stereotypical single woman

A little over a week ago, when I went for my interview at Wayne State, I had a chance to dress up. This isn’t something I do often. My day job is very casual, and while I do make an effort to look nice, jeans and sweatshirts are definitely the norm there (mostly because the building’s boiler was condemned and even with the space heaters it is just so damn cold in the office.) Now, I know that you can still be girly in jeans and the right shirt and shoes, but 4 out of the 5 days of the working week I then need to go clean a bank after I leave my day job, so lately I’ve tended to dress much more utilitarian and practical. After all, I’m not going to wear heels and worry about refreshing my hair and makeup to clean toilets, at least not for the measly amount I’m getting paid. So it was actually fun to get dressed up, with full make up, jewelry, nylons, etc… Not only was it fun, but I surprised myself. It’s so rare that I get dressed up that I forget that I actually clean up very well. I’m actually pretty if I try to be.

I know that the modern single woman is above being pretty. Our self confidence is not supposed to be based on our looks or any public opinion of our appearance. And I really do believe that what looks I do have are very low on the list of my attributes. But there’s still something so reassuring about looking in the mirror and realizing that you aren’t a total dog.

So lately I’ve been wanting to be more girly and feminine on a daily basis. I’ve lost some weight, it’s spring, and I’m just tired of wearing the same old thing day after day. So yesterday, spurred on by a visit to Hancock Fabric’s store closing sale (all fabric 30% - 60% off! how could I resist?) I broke down and bought some fabric to make some new clothes.

There’s couple of linens, some seersucker, and a few fun cotton prints. It’s nothing overly obnoxious, they’ll just be basic A-line skirts that I can wear with t-shirts to my day job this summer. Because, as I’ve explained before, while in my fantasies I may like to think I’m a hot pink and orange batik print circle skirt kinda girl, in reality I’m brown striped linen A-line skirt kinda girl, and I’m okay with that.

So for the next few weekends I’m going to be spending at least one day at my parent’s house having a stitch ‘n bitch with my mom and sisters - I’ve got skirts to make, Nana bought some material for summer maternity clothes, and Trina, well, Trina bought four bags full of fleece, because the child has an addiction problem when it comes to novelty fleece. Stitch ‘n bitches are some of my favorite memories from my childhood and still one of my favorite things to do with my family. We’re all working on our own projects, but we’re being creative and working together, and that’s just one of my favorite things to do.