Glitterati

Friday was a big day. Cleaning Lady came and made my house sparkle, Mr. Lipstick and I had an actual babysitter, and we went to an art/music/wine/food event at the local art museum. This is the photo the babysitter took before we left. The arrow is there so I can brag about the crown moulding that Mr. Lipstick designed and installed.

Anyway, we are members at the museum which makes us sound fancier than we are. I'm ok with that. The inside scoop is that we have the basic family membership which means that our names are not listed on any of the programs as benefactors and we can't book a private portrait sitting in the gardens.

See-and-Be-Seen was held in the Botanic Hall. There was a nearly endless array of tables with food from various city restaurants (the sort of places whose names are either French, a pun, or something made up entirely). There were little bars interspersed throughout and the trash cans were draped in fabric. We each had Lance Armstrong-looking wrist bands with the date and the title of the event and we bought drink tickets at the door. Chinese lanterns added subtle ambient lighting and a local band played party favorites.

We got our food and drinks and sat down on a white sofa which was way more stylish than it was comfortable. I tried to explain to Mr. Lipstick that since I didn't know these people and had no obligation to talk to them that their glittery presence provided a nice background to our date. They were all integral parts of the scenery just like the lanterns, the flowers and the fabric-draped trash cans.

One of my favorite things about any See-and-Be-Seen event is the way the people dress. There are the Preppy Folks who are very tasteful and always appropriate (and most importantly never overdone), the Artsy Folks who are very eclectic and always have hair with way too much product, and the Pretty People (the ones who really think they look fabulous and are trying to find others similarly situated).

My top picks for most entertaining are the following:

-blonde woman about fifty-ish who was completely drunk and acting like the ingenue she might have been thirty years ago.

-guy with tight pants, boots, jet black hair with loads of pommade who was accompanied by a hometown Dita von Teese look-alike.

-pretty guy with a sport coat, J. Crew sneakers and long shaggy hair. Looked like he was back home after competing in some yacht race. Mr. Lipstick thought he looked gay which means he was attractive and stylish.

-sufficiently pretty blonde girl who had to be in her twenties (heaven help her if she was thirty and dressing this stupidly) who was wearing a silk dress with an uneven hemline and a bright Asian print. It skimmed the floor in a red-carpet kind of way and showcased her jeweled heels. She sort of pranced around, completely unaware that by being overdressed she looked very country-come-to-town and was reminiscent of one of the hostesses on The Price Is Right.

I was having so much fun with all the people-watching and pretentious-food-eating and I can't even express how relaxed it made me to be anonymous (we only run into people we know at the family events). Mr. Lipstick eventually had enough and we walked around in the gardens. After four cosmos I was ready to do a little snuggling underneath a wisteria arbor with only a sculpture to watch. Of course, I had to get out the camera.

I took another picture in the hallwayand another on the way homeBefore I knew it, it was all over. Saturday I ran lots of errands and did laundry. I spent the day daydreaming about the fun of the previous night which made me feel like Cinderella. At least I didn't have to scrub the floors.