Stylish Gimp Guest Sarah

 This week we have a Stylish Gimp GUEST!! Please Welcome Sarah!

I was asked to speak at a Cerebral Palsy (CP for short) in Boston. I’ve been asked to speak at the same conference before and each year my part gets bigger. The first year I was asked to be part of a panel on transitioning from pediatric to adult care. This year I was asked to give a talk on “a patient prospective,” basically I had 15 minutes to talk about whatever I wanted followed by a short Q&A.

I wanted to try and step up my wardrobe since every time I’ve been asking to speak at the particular conference I’ve been given a bigger presentation (more time, solo speech, etc.)

However there were a few challenges that I had to overcome to make this possible. I’m not a “dress up person”. I grew up surrounded by boys so dresses weren’t the best things to play in after church or fancy occasion, and I’ve never been the biggest fan of wardrobe changes in general.

If you’re not familiar with CP let me fill you in on some of the basics. Every case of CP affects an individual differently, but there are a few commonalities, such as lack of balance and muscles that have a mind of their own.

Translation: You tend to fall more than you’d like to admit & at the worst possible times to boot.

Translation: Wearing fancy clothes has the potential to draw even more attention your nemeses.

I had every intention to deliver my speech standing up but the more I thought about the details and potential pitfalls (emphasis on the fall part) I decided to go with the safety and security (and overall comfort) of my wheelchair.

There’s also the matter of New England weather, “don’t like fall weather in New England, wait five minutes.” Seriously October can be sweltering hot or frigid cold (and this year was the latter, if you can’t tell by my face).

I spoke at the end of the 2^nd day but asked to attend both days (in case common themes came up that needed to be added or subtracted from my speech) but that meant I had to come up with 2 outfits.

1^st Day Outfit:

Top: Delia’s.
Leggings: Vera Wang, but purchased at Kohl’s, I think.
Necklace: A gift from a friend.
Boots: Stride Rite (yup, the kids shoes) from a local shoe store. They run big. I think they’re 1 or 2 sizes smaller than I usually wear & were still too big.
Socks: (even though you can’t see them) Delia’s, I needed an extra layer to help my boots stay on if I decided to walk around some.

2^nd Day Outfit:

Dress: Delia’s
Sweater: Delia’s
Necklace: A gift from a friend.
Stockings: You’ll have to ask my mom since I had to wear hers. I forgot how hard they are to put on so I went through 2 or 3 pairs before I was officially dressed. Then I ripped the pair I finally ended up wearing taking them off. Just don’t wear them if you don’t have to.
Shorts: (I’m an ex Catholic school girl so I always wear shorts under dresses) Sports Authority, I think. Always buy shorts for under outfits off season, they’re practically dirt cheap.
Boots: Stride Rite from a local shoe store.
Socks: (even though you can’t see them) Delia’s, I needed an extra layer to help my boots stay on (even with the layer of stockings).

 
Linking up with these ladies: WIWW: The Pleated Poppy | Style Sessions | I feel Pretty | Random Wednesday with Shanna | Tucker Up |