Memories

Tresa had reserved a small block of rooms at a really nice hotel in the city for the wedding in case anyone needed one. As it turned out, none of the out of town guests needed the rooms, so the only people that reserved rooms there was our immediate family.

Since Tresa made the arrangements, the hotel rates have actually come down...including the rates at a really old hotel that Tresa happens to like. Yesterday she e-mailed me and asked if we would mind if she switched our hotel to the Allerton on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. She said it would be cheaper than the original hotel. I said, "Whatever makes you happy. This is your day." It doesn't matter to me where we stay. All that matters is that her wedding is everything she wants it to be.

When she said the Allerton, the name stuck in my head and I immediately knew why. No, I didn't have a wild fling at the Allerton, but Irv and I did attend the Cary-Grove High School Senior Prom there almost 40 years ago in 1969!

The following is taken from the hotel's website:

"The Allerton's rich history began in the roaring twenties when it opened as a residential "club hotel." One of the first high-rises on Michigan Avenue, its beautiful Northern Italian Renaissance architecture stood in contrast to the existing Georgian and Tudor Revival cityscape.

By the 1940's, when the famous Tip Top Tap sign was first illuminated, the hotel was known around town as one of the most exciting social hot spots. It gained nationwide attention during the 1950's when Don McNeil broadcast a popular radio program from the 23rd floor lounge. Famous Hollywood legends like Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Ginger Rogers, and James Stewart were featured guests.

In June of 1998 the City of Chicago designated The Allerton as an historic landmark and a $60 million renovation project was launched."

I don't remember a lot about our prom, but Irv and I had been dating for a little over a year by then. I remember shopping for my dress and thinking it was the most beautiful thing in the world. I got my shoes dyed and my hair done...top that off with some lovely white elbow length gloves and all I can say is.....geez where did we get those clothes?

The theme of the prom was "Camelot" and the decorations if I recall were all castle-like. I had my first taste of caviar that night and my last taste of caviar! That's about all I remember....heck, that was an eternity ago...I'm lucky I can remember what I had for breakfast this morning!

Did your school have a prom? Did you go? What was your dress like? Was it as stunning as mine?

I Did It! I Found A Dress For The Wedding!

Tresa picked me up at the train and we stopped back at her condo for a few minutes before heading downtown. When we were getting ready to leave, I put my hat on and then I couldn't find my little knit gloves. We looked all over the condo and couldn't find them, so I assumed they were either in the car or I dropped them on the street when I got out of the car. Nope....neither. Where the heck were my gloves? Oh, that's right....when I took my hat and gloves off at the condo...I stuck my gloves in my hat so I wouldn't lose them. Yep! There they were, in my hat....ON TOP OF MY HEAD!

I thought...oh brother...if that's the kind of day it's going to be...I am in BIG trouble. This was the Dreaded Dress Shopping Day, and if I was ever going to find a dress to wear to my daughter's wedding I needed to be calm and things needed to go smoothly.

We actually had a good laugh at my expense, and headed on our way to the bus stop. Tresa decided we would try Macy's on Michigan Avenue first. She thought it might be less crowded than the State Street store. We rode the bus downtown and headed into the store. UGH, the dress selection was really poor and I started to sweat. My plan was to take all kinds of pictures of me trying on dresses, and there wasn't even a dress there that I wanted to try on!

Tresa decided we better head on over to the State Street store. On the way we stopped at a store called Filene's Basement. It isn't in a basement. In fact, we went up a very long escalator to get up to the store. I guess Filene's is suppose to have great prices, but it looked like a big garage sale to me. Definitely not my kind of store. I like things hanging neatly on racks in proper size order and maybe even color coordinated. I was not impressed. It isn't that I don't appreciate great prices, I just don't have the patience to search for things, especially that day. I was on a mission and I was not going home until I had a dress for the wedding.

We headed to State Street. It was still pretty quiet in the city and that was nice. No crowds yet. It was easy to get around. You just have to watch out for ice falling off the sides of the buildings...really!

The dress department at the State Street store was wonderful, and it was huge. I felt pretty confident that I would find something.

We both started going through the racks pulling out anything that was a "possibility". The sales clerk was great and put everything in a fitting room for us as we continued to look. Tresa and I don't really have the same taste in dresses, but she quickly figured out what I liked and our fitting room started to fill up quite nicely.

I had a vision of the dress I wanted when we started. I wanted brown for sure, and something comfortable and a little fitted. We are all doing cocktail length. We found some really cute brown dresses I liked, and also a couple in a neat gray. I passed up the bright colors thinking those might not be appropriate for the mother of the bride.

I started trying dresses on and figured out really fast that brown was not my color no matter how much I liked the dresses and the color. They did nothing for me. The gray ones were the same. Tresa went out to grab a couple in different sizes and came back with some really cute dresses in.....royal blue! I told her I didn't think that was a good color for the mother of the bride and she didn't agree.

So, I put on a royal blue dress. WOW! Royal blue was definitely my color, and a couple of the dresses were really cute. She went out and came back with others in blue. There was one that she loved that had more of a chiffon, full skirt in a darker blue that I nixed really fast. It was not "me". I felt like I was all "hip" in it and I don't mean "hip" as in "cool"....I mean "hip" as in "hippy"...not "hippie", but "hippy".....

Then I put on this dress.......this royal blue dress.....it was really cute, it was kind of fitted and it fit me really well. I was pretty excited! I was 99% sure that I had found THE dress! Now this is another place where Tresa and I differ. Tresa would have said, "Ok this is the one. Let's go". I said, let me try on the other cute ones one more time just to be sure. I got this look, and I knew she really didn't get it, because that isn't how she does things....but I did need to be sure. This is a really BIG deal, you know?

Well, of course I didn't change my mind, and I bought the really cute royal blue dress. I think it was a great decision. No, it didn't come off the clearance rack like I had hoped, and I didn't find it in the first store which was my other hope...but the price was reasonable, I had a $25 off coupon from the paper and we were out the door, dress in hand within two hours of starting.

I do need to get the straps taken up a little bit and still have to figure out shoes and find some kind of a wrap, but that is all minor. I'm thinking silver shoes.....what do you think?

We grabbed a cab and went and had a great lunch at a little corner restaurant and talked about the dress and the wedding and hair and shoes and all kinds of things, and then it was time to catch the train home. Traffic caused us to miss the train I was supposed to get on, so we sat and talked and chilled out in the car for an hour waiting for the next one.

What I have been calling the Dreaded Dress Shopping Day turned into an absolutely wonderful day with my little girl. I love you Tresa and thanks so much for helping me find my dress.

Dreaded Dress Shopping Day Has Arrived

It's here. The dreaded dress shopping day has arrived. If you aren't familiar with my dreaded dress shopping day, you can go back and read my post from November 13 .

Tomorrow morning I will board the 6:23 a.m. train for Chicago. My daughter, Tresa, will pick me up at the station, we will take her car back to her house and then hop on the bus to head downtown.

Tresa is familiar with the stores downtown, so I am letting her decide what stores we should try first. I have been online many, many times and have seen no dresses that I even remotely like, but that's what happens when you don't like dresses.

I told Tresa today that I was bringing my camera to take pictures of our day. I am envisioning this really funny blog post with lots of pictures of all of these hideous dresses and hopefully some nice ones. I see me making faces and just having the greatest time, and Tresa capturing it all on camera.

The only problem is that I really have no sense of humor and Tresa has even less!! After a few e-mails back and forth today I had her convinced that doing a dreaded dress shopping day photo documentary could be fun. Her response was, "I'll try."

So, I leave you tonight feeling hopeful that I will walk into that first store and this amazing kick butt dress in my size, will jump off the rack (maybe even the clearance rack) right at me...I will try it on...it will be the dress of my dreams (even though I only have nightmares about dresses, not dreams) it will fit perfect and it will be marked down to about $50!!

Now that would kick butt!!