Blog Post No. 14, 11/10/11 -- St. Agnes Hospital Gala

Here I am, all decked out in a little black dress and pearls for a gala event at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore to honor nine doctors who were inducted into the hospital’s Healing Hands Society for exemplary work in their fields. Some of the people at the function remembered me from two years ago when the Healing Hands Society honored it’s inaugural selection of doctors, and they were amazed to see the weight I’d lost and how fit and trim I look. No one could believe that I’m 55 years old! Of course, that just made me float on air for the entire evening.

My dress, with a slit that goes up just high enough to be sexy, is very vintage, but also timeless. It’s from Gantos, a little boutique of specialty and formal wear I found at Sun Valley Mall in Concord, California in the 1970s. I loved that little boutique – it was my go-to shop anytime I needed a something fancy for a special occasion. Even after I moved to Texas in the 1990s, I still shopped at Gantos whenever I was in northern California for gowns to wear to my Dallas employer’s annual holiday ball. When the store finally closed after many years, I was heartbroken, and I haven’t found a shop since that fits my tastes in formalwear as well as Gantos did back in the day (sigh).

My sky-high patent black platform pumps are by Call It Spring for JCPenney.com. Those shoes got tons of compliments at the gala and made me as tall as my date! After spending a bit of time in old-fashioned wooden shoe-stretchers, those pumps are comfortable on my feet all day long, believe it or not.

My gorgeous black and gold beaded pearl bracelet and matching earrings are from Fire & Ice Jewelers of Baltimore and the pearl necklace is from the museum gift shop at Henry DuPont’s exquisite Winterthur estate in Delaware. My goldtone bracelet watch with rhinestones is from Chico’s and the goldtone and rhinestone cocktail rings are from BCBG in Dallas. My black and gold hair accessory, called a Dea Dread (Dea is Italian for goddess), was custom made for me by Thea Osato of Baltimore (deadreads.etsy.com).

Cheers,

Lynell