Oh my, my, oh hell yes...

Um, is that an 80’s satiny party dress?... and heels?… why, yes it is! I know, first the wacky/wonderful New Year’s jacket (thanks for all your encouraging comments on that btw, you guys are the best) and now THIS?

Alright, for those of you who know that my most traveled style route normally runs like a bridge between the 70’s and the 90’s, and who may understandably be wondering: “what the what??”… the answer is no, I didn‘t jump off the bridge and land in flashy 80's land never to return ;)

The occasion was a Salsa Dance Party for our friend Julianne’s birthday. The invitation (jokingly?) instructed the ladies to “dress like Gloria Estephan.” However, with every intention of taking this suggestion absolutely seriously, I trotted off to the Salvation Army to search out the perfect dress.

It was the first dress to catch my eye, and although my initial reaction upon seeing it hanging limp from its halter strings was an emphatic “ew,” I did see promise in the fact that it was satin, greener than green, and ruched to high heaven. So, when I put the thing on, I was pleasantly surprised in a wow-this-is-actually-kinda-cute sort of way, forked over the $3.50 for it (yay, half off day!) and the rest is history.

The only problem was that nothing but a pair of strappy heels was gonna do for this get-up and strappy heels are not something commonly found in my closet. So off I trotted once again, this time to the Goodwill, on the day of the party and as luck would have it, they did have exactly one pair of strappy black leather heels in my size, simple with nice knotted and woven details that I liked. Five bucks, aaaand done.

Well, almost, I found two clear Lucite bangles set with tiny ball studs and painted on the inside (one black and one pearly white, $1 each) at a local antique market. The perfect finishing touch!

Oh c’mon, how could I not try to pull off a sexy washin’-my-hair pose in this dress?! Haha!

They rented out a hall for the party, it was lots of fun, and there was even a taco truck parked outside to feed us. There was also a professional salsa instructor to give us lessons! Almost nobody at the party had any prior salsa dancing experience, so that made things pretty entertaining/hilarious.

I wish I had more pictures but we only took a few while messing around in the dance hall before the party actually got started.

Don’t worry, I didn’t lose my left leg in a freak salsa dancing accident. How weird is that picture though?

See, both feet, still there, in their heels… take a good look cause chances are you’ll never see those heels again, haha. Seriously though, an evening of salsa dancing in them was enough to remind me why I love my boots and flats so much!