Winning a Contest, Lady Language, and the First Picture of Quirky Jessi Ever Posted!!

*Deep breath*

Okay, so this post keeps getting pushed further into my folder of "things to blog." It keeps getting ignored on my lists of "things to do today." It keeps getting dropped from my mental agenda of things I want to get taken care of this week, month, year....and to put it simply, I'm tired of something so simple getting shoved to the side, as with so many other things I've tossed aside in the last few months.

Except this is different. This isn't some random link that can wait a year and still be relevant to my blog. It's not some useless meme that makes no difference if I ever respond to.

No. This is personal. And Quirky Jessi doesn't really do "personal" here. I don't avoid it either, of course, because I don't have anything that I'm trying to hide, lol....but this blog swayed away from 'my' life after the first couple months....even though shockingly enough, I've stuck with the blog title of "The Quirky World of Jessi."

To top it off, I knew I was going to take a while to write the post. No, not going back to fine tune every word I said....in fact, I won't even go back over this to nip typos in the butt because I know I'll end up deleting, altering, and screwing up the post if I do, hehe. The main time sucker will be once I start linking. And I know I'm going to ramble because uh, I already am. :P

~~~Intermission: Great. I've already said "nip, shoved, butt, and sucker" all in the same post. I can't wait to see what kind of random searchers I end up with now. *Rolls eyes....and then hides*~~~

So right....my point. Almost 2 months ago to the day, I stumbled across Lady Language. I couldn't have even told you how if it weren't for the comment I left them that day (I was fumbling through the NaBloPoMo randomizer, commenting on random blogs I found).

A fashion blog.

Actually, one step worse/better. A fashion blog there because of the store they own/run. Great, I thought. <--Sarcasm at that point. You see, not only was my intent that day to comment on other blogs in hopes of them following me home back to Quirky Jessi (of which I didn't think a fashion blog/store owner would be interested), I also don't keep up with fashion. As if you haven't noticed by my randomness here, I tend to march to the beat of my own....well, I can't play the drums, but you get the idea, hehe.

I can tell you what looks good on a persona....and I can tell you what looks bad...but I'm certainly not going to tell you what's "in fashion" right now because it doesn't make much difference to me at all. I wear what suits my body and what I *feel* like wearing.

And I've been on "fashion blogs" before......those that cling to the every item of clothing that drapes from one celebrity's body or another. No thanks.

So why the heck am I blogging about Lady Language? Because this blog *wasn't* like that. And because the top post was about this hot little red dress that read "Holiday Sweepstakes" Okay, so I took a deep breath and opened the comments. I was going to find *something* to say if it killed me because I'd already spent more than my allotted 10 second time deadline pondering whether to click the "randomize" button to pass to the next blog.

But it was a sweepstakes...and there weren't that many commenters. And even though I don't wear dresses with Christmas right around the corner, I thought it could be a nice little surprise gift for someone I knew if I happened to win. So I tossed out a comment about how gorgeous the dress was (because well, it was, lol....but I don't wear dresses and haven't since I was little, so it also made me envious of those with bodies to pull off dresses, heh)....and moved on.

A while later, I had a message in my inbox showing me someone else had replied to the blog post, and she made a relevant point....the point that was going through my head, but mine was in not-nearly-as-nice words:

Any body type, you say? I'd like to see that. I've had no luck finding flatering dresses, of late.

Exactly. This dress was a fiery red plunging v-neck halter top dress:


At a mere 4'11", that dress would not only swallow me, but it'd make me look like a bright red penguin. It would hang to my knees, the v-neck would show my belly button, the back would dip to my waist line, and that flowy, care-free fabric blow that screamed "wide load" at the waist-line already? Oh yeah, it'd show that my hips were twice the width of my top half that would 'not' be flattered by such a gaping neckline. Heck, I'm lucky to find split pieces to fit various parts of my body appropriately...trying to find a one-piece to cover all proportions? Ha!

As I said before, I don't pay attention to fashion, but I'm not going to go outside dressed in something that makes me look awful unless I'm proving a point, lol. And to put myself into a dress after convincing everyone that I'd wear blue jeans to my wedding instead of a wedding dress? Psh. No thanks.

But the dress 'was' nice. And it's not like I was going to win anyway, right? And I knew other people that might love it 'and' have places to wear it (because well, I don't have that either...the occasion to wear a dress like that to). So I just watched. And I waited. And I kept going back to the site to see what else their store offered. And I read through blog posts to see what else they talked about....because it wasn't a normal fashion blog. This was 'real' people, talking about 'real' clothes, and selling 'real' items at 'real' affordable prices.

Pretty cool if you ask me.

And then lo and behold, I got the email. Don't tell me you're surprised. I wouldn't have this kind of build-up if I was going to be drastically disappointed by my loss at a random blog that was talking about something that interests me little and gives away something I don't wear.

But I won. Yeah, me, QuirkyJessi, non-winner of anything ever, non-wearer of dresses, non-buyer of things that make me look like enlarged penguins. I won.

And I was giddy.

The site was new, though, so maybe this was all a gimmick for page hits. Maybe they weren't really going to send anything out, I'd get the run around, and if I tried to question it, my IP address would be blocked? It certainly wouldn't be the first time it's happened in the internet world.

But then the follow-up emails guiding me through picking a size that would fit me best and congratulating me personally. This wasn't a gimmick. I'd really won something...and a dress at that!!

And I wasn't going to give it away either. It was MINE. And a few days later, it arrived promptly, safely, and perfectly....right before I had to leave for work and I had no time to try it on, lol. What a way to prolong the excitement! (And well, the fear of it being a disappointment, not fitting, etc).

The next day I tried it on and it actually fit...and didn't look half-bad really. I made a few alterations....experimented with how tight to tie the halter-top because it would create totally different looks, tossed on heels so I didn't look so frumpy, and paired it with a strapless, half-corset underneath to add a twist of covered comfort, contrast, and decreased sloppiness. And it 'was' comfy! The fabric was so soft and breezy and because it didn't cling in all the wrong spots like many things do, I wasn't nearly as scared of the dress as I had been.

Yeah, that might work.

So after all this rambling of avoiding the picture (I've never posted a picture of myself here and I'm still not going to really because the face isn't there), here it is:
Judging from that photo, you'd never guess that I struggle to find clothes to fit me (although the length 'is' still too long for that style of dress, but hey, I'm short...'everything' is too long unless it's kids clothes, and even then, kids are getting so tall these days!!)....and you'd never guess that I was scared to death of a dress, lol.

If you've stuck with me this long (hey, we all skim....it's okay if it only took you 20 seconds to get down here), Lady Language is still doing give-aways even now that the holidays have past. There's even a $250 shopping spree give-away going on right now, so better hurry. Prizes or not, though, the chicas over there are pretty cool and it's not your average "fashion blog." But if you 'are' into fashion, well, so are they....and their store offers great deals on a variety of clothing.