Dress 4 : You never know where you willl find inspiration or a friend!

Most days I wake up, find my way in the dark to the shower (because my eyes don’t really wake up until I’m out of the shower), get out of the shower, traipse to my room leaving wet footprints and rummage through my closet to find the nearest clean piece of clothing.  These days I have to be more careful!!! I don’t want to pull out a dress I absolutely love … and then not be able to wear it again for a really long time.  But today was an exception because I was wearing this dress that is one of my favourites at the moment for a very special person.  I also wore this dress because it works as something to wear in the office and something to wear out at night.

When I moved to New York I knew 2 people.  Through my first few years I made and lost friends.  Found people who were real and those who were not.  Within a year I had a few really good people around me who are still extremely close friends with me to this day but I hadn’t made a group of girlfriends like I had here in Australia.  What I mean by that is the type of girlfriends that you call at a minutes notice to hold your hand when you’re sad at 2am, a coven who share and keep your deepest secrets, that don’t care that you sing the same song at karaoke every single time and drag them there even though they hate karaoke!!!

Then one day I met Joy.  We actually didn’t strike a friendship at first and we even laugh to this day that it took us so long to be friends.  She started a few years after I started at my job and given the nature of her job she was immediately extremely busy and didn’t have a lot of time to get to know everyone.  The limited interaction we had didn’t really give us a chance to bond.  Then one day we both ended up at an American Australian function.  Mix ball gowns, Olivia Newton John (yes live!!) and some champagne and you have an instant recipe for friendship!! That night we got chatting and 6 or so years later haven’t stopped.

Once we actually could stop and get to know each other I met an extremely interesting, fun, worldly and beautiful person.  She taught me how to use chopsticks, I made her sing karaoke.  She explained to me what paprika was (yes I will admit I didn’t know) and I made her wear black nail polish for the first time!  Meeting Joy was finding that dot to connect all those other dots.  I was already lucky enough to have found my lost other half (Mel .. but more to come on her) but meeting Joy gave me closure to an open circle.  In turn I also met Rachel (as mentioned in the first blog .. also more to come on her!) and Bec and Rose and Zoe and Fran and Sarah and soooooooooo many other people to name.  I found my coven to share my deepest darkest secrets, I found the girls to hold my hand at 2am in the morning when I was sad, I found those who would listen to me sing the same song at karaoke every single time.

When I left New York it broke my heart to leave those girls behind.  But one by one as I was building my life back in Australia they were missing me terribly and started to move home!! Haha no … for some it was time and others it was to follow their hearts but I got my wish and some moved home including Joy.  Today she was visiting Melbourne, as she lives in another state in Australia.  So this dress I wore for her.  I won’t go into it now but while in New York I discovered my dark side and found a fascination with gothic imagery and one element that come out a lot are skulls.  When Joy and I became friends I introduced her to some of my rock influences including skulls which sort of became a theme to us.  Since we were having dinner tonight I thought I would wear this dress to show her.  It’s not often we get to compare cute dresses together in the same place.  She and I would also frequent De Janeiro together and she was the one to introduce me to the awesomeness of tights (another blog post to give homage to them later).

I miss her a lot.  I miss being able to call her up and get white castle and sit on my couch in my apartment and just talk.  I miss so many things about her.  But one thing being home has taught me is that real friends are always friends no matter where you are in the world.  I also have realised that being home has allowed me to still have these friends but also make new ones.

I was so amazed at work today when a co-worker announced to me that she had worn a dress and called today Frock Friday.  She had asked other colleagues of ours to also wear dresses.  She had been reading my blog since day 1 and it inspired her to pull out a dress.  I have been in this job for almost 11 months and today made me realise that I have not only found co-workers who support me but also new friends.  All of the girls, who I must say looked so super cute kindly agreed to be photographed together for a special photo on today’s blog.  Hopefully frock Friday will continue because it was so lovely to see the girls together trading stories of dresses, maybe next week the boys will join us!? 

So tonight I feel thankful for friends old and new and that dresses seem to have given me the chance to bring a smile to other people and to bring people together.. who knew a piece of material could be so powerful?!

Yours in dresses

Skye

Day 4
Dress : Skeleton Surprise
Bought : 4 months ago
Price Range : $59.95 (on sale!)
Where bought : Dangerfield, Chadstone.
What I like about it : I love the pattern!  You don't notice it is skeletons at first ... then you look closer!!! Also that it is a size 13!!!
Tag Info : Designed in Melbourne, Made in China, Black Friday, 100% Polyester
Photo Credit: JDuncan, SBrown (group shot)

PS: Don't the girls look so adorable!!! L to R with dress brands  Erin (dress details secret), Sal (Leona), Lisa (Veronica Maine), Skye (Black Friday), Helen (Stiches), Rochelle (dress detals secret), Pip (Raw Cloth - a cute shop in Darwin .. thinking Darwin needs to be on my next shopping list how cute are those carrots!!)