Look Up: Read Subtitles!

voltee ♦ November 6, 2010 ♦ 3 Comments

Item: Blouse Color/Fabric: Black, white, sparkles/Silk Designer: Rebecca Taylor Where Purchased: Last Call Neiman Marcus Years Owned: 0.75
Hello from beautiful Barcelona! Currently, we are enjoying and absorbing this great city through the open window in our hotel room, listening while someone far below us practices her Spanish guitar. It’s our first night here, and we are losers. No going out on the town for these tired pups tonight. We had to get up at 4:30 this morning to get here- much too early for vacation!
So instead we are chilling here, and it’s a nice change of pace.
At this moment, I have to admit that I’ve been unable to really wrap my head around Barcelona or let it seep into my heart. We shall see what the day brings tomorrow, but so far… still a mystery I haven’t solved.
I also have to admit that I’m having a hard time getting into the writing spirit tonight. I’m not a big fan of writing with Nate in the room, sometimes looking over my shoulder, and I’m missing Trixie and my little nightly writing rituals. But I have to try tonight, because this might be my last post until I get home. I hope not, but I never know when we’ll have internet.
I chose this blouse tonight because I don’t want to use up all of my Spain writing yet. And many of the pictures I have don’t fully show the clothes, or at least not as well as Trixie would do. But I found this picture of me and my gorgeous and beloved friend Annie on my birthday of this year, and it’s perfect!
Birthdays are getting to be less and less enjoyable these days. So this year I just had a few friends over, rather last minute, and did not have time to think of an outfit. And I grabbed this because it’s sort of a go-to outfit for me this year.
It’s been through a lot, though, this little blouse. And, unfortunately, on the very first time that I wore it. My super talented and super thoughtful friend Anita gave us tickets to go see Frueza Bruta in NYC in March. We didn’t really know much about the show, other than it was Performance Art, there were dancers above the audience, and fantastic special effects. Of course we were thrilled!
It was one of those first truly gorgeous days of early spring where you get a little respite from the winter, even though you know it won’t last. It’s enough to make it through one or two more snow storm,with just the reminder that Spring will bring many more such days with it.
I felt like dressing up, since there was no rain or snow in the forecast. I wore my new Rebecca Taylor blouse that I loved because of it’s subtle scattering of sparkle and gauzy layers of silk, my favorite Prada booties that I hardly ever wear in fear of ruining them, and my favorite leather handbag that Nate had bought me. And I brought a light, soft, leather jacket that I had been dying for it to be warm enough to wear.
We had a fantastic dinner at a little Italian restaurant, and it was a perfect evening. And the show did not disappoint! It was a spectacle of dance, sound, light, and water, lots and lots of water. The dancers ran and slid in great pools above our heads. The performance took place everywhere, on the walls, the ceilings, on the floor right in the middle of the audience. And we were all standing, to constantly move to where the next part of the performance would be. It was like nothing else I’ve ever seen.
At the end, it turned into a big dance party. The dancers came out among us, the dj pumped up the music, and I was having a blast! So much so that I failed to notice that they had turned the sprinklers on above us, and that I was directly beneath one.
There I was, boogying away, singing, clapping, utterly oblivious to the water beating down on my great outfit.
Yeah, I don’t know how I missed that, either.
Especially since we’re not talking a sprinkle. It was pouring.
Even after I noticed what was going down, there were so many people that I had a hard time maneuvering out of the geyser. Nate helped, of course, but by the time we made it outside, I was soaked. I seemed to be the only one, too.
Everyone passed me, laughing as they wiped a single drop of water from their still perfect hairstyles.
And I looked like a drowned rat in expensive shoes.
We stopped for a moment, since I was still in shock, and it was night time now, and the winter air was back in full force. As I slowly recovered, I noticed a little group of tourists looking at me and whispering.
One shyly approached. “You were… one of the performers?” she asked, gesturing back to the theater.
“No, no,” I said. “I’m just stupid.”
And that is why I can’t have nice things.
Happily, nothing was ruined except my pride. Water and silk aren’t really friends, but the blouse is fine except for a little weirdness along the edge that no one else will ever notice. I think after all that, it should stay, right?

**I may not have worn this since, but I love it.  It’s staying!