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Feeling pretty

June 6th, 2004 · 1 Comment

The Redhead was looking for the perfect dress and found a “drool-worthy one” yesterday. Scheherazade has found a pretty dress too. I’m not looking for one at the moment (no weddings to attend!), but on Friday a Land’s End catalog enticed me with its cover advertising “best fit swimsuits”. Flipping through the pages I saw a suit that mesmerized me. It’s not a dress but it has a skirt. In aqua, one of my favorite colors. It’s a cute style. I am tempted.

Then again, there’s nothing like trying on a swimsuit to bring one into reality – and to help me feel less than pretty. If it wasn’t for the price tag and practicality (when do I go to the beach to look pretty anyway? usually I’m carrying kids and bags of diapers and wipes, wearing boots and shorts for tide pool explorations…but maybe if I had such a suit, I could find some excuse to wear it…) I’d order it anyway, in hopes of finding that pretty feeling.

I think Scheherazade captured it well, this fun spinning in a dress, elegance, feeling lovely.

…it fit like a glass slipper. I felt like a princess. When I got home from work I tried it on again, late, and spun around with a big smile.

It’s addictive. And powerful. A couple months ago I bought a skirt, and whenever I had a chance to try it on, even for a few moments, I’d slip into it and feel the fabric caress me as I twirled between laundry baskets in the hallway.

Do guys get this feeling? I don’t know if guys feel particularly handsome or hot when wearing certain outfits. But I know that there’s something feminine to to feeling pretty…as Maria in West Side Story expounds in a song that seems narcisstic and silly and fun…


I feel pretty,
Oh, so pretty,
I feel pretty and witty and bright!
And I pity
Any girl who isn’t me tonight.

I feel charming,
Oh, so charming
It’s alarming how charming I feel!
And so pretty
That I hardly can believe I’m real.

See the pretty girl in that mirror there:
Who can that attractive girl be?
Such a pretty face,
Such a pretty dress,
Such a pretty smile,
Such a pretty me!

I feel stunning
And entrancing,
Feel like running and dancing for joy,
For I’m loved
By a pretty wonderful boy!

A dress is nice. It’s fun to feel beautiful or to enjoy a favorite outfit. But, after all, it’s love that makes me feel pretty and stunning and entrancing … “like running and dancing for joy”…no matter what I’m wearing…!

How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful! Song of Songs 1:15

Tags: women

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Bob V // Jun 18, 2004 at 5:27 pm

    >”Do guys get this feeling? I don’t know if guys feel particularly handsome or hot when wearing certain outfits.”

    As a guy, I can admit that I am sometimes aware of when I am wearing a well-made shirt that suits me. I never think of it as making me handsome or hot, but I might brace myself for a compliment or two.