Well there it is, the last day for me to go out and it ended no less than other years. Sharon and I finished things off with a wonderful trip out to buy a dress for Sharon for a wedding in the next couple of weeks.

Sharon and I discussed this last weekend a few weeks ago and we decided that we would go out and shop as two girlfriends for formal dresses and we originally decided that we would make an afternoon of it, going to our favorite mall and drift in and out of stores until we found something. Well a fall and a few stitches from our little son, changed all of that and because of scheduling to the doctors etc., we were limited to only a few hours of shopping time, well, I made some phone calls to specialty dress shops and found that there were quite a few good ones on our immediate area.

Another interesting thing that happened was that our local community paper had an advertisement in it of someone selling "three beautiful satin bridesmaids gowns". Well I called the number and had a long conversation with the woman selling the gowns, and she basically told me that she wanted to sell all the gowns or none, but then, she asked me what the occasion was for and I told her that it was for a wedding that I would be attending, and she chimed in that her daughter was selling a dress and that it might be perfect. Well, she went on and on describing the dress and after all of it, I had a wonderful picture of it in my mind.

A few days later, I called to get an exact address and I told the person that answered the phone that I was calling about the dress, and it turned out to be the daughter of the woman I was talking to the other day, and it was actually her dress that I was inquiring about. Once again I was given a very vivid description of the dress and was told that is great to wear because you do can wear a bra with it and the back is not too low. She described the dress a pink dress, close to the colour of the bridesmaid dresses, and the whole dress was satin with a lace cover over the whole dress. The dress was gathered at the waist and had a bow on the hip that was described by her as "feminine and oh so cute". I let her know that I would be by after 4 pm on the Saturday and was very interested in the dress, and seeing the bridesmaid dresses.

Well with the plan all set, and the stores that we were to be visiting all set up, and the Saturday morning, as Sharon left to take our son to the doctors and to the in-laws, she reminded me that in order to get respect at these dress shops, it is best to be dressed well, and she suggested business wear. With that in mind, I started to get ready, I laid out my clothes for the trip and they were a black miniskirt, gray pink cowl neck sweater, high white heels, and camisole. I decided that in order to save the hassle of a makeup change when I got home from the shopping trip, that I would break away from my standard colors and apply different eye makeup, so with that in mind I applied dark green to my lower lids, Medium-dark pink to the upper lids, black eyeliner and mascara. I did my blush for daytime wear and decided on my standard light pink lipstick.

With my makeup on, I went to my bedroom and slipped in the clothes that I had left out, well when I adjusted my look and stood in front of the mirror and Sharon's words rung in my head and decided that I would not go with the black miniskirt and decided on a slightly longer red suede skirt, still a short skirt, but a little more modest. I asked Sharon about dressing for "business" and Sharon explained to me that at these formal and bridal dress shops, if they see a couple of girls looking like they are just out to kill time trying on dresses, the salesladies will ignore them and not give them 100% attention and you will not really find what you are looking for. I decided that I would finish the look off with my high white 3" pumps, gold anklet, gold bracelet and a spritz of my obsession perfume.

I spent the time waiting for Sharon to get home, by transferring my things from my black purse to a white one that matched my heels, after all it was spring and my last chance to wear white. After Sharon got home, she helped me with my hair, changed into some of her work clothes, and me in the living room, were she handed me my spring coat and slipped into hers as I mine.

Sharon and I then made our way to the first of our three stops, the first being a little dress shop in Stoney Creek that from the windows outside looked like it catered to high class Italian fashions. Once entering the store we found it to be quite busy with about 3 female couples looking for a outfits, and the two that were using the change rooms at the time were very attractive with great bodies. Sharon and looked around at the different outfits that were in the little shop and I saw nothing I really liked, but Sharon saw a shorts, blazer number and decided on trying it on. Well one of the dressing rooms was free and Sharon went in to try on the outfit and left me sitting outside watching the other girl model her dress while her son and girlfriend looked on. As Sharon changed, the other girl went in the change room to undress, and while she was doing that, her son, flung open the drapes, leaving me looking at a good looking woman in her lacy panties and matching lacy bra, and as she yelled at her son, she looked over at me and gave a playful smile. As Sharon came out of the change room, so did the other woman, in a dress that was very low backed and front and she stood there in front of me with her bra practically exposed. As I gave Sharon female comments on her outfit, I was accepted by this woman as another, it was so thrilling and exciting. After Sharon decided that the outfit was too much, we decided to leave the shop and head to our next stop, the Bridal Boutique in Burlington.

We entered the bridal boutique in Burlington and it was actually an old house converted into a bridal boutique, I have the ground floor set out with all of the top of the line gowns and dresses and the upstairs rooms with end of the line dresses and gowns. When Sharon and I entered we were welcomed, "hello ladies, what are you looking for, bridal or formal", I chimed up and told her that we were shopping for formal, and she explained how the store was laid out, top of the line on the ground floor and the sales on the top floor. Well Sharon and I went upstairs right away and started to sift through the racks of formal gowns. The gowns were basically laid out according to colour, i.e., peaches, pinks, blacks, greens, etc., at first Sharon made a comment about the dresses and how they were not cheap, and how it was a real "sale" sarcastically. Well it was not before long that we discovered that some of these end of the line bridesmaids gowns were selling for $30!!!, I immediately zoomed in on all of the gowns that were for that price and started gathering them for the change room downstairs. I found several beautiful and wonderful gowns and took them downstairs to one of the change rooms, and started to slip into them one by one. Unfortunately, I could not squeeze into the size 11 or 12's that I grabbed, as that was the largest size that they had in the end of line gowns. I was a little disappointed as only one of the gowns fitted. I did however managed to slip out of the dressing room with the one on that fit and was showered with compliments by both of the older sales ladies on how lovely the gown looked on me. I then slipped back into my clothes and waited for Sharon who found a dress to come out of the change room. Sharon's dress looked lovely on her and she eventually decided to buy it. While Sharon was changing back I was thinking about our next stop and the dress that was described to me and saw some lovely elbow length satin gloves, and I knew the dress was a 13/14 and would fit me no matter what and decided to purchase a pair of gloves, bubble style and satin, perfect to go along with the sleeveless formal at the woman's' house we were headed to.

We started for the woman's house and Sharon and I discussed how those beautiful pretty gowns, could sell for as much as $300 all the way down to $30. Sharon explained that women only buy a dress like that once every few years, if that, and that the mark up is incredible, and that I was fortunate if the place we were heading actually was selling a formal like that for only $35, which was the price that was quoted to me over the phone, $60 for the bridesmaids dresses.

Sharon and I eventually found the house and I went to the front door and knocked while Sharon waited in the car. The woman that greeted me at the door was very pleasant in her late 40's and dressed very well for someone at home on a Saturday afternoon, as a matter of fact we were dressed almost identically, except she had on a white sweater and purple suede skirt and low black heels. I motioned for Sharon to come into the house and was welcomed into the room on the ground floor of her house that had the dresses, both the bridesmaids and formal dress hanging up and was stunned by the detail and prettiness of the formal gown that she immediately brought over to me and removed it from the cleaners bag it was in. I was then handed the dress and marveled at the beauty and then asked again about the size and the woman showed me the tag and it was 13/14, all the time I was admiring the dress, Sharon and I were chatting girl talk to the woman about the story behind the dress and how it was her daughter's graduation dress and then leant to another girl for a wedding, and the bridesmaid dresses, etc.

I then interrupted and asked if there was any place that I could try the dress on, as if the dress fitted, I wanted it. She lead me upstairs and was going to put me in her daughter's bedroom, but then directed me to the bathroom, and I slipped into the dress. It fit wonderfully and had more features about it and made me absolutely definite on my decision, I then decided to go downstairs and showed the dress to Sharon and the woman, who commented, "it's lovely, it looks perfect on you, like it was made for you, and how it accents your figure is lovely". I looked over at Sharon and smiled and she knew the dress was mine, I then went back upstairs to change back and about that time, the woman's daughter showed up with her boyfriend and went immediately up to her room. Well while I slipping on my skirt, her boyfriend started into the bathroom, and I had to tell him that I "was in here", and he apologized and I finished changing and went downstairs and met Sharon and the woman.

I said that I would take the dress and she said "well, you could leave it here and think about it", and I responded with exhaustion, "I have tried on too many gowns today, this one is perfect for the wedding". After that I handed her the $35 dollars for the dress and thanked her so much. Sharon and I were about to leave and Sharon noticed that her daughter's car was blocking the driveway and asked the woman to have her daughter move the car. Well, as the woman's daughter came down the stairs to move the car, she looked at me and said, "Pretty dress isn't it?", I said "yes" and she smiled back.

Sharon and I left the house and went home, both with our dresses and once home, Sharon played bridesmaid for me and helped me into my wedding dress one last time for the season. After the wedding dress, Sharon and I left each other out some special clothes for the evening and we spent the night in a romantic setting eating dinner by candlelight, and snuggling in lingerie. The whole day ending with Sharon and I in bed, cuddling in lingerie, thinking about the next season.