Poor Planning

After so much travelling, I happen to pride myself on being able to pack light and right. In most cases I am able to get things down to just a carry-on…I managed to bring only a carry on for my two weeks in France and only a backpack for 2 nights in Minneapolis for work. But on this past trip to Tahoe for work, my light packing turned into a very expensive oversight. I will blame it on the lingering after effects of the plague…I clearly wasn’t thinking when I packed Thursday morning for the trip – work Thursday afternoon, dinner with client that night and work on Friday at the client site.

Being re-assured on numerous occasions that the client was casual, I opted to wear jeans on Thursday and brought a dress to wear Friday. I even brought two extra tops just in case. Unfortunately for me, I hadn’t thought through my options for dinner and upon seeing the client, followed by looking up the restaurant, I realized I was completely underdressed and needed to fix it ASAP. The solution –a quick Google search of shops in Incline Village for places that might sell dresses or dinner appropriate attire.

With a flimsy excuse for leaving work early, I drove like lightening to the nearest store to pick up a much needed outfit for dinner – which was less than an hour away from starting. Thankfully the store was not busy and the owner sensed my dread. Upon explaining the situation, she grabbed all possible options and got me started in the dressing room…I settled on a cute black maxi dress by Free People, that was actually on sale and something I would wear again. The only problem…thanks to my packing skills, I had only brought brown accessories. So what started as just a dress turned into a dress, black shoes, black clutch, black cardigan and colorful bandeau top to spice it up and tone it down (yes, the dress was a little too revealing for work). Two hundred dollars and twenty minutes later I was outfitted for the occasion.

With 15 minutes until the dinner reservation, I made it back to the hotel, got changed, fixed my hair, and touched up my make-up. And while I was 5 minutes late to dinner, at least I was appropriately dressed! Thank goodness for Google and an ample spending account. Too bad I can’t run through those expenses!