So, here is the deal: my darling has a really large family, and when I say large, I mean each of his parents having 9 brothers and sisters, which is 18 aunts and uncles and endless number of cousins. One of the cousins decided to throw herself a 50-th birthday party, which, as you might guess, had an invite list a mile long.

Although I have already met his parents, which seemed quite nice and normal people, my darling explained that the party would be a bit different. I'm more of a cocktail girl than an ethnic party with a lot of live music and bowls of steaming meat chick, so this was kind of a challenge for me. As I kind of adore my darling I really planned to fit in, so I bothered him with tons of questions about the music, food and manners. We searched the whole city to find just the right gift (no, I'm embarrassed to say what it was, but think religious and gold) and I still had to figure out what I'm going to wear.

As national folk costume was clearly a no-no for me, I thought elegant, but not too sparkly, decent yet attractive. So, I got myself a wonderful white dress (much like this one which is a great Diane von Furstenberg number), paired it with great silver shoes and some white gold jewelry. I put my hair up, did my makeup and put the trusted Glam Shine on my lips and was ready to go.

Needles to say, I didn't really fit in, thanks to my boyfriend who told me that people would dress normally, eat food and dance to some national music. I was overdressed (majority of other woman at the party was wearing either too much red Lipstick and foundation or a hideous combination of mismatched tops, bottoms and shoes), not ready to get wasted (read: drink gallons of home made white wine) and dance on the table, which is what everybody else did. Again, needles to say, my darling had a blast with his cousins, and we left the party with the crack of dawn, me having to drive with him being drunk and sick on the back seat.

My saviors at the party were other 'outsider' girls, neat and polished as much as I was, ready to sip wine, eat fruit and gossip our minds off. Which was, I presume, later described as isolating, not trying to blend in or being snobby. Well, I've learnt my lesson.

So, if you ever get the invite to your darling's family party where you want to score some points with his loved ones, always prepare a backup outfit (think eighties), a makeup kit with some heavy colors and a fistful of antacid tablets which will allow you to go through all the un-lean cuisine they might have prepared. And remember, if you really love the guy, it pays off to downgrade your wardrobe and manner for a couple of hours - you can use it as a joker card next time you want to go to the theatre, or meet your mother for lunch.