Dresses, DC and Dallas

I'm a happy bunny at the moment. Finally, I am going to be able to wear the ball dress I bought from eBay back in 2007 for the RWA conference in Dallas.

The dress was a lovely Monsoon creation in black and green. Although I'd ordered the right size, it came up quite small and, since I was losing weight, I decided to see if I could slim into it. I got so close. So close. But then disaster struck - and no, it wasn't in the shape of a dozen doughnuts...

Basically, I was up early one morning at the conference (blame jet lag), was at a loose end and decided to try my party frocks on to decide which to wear to the Harelquin party, and well...the zip broke. You can read the whole story here. So, it was 6am and I was stuck in a full-length evening dress. Not a good situation to be in. Leaving the hotel room to get help would have made me look slightly (!!) ridiculous.

To cut a long story short, I managed to get out of the dress without assistance - but only by breaking the zip. The wonderful hotel concierge managed to arrange for it to be fixed for me but, when I tried the dress on again later that day, I realised they'd had to take it in to fit the new zip and now the dress was too tight. Sniff. I packed it away and hoped I'd be able to wear it again one day.

Well, that day is about to arrive. Not only can I do my dress up now, but I can do it up with ease. This year I will be wearing it to the RITA/Golden Heart ceremony at the RWA conference in Washington DC. Yay!

If you're in that neck of the woods on Wednesday 15th July, come and see me at the Authors for Life Literacy Authographing, to be held at the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m. (Disclaimer: I may not be wearing the ball dress to that event, but I will smile and sign a book for charity for you if you come and talk to me.)