Out of the ordinary

This week would have been an almost normal week except for an act of near spontaneity - near only because I had been planning to do what I ended up doing before dropping the idea and then deciding to actually go through with it at the last minute. On Tuesday afternoon I jetted down to Atlanta to attend the German American Chamber of Commerce New Year's Reception, an event that provided ample opportunity to network with German businesspeople from the Atlanta area as well as people who have some sort of personal or professional connection to Germany. I ended up getting the ticket for $5.00 with my Skymiles and was able to stay downtown with a friend, whom I had met in 2008 when I first attended the event. The only problem I had was that my wardrobe was void of anything even close to resembling business attire. I have several cute, fun, summery dresses and at least one formal cocktail dress, but none were really up for the occasion. The rest of my wardrobe basically consists of casualwear - and when I say casual I mean sweatpants-t-shirt-and-a-fleece kind of casual. I often joke that wearing jeans is getting dressed up. After all, I work from home. I take naps when I feel the need and thus I feel no need to wear anything other than things that make me feel comfortable. I'll admit that I do have a couple of pairs of slacks, but nothing that I could magically turn into a professional looking outfit. On Monday night, after ransacking my closet in a last effort to somehow find something suitable to wear, I came to the dreaded conclusion that yes, I would in fact have to make a trip to the mall in search of something to wear Tuesday morning before leaving for Atlanta.

Unlike most women, I absolutely hate shopping. The thought of it almost sends my stomach into knots. If I could have it my way, I'd have a personal fashion assistant come along with me, or, better yet, do the shopping for me and always get it right because they know how to dress me. Since that isn't and likely never will be my reality, I instead have to ask a salesperson in the respective store for assistance. Although I'm not a shopper, I was disturbed to find out that the stores in nearest mall don't open until 10 AM - wouldn't it make more sense for them to open early, or do real shoppers sleep in? I killed some time at Target picking up some last-minute items before heading to the mall across the street. I circled around the mall - upstairs and downstairs - for about 10 minutes until the first gates to the stores started to go up. I was the first person in LOFT and was slightly perturbed that the saleswomen neither greeted me nor asked me if I wanted assistance. Did I really look that frumpy? Isn't every person who comes through the door a potential customer in need of assistance - even more so the one who really looks like she needs a completely new wardrobe, like me? In the past I have been known to be annoyed by such greetings, but on Tuesday I actually needed to be asked. I browsed around the store for a little while, not particularly enthusiastic about anything on the racks. After about 15 minutes I finally had to ask for some assistance - yet she still didn't seem particularly excited about helping me. It turned out that everything the two of us picked out was a disaster - the colors and styles made me want to scream in horror as I began to look like some sort of a clown from a frilly floral freak show. I hated the collars, I hated the cardigans (I can't stand button-up sweaters in general), I really hated the striped "bag" shirt (I prefer more form fitting attire if I have to dress up) - basically I hated pretty much everything. After wasting a good portion of the very little time that I had allotted for shopping, I quickly hurried into the next store - Benneton - where everything was on sale. That quickly proved to be a major miss as well, with my sizes being gone in everything I liked and the Italian sizes proving to be more than just a little confusing (no they are nothing like German sizes - those I have long figured out!). With about 45 minutes left to find something, I knew that Express was probably going to be my best bet. Within moments of entering the store, I knew I should have gone there first. Not only did they have business attire, they had it in my size (most importantly in my size and petite) and in multiple options. The sales girls were more than helpful and I ended up getting a black jacket with matching pants, a matching skirt, and two blouses. I actually looked like a business professional and was quite certain that I wouldn't be mistaken for a high school student (as I was the night before in art class). I quickly hurried home, changed into the pant suit with the sharp and shiny royal blue blouse, and hurried off to the airport - my brother volunteering to drive me as well as stay at my house for the night to watch the dogs.

Once I got to Atlanta, I took MARTA straight downtown to my friend's condo, quickly freshened up, hailed a taxi, and headed to the event. Although I had been to the same event twice before - in 2008 and 2009 - I was only certain of knowing one familiar face. I got there about an hour after everything had started, which might have been to my disadvantage in retrospect. I find it extremely difficult to engage in smalltalk and "naturally" socialize.I don't think there's anything natural about it. Nevertheless, I tried my best, but soon found myself in the very awkward situation of trying to hold a champagne glass and a plate of food, all while trying to eat what is on the plate with only a fork. The stuffed mushrooms clearly needed to be cut with a knife to avoid the embarrassment of looking like a chipmunk with stuffed cheeks. However, a frantic mishap resulting from an attempt to cut the mushroom with the fork and having it fly into someone's face would have been even worse. Thankfully that didn't happen, but that vision was in the back of my mind. It would have been better had I not needed to eat at all, but since I had only had some fruit, an egg, and gluten-free toast for "breakfast" at 12:30, I was starving and had to eat something. Despite these initial difficulties, I did actually manage to engage in a few conversations (mostly in German) and exchange a few business cards. I of course enjoyed astonishing native German speakers by the fact that I'm not actually German (one of my favorite things to do!), which actually led to a couple of conversations with GACC staff who may need translations. I met one person whom I ended up hanging out with the most, who introduced me to another language services provider (the owner of a translation agency) and who also gave me a book tip to perhaps help with such networking situations in the future. I'll definitely have to give it a read.

While I certainly didn't become a networking expert in one evening, I definitely think it was good to put myself out there, get away from my everyday life for an evening and - most importantly - step outside of my comfort zone. I certainly had nothing to lose - who knows, I might have even gained something more than just a new, professional look!

The outfit I wore Tuesday night

Jacket with skirt

The two new blouses