Office Party

Dress: Ash by Allison Hendrix; wollmeise dk in merlot; my notes and modifications on Trapezius
Blazer: Armani Collezioni; similar styles by Alice + Olivia and at ASOS
Shoes: Cesare Paciotti; similar styles by Pierre Hardy, Alexandre Birman, and Sam Edelman
Lips: Dolce and Gabbana passion duo gloss fusion lipstick in Sensual and Bobbi Brown high shimmer lip gloss in Hot

What do you do when your company has a Christmas party in the office, no spouses invited, that starts at 4pm, and isn't quite billed as either compulsory or optional? Obviously you have to go, but since you also have to drive, it's not as though you're going to drink. Also, you're pretty sure you saw a coworker wearing flip flops...THIS WEEK, so it's not exactly a formal environment, but it is a Christmas party (note: I doubt it's actually a Christmas party, I would be willing to bet every pair of shoes I own it's a holiday party because this is the hill some have chosen to die on) and I like parties and I like an excuse to wear nice things. Now, I also have to work today, with others, in a professional manner, so not only am I not going either a) braless or b) stick-on bra-ful with this backless dress, I'm not even admitting it is a backless dress. I'm wearing a good old fashioned bra and an even more good old fashioned blazer and both will remain firmly in place all day long.

I have to confess that I have yet to get in the holiday spirit. I'm concerned that my wonderful husband may not have acquired an ornament for our annual ornament exchange and will therefore get something totally crappy and last minute - meanwhile we have decided not to exchange big gifts this year because instead we're going to go to Malaysia next year which, don't get me wrong, is capital-A Amazing, but not especially Christmassy. I still don't know what we are doing for actual Christmas because my in-laws are not the most brilliant of planners, and I have no idea what to buy my dad who needs nothing and hates everything. I'm also considering telling my brother that he and I should stop exchanging gifts for birthdays and holidays because there is absolutely nothing either of us wants that falls within our budgets for these kinds of things. I mean, what do I want for Christmas? A new digital camera with underwater housing and external strobe plus wet lenses and filters. I'm not interested in anything even remotely top of the line and the cost for the things I just mentioned makes the Gucci booties I posted yesterday seem rather reasonable in price. I might ask someone to get me one of the wet lenses and filters - at least those are in the neighborhood of what I think is reasonable for gift spending.

But most of all, I just feel a little worn out. Between Thanksgiving, which was not as relaxing as any of us had hoped (lesson learned, I just wish it had been a cheaper lesson), and being sick for about 2 weeks, I just feel like I need to decompress and the holidays are generally not a time for decompression. On the plus side, my wonderful, amazing, talented test knitters are making gorgeous cabled sweaters and I hope to have the pattern ready for release next week or early the following week - you know, so you have something to go with the yarn you receive for the holidays!