Sweet Smell of Success

Do you smell something?  I do... it's the sweet smell of success. I have found a dress.

The cost of this dress cannot be calculated in the price tag (well, ok, part of it can be). Instead, I calculate it in hours of my life, and then use my own multiplier. When I roughly calculated the hours I spent searching for this dress, and inserted the hourly rate multiplier of how much my time is worth, I have come up with a number that shocked even me.

I have this thing I do, the other happy vegan here does the same. Whenever either one of us has something we are contemplating getting involved in, we estimate how much time it will take, and place an hourly rate on our time. I'm not going to say what ours is, his rate is different than mine.  We don't sell ourselves cheap, we're each in triple digits.  Did I just hear someone out there gasp?  You shouldn't, unless you are gasping because you think we under calculate.  Don't undervalue your time and yourself.  This is an important lesson, I learned it well and quite a while ago (thanks again Dad!)

Just because the working world assess wages in trade for work does not mean we are to value our time at the same rate, not at all.  Fact is, our time is priceless.  Its the one thing we really own. When it is traded for something, that investment should be carefully considered.  The true value of you should be placed on those hours.  This is how I approach a lot of things, and is a great help also when deciding to hire out for a job too.  Can I get it done at a better value than if I did it myself?  Will the quality be just as good, or better, than if I did it myself?  All things to be considered.

I placed an hourly rate on my dress shopping just for purposes of  proving my point.  If I was in a different location where there were different shopping options, things may have been different.  I tried for months to go the vintage route for this dress I need for an upcoming important event.  Its been 8 months of shopping, as I said from Key West to Ft. Lauderdale.  I ended up with things I didn't need, weren't quite right.  Finally that last road trip to the mainland to a mega-mall did the trick.

I admit I bought a new dress.  At that mega-mall I was overwhelmed.  There were too many stores than I had time to even think about going into. I chose an old faithful from days past, went to the evening attire, and pulled every single dress in my size which even remotely appealed to me.  In that first store, the store of my days past, I found a dress I love. It is well made, and it fits almost perfectly (eh,what's a tiny bit of alterations, right?)  It does not have feathers, cut outs, plunging fronts or back, or any other quality I have deemed inappropriate.  At that mega-mall, I walked into a store, tried on almost the entire dress stock, and walked out with something as close to perfect as could be (not perfect because its not vintage).  I didn't have to go to any more stores, thus the clock was shut down on how much it really cost me, in time, to find that dress.

It would have been great if I would've found something vintage, I would've felt better about making such an important purchase. I tried, honestly I did.  But, I think my carbon footprint was becoming one to cloud the entire planet by my frequent trips to the local shops, and increasing trips to the mainland (this vegan rocks a Prius, but still it does need fuel!)

So, there it is.  Somehow, the House of Fashion has redeemed itself at the last minute.  I saw many things I didn't like, would never wear, and think shouldn't have even been manufactured, but swimming in that sea of fabric I found the one dress made for me.  I'm going to keep it for a long time.  And, you know what.... I've got the perfect tiara to go with it.

I finally will be funky funky, but chic.  At least for a few hours.  Ah, the sweet smell of success... and good fashion sense.