Christmas Party #1

So here I am after a marathon day shopping for something to wear that was (A) warm enough, (B) dressy enough and (C) fit sufficiently for our first of three office parties. The good thing about John's joint venture project is that every company throws a party and we get invited! Not too bad!

So a short note about shopping here. . . sizes are just, well, weird. And you have to size up conseribly, which is humbling. And everything that is fashionable this season is very fitted, sleeveless, short, cropped, small, and doesn't cover anything! Since I am still cold ALL OF THE TIME I needed something with a little covering!!! And I needed an elastic waistband!

You can't see the skirt very well in the picture, but it can grow with me for the next couple of weeks. It took about an hour and two trips into every store in the mall to find something with an elastic waistband. I never thought I'd be happier to find something so frumpy!!!!!! After several frustrating try-on sessions (by the way, I'm certainly not accustomed to tops being too small--this is now clearly an issue I will contend with for a while!) I was about to scream!!!! My kingdom for an elastic waist!!!!! But I managed and ended up with two cute outfits by the end of the day. (I shopped for 3 hours--this is truly unprecendented!!!)

And, why, might you ask, did I not bring anything from home? I mean, I have a perfect dress from last year's company party that would have fit (even better than last year) and worked for everything. Well. . . I wasn't sure how things would fit at this point and it was packed in a sealed box by the time I thought to bring it and I was just too unmotivated to find and unpack it. So there.

My favorite part of the outfit: stockings. All the ladies here wear these great patterned stockings and they are super-fun. I'll make sure to get a picture of them next week!

So here's a contest for you: I'll give you ten bucks if you can accurately state the last time I wore heels. Any takers?

So the party was a real success. One of the execs summed up "why" it was a success with this statement: At most company parties your get two drink tickets, max. Here you got FIVE tickets per person. So there were a lot of festive people, that's for sure! Surprising, because the garda (police) have a HUGE anti-drunk-driving initiative going on here. They set up checkpoints and give all drivers breathalizer tests. Shocking that it would come to that!

But we met a really cool guy--Hakan--from Turkey. I've never met anyone from Turkey so I enjoyed talking with him a lot. No one knows more about restaurants in the area, so all of the Americans traded stories with him. Anyone who is discerning about his fajitas is a winner in my book. Best line of the night: One of the other American expats was warning us against a particular Chinese takeaway in Douglas and even before he gave the name, wide-eyed Hakan said: "Yes, I too have made that mistake." Perhaps the humor is lost in the telling, but we were rolling. Apparently this place sticks it to you! Just FYI: I've been raving about how great the produce is here compared to the states; yet, our new Turkish friend let me know that Irish produce is nothing compared to Turkish produce. Pretty interesting!!! Turkish friend also scuba dives here in Ireland--this was interesting to talk about because we noticed a dive shop in our little village and it seemed somewhat out of place. But he said that if you can dive here in Ireland, you can dive anywhere as the conditions are awful all the time! Low visibility, cold water, currents, bad weather--you name it!

So we really enjoyed the party. Of course, we ended up at the table with 5 executives and big-wigs. Pretty tough stuff! Especially since two of them were die-hard Georgia Tech fans and wanted to berate our universities. At least we had good conversation! I had no idea what hot-shots these people were until we left. Unknowingly, I had chatted up and charmed a pretty important lady, and this was in John's favor. Not bad! We were the only table where all the men were dressed in blazers--we had debated John wearing his but we were glad he did in the end because he looked just like the high-rollers!

We left before the party really got started--after 11PM on a work night! Whew! It was a rough morning the next day but we made it!

And a big "PS": I look HUGE in this picture, but it was just taken at a funny angle. Seriously, I have not gained any weight. Really! I'm watching what I'm eating and exercising. Seriously!