Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Accidental Party Shoes

It's an understatement to say that we've had a lot of rain this year, but the sun gave us a big Saturday afternoon smile last month when we welcomed Summer at the lake with a grand Fiesta. There's not much I enjoy more than a theme party, so it was fun to plan all the little details. I did not, however, buy a new outfit for the occasion. The lake is a place to kick back and get comfortable. In fact, despite my love for shoes of all sorts, you'll most likely find me in flipflops or barefoot when I'm at home. This is true regardless of whether I'm spending a lazy solo afternoon in the hammock or playing hostess to a hundred.
For Fiesta, though, I was going to make an exception and wear my favorite cowboy boots with this lightweight cotton paisley peasant dress (a $14.99 girls' dept. bargain at Target) that's been in my closet for a few years now. Handmade in Mexico and embroidered with colorful sugar skulls, the boots were spot on for the South of the Border theme. In reality, boots at the lake when it's hotter than Hades and you're likely to spend at least some time with your toes in the water is just silly. Really, who does that?! 
I probably would have done that (after all, I did wear those same boots to a beach in Florida early this year). But the truth is, when guests started to arrive I was too busy greeting friends and enjoying myself to change. I never gave the boots a second thought. In fact, I never gave a second thought to the shoes I was actually wearing - a very old $10 pair of beaded flipflops from JC Penney - until sometime Sunday afternoon when I was cleaning up at the dock. It was then that I realized those accidental party shoes were a dead on match for a new outdoor rug....
Weird, right? I do like to match, but this was truly unintentional. I mean, come on. I must have some matching mutation that causes me to do it on instinct. Or, perhaps more likely, it's just that my tastes tend toward similar colors and patterns, thereby increasing the likelihood that anything in my orbit will coordinate with other things.  (Though that doesn't explain why this year's pale aqua Kentucky Derby dress was a perfect match for the Grandstand Wristbands, which change color every year).
Regardless of the reality behind my magical matching mystery powers, I'm embracing them. I'll also be most happy to embrace the sunshine when it decides to reaapear and the water line drops far enough below the dock that I can actually bring the new outdoor rug back out without it washing away. Sadly, I won't be wearing the matching flipflops next time that happens, because these beaded beauties bit the dust a few weeks ago. Must have been all that dancing with the mariachi band!
Fashion is what you buy; Style is what you do with it!

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