How presentable are you?

[DCJenn]

I'm getting ready to go to Children's to pick up Rick and then take him to Walter Reed (to pick up the Movado watch that I got him for his birthday a few years ago that he LEFT ON HIS DESK...)

If I were just going to pick him up, I'd stay in my shorts and t-shirt but because we're going into the hospital at WR, I feel like I need to make sure I'm presentable. (actually planning on applying mascara, even)

How 'dressed' do you all get to see the dawkter at work? I try to keep up appearances because you never know what General you may pass in the hallway.

Jenn

Not a doc yet, but when DH worked at the bank, I would try to dress in business casual for visits. Khakis or a skirt, nice shorts, non-spit-up-upon shirt, decent shoes. I consider makeup formalwear

i've never actually set foot inside the hospital where he works. when i had my car, i picked him up a few times, but he was always curbside, ready to go. last year, my hours were just as bad as his, sometimes worse, so there was never any time. this year isn't much better, but at least i work closer.

i don't usually wear makeup to work, but if we're going out to dinner i'll dust my cheeks with some bronzer, draw on some eyeliner and don a dab of lip gloss (which he hates, actually). i'd probably do the same if i were to go see him at the hospital. business attire, most likely. unless it's a weekend.

[Michele]

I wear what ever I have on...though usually it's decent. For work I always wear black pants and makeup. Weekends or off time, I have on jeans, makeup. My dinner date clothes usually involve nicer black pants (beaded or whatnot) and I usually breakout the eyeliner to really define my eyes.


This is all subject to change come October!

[alison]

I do foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, lash curler, mascara. Everyday.
When I go out I add a Clinique lipgloss (with some color). I can't get the lipstick thing down. I always have it on my teeth and I don't like the taste of it.

I guess having lived in Germany for some time, I tend to think that you shouldn't be caught with out polished, or at least clean shoes. I've also been indoctrinated with the idea that you shouldn't wear tennis shoes unless you're doing sports... And you shouldn't wear sweats unless you're doing sports either...

I wouldn't go as far as my mil does with the above stuff (she wears heels at home!), but I wouldn't go out with out with out decent shoes and a blouse/khakis or blouse/jeans. What have they done to me in Germany, KRIS?

[Meenah]

I'm usually in the hospital too, in scrubs. If I go in on an off day it is most likely jeans.

We live in such a small town that we always run into someone from the hospital (either a doctor, nurse, or patient) whenever we go out so I feel like I always have to look decent. When we were in LA I could run out in sweats because I never had to worry about running into someone I knew.

When my son was about a week old my dh forgot his pocket pc at home and he asked me to bring it to the er. I hadn't slept in a week, was still in my PAJAMAS, and looked like @&#%, but I figured no one was going to see me since I was just going to pull up to the ambulance bay and dh was going to run out to the car. As soon as dh stepped out of the doors, I noticed a trail of about 8 nurses running up behind him. They caught wind that I was there with the baby and wanted to see him. I looked so awful that one of the nurses asked if I was doing ok with a pitiful look in her eyes. Oh, I was so embarrassed!

[mommax3]

I wear make up and dry/curl my hair every day, so I guess I get an A for effort, if nothing else. My clothes are nothing special, though. I think I have only been to DH's office about 3 times since he started working, but I don't think anybody there really cares what I am wearing. When the CEO of the hospital invited DH and I (along with other new hires) to an outdoor symphony thing last summer, I stressed about what to wear, but day to day, not really.

I get more freaked out about not looking nice when I am at the boys' school, actually. Most days I go to the gym as soon as I drop the boys off, so I just roll out of bed, put in my contacts, put on workout clothes, and drag a comb through my hair. Two days a week, though, Nathan has preschool and I have to get out of the car to take him in (as opposed to just dropping the older two off) and I always feel slightly ashamed as I walk past the principal (he holds the door in the mornings and greets all the kids as they come in) and see various teachers, parents, and students. Oh, well, they haven't kicked us out yet!

Jenn, you so totally have it going on.......you have style and self-confidence! Who needs mascara? (says the girl with blonde eyelashes to the girl with red ones!)

Sally

[Rapunzel]

When I go through the hospital with my husband I generally have five children in tow. So.... I get stares - lot's of stares. Same goes for many other public places (from the park to the museum to tourist spots while out of town on a school day to anywhere else I can think of).

I make it a game in my mind to completely destroy whatever people's stereotypes would be of a 30-ish woman with five children (who she stays home with and homeschools full-time). It's kind of fun (it helps "the game" that I'm generally mistaken for looking ten years younger than I actually am).

So, yes, I put on make-up, blow-out my hair, wear casual but attractive clothing. I put on what I call "my face" - as in the face I present to people who don't know me and are most likely passing judgement on me in the few seconds I talk to them or pass by them.

I do have problems sometimes with "the face" - like when we're at professional gatherings and one of the higher-up attendings puts his arm around me and announces to the room (and my husband) that he's "going to go make out with me". I'll probably erase that in a moment in case someone from my husband's program reads this board. I get annoyed that I have to censor my more annoying experiences "just in case"....

But, overall, I've found I like to hide behind the shell I put on - it's my armor in a way.

I leave the curlers, house slippers and bottle of gin at home. I make an effort.

:>

I switch into one of my designer housecoats.

I just go as me. For "events" I make a special effort, but otherwise - they get the real me.

[Sheherezade]

I'm working to be like jesher. The reality is that I do change out of the jeans and tshirts to go meet the hubby or the school officials. I wear business casual or hip casual as much as possible. Exercise wear in the morning is very fashionable, Sally. It screams active lifestyle. (Just add a Mountain Dew and a Thule rack on the car! )

[Phoebe]

I wouldn't go as far as to say presentable. My hair usually looks terrible or it is in a pony tail. I haven't had the energy to style it lately or don't even have time to wash it. I usually try to look more presentable if I have to run errands all day or think I will see someone. I normally wear very causal stuff, but have been looking pretty dorky lately because I am in between maternity and stretchy clothes. Now I switched to maternity and I think my butt is more pregnant than my stomach. Make up is a rare occasion, unless I spring for mascara. I don't see DH often at work, unless the kids beg me or he forgot something.

Jennifer

[Vishenka69]

I'm quite presentable most of the time (as my icon would suggest ), but you don't want to see me at 6am on a weekend when I give DH a lift to work. I hope and pray that we don't meet anyone he knows but once he did think that it was a good idea to introduce me to a fellow resident and I just wanted to die. I bet I made a great first impression, having just rolled out of bed and looking it too.

Having been raised by a European mom, I know rather too well what's it's like to have full make-up and heels on just to go to the grocery store. Although my standards came down a lot in the past few years, I still feel naked without mascara and lip gloss.

I just go as me. For "events" I make a special effort, but otherwise - they get the real me.

Me too. I don't do anything special day to day. But I wear clothes that fit, look nice, and that I like every day. I feel more confident when I feel comfortable in what I have on, even if I'm doing nothing. So I'm sure that has something to do with it. I usually don't wear make up, and when I do, its mascara and lip gloss. Its part of my formal wear as well.