Happy Valentine’s Dee!

Once again, happily stealing the title from my GG friend who loves word play. She refers to me as Crocodile Dun-Dee (Kandi is still envious). I was texting with said GG friend, and she wished me a Happy Valentines Dee, so of course I HAD to go with it.

I surprised my wife with some gifts on Valentine’s morning; some dark chocolates and an Australian Open hoodie I found at a thrift. As it was a green tag on green tag day, it was only $AUD 2. I spare NO expense when it comes to pleasing my wife (actually, she’d prefer I’d save a lot of expenses by not buying so many clothes for Dee, but I love trying on stuff, and buying things I like). In return, she got me….nothing…because she didn’t even realize it was Valentine’s Day.

Well, she did give me something. She arranged to spend the late morning and early afternoon with a friend, so I had “unsupervised time” (so sayeth my GG friend) and so I planned a trip to the city, to buy myself a Valentine’s gift. Chocolates and flowers are good, fun clothes are better.

I was vacillating between what outfit to wear (three in mind) and where to go (two different destinations), but finally selected my red and black checkered romper, with a similar designed top, and my Red Keds. It WAS Valentine’s Day, so red was in order.

My destination was the Brunswick neighborhood of Melbourne, home to a number of thrift stores plus a Dangerfield outlet. I often ride my bike to this neighborhood (takes about an hour) and poke around in boy mode, but this time it was Dee and the train. The plan; take the train to the farthest destination to the north, walk south down Sydney Street to the Dangerfield store, and then catch the train home.

I hadn’t been to the first destination, a Salvation Army store (“Salvo’s” in Aussie slang) for a while. The first time I went was back in 2019, when we (wife, sister-in-law, and I) went shopping for furniture for our (then) new apartment. Just to be clear, as only my wife knows in our family that I dress, that time I went in guy mode. We ended up buying two really nice sofa chairs for a ridiculously reasonable price, and four years later they still look good and are comfy to sit on.

I pounced on two areas at Salvo’s; several racks with more upscale items, and the dress racks. Salvo’s organizes items by color, not by size, so I poke through all the racks; first to see if I like an item, and second to check the size and whether it will fit (Australian sizes are generally a size smaller than the US; for example, an Australian size 14 would be the equivalent of a US size 12). 

In the “upscale” racks I found three Princess Highway items, a top (size 12), a blue dress (size 10), and a black and silver dress (size 8). I have found that Princess Highway items tend to run small, so I knew they wouldn’t fit me, but I have vowed to get the wordplay GG friend something cute while here, and these were three prime candidates (I am still negotiating with said friend as to whether she will accept them or not, but she hopefully will realize if I am stubborn enough to run five hours to finish a marathon, I am stubborn enough to get my way–and she at least has to try them on!). Even in the “upscale” racks, the maximum price was $AU 10 (which equals about $US 7), so I wasn’t breaking the bank.

I also found some suitable choices for myself, although in some cases I am ambitious in what might fit–you never know until you try them on. I found about ten items and dragged them to the change room to “give it a go” (another Aussie expression).

For about half of them I was over optimistic about them fitting, ranging from “close” to “what were you thinking?” (the answer being it was cute and I was hoping it would fit, contrary to my better judgment).

I did find two dresses I liked, a white floral sun dress that was short enough to be above my knees (I’m vain and I like to show off my legs) but long enough to hide my tennis short tan lines (above a certain latitude my thighs tend to be pasty white). The second dress was the more traditional blue floral dress. It didn’t quite fit, but as my goal is to shrink another ten pounds, I am hoping it will fit when (if) I do. I call these my motivation dresses; motivation to watch what I eat and exercise enough to shrink enough to make them fit (I have multiple motivation dresses).

Between the two dresses, and the three items for my GG friend, the grand total was $AUD 32, which translates to about $USD 22. Usually there is “value for money” (you guessed it, more Aussie slang) when shopping at Australian thrift stores, err, “opportunity stores” (“op shops”).

I spent more time than I had planned at Salvo’s, but I popped into another couple “op shops”, including a Savers, but didn’t find anything. My last stop was the Brunswick Dangerfield store. These stores are my temptations; lots of cute choices, generally aimed at women less than half my age.

I am stalking a red tartan dress with straps that tie on the shoulders. I liked the look when I tried it on at another store the month before, and I like it still. This one was a size smaller than the one I tried on previously; one win in the weight loss game. I also spotted a purple and black bra top that I also happen to currently be in love with. I wasn’t ready to buy either, but I hope for another stop in a Dangerfield store before I leave for the US to make a final decision. 

By this time, I was pushing my time limits. My wife knew I went out, but I generally like to beat her home. I managed to get on the train before her (they run every twenty minutes), so I had time to switch back to boy mode and put everything away before she got home. I also got the headstart on cooking dinner, to again try to prove to her I have enough positive qualities to offset that I like to go out dressed.

Another fun Dee day in Melbourne.