So girly... :-D

On Friday, I will attend the 'karonkka' (PhD defence party) of one of my colleagues. It's been a while since I last attended such a festive occasion. And believe me, in Finland, defending your thesis is a very, very festive occasion. On my own karonkka, I felt like a bride on my wedding day - just instead of a groom I had an opponent sitting next to me during dinner... ;-)

There is a strict code of what to wear - at least if you go through with all the traditions, as it is done in our group. That means that I'll have to wear a long, black dress. And I have just the dress!! I wore it on every single karonkka. So far.

But now this dress has shrunken. No clue why... But I just cannot close that damn zipper anymore. Not even when breathing in for a minute and standing on my toes. Not a chance. Did I gain weight? Noooooo way! ;-)

Curiously, almost every woman in our group has the very same problem! Collective dress shrinking! But unlike me, my colleagues have an explanation/excuse for the phenomena: During the pregnancy, their rips opened - and apparently haven't closed ever since. That's why their dresses zippers won't close no more. Maybe I've had a sympathetic pseudopregnancy without me noticing... ;-)

Anyhow, today, I just had to face the fact that I won't fit in that dress no more. Not until Friday anyways. I really hate shopping, but I had to do what I had to do. My head bent, I stopped by a dress shop that lies on my way home. (The shop sells wedding dresses as well, which fits the occasion just right ;) ) I had to ring the doorbell, and a saleswoman came to open the door for me. I had to leave my shoes in the entrance and to follow her inside on my socks. I haven't felt this girly in... ever. :-D

She then brought me a couple of black dresses ranging from size 38 to 40. My old dress is size 36... 

To my delight, I found a dress that I liked (in under 10 min). It was reduced by 60 %! Size 38. And it was too big! Yes! They didn't have it a size smaller anymore, but the saleswoman offered to have it make smaller and shorter by Friday. With the tailoring costs, I paid almost the full price of the dress. Oh, what a cunning dealmaker I am ... 

But at least I found a dress and I found it fast!

And even better, if you do the math: To make a dress size 38 smaller equals a dress size 36 - which is the same size as my old dress. So there's the mathematical proof: I indeed did not gain any weight! Phew, Christmas is saved! ;-)

And yes, this entire anecdote was worth writing a blog post about. :-D It's actually nice, to not have any other major 'problems'... :o)