Sticks to your ribs

It's a little early to be thinking about certain parts of my wedding. I have more than a year, and we won't even have a reception hall nailed down until probably sometime in March. However, today I encountered something rather perfect - an obnoxiously marked-down dress that would be perfect for the rehearsal dinner of a woman who is having a wedding full of peacock-feather colors. That, of course, would be me. And this, of course, is the dress:

It was in clearance, so there were only 2 left. One was a 6 - my size! Hooray! Well, the score on this one came away Lauren Conrad (the designer - and oh my did I hate liking one of her dresses. I couldn't stand Laguna Beach or The Hills) 1, Stephane 0. Why, you ask? Am I one of those women who constantly claims to be a size 6 despite all evidence to the contrary? Alas, dear gentle readers, no. When I'm skinnier, I'm a 4. At this weight, I'm a 6. However, I have a problem - I have an exceedingly large rib cage. It gets in the way of many, many things, and even makes measuring for bras nearly impossible to get right. And today it caused the zipper on this dress to stop 3" from the bottom and not budge another millimeter.

It was then that I found the second one, but, alas, it was a size 16. I'd be willing to take in something 1-2 sizes bigger, but not 5. So I found a size 10 in the dress my sister had just picked out (also Lauren Conrad) to wear post-pregnancy. I wasn't sure about it because I generally hate myself in strapless, but I was outvoted 2-1, thanks to my mother. At $18, I suppose I can't really complain. It's a size 10, so it's going to need some altering, but it's doable. However, if I find the dress above in a size I can wear for half or less of the usual $60-70 price tag, I'm buying it. No matter how cute the black one will look with purple heels and chunky teal accessories.