Folk Tale

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This Free People black dress that I purchased last summer continues to be one of my favorite pieces in my closet. I previously wore it with sandals, but I wanted to try belting it with tights and boots for this season. The dress I am wearing is sold out, but I adore the look of this dress in white. It has a similar easy vibe.

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I love the longer back. I sometimes hate the new high-low trend, but it works with my lifestyle.

My lifestyle being that of a klutz. I am always dropping things and having to bend over and get them.

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Case in point, the other day I was wearing my denim shirt “dress.” Thankfully with tights. I was in the grocery store. I had gone inside for two things and as I was walking to the register, I somehow managed to pick up ten items. I had them precariously balanced in my arms.

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I probably would have made it to the register without a mishap, had I not at that moment noticed my children’s kindergarten teacher with her husband in another aisle.

We locked eyes and as I went to wave, I proceeded to drop all of my items on the floor. Three times! Over and over, I bent over and picked up cans and packages of cheese and chips.

It was mortifying.

I am sure the people behind me probably thought it was even more so.

I really could have used a high-low dress that day. Who am I kidding? I could use a high-low dress everyday.

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Let’s move along from my mortification. I purchased this vintage folk belt from Modcloth last year (previously worn here). I love it so much. I keep it on my dresser instead of with my other belts because I am scared of it breaking.

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I took these pictures on my dad’s property. I think I only explored this road once as a child. I was not very adventurous. Besides, the possibility of rattlesnakes curbed my desire to walk around.

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Did you explore your neighborhood growing up? Or were you exploring worlds in books like I was? And when am I going to learn that I always need a grocery cart, even when I am “just running in”?

Shifts In A Denim Shift

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I started out wearing this little denim dress from Urban Outfitters (sold out. But Old Navy currently has a cute denim dress also available in plus size). With boots. And I asked my husband if he could take pictures of it.

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And he looked at the dress and said, “Whoa! That is short!”

But I didn’t believe him.

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And then I looked at these pictures while we were out taking the pictures and I had to agree. But I still thought maybe it was the heels and not the dress. Because I had kind of all ready worn this dress around town that day and I really could not bear to think of how many people saw me sans pants. I stubbornly stuck with, “It is a dress and it is long enough.” As all sixteen thirty seven year olds do.

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So I changed to flats.

It’s called denial.

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And it is my speciality.

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It was how I originally wanted to wear the dress any way. And I did. For approximately five seconds.

Before I took a peek at these pictures and decided it was not the heels.

It was not the flats.

It was the dress.

And it was a shirt.

I hate when that happens.

Although, I cannot wait to layer it over another dress like Atlantic Pacific did here.

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I put on some tights that I had in my car.

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What? You don’t carry tights in your car? What about spare deodorant? Extra underwear? Straws? Salt?

A girl has always gots to be prepared.

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I do admit, I felt more comfortable in the tights.

Just don’t tell my husband.

He’ll never let me live it down.

He is all ready teasing me about always being pantless.

There will be no living with him if he learns that I agree with him.

Have you ever been in denial about an outfit? Left the house in an indecent state? I am afraid that I can answer “yes” to both of those questions too often. I need to shift that. Top the next outfit. Ad-dress the issue and move on. For not once, but twice, in school, I left the changing room for p.e. without pants on. If I could get through it in junior high school, I can do it now. It is amazing how things can change and yet always stay the same.

Monarch Magic Metamorphosis

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First, I know this pattern resembles a Tiger Butterfly more than a Monarch. I must have been a little loopy when I first typed this up, because here I am now editing it before it goes up in a few hours and I am wondering what I was thinking with the title. Who can really say?

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I have found in the last year that a swing style dress is my favorite.

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The Sarita Swing Dress is beautiful. I do wish it was one inch longer but otherwise it is perfect. It is made from silk which is a rare thing to find nowadays. My grandma used to keep silk worms in her house so we could watch how they worked. She also would occasionally raise a butterfly through the stages. Green and yellow were her favorite colors. She would have loved this dress.

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I paired the dress with my Simply Livly Turquoise Necklace and a wooden turquoise ring. I also wore my favorite Chie Mihara booties with it. They were one of my favorite sale scores last year. Her shoes are amazing.

I think that every girl dreams of a fantasy world. It is kind of what is thrown on us as children. Castles, princesses, animals, pink and flowers. Butterflies fall right into this.

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Now, I do not know for certain that this dress is based on a butterfly. It seems obvious to me that it is. But I also frequently mix up the words, “prescription and subscription” so I am absolutely no good mental evaluator.

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I looked up the name of the dress, “Sarita.” It means “flowing” in Sanskrit according to the website, behind the name. It is subtle. But, oh, the missed name opportunities this dress had.

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It has the most lovely crochet lace edged lining. The dress is short, but in all of my pictures (including spinning), I did not encounter one wardrobe snafu.

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It is perfect for a windy day. The sleeves flutter magnificently. I honestly felt like a butterfly in this dress. Groan. I can imagine someone quoting that and I realize how lame that sounds, but it is true.

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This dress might not have the right name, but it does not matter.

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It simply made me happy. When I wore it I smiled. It felt like a metamorphosis was taking place. And that is all that matters to me.

Anthropologie Reviews: February 2015

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I had not been planning on going to Anthropologie on this day. I had planned on staying home and cleaning my house. But my mom had sent me a gift card to Anthropologie a few days before to try to lift my spirits from January.

I wore my tasseled dress from this post and a tasseled scarf from Forever 21. I had actually gone to the store with the sole purpose of purchasing this necklace. I had seen three of them at the store I went to the last time I was there and I was stunned by how gorgeous the necklace was in person. I vowed to buy it when it went on sale. It did. My store ended up having sold out of the necklace, but they did order me one that should come later this week. The store was not crowded at all. And it had all of the new arrivals that I had been wanting to try on. It was perfect. Thank you Mom for bringing joy into my day.

My last set of reviews was a hard post to write. I ended up not really loving anything. It is difficult to write about something that you aren’t passionate about. But, oh, this time, I loved every single thing I tried on. Some just as suggestions for others, but I was very pleased with the February selections in store:

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It seems as though every blogger has The Homestead Shirtdress. And they make me want it all the more. I love it on Karissa Marie. It is easy. It is comfortable. It has breathable fabric. It is pretty much perfect. I am wearing my usual size medium and that is the size I currently have wishlisted. I did have some pulling in the chest, which you can kind of see in the top picture. The buttons felt like they were straining. I am not even that busty, so more well endowed girls might have to size up.

It was a toss up between this dress and the dress below as to which one I was going to bring home with me. I loved them both a ten out of ten. But I had all ready bought this H&M dress with a similar shape and color pallet earlier in the month with their 20% off discount. I could not justify the purchase of two dresses so close in style. For those interested, the H&M dress fits true to size. It is a heavy polyester. It hangs well. I think it is a great dress for a good price (look for a discount code. They were offering 20% off awhile back, but now I think they are offering 20% off if you sign up for their email. Check their website for more information).

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Oh, Leifdottir, they always get it right. The Sarita Swing Dress is brilliant. The outer lining is 100% silk. It is groan-worthy scrumptious. I bought this in the size eight I am wearing in the pictures and wore it immediately the next day. Wait. Immediately and the next day don’t exactly go together, do they? Well, it was as immediate as I get.

Who doesn’t want to look like a tiger butterfly? Nobody, that’s who, if they’re being honest. I was so excited to see that this dress came in sizes up to 16. Of course, that size and size 14 are currently sold out online as they never stock enough of those sizes. Tsk, tsk, Anthropologie. But I do hope that a store might still have that size for those of you who want it by calling around (often when a size is sold out online, stores still have it, like the size 10 skirt further below).

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The lining is special, too. It has the sweetest crochet lace detail on the end. I wore my dress with a turquoise necklace (post coming on Thursday) and I loved the colors together.

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I had such high hopes for The Tindaya Dress. It has exquisite detail. It is flowy. And it looks good from the front. However…

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It is a bit too flowy for me. There is so much fabric to this dress it could almost be two dresses. I have seen some girls wear this belted up high and it looks very pretty that way. I could never wear this not belted. I am in a size medium.

I all ready have a lot going on down below the waist. This just adds more volume. It is like a fabric party is going on in this dress and it is a Monday and I have to work. This is a pass for me. The tall and thin would look amazing in this.

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Everybody loves The Mixed Plaid Tunic. It is all over Instagram. Usually the girls tie it at the bottom. I am not that cool. I knew trying this on that it would not work for me. I have large arms and the cut of the arms is at an odd bias which does not work for girls with larger upper arms.

I was right, so this is a pass for me, but it is still a sweet and simple dress.

I am in a medium. It fit perfectly with plenty of room. It is a cute and easy dress. It did not have the wow factor for me. But I think it will look great on a lot of body types. It will transition into each season nicely as a good piece on its own and an even more fabulous layering item.

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But? What?! How on Earth?

No pockets!

For such a simple everyday dress this seems to be a huge miss. I still cannot believe it did not have any. I am not speaking of the ones slathered on the chest. Every girl knows that those are unusable, unless you want lumpy boobs. I am speaking of waist pockets. Of course, I am old and it was not too long ago I can remember that no dresses came with pockets. But I have been spoiled these last few years and have come to expect them. Like I said, spoiled.

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I saw the price tag of this Elodie Dropwaist Dress (sold out, but might still be available in stores) and had to try it on. It was $29.95. It was a size L which I actually think works with the baggy style of the dress. Again, it did not have enough of a wow factor for me to pick it up, but it was cute. It was also extremely itchy. It was made from that itchy fake denim fabric. So, if you have sensitive skin I would definitely avoid this dress.

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I had been wanting to try on The Dotted Jacquard Skirt for some time. It just seemed like a piece that would go with most anything. I am wearing a medium in the picture and if I purchased this (which I will not be), I would size down to a small. I like the color. I like the fabric, but it is not as easy to work with as I had originally had hoped. It would be great with pullovers and simple tees, but it just did not feel like me. Great skirt, though! I recommend checking this in the store, because quite a few of them all ready had black scuff marks on them from the hazards of women trying them on. It’s tough being a white skirt!

If you work in a casual office, the Ashby Buttondown is wonderful. I think the price is okay for it. It is a very nice quality. It has a nice substantial weight to the fabric. The pretty grey denimy texture is soothing. It will go with a lot of different bottoms. It does not fit in with my lifestyle, so it was a pass for me. I am wearing a size medium. It fit just right. I highly recommend this one.

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Oh, Clementina Skirt. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Or the large patterns on this yummy design. My husband loves pencil skirts. So I buy them. Then I feel self conscious in them. And then I don’t wear them. Round and round we go… Like a clementine. I really like this skirt. I sized up to a 10 in it to allow for my ample thighs. Too many donuts not enough clementines.

I like the design, however, I tend to avoid giant designs on my lady parts. Ugh, I cannot believe I just wrote “lady parts.” But you know what I mean. I hesitate to get nitty gritty in a review post I am writing sober. This design does not bother me as much as others because the pattern repeats at the bottom. If it was singular, it would be a pass for me. It does bother me that the design does not line up on the sides, as shown in the second picture. Despite that, I have wishlisted this in hopes of getting it on sale.

The Crossed Pointelle Pullover is pretty. I like the design. It will be easy to layer this pullover over pretty slips or longer shirts. Or you could just wear it with pencil skirts. I am wearing a medium and it fit well and was soft and comfortable.

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Tricky. Tricky. The Tecoma Blouse is going to be a love/hate item. I happen to love it. It is an online only item, but my store happened to have one in my size medium that someone else had returned. I expect this to happen a lot. The pattern is amazing. The ties at the elbow are sweet yet sophisticated. The cut is flattering. It will go with pretty much any skirt that you own.

And everything about it is perfect. Except one kind of huge thing. The fabric.

Oh. That fabric. For many reasons, and so little, I own a variety of pirate wench costumes. Huh? Let’s ignore that little confession and just get to the point. My costumes always come with some sort of striped fabric. This fabric feels like that. It is that awful silky polyester that will be hot and sweaty. But I still bought it. Why? Because I just could not get over the wonderfulness of all of its other attributes. Plus, I’m used to being sweaty pirate costumes. I plan on wearing my shirt with everything. This week I will be pairing it with my Dotty Trumpet Skirt from a few years ago. I also want to mention that the top is very short. If you have a long torso, this might be a difficult top to tuck in.

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Gawh! Did I break the internet? I think not as my bum was all ready broken. I was trying to show the back of the skirt as well as the side of the shirt but instead ended up looking like a weirdo. Next time you are in a dressing room and you hate what you just tried on, just imagine that the person next door is taking odd selfies like this one. You will feel better. As for me, well, I better just stick to my pirate costumes… instead of Arr-nthropologie. Now that probably broke the internet.

Have you tried anything good on lately? Do you want to dress up like a tiger butterfly or a pirate? Or a pirafly? Or a buttrate? Oh. This could be dangerous. I better stop while I’m ahead