The Mommy Brain Strikes Again

A couple of Fridays ago I came to work dressed in jeans and a random top, like I usually do on Fridays. My office is very laid-back and there is almost always no one in the office on Fridays because most of my co-workers are on an Alternative Work Schedule. Of course, me having three kids means that an AWS schedule doesn't work for me, but then that is another post for another day. Anyway, on this particular Friday, I arrived at work - after walking the mile from the train station to my building - opened up my calendar for the day and realized that I had an important meeting with outside counsel for a major media network scheduled. Crap.

Going back home was not an option since I carpool with Hubby (and he has the car). I do keep a suit jacket on the back of my office door, but throwing a black jacket over indigo jeans and a flowery top from Old Navy was not gonna cut it. To make a long story short, I ended up having to walk back to the train station, where luckily there are several shops, and trying to throw together an impromptu outfit in under 30 minutes.

I hit Ann Taylor first, thinking I would surely find something suitable there. The thing of it was that I just couldn't bring myself to spend $278 on a jacket, even knowing that I was going to return it at 5 o'clock. So I checked out Express. Express is one of those stores that it gives you a reality-check. Like "you might think you're still young, but really you're old. and fat." Next. So I ended up at White House Black Market where I found a decent pair of overpriced black slacks (I hate that word) and an overpriced black and white sweater. My final task was to find a camisole to go underneath the sweater which had a deep V-neck. The easy choice would have been Express since they are the tight-and-lacy-camisole wholesalers, but I couldn't bring myself to go back in there and wait in line with the tweens (hey, shouldn't you be in school?) gossiping about the Jonas Brothers and gesturing wildly with sparkly manicures. So I ended up at Chicos. Sheesh. Talk about feeling old. Anyway, at this point I was late and in a hurry so I bought an overpriced black shell ($50 for a shell? really?) and high-tailed it back to the office. I was literally sweating by the time I got back to my desk. Mostly because I had tried on both slacks and a shell in the same day. God help me.

I changed, survived the meeting and no one was the wiser. Afterwards, I promptly changed back into my casual outfit and returned everything after work.

The moral of the story? Don't bother going to work on Fridays. No good can come of it.