HERE SHE IS: MISS FANTASTICA!

(And where is the Vancouver Symphony when you need them?)

Ah, yes, the Gala is over. My feet HURT and my head has it's own personal drummer and I didn't drink! No, no, I spent the evening running (and running and running...) around collecting empty beer bottles and handing out voting slips (for Gala Gal and Gala Guy) and greeting the town's folk and fetching this and taking down that, all freeking night.....sheesh! SOME PARTY! But I did get voted "Gala Gal", again (!) which is fabulous darling, but for the fact of the ludicrous-iness of winning your own trophy...ha! I'm quite amused by this...apparently 'dressing up' stressed out most people who, sadly, were stuck in the "oh god we're going to the Opera" way of approaching this event. People, people, people....how do I show you this is like 'Halloween' except instead of dressing for the dead, you're dressing for the living! Think: THEATRE! Think: HOLLYWOOD GLAM-FEST! Think: TRANSVESTITES! ..........excuse me?!?

I mean: going all out in the glamour department and who does that better than those beee-utiful cross-dressers?

But people out here HATE dressing up...sigh. They would rather just be in gumboots forever. Which I suppose you could work with as a theme too, but still.

I need to live in New York for the daily costume parade.

Now that, would feed my 'Cirque-du-Soliel' longings.......

(OK, here's the recap of the evening's final outfit: Thrift store (ALL items were Thrift Store by-the-by) nubby-knit sweater cut down and remade into shrug with about 100000000gazillion sequins sewn all over it. Which continuously fell off all night, leaving some bizarre 'Hansel-and-Grettle' type trail behind me. It was a conversation topic. Black maternity bathing suit top that was cut down and reworked (because I liked the neck and bust detail and not because I have some strange inner longing to relive my pregnancies; God Forbid!) Black dressy trousers that I added more sequins all around the leg bottoms and randomly sewed little stars to. AND! My 2$ Halloween wig that everyone goes gaa-gaa over. (I wish I could get my hair to match it but then my hair would have to be synthetic nylon) And of course: my 'piece-du-resistance': My HAT!

And THAT, ladies and gentlemens, is HOW you dress up!