With all the hours that I spend out
training, my wardrobe contains a lot of, lycra based, fast drying, wicking clothing
suited well to running, cycling, kayaking for hours at a time. At work a lot of cotton is worn, and although
my parents instilled in me the importance to wear clean and tidy clothes, I
have never had either the fashion sense or the “clothes shopping gene” that so
many women are blessed with. Let me loose in a bike store, or sports clothes
store and I feel right at home, but other than that, until recently I have
considered shopping for clothes a necessary evil – an activity that is to be
avoided at all costs!!!
Fortunately I have recently discovered
that, although fraught with potential disaster, I really do enjoy dressing
up and looking smart, maybe not on a daily basis but for special occasions it is actually fun. My first few shopping trips I enlisted the
help of a master shopper as my own personal tutor, and success breeds success. And it was during one of these trips, at a
time where I was under pressure to buy my first cocktail dress that I
discovered “Birds of a feather” by Annah Stretton in Hamilton. Fuelled by my success late last year, in March of this
year I experienced something that I had never imagined, even in my wildest
dreams.
I bought a pretty frock by
accident!!!
I had just walked into Birds of a Feather
to have a bit of a browse as I was in town and it was a bit early to go to
dinner, and within 30 min had tried on “the perfect dress” and knee high
leather boots (by Minx). The frugal side
of me said “you don’t need a new dress, you have a pretty dress from last year”,
but as I looked in the mirror, the girly side of me said “but I love this
dress, it makes you look so feminine, and so different”. The girly side of me had an unexpected
victory that day.
It was a good job that I had such a
shopping success that day, because 4 weeks ago I was asked to speak about my
science and how it will be important in farming over the next 20 year at the
AgResearch Fielddays dinner, to an audience of academics and industry leaders
that are involved in New Zealand agriculture.
Before I had even contemplated what I would say in my 7 min time slot, I
knew EXACTLY what I would be wearing.
The dinner was lovely, I managed to keep my
nerves under control until my speaking slot after the main course, and then I
got up on stage feeling nervous, it was a big deal to speak in front of such prominent people and
explain my field of epigenetics to a group of mostly non-scientists. But at the same time, I loved how my dress
and boots made me feel so powerful, and after a deep breath I started……..the
rest was sheer enjoyment, the audience responded well – whether or not it was
from what I was saying, or because of the clothes, who knows. But 5 days later I am still on a high from
the experience.
Because most people only ever see me in
lycra, I figure I had better include some pictures!!!
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| I am second from the left with AgResearch CEO, Young farmer of the year and Sharemilkers of the year |
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| THE BOOTS in action - a pretty frock and some boots make any speech better! |
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| All those things I learnt in toastmasters about hand and body movement to create a memorable speech were put into practice! |
