There's no such thing as free!

So on Friday we got a late night call from a friend inviting us to a $100.00 a plate charity dinner being held on Saturday night.

For free!

"Oh boy! Count us in!" We cried.

So why the hell did this 'free' $100.00 a plate function end up costing so much?

Well for one thing, as soon as soon as I heard 'cash bar' I knew we were in trouble. And then Hans informed me that that it was a formal event and I knew I was sunk.

Sure, it's easy for Hans who has a suit and plenty of ties.

But what was I supposed to wear?

After shooting down every wardrobe suggestion Hans made, "How many times to I have to tell you I've gained five pounds this year!!! " I had a bit of a brainstorm.

Remember this dress?

I decided that with the right shoes and purse I might be able to pull it off.

But that meant a trip to the shoe store.

Long story short, I found a very pretty pair of ruby red slingback sandals.

Pricey slingback sandals.

And then the clearance rack sucked me into its vortex. I had no control.

I added a pair of sandals that, get this, look like cork!!!!!!!! Not just the soles, but the sandals themselves! I'm not kidding! Cork! And I have cork fabric that I fully intend to make into a dress and how cool would it be to have a cork dress with matching cork shoes??!!










The only pair they had and they were actually in my size!!!!!

Cork!

Here is one of the shoes I bought sitting beside a tiny amount of left over fabric that I saved from my dress. Thank God I saved that scrap because it ended up becoming a purse.


I arrived home with an hour to spare before we had to leave for our function and I still had to make the purse.




I scrambled through my purse supplies and was terribly lucky to find a matching zipper, and a huge gold bracelet sized ring, and I immediately set to work.


I finished with seconds to spare.







This was a dinner boat cruise and here I am on the deck of the boat.


You can barely see my purse and shoes.









This isn't the greatest picture. My top stitching is wonky but I was in such a hurry I couldn't agonize over it too much!


When we first arrived at the boat I was initially horrified to see the formal, dignified attire of some of the women. We had no sooner set foot on the boat when one man rushed up to us and from the way he greeted us I know he thought Hans was an executive from the huge corporation that sponsored the event. We both laughed over that and I told Hans that I hoped no one realized I was wearing a slightly bastardized version of a Simplicity sundress, and he took me by surprise and made me laugh by saying, "I'm more worried about your Goodwill coat." (A beautiful full length black leather coat that he bought me on one of our thrifting trips!).



But I have to tell you I received tons of compliments all night long from: a lady in the elevator, the girls who dispense soap in the bathroom, a barmaid, guests on the boat, etc...


I actually started to feel a little foolish.






The best thing of all about my purse is that it was able to hold our two complimentary candy bars just perfectly (I placed them outside of the purse so you can see)!




Look at that!










So after you figure in two new pairs of shoes, a cash bar where two drinks pretty much killed a twenty dollar bill (and two drinks were just a start), a couple of drinks after we got off the boat, and parking garage fees, it wasn't such a bargain of a night after all.


But at least I didn't have to click my heels together to find out that there's no place like home!