A month or two ago I came across a gorgeous dress on Pinterest that I pinned, thinking what a great New Year's Eve dress it would be. I've never been one to get very excited for New Year's Eve, or really to even dress up for it (last year I bought a $19.99 dress at the mall hours before the party I went to). "But," I thought, "on the off change you actually do something exciting this year, this would definitely be the dress to do it in!"
For some reason, the gold, sequenced dress with the black tights just screamed "Serena" from Gossip Girl to me. It said chic and stylish, simple but over the top, sexy and glam, cute and playful. After a bit of research, I found that Serena did in fact wear a dress that was very similar in one Gossip Girl episode (why my memory cataloged it, I have no idea):
And so last Friday, after getting our Spanish ID cards, Abby and I went on a shopping adventure (or, rather, window shopping adventure for me - she, for a change, went a little crazy!). My "item to look out for" the whole day was a little gold dress for the Glitter Ball I'd just registered for. "Finally," I squealed, "a New Year's Eve event worthy of an amazing dress!" Abby and I kept our eye out all day and it wasn't until the last store that we found what I'd been looking for. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect:
I tried it on an even an exhausted Abby lit up. "I love it!" she exclaimed. :) It was the perfect combo of the 3/4 sleeve of the first dress and of a slight strap of the second dress! The asymmetry of it was just edgy enough for a swing even in London. The one I tried on was a size too small (and the only size they had in stock), but I decided that on my next day off I'd go into town to the bigger Bershka and find the right size and wear it at the Glitter Ball. I was beyond excited and even started to feel a little Princessy about it. ;)
And so this afternoon, after only having had to teach 1.5 hours of class all morning, I was ready to walk to town to catch a train into Madrid to go buy my dress. As I was leaving the school grounds, the custodian saw me and said he would give me a ride to the train station - and to ask any time, because he would be happy to take me, as it was a long and "dangerous" walk back to town. This was the custodian who I'd got as my Secret Santa. I had been wondering how much he liked his present when I realized other people were giving bottles of cologne and expensive wallets and multiple scarves. I had merely given him a toolbox filled with ornaments, homemade fudge and a CD I burned him of alternative rock/pop - we share taste in music from what I could tell of what he usually plays - and while at the time I felt like a BAMF about my thoughtful present, I wasn't sure after seeing how much money some had clearly spent on the whole gift exchange. So imagine my surprise that on the ride to the station he immediately THANKED me SO MUCH for the present and gushed about how great the fudge was and how much he LOVED the CD and how he couldn't wait to get on his Harley this weekend to listen to it on the open road!! I'd never seen the man smile or heard him speak more than a sentence - but he was really, honestly into the whole thing. I was soooo happy he liked it! The other teachers had felt bad for me when I'd drawn his name, but turns out, I did a great job. :oD
Anyway, a mere car ride later, I was at the train station. I waited for the train, but realized there was a mall across the street and figured I'd try that mall out to see if they had my dress in the right size first. I'd tried the mall in Alcala the day before and they hadn't had ANY New Year's Eve dresses at all, so I was hopeful this one had a bit more variety. I walked the whole mall - twice - until I realized the store was no longer there and the mall map was outdated. Back to the train station.
An hour later I was finally in Madrid and went to the Bershka near Sol. One of my dresses remained, but still in the wrong size. I took a mini lunch break for pizza and continued to the Bershka on Sol and the Bershka on Gran Via. Same thing. They had a few of the dresses, but all of them were the size smaller than I needed. These had been the Berhska's I'd been to last Friday, so I decided to spread out my search. I looked up Bershkas closeby on my phone.
I went up Fuencarral - stopping in my new, favorite, colorful store for a moment - and continued past Taco Bell until I realized that that store, which had been the source of many a good colored shorts purchase when I was here the other summer, was no longer there, either. Ugh!! At first I thought maybe I had just turned down the wrong street, but by this point in time I was near L's office and all those 7:30 nights and lunch time rendezvous had made me quite familiar with the area, and so I realized that there was no hope and turned to my phone for the next "closest" location.
Which happened to be a 45 minute walk in the opposite direction.
Not one to take a metro when I could explore above ground, I began my trek. I went through Malasana and FINALLY found the one street and cafe I've been looking for since I returned. :) I went into a few vintage shops, took pictures of some street art and stumble upon a cute knitting store and a few adorable cocktail lounges!! The things I find when I take random backstreets - truly amazing!!! ^_^ I definitely want to head back to this one lounge (if I can find it again), because it was so vintage/chic... mmm. :)
A random popup market of gorgeous scarves and a long walk later, I was finally at Principe Pio Mall. I'd been here once before with L - but I cannot for the life of me remember WHY. All I remember is that it was sort of random and she was there for a specific purpose and then wanted to leave right away while I wanted to explore and look at shoes. Haha. Anyway, it's definitely the nicest mall I've seen in Madrid and actually almost feels American. It has tons of shops and is in an old train station (I think?) so it has charm to it. I even found a store that was basically like Kohls meets VS and then puts everything on 50% mega sale (somebody might return for that sometime... cheap bathrobes, slippers, mittens, sweatpants, bandeaus, oh my!).
I walked around the mall, taking it all in, when I finally found the Bershka. I inhaled deeply and then held my breath. This was the last Bershka I'd have time to go to tonight. I only knew of three others and they were NOT anywhere close by. Immediately I saw my dress hanging right near the entrance. I slowly walked over to it, as if it were my prey and I couldn't startle it. My eyes were on the tags. What size? What size! What size?! When my eyes saw "Large" written on one, I realized I had a real shot - none of the other stores had had any size but "Small" (and, well, one Extra Small)!! Slowly, carefully, I placed my fingers on the next tag and turned it over. I felt like I was suddenly in Charlie and the Chocolate factory, with him opening up that last chocolate bar, looking for the golden ticket. I looked down, half wincing...
MEDIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd done it! It was there! It was the only Medium in that store and possibly in all of Madrid!!! Seven stores (two of which no longer even existed) and hours upon hours of walking later and I'd FOUND MY GLITTER BALL DRESS!!!!!!! I ran to try it on and sure enough it was perfect. While standing in line waiting to purchase the beloved and elusive garment, the one Mayor Hawthorne song I actually like came on! It was a really cool remix of the song and I got so into it that the girl behind the counter had to rouse me from my mini song and dance to get to me to check out.
After I paid I continued singing to myself, smiling. "Good omen," I giggled to myself. ^_^
I got on the train back home, as my roomies were waiting for me (we had decided to have a "Breakfast for Dinner" meal as our last meal together before we all went our separate ways for the holidays), but quickly realized I'd taken it the wrong way. Abby had done the same exact things just days before and had fallen asleep, so she didn't realize until she got to Alcala she'd been on a train for almost two hours - a train that should have taken 45 minutes! Luckily it wasn't quite that bad, as I'd gotten on at a different stop, but needless to say, 25 pages in my book in Spanish later and my French toast was cold and my mimosa had clearly been sipped on!
But no matter - I'd found my dress, and nothing could keep me from feeling victorious! ;)
XOXO
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