Business Casual???

So I managed to scoot in a last minute application for a summer internship at Locke Liddell in Dallas. (Last minute is kind of an understatement I think, but let's move on.) They must have received it yesterday, because today I got an email inviting me to a "holiday reception" at their office TOMORROW. We're to wear "business casual".

It's times like these that I wish I was a man.

Being a woman however, the whole dress code thing delivers such a headache that I'm ready to lie down and accept defeat even before I start picking out shoes. It doesn't help that half my wardrobe (including all of my nice winter clothing) is in Waco. I don't even have an appropriate jacket. My mother suggested one of my suit jackets. I own 2 - a camel colored one that looks like I'm wearing the fashion equivalent of a potato sack and a red (and I'm talking BRIGHT RED) 3/4 length sleeve jacket I've had since I was 14, when my mother foisted it upon me with the words "it was on sale!". I think it makes me look like Janet Reno.

After trying on about 30 different combinations with both jackets (all of which were worn with my "sullen look" which I dredged up from when - again - I was 14 and a sullen teenager) I came to the computer to find out exactly what "business casual" is. One of my first hits said, "The term business casual is one of the most misunderstood of all business terms." Well, great. Thanks, guys. Wikipedia failed me too - it has a picture of Bill Gates. Yes, that's EXACTLY what the fine people at Locke Liddell are looking for, I'm sure.

So if you have any ideas of what I could wear (yes, I'm willing to go shopping - I'd just rather not have to buy an expensive suit on the fly - I'll do that later when freaking out about what to wear on my first day at my fantabulous new job, I hope) please leave a nice comment. Keep in mind that it's going to be cold and wet in Dallas tomorrow. If you think I'm being a total girl, that's fine too.