A Day at the Races

A few weeks ago we went to the horse races.

I've never been to a horse race before but I was intrigued by the headwear.

So we went.

It was like going to a wedding in about 7 different ways.

First, everyone is very dressed up, not like you're going to a black tie evening wedding, but like you're going to an afternoon summer garden wedding.

Second, all the drinks are very posh, no beer in a plastic cup, it's champagne and wine and spirits, and fancy beers in bottles only. You can even buy champagne by the bottle! LOL, bottle service people, bottle service at a sporting event.

Oh, mind you we bought special "Carousel club" tickets, so we were in a separate tent than general admission, but anyone can buy these tickets they really weren't that special.

Third, there are seating "areas", like little couches and groups of chairs set up with umbrellas and what have you.

Fourth, heels in grass.

Fifth...alright I'm running out, but you get the picture.

Funny thing about the Carousel club. As we were getting ready in the morning, Dom pondered whether or not to wear a tie and ultimately decided on not. When we got there we discovered there is a dress code in the Carousel, guess what Dom had to be wearing??? that's right, a tie! So, rather than buy the $5 tie they had there for the sort like Dom who had chosen to not wear a tie, Dom argued the matter and managed to get away with no tie.

But...he continued to have security come up to him oh about once every half hour or so telling him that he needed to be wearing a tie. He had to go talk to the manager at least 3 times before they finally let the matter go. Good times.

So, there we were at the races, in Australia, in the Spring where it's supposed to be warm, right? Wrong! It was cold and drizzly and rainy and miserable! It felt like England. But there we were trying to enjoy ourselves in the miserable weather when suddenly it starts to downpour, unfortunately we were sitting out on the lawn with these flamingoes:

and the tent was a few yards away. So, rather than run across the grass risking serious injury (you know cause my heels could get stuck in the grass and I could go tumbling to the ground...or my hair could go flat from the rain...either way, serious injury!) we decided to hover under the umbrella that was conveniently next to us and what do you know, we ended up huddled with another couple. Right away we all start chatting, they've both lived in the States and London and picked up on our accents and away we went. We spent the whole day with our new friends as the boys took turns ordering bottles of champagne. That's right, bottles of champagne! It was a rather drunken affair....oh, that should be Number six up there for how the races are like a wedding.

Ultimately I had a really good time, but my favorite part of the whole day was the fascinators. Oh the fascinators! I love them. Mine was so tall I didn't fit in the car sitting up, that's right, I had to scrunch down in the seat and tilt my head a bit to keep my fascinator from hitting the top of the car. It reminded me of the stories about Marie Antoinette and the pouf and how their hair would be so tall that they would have to sit down on the floor of the carriage just so their hair would fit. What can I say, it was awesome. I wish I would have taken some piccies of the other girls fascinators, but that would have been weird of me, so I didn't. But, wow, there were some crazy ones.

Me and my fascinator.

source

Granted, I'm not a fan of the fascinator matching the dress, but whatever these ladies have awesome hats!

My New York friends are insisting that the fascinator is finally making it's way to the US, I can only hope that they will soon be standard fashion for weddings and other dressy occasions, and that you will be able to find these elaborate concoctions of loveliness at stores all over the US, but just to be safe I'm stocking up while I'm here.