Big night out

On Saturday night J. and I went out to a benefit for the Merit School of Music.  One of J.'s students is the Director of Operations for the school and had invited us to go as his guests.  It was quite swanky and we had a lovely time.  We both felt very grown-up.  There was only a moment of disappointment when we didn't win the silent auction item we bid on.  But that quickly passed as we thought about how much happier our checkbook would be that we didn't win and we helped raise the amount of the final bid.  The entertainment was provided by students at the school.  A jazz quartet played during the cocktail hour and the before dinner a string ensemble played.  They were both exceptionally good.

The people seated at our table (in the "Champagne Circle") were very nice and we enjoyed a very nice dinner and conversation.  I have to say that having 9 children is an instant ice breaker and provides one with plenty of topics of conversation.  It was also rather gratifying that no one thought we looked quite old enough to have so many children.

Can I just kvetch a bit about current fashion?  First, I'm not sure Chanel really did us a favor when she popularized the 'little black dress'.  Even though I was as guilty as the rest, the overwhelming color of the evening was black.  I couldn't help thinking of the descriptions of ball gowns from all of the 19th century fiction I have consumed over the years.  There was a wide array of color and a woman would have never worn a black gown unless she was in mourning.  I found myself longing for color.  There were a few dresses in other colors, but they were all either the same shade of red or the same shade of blue.  There was nothing truly striking.  Secondly, why are women so willing to wear what is currently fashionable even though it is not flattering?  While most of the women's dresses fit them well, there were some examples of a dress just not fitting or the style not being flattering to the woman wearing it.  I wanted to ask the women with the ill-fitting/ill-flattering dresses (and they were mostly young women, probably in their 20's), why their mothers hadn't taught them to dress.  Don't worry, I didn't... but I did want to.

Yep.  Old and crotchety, that's me.  But we did have a nice time.