The Look

I got several good compliments on my appearance, so I thought I would devote some time to that. People mainly commented on the dress, the makeup, and the hair.

First off, it makes a huge difference having makeup applied by someone who knows what they are doing. If I could do that, I might wear it more often. We had two makeup artists, and actually I sat with both of them because (I hope I am getting the names right) Sandy did the main job and then Melissa touched me up later, right before filming. Sandy does Alex Trebek's makeup as well, and he thanked her in his speech from when he got his lifetime achievement Emmy, so that was pretty cool, and she was really nice (as was everyone, but more on that later). She told me that I cleaned up well.

The dress was a knot dress by Merona, ordered through the Avenue. Emily was telling me that she had one like it, so I joked that I hoped we did not end up in the same game, but she also had it in two colors, so we did not need to worry. She wore the green one in her second game. She got hers from Old Navy, and I hope she didn't think that I was one-upping her when I said mine was from the Avenue. That didn't mean that I shopped at fancier stores--it means I shop at stores for big girls.

Actually, shopping is never very fun for me, but between Catherines and the Avenue in person, plus the Avenue on line, I ended up with one pair of pants, four tops, two dresses, and two skirts. That may be overdoing it, because really I don't like one of the skirts and one of the tops that much. At the same time, though, I cleaned out some old stuff while I was doing this, and the green skirt that went out I had in 2002 for sure, if not sooner, and the black skirt was older, so I was probably due. I do love the red dress. It's a power color, and the sleeves don't do any of the common sleeve errors that irritate me so. My only concern is that sometimes I worry that the neckline is going to sink a little too low. It's the closest I come to dressing trampy.

Many people have assumed that the hair was done professionally too, along with the makeup, and no, that was all me. I think I can explain why it looked better than usual, though, in that after conditioning and brushing like always (and maybe I did brush a little longer, but it was the usual process), there was no walk to the bus stop, and journey on public transportation, marching through city streets, and then repetitively running my fingers through the tangles in my bangs while I sit at my desk (that New Year's resolution about not running my fingers through my hair didn't really pan out). I do clean up nicely, I just can't maintain it.

Nonetheless, it was nice to have cleaned up nicely. I thought about changing back at the hotel before going to the airport, but I decided to stay that way, and it was kind of nice. I got compliments from the shuttle driver, and guy delivering bins to airport security, and kind of by the girl who noticed that noticing and was slightly jealous. Plus, Emily also told me that my smile lit up the stage, and then all the compliments that came after the appearance. It was fun because one of my other big regrets, besides not winning money, was not losing weight (ever, but especially before taping), and just being able to look better. Somehow I was still pleasing to others. It's important to remember sometimes that other people do not see you the way you see yourself.

Now I want to go off on accessories a bit. I was hoping I would get in on the Halloween taping, so I wore Halloween jewelry. (I can only hope I would have had time to change if it ended up being a different show.) I had my bat earrings, and a Halloween bead bracelet. The earrings were tiny, so you could not really notice. Normally the pair I wear on Halloween is the big spiders, and those would have shown, but Jeopardy is a dignified show. It's not Let's Make a Deal.

The bracelet was one that I saw and bought three of, and sent one each to my friends Karen and Ericka, because I tend to send the Halloween cards, and associate them more with that holiday than others. The other jewelry that I took with me, and never got to wear, all ended up being meaningful.

There was the manatee necklace that I mentioned wanting, and my sister Maria gave me one she had bought for herself. There is the turtle necklace my brother and his wife brought me from Hawaii, and the half-formed pearl necklace that another friend brought me from Rarotonga.

The origami crane earrings were made for me by my friend Jennie back in high school, and the flower petal earrings were a gift from a family I knew on my mission. The key earrings are also from Maria.

Looking for something to put them in, I got a free gift with a clothing order once that was a gold bracelet with all of these good luck symbols, and it came in a purple pouch. Well, I could use some luck--might as well bring that along too. I was carrying some good associations in that pouch. I didn't get to show off most of them. I guess I just need to wear jewelry more often.