This Suits Me

I mentioned in my last post that I have a big week coming up as far as work goes. Here's a peek at how it breaks out.

Tuesday morning at 4AM I'll be checking out of my hotel here in Atlanta and driving to Camden, TN, which is about 90 minutes west of Nashville, for a 10AM meeting followed by visits to the offices of a couple of high-ranking elected officials in Nashville that afternoon. Wednesday I have another meeting at 10AM in Murfreesboro, TN, about 30 miles southeast of Nashville and then I'll return to Atlanta where I have a scheduled appointment at 3:30PM in our office. Thursday morning I'll drive from Atlanta to Knoxville, TN for another meeting at 11AM, followed by visits to the offices of 2 other elected officials and then a drive back to Atlanta.

Here's what the dashboard area of my rental car will look like.



You DO have to have a GPS for each destination, right?

Yesterday I started thinking I needed to get a new suit. I've needed one for a while, but just kept putting it off. Men's Wearhouse has been running a "Buy One Get One" free promotion, but their least expensive suit that I would want was $400. Then I heard a radio commercial Friday for Jos. A. Banks' "Buy One Suit - Get Another Suit, 2 Shirts And 2 Ties Free" sale, but their least expensive suit that I would want was $600! I guess I'm just too much of a cheapskate to feel comfortable spending that much money for a suit (or two), especially with all the cabin-building expenses mounting up like rabbits breeding for Easter. I mean, they're good prices for what you're getting, I just don't want to spend THAT MUCH right now. Cindy and I are both trying to be as frugal as we can, but I REALLY needed a new suit.

So this morning I went to the mall across the street from the hotel and bought a suit, shirt and 2 silk ties for a decent price. About half of those mentioned above. I think it looks good on me, but I sent a cellphone pic to Cindy to verify (other customers probably wondered why a flash kept going off in the fitting room, lol) and she said it was good. Really though, how well can you tell from a cellphone pic that's displayed on another cellphone's tiny screen?

I hate going clothes shopping. I'm partially colorblind and don't have a lick of fashion sense, so unless I'm buying something in colors I recognize and can identify, I get a bit cranky. Cindy usually accompanies me when I need more than a pair of jeans to help me with color and fabric combinations, but obviously that wasn't possible on this adventure. If I had thought about this enough in advance, I would have asked one of my female co-workers if I could trade lunch for their fashion assistance, lol.

But I should mention here that one of the coolest things about the retailer I purchased these from is that all of their shirts, ties, pants, jackets, etc. have the color printed on the price tag! That helped me avoid begging the salespeople for help when Cindy said, "Get a charcoal gray shirt" and kept me from heading to the Outdoor department to look for a grill to color-match.

Anyway, I stayed with basic black (with a nice fabric-kind of pinstripe, hard to describe but not just a flat black) suit, charcoal gray shirt and a couple of black and gray ties, all viewed by Cindy in cellphone pics and ok'd. And it will go with other shirts and ties I already have with me. I did ask the saleswoman too when I was purchasing them and she agreed, but of course I'm not sure they really care...you're just a sale and I doubt they're concerned if you look like a clown when you put on their merchandise, as long as you paid for it.

But now I have a new set of duds and that suits me just fine.

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