We band of boaters

My title has been appropriated from one of the most famous speeches penned by William Shakespeare: dear Harry's "band of brothers" oration from Henry V. However, this post is not about royalty, nor war, nor even men. I went to an event today which I never could have predicted myself going to. For several years, I've had a vague idea that my city held dragon boat races every year, but had really no need to think any further about them than that brief recognition of their existence. Well, this year my mother decided to get involved and join a team and so my family experienced our first dragon boat event (my mom was the only one actually racing though). Only one person in my mom's boat had ever done this sort of thing before, apart from the two practice sessions the boat club sets up for each team prior to race day. Even though they weren't the top team in the water, they still managed to beat six other groups, making them champions of their division. This "band of boaters," as I'm calling them, stuck it out in a fantastic display of teamwork and motivation. I'm honestly so proud of my mom for finding something new to try and really giving it her all.

To further adapt the quotation I've chosen, I'd like to back-track further up the line to "We few, we happy few." In terms of today's event, it was something more along the lines of "We many, we sweaty, sunburnt many." I feel like I do perhaps say too much about the heat, but I've already told you in my last post that I managed to acquire a lovely red burn yesterday, so being out by the lake today was not so pleasant on my skin. As for the many, I am so not kidding when I said that. I had no idea how many teams entered into a competition like this, or how many others came to watch it! There were easily a thousand people present. All this means is that, in terms of this blog, I didn't take any pictures of myself there. I'm still new to this being in front of the camera thing and I was sure I'd attract more stares than I'd have been comfortable with if I started snapping pictures of myself at the event, so I took them at home afterwards instead.

I'm completely in love with the shirt I wore (that sounds quite self-indulgent, but if I hadn't loved it, I wouldn't have bought it, right?). This outfit ended up pleasing me so much for looking a sort of mix of retro/classy/comfortable, that by the end of the afternoon I had myself pretty nearly talked into believing I was a modern Vivian Ward, only watching boats race rather than horses. If only I had a sweet little pair of white gloves to go with it. . . those are going straight on the top of my list!


Also, seeing as tomorrow is Father's Day, I likely won't have a post for you. I'll be away at a big family BBQ, but I hope you all enjoy your day!

Hat: Forever 21; Top: Monteau via TJMaxx; Shorts: Jacob; Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren via TJMaxx; Watch&Bag: Fossil; Shoes: Enzo Angiolini also via TJMaxx

Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward in "Pretty Woman"

Maybe a little similarity? I wish I'd realized it before and done a cute hat-holding pose like Julia. Darn!

 -C