The "This is where you are at dress"

I have this dress- it was the one my mom made me out of fabric that was leftover from my bridesmaids' dresses. I call it my going away dress. It is what I put on to leave the reception. Every year I take it out around are anniversary and put it on for that Sunday. Some years I have been pregnant and not able to wear it, but so far there has only been 2 years I wasn't able to wear it when I wasn't pregnant. It is my "this is where you are at dress." This year it was not comfortable at all. I told my husband that it was cutting me in two. Sam looked at me and said, "why didn't you just take it off, then?" Ah, men. They just don't understand. I have to wear that dress for at least the three hours of church. It is the rule! This year we had tithing settlement right after church, though. I was very happy to take it off as soon as we got home! I was not happy with the way our bishop handled a certain situation, so I went straight back to church to talk with him instead of letting it fester all week, but I did not wear the dress! Next year, I hope to report that it was not cutting me in two!

This is the dress I bought on-line. I looked and looked for a decent Christmas dress. I didn't like any of the dresses out there. Mostly they don't have dresses, they just have skirts. I finally broke down and bought a skirt/shirt compo. Of course I had no idea how formal it was. It didn't go all the way to the floor on the model. I am 5'8 and it drags all over the floor on me. The shirt, I thought was a nice velvet. NO way- it is a stretch black with sparkely copper thread all over it. At first I thought it was hideous. But now I like it. It is just a little formal for church. I will probably only get to wear it on Christmas and then never get to wear it again until I have a formal. Luckily, in the army there are usually plenty of formals. Just not here in D.C. Which seems really odd to me! I decided that I would look at it this way- for $60 I got a formal and a Christmas dress. Now if I can just find a dress I like!