random thoughts – Day 2,181 (Saturday) – fancy late night

The day began with an unconventional breakfast of the rice and black bean concoction that was Friday’s lunch and supper. When I get on a food kick I tend to ride it to the end.

A friend picked me up a short time later so we could meet with a dancer to shop a treasure trove of costume components and accessories and specifically saris which we can use to make other costumes. We returned to our homes with armloads of dance coin belts, trims, veils, jewelry, and saris. 

Back at home, there was time to relax for a minute before dressing for the night's museum gala, which was made easier than usual by having planned the outfit on the dress form earlier in the week. In the past, there would be a mental list of potential outfit ideas and I would wait until the day of an event to check my mood, try on a slew of outfits, and have a full-blown case of panic before deciding what to wear. This new way felt a lot more civilized. A couple times in years past, I attended events on behalf of the bank as a fill-in for someone who couldn’t make it and didn’t know I was attending until the day of the event, so the outfit timing wasn't always my fault. It could get a little crazy, especially if it was a themed event, but it was always fun.

It was crowded in the gallery
during the remarks.

Tonight’s night out in society was Fitchburg Art Museum’s 100^th Anniversary celebration, and the galleries are stuffed floor to ceiling with works from their extensive collection. The old art mixed with the new and made for a colorful and eclectic exhibit that included paintings by Eleanor Norcross, the founder of the museum. The wall colors in the galleries are painted gorgeous deep greens and blues and the art really pops on the walls. 

"Whimsical."

People dressed up for the event and attire included tuxedo with cummerbund; many sequin-crusted dresses, tops, and jackets; long dresses; dress pants; neck ties and bow ties with suits. It is exactly the sort of attire I love. 

I opted to embrace the “colorful” and “kaleidoscope” terms in the event description and wore a chiffon ruffled skirt, light pink sparkling boots, a purple sequin top and hip scarf, and a multicolor kimono-type robe, and topped it all with a multicolor fascinator. Not to brag (ha!) but one guy liked my boots, five people said they liked my "headpiece," and one museum staffer said I had “the most whimsical outfit of the night.” Thank you indeed. I saw a couple dancer friends and a former bank colleague and it was fun to chat and catch up.

The catering was a colorful array of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, cold cuts, crackers, bread, hummus and dips, along with passed hors d’oeuvres including homemade waffle bites with blackberries and cream, guava empanadas, Thai chicken skewers, and crostini. The desserts featured brownies, thick cookies, and cannoli. It was all tasty and I’m pretty sure I tasted it all.

There was an interactive art wall which involved pulling a tile from a jar and drawing the image from the tile onto a card and hanging it on a grid marked on the wall to create a much larger artwork. My friends and I all got into the colored pencils and got busy.  It was a cool idea and really fun.

One of the interactive art walls.

The event ended at 9:00 which was perfect. My friends and I traded stories about what a typical (non-gala) evening would look like and in all cases, it involved being in comfortable clothes on our respective couches by 7:30 and mentally preparing for bed. We joked out being awake and out “so late.” But we were glad to be dressed up and mingling with other fancy folks, looking at art, and eating fancy food.

It’s funny how the concept of “late” changes with age. In our 20s, we would just be getting ready to go out at 9:00 and now at that hour we are ready to head home and are plotting exits. Sleeping “late” when I was younger meant noon or early afternoon, and now I feel like I’m getting up late if it’s after 7:00 a.m.