This is the $250 dress.
Lord & Taylor department store in Tyson’s Corner, VA has a great selection of fine dresses. It’s one of my favorite stores to shop when buying gowns and cocktail dresses for benefit auctions.
During the store’s May sale, I was in a hurry. I quickly scoured the racks, bought three dresses, and took them home. One of the gowns was a Donna Ricco one-shoulder dress.
Normally I wouldn’t buy a one-shoulder dress for work, and $250 is the top-end of what I’d pay, but it fit so well, hit at the proper length, and was in such a pretty salmon/coral color, that I bought it anyway. I was in a hurry, and I could always return it, right?
A few days later, a friend was visiting. I tried on the dress to get a second opinion. The opinion wasn’t as positive as I’d hoped. “You look like you’re one of the guests attending the gala, and you need to look more like you are working the gala,” was the comment.
“Fine,” I thought, “I’ll save myself $250.” I put the dress back in the bag to return it.
On the way out the door — while balancing my Diet Dr. Pepper, locking the door in one hand, holding the bag in the other, and pushing out the screen door with my hips — I stumbled. The Diet Dr. Pepper shot out of the can … arched ike Greg Louganis diving a 2.5 pike … and went directly into the bag, landing on the dress.
ARGH! (And to be perfectly honest, I didn’t say ARGH.)
I ran back inside and immediately started blotting. Too late. The stains (although light) were set. I couldn’t in good conscious return the dress.
“Maybe I’m supposed to have this dress,” I thought, optimistically. “Maybe some event will come up that will enable me to wear it.”
Yesterday, my opportunity came.
The Washington Post Magazine has a section called “Making It” in which they feature a business. It looks like Red Apple Auctions will be in the magazine! I’ll believe it when I see it, but I had my photo shoot yesterday.
And guess what … I wore the dress.
Have you ever had something like this happen? Have you had a time when the lemons became lemonade?
Maybe it was a reliable sponsor who suddenly failed to donate, thereby opening up the door for another sponsor to get involved. Maybe the perfect venue fell through, but it turned into a better situation because your audience size changed. Non-auction stories are good, too! Anything to help us all keep our belief that everything is on track to turn out perfectly. Post your comments below.
I’ll also take advice on removing soda stains from silk.
Love your story Sherri and congrats on getting that coverage! I definitely have experienced those types of ins, the back door type. The most recent one of great magnitude involves why our house didn’t sell. It went up right before the Sept.’08 economic collapse, but that was not the reason as I see it. the real reason was that I re-discovered a deep spiritual place in my own town. I am now attending group meditations with incredible people and volunteering my creative expression of self to help them get their word out. It is a beautiful place and I had forgotten about it. The desire to move out of the area has vanished as I found what I yearned for in my own back yard.
Thanks for sharing, Kim! I believe we all have a number of these types of stories, but in the rush of our lives, we sometimes forget to reflect that what we once saw as a negative is now a positive. I’m happy for you as you’ve found a “new” home in your “old” home.