Playing Dress Up

On Thursday afternoon my friend Megan called me with an awesome invitation. She had two extra tickets to Treads and Threads, Friday night's big benefit for the KU Hospital cancer center. Chad and I had volunteered at this event for several of the last few years, and ironically, this year we decided not to participate. We always had fun, but we kind of just felt like we'd outgrown being "helpers" at the event. When Megan offered us VIP tickets, we were so excited about the opportunity to be actual guests instead of workers!

Since we received and accepted the invitation less than 36 hours before the gala, we faced some fashion dilemmas on Thursday evening. First of all, although the event is black-tie, we didn't have time to rent Chad a tux. He had to wear his black suit, which wasn't really a huge deal since there are actually quite a few guys who don't wear tuxes to the event. Unfortunately, my dilemma wasn't quite as easy to solve, since I could think of nothing in my closet that was appropriate for the evening. I really need to invest in a little black dress for just such an occasion. Since our Journey Group was meeting at our house (to watch football) on Thursday, I didn't have much time for last-minute shopping. I emailed a bunch of friends to see if anyone had a dress I could borrow, and several of my wonderful friends offered outfits from their closet. However, at the last minute I decided to just run by TJ Maxx on the way home to see what they had. I managed to find a couple of dresses with potential, and then with the help of my JG girls I picked out the best one for Friday night's event! I ended up leaving work a little early on Friday to find some cute black shoes, so I was all set for our evening by about 4:00!

I was a little self-conscious on the way to the Speedway, only because I was afraid most people would be in black, while I was wearing shimmery champagne. I hadn't really realized how shimmery the dress was when I tried it on in the store and for my friends! Once I got there, I felt a little better since tons of women were wearing much flashier gowns, some of which were even full-length. Still, since I don't particularly love standing out in a crowd, I think for my next formal event I will try to go with basic black!

All fashion dramas aside, the event was terrific, which wasn't surprising at all since my friend Vikkie is the event planner and always does an amazing job. The decorations were fabulous, the food was great and the entertainment extensive. Michael McDonald was the headliner, and while were weren't necessarily big fans, we were shocked by how many of his songs we knew!!


We had a terrific time with our friend Megan and her husband Chad (at left), who we'd met on a couple of occasions but never really had the opportunity to hang out with. We also got to hang out with my very old friend Devon, who I first met when I was her counselor at Kanakuk back in 1991. We both lived in Lawrence for years without knowing the other was here, so it's been so nice to get reacquainted with Devon thanks to Megan!

Although the evening was great fun for the most part, there is so much alcohol served at this event, there is definitely some questionable and downright disturbing behavior by some of the guests as a result. We saw one middle-aged woman barfing out the door of her limousine, while just a few feet away a young man urinated in the middle of an open field in full view of tons of people, just minutes before his date did the same!! ACK! It was so disgusting. What is wrong with people???

Bad behavior aside, the evening was a blast. For more pictures, check out Vikkie's album from the event!