Dressing Up

I haven't posted for a few days, so I guess I'm trying to make up for it by doing a bunch of posts all at once.

The kids and I are here on our extended California trip for a reason: Dave and I are leaving on Saturday to go on a cruise to Alaska. Mom is going to watch the kids here and I will fly up to Seattle to meet Dave. After the cruise, I will fly back here to visit until 4th of July, at which point Dave will join up again with us and we will drive home (at least that's the current plan).

It's funny, because while seeing Alaska has always sounded fun, it hasn't exactly been top on my "must visit destinations" list. But, we found an amazing deal on the cruise, we wanted to find an excuse to get a trip without kids before the new baby comes, and the idea of a no-planning, everything-included vacation sounded perfect, so we just decided to go for it.

The cruise has two "formal nights," which would be really fun except that I don't really have any formals. This is further complicated by the fact that I am pregnant. Is there really such a thing as a flattering maternity formal? Um, unless it fits perfectly... big bump + glitz and fabric= sparkly elephant tent. You add to this that I'm trying to find a relatively modest formal (sleeves, please?) and I don't want to spend a bunch (nordstrom.com has beautiful ones for half the price of my cruise ticket but that kinda defeats the purpose) and that really leaves me with few options.

I had pretty much admitted defeat-- I would have to try to dress up my plain black maternity dress with some glitzy jewelry. But my mom insisted that this was just not right-- you have to have a formal for formal night. Luckily for me, my mother is not just opinionated: she is also an amazing seamstress and can make almost anything with a picture to copy. So she is designing and making me a maternity formal for the cruise. This is after we found a great dressy little black dress (that still fits and looks decent over my bump) for an amazing deal and she added sleeves to it.

My inherited sewing talent tops out at making pajamas, but hey, if you aren't blessed with a talent you can always appreciate it in others, right? =]