A Second Career?

I love my job. I really do. Even when there are multiple "opportunities for excellence" coming my way at once, I still love my job. I work with a great set of people - each one unique, bringing a cornucopia of talents to the table. I work for a great company, too. By and large, I like the work values they ascribe to and I appreciate their emphasis on enriching the family and other's lives. However, last night, I contemplated a career change. Briefly, but still the thought was there. I want to be (drum roll, please) a...

Personal Shopper!

Yep. Really, when you think about it, it's like playing with Barbies as a grown up. Remember picking out Barbie's perfect outfit for her day out with Ken? And what about Ken? It didn't matter what you put on him, the guy just looked good. The advantage as a grown up, is as a Personal Shopper - you help people match, look good AND spend THEIR money. Does it get any better than that? I think not. :-)

Last night found me at Value Village with a couple of the Compadres - shopping for their formal attire. Did you know that the leisure suit can be found in an array of colors? My favorite was a madras plaid in green and red, lined in gold. Bummer - Kadar wasn't going for it, but I thought "hey...it's a cruise - live a little!" The better part of wisdom won out and we did find a treasure in a navy blue sporty suit coat. Sharp! Even better when the green tag items were half off. A little digging and a few good sales at Land's End/Sears and Wal-Mart provided a new Formal Attire wardrobe for the youngest male Compadre.

It's funny...I can go all year and buy a couple of new items of clothing. OK, probably more than a couple, but outside of special occasions, they all work for work and play. So why is it that I feel the need to shop when I'm going on a cruise? I'm not doing anything any different really. I still go to bed and wear pajamas (although, my fear of having to leave my stateroom in the middle of the night for some bizarro reason spurs me to ensure my pj's are new and hole-free); I'll still get up and take a shower and dress to go outside (something about being on a vacation makes me think capris are THE fashion choice that will catapult me onto the cover of Vogue); and while I don't normally parade around in a swimsuit, I will put aside all qualms and take the plunge into the deep end of the pool (after all - I'll probably never see most of these people again and as long as I can wrest the video camera and zoom lens from my Compadres, I'm safe). The one exception to all of this is the formal attire. We have 4 formal nights on board and each night requires something a little different. Well, at least for me. I've allocated 1/2 of my single suitcase to formal wear. I hope it's enough...

Tonight is our last meeting before heading for the airport. Oh, our meetings are not the typical round table-agenda-gavel-type of meetings. Ours usually involve copious amounts of snack food, good travel books and Wii. We plan our steps, discuss any lingering questions, hand out information and then we play games - eating snacks along the way. After all, we need to condition ourselves for the mounds of food and buffets on board - we'd hate to waddle away without doing our share. Maybe tonight we'll review how to pack for all our new clothes and the Formal Attire. I better check the labels for Spandex...