They may have missed their calling

So things are shaping up for my trip to Boston for the Wearers of the Green induction ceremony. I am going to stay with my old college pal Naomi (who was at the London wedding in 2007 that some of you could not hear enough about). I am scouting a place to train while I'm in town.

And most importantly, I think I'm going to be appropriately dressed! Yesterday my friends Chris and Carlos took me to Kohl's in Cerritos to find a cocktail dress. Keep in mind that Chris is a BJJ black belt (one of my teachers), excellent wrestler and surfer, and snowboarder, and that Carlos is a decorated US military veteran who saw live combat in Iraq and who also trains with us. So you might not think they'd be the best fashion consultants, especially for a chick.

You'd be dead wrong. They both had very clear visions of what I should wear vis-a-vis color, style, etc. Chris said basic black and Carlos said either basic black or deep burgundy, and apparently before I met up with them at the academy, they were having an animated discussion about this topic, to the point where the guys who were coming in for class did a double take.

We get in the car, and both Carlos and Chris want to know if I have brought the shoes I'm going to wear. I haven't. They shake their heads as if to say, "What are we going to do with you? Good thing we are here!" We get to the store, and they grab several dresses for me to try, throwing them over my arm. I try one, a deep blue sheath, and when I come out of the dressing room, Chris looks me over appraisingly, holding the fabric and saying, "You'd need to take this in a bit. It's simple, but elegant." The only thing missing was him holding a few pins in his mouth. I tried on another dress, and when I came out, Chris took one look at me and just said, "No!"

But by that time, Carlos had found the dress I ended up buying: black, after all, with flutter sleeves to camouflage some of the python-ness of my arms, a tie in the back, and a metal/jewel detail at the empire waist. V-neck, soft jersey-ish material, a little bit above knee-length. They were both in agreement about the dress, and who am I to argue? Just the Pygmalion. The Eliza Doolittle, if you will.

And it really is a nice dress. Definitely softens all my angular parts.

Then it was on to jewelry. They decided I needed to bling things up a little, but it proved to be difficult to find anything. As Carlos said, "Jade usually goes well with black, but not in this case." And as Chris said, "They're screwing us here. Something like this would be nice (and he held up a chunkyish costume necklace of black stones), but it's too busy." And then at some point apparently he ventured into plus size territory, which scared him a little.

I tried to brainstorm ways to make the dress a tad less black. I said, "Well, what about a different color shoe?" In UNISON, these guys said, "Nope. Shoes have to be black." They both suggested an open-toe pump with nude hose. Carlos asked if I was going to keep the pink pedicure I got a couple weeks ago. I said no, and asked, "What about burgundy, like you were suggesting before?" At this point, we were back in the car, and Chris said, under his breath, "No. French."

So I guess I'm getting a French pedicure.

They had decided I didn't need a wrap because of the flutter sleeves, but I was thinking Boston might be a bit chilly in mid-May (can't remember because it's been so long since I've lived in New England), so they changed their minds. We didn't get one, and we didn't get jewelry, and I still have to figure out shoes and hair, but I have a dress! I have a base to work from. Thanks to Chris and Carlos for dressing me! I may not be a complete disaster at this event!

I still don't have a camera, dating from the time when I fell in the water in Colorado last August, but I'll see if Naomi has one so I can take and post some pics. Next Saturday! I wonder what an athletic hall of fame induction ceremony is like. Guess I'll find out--and I'll let you know.