More on maternity fashion

Two of my good law school friends are getting married later this summer and I am so excited about their wedding. Not only does it let me go back to Law School City and see many law school friends, but it also promises to be a heck of a shindig.

The kicker is that I got the invitation today — beautiful, heavy cream card stock — and discovered that the wedding is “black tie optional.”  That means my plan to find something basic and black and jersey is probably not going to work. (I mean, it COULD, but how boring for a black tie optional wedding! Those really don’t come along all that often.)

The second kicker is that I’ve now discovered that no one makes nice, pretty, formal wear for pregnant women.  I’ve looked around and while there’s lots of cheap, tacky, fake-rhinestoney stuff, and lots of less-cheap, drapey, jersey knit stuff, there’s very little classic, tasteful, well-made evening wear.  The stuff that seems to be more well-made is, as I noted, almost entirely jersey, and designed to go day-to-evening.  I would normally appreciate this — after all, I shouldn’t WANT to spend a ton on something I will wear once (not only because I’m pregnant but also because how often do you need to dress for a formal event while pregnant?). But, honestly? I’m just not jazzed about wearing jersey to this wedding.

So I guess I’ll explore Plan B: try to find something non-maternity with an empire waist, buy it a size up, and have my tailor take it in in the top. Third kicker: it’s hard to know now how big I’ll be in two months, so I need to wait to buy. But I can’t wait too long, because it’ll take my tailor at least a week to work his magic. (And he is magic.)

Any thoughts from other ladies? I’ll note that I will happily wear black jersey if I must, but I really do want to look dressed up, and not like I just came from a work event.

The clothes make the woman.

I find that I tend to dress up a lot more now that I’m obviously pregnant than I did before I was showing (or before I was pregnant). It’s a Friday, and I’m wearing a skirt, heels, and pearls, for heaven’s sake! Most of my office is in jeans, and at least one partner is almost certainly wearing shorts!

A big part of it is that I want to continue to be taken seriously during my pregnancy. And I have no reason to believe I won’t be — this is a good place — but it’s still a law firm, and people still have biases. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m coasting till my maternity leave, y’know?  Luckily, most of the maternity clothes I’ve bought are pretty professional — black pants, two nice black skirts, two office-appropriate wrap dresses.  And I am still fitting into my nicest (and lowest-rise) designer jeans (and I hope to continue fitting into them for a while, even though I did buy a pair of Gap maternity jeans, which were on ridiculous sale, and that are still a touch too big, so I’m hoping they work in the fall when I’m much bigger than I am now).

Anyway, I didn’t necessarily want this post end up being about fashion; I really just wanted to note that, no matter how far we’ve come as women, we still have a ways to go.  I can work in a place where every female partner has kids and still worry that I need to make sure my attire is above the office curve so I continue to be taken seriously. It’s a good thing I like to dress up.

Word

None of these things merit an individual post, but all of them are worthy of note.

***

Despite five days of vacation in the land of lard (that would be Texas, where I ate Whataburger twice in 28 hours and more homemade flour tortillas than I want to count), I have managed to maintain on the weight loss front. Granted, I haven’t been on a scale since returning, but my clothes are continuing to fit in that lovely, slightly-loose way, so I’m not going to worry about the numbers on the scale.

***

My grandfather, who is ill and who is the reason we spent five days in Texas, is doing far better than expected.  He’s still dying and likely won’t make it through the summer, but he was well enough to spend several hours chatting with us and playing take-your-nose with my cousin’s kids. I had been told he was doing very poorly before we left and so didn’t expect to be able to interact with him much while we were there. But he was not only alert and mostly compos mentis, but also was mobile — getting out of bed and up and down from his chair, moving around the house. Since I’m 99% sure this visit was the last time I’ll see him, I’m glad it was a visit where I could actually talk with him.

***

Couch-to-5K is going so well I solicited a commitment from a friend of mine to run with me in the Race Judicata later this summer.  It will be my first 5K and, bonus, it’s the big fundraiser for the legal agency where I did a summer fellowship after law school. If I’m going to give money to any organization, I’m glad to give it to them — and to run my first 5K for them, too.

***

While in Texas, I saw this fun bag at my hometown surf shop, but wasn’t wild about the colors so I didn’t buy it. But I love the style and thought it would be a good shape and size for work, so I looked around online for it. Lo and behold, it comes in many other colors, including a very nice dark brown/gray. And that lovely color was available on Amazon for $22.  Bonus: eligible for Prime! So I bought it.

***

That dreamy interview I got a while ago? I went on that interview, had a great time, felt like I was a perfect fit, and then didn’t hear anything for a while. So I got stressed and applied for another federal job (one I was actually interested in, of course).  Three hours after hitting “Apply,” I got the call — I got the job. The dream job. “Relief” is too understated a word. Not only am I extremely glad to have any employment, I am ecstatic to have employment at a place where I feel like I fit in so well, both personally and professionally.

***

So it’s been a good month.

Fickle weather

Yesterday I picked up my drycleaning, which included my trenchcoat, which I hadn’t worn since the end of February because I took it with me to Vegas and it reeked of cigarettes and sin. As I picked it up, I thought, “I really should have had this cleaned sooner, it’s gotten too warm for it now. It’s just going to sit in the closet until the fall.”

I was wrong.

It is 47˚ outside right now. It’s not supposed to get above 65˚ for the next several days.

So I guess the “end of the season coat drycleaning” is just like the “it’s not going to rain car washing.”  Next time I want it to get warm, I’m having my best linen sundress cleaned.

Things I’m too old for, #1

I think I’m too old for them, but I just bought these:

The spouse claims they look like stripper shoes. I think they make my legs look long, and I bought them for vacation and to wear with a cute embroidered cotton dress, so I figure they’re probably OK.

But I’m definitely too old for them.