a couple more relaxed tops and I'm set for semi-formal. Bonus: Chiffon pants can darn near be rolled up into a ball and still look great when I take them out of the bag. With a pair of dress pants, I can mix and match for business casual. Some tops are glittery, some aren't.

Ken's calendar is pretty complete, so when we get home from somewhere and the clothes are cleaned, I can decide what to take to the next event, repack outfits into the garment bag I took the first ones out of, and they're ready to go.

Shoes are no issue. Because of my leg and foot issues, I can only wear one kind of shoes, and those are my Dansko Mary Janes. No glitz, no glamour, but a little dressier than my Dansko every day shoes and comfortable enough to wear all day. Since everyone we know is familiar with me using my walker at times or even taking my chair at others, depending on how I'm doing, I don't even have to make excuses. One pair of shoes worn on the trip and one pair for all events. Those Mary Janes are only worn for events, so they stay right in the bottom of the garment bag. Done and done.

I usually tell new ladies to the Grand Line not to sweat it. I tell them to think back to the last event....can they really remember what each and every lady was wearing? Usually no, unless it's a dress that really stood out for some reason. All they remember of the last event is what they wore themselves, and that everyone looked very nice and was dressed up. Individual outfits are quickly forgotten. The guys all look like little stuffy penguin clones anyway, so nothing stands out there, either.

So all whining and kidding aside, it's more the having to change constantly than the packing that gets annoying. A casual, blue jean breakfast followed by a business casual luncheon with a semi-formal Grand Opening, plus a formal banquet that same night makes for some confusion in the hotel room! Over the past several years in the line I've even learned to simplify that process!

The only thing I do want to get is a brand new, have-never-worn-a-million-times-before formal for is Ken's installation, when I escort him in and put the jewel around his neck and for our official formal photo. Other than that, I'm good to go.

And I just typed this out and realized that nobody really gives a flying hoot. Oh, well, it ate up a little time and nobody has to read it all anyway!