Late Summer Love Dress

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I know it is not really “late summer” yet. I would say we are smack dab in the middle of summer as far as time plotting goes. However, Late Summer Love is the name of this dress and since I spent hours minutes staring at these outfit pictures trying to come up with a title and nothing came to me. Well, we went with the name of the dress. And when I say “we”, I mean “I”. Just like when I say “late summer” I mean “middle summer”. Unless I actually mean late summer but at that point I would probably call it early fall.

We are a walking contradiction.

For instance, sometimes I will have to layer something underneath a short dress or I feel naked. Other times, I will leave the house in a dress my husband mistook for a shirt.

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I do not know why some pieces of clothing garner different rules than others. It is a conundrum.

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This is off topic (if we were ever really on one), but my son calls this pose my chicken pose. That makes me laugh. Or rather squawk.

We took these pictures the other day at my daddy’s apiary. In the second picture above this one, you can see some old hives. I grew up wandering these paths.

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I love this picture. It is probably my favorite outfit picture my husband has ever taken. I am not sure why. But it is such a candid shot, because I did not know my husband had started shooting. I like that I am fixing my gnome. It reminds me of being a little girl on that very road.

Although my mother never would have let me wear a dress that short.

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My husband agrees with her.

I will pair this dress with leggings, tights and maybe even jeans in the wintertime.

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Back to my son’s earlier observation: What would happen if I made it to the other side of this road?

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Whatever the answer, I hope I could get there without flashing anybody.

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I love the lilac tones in this dress mixed with the yellow. I purchased this dress with my birthday discount and a gift card while it is on sale.

And although it is short, it has really cool sleeves.

That is important.

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‘Cause when you’re marching to your own beat, it’s nice to be able to do it with a little flare, regardless of the name of the season or the stance of your pose.

Do you have odd rules about clothes? Do you ever contradict yourself?

I do not know why I do. Squawk!

Embroidered Doll Dress

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I have something I want to say.

“I LOVE THIS DRESS!!!”

Sorry, that was slightly unnecessary. But it is true.

I do.

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In, fact, I cannot seem to stop staring at the gorgeous embroidery. As demonstrated in my accidental pose above. It just makes me so happy. I had patiently waited for a sale on the Embroidered Peasant Doll Dress, and when it reached more than 60% off, I asked for it for my birthday.

It is short.

In fact, when my husband took these pictures, he exclaimed, “that dress is RE-E-E-A-A-ALLY short!”

This is coming from the guy that never notices if the entire back of my dress is unbuttoned. I knew it had to be a little too short if he was making a proclamation. I tried not to flashback to all of the bending and reaching I did at the grocery store in the dress, the day before. All of this to say, from this point on I will now be wearing a slip under this dress.

Modesty: it’s a virtue a necessity at my age exercise level.

Anyway, I wish I had gotten a close up shot of the neckline. It has little red stitching with the blue.

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In the last two photos, I have a hidden little gnome on my person.

It happens.

However, on the ride home, my husband informed me that my gnome bore an uncanny resemblance to my nemesis…

Elf On The Shelf.

And now he is back in my house. And he is surrounded by his multitude of brothers, because he came in a pack.

And I am trying to not freak the freak out.

Maybe I need to go look at this dress again.

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Ahhhhh, here we go. Isn’t that embroidery lovely? It definitely does not in any way remind me of creepy little dudes in red.

And that Scalloped Monogram Bracelet is now on sale at Anthropologie. I own one with my initial and one with my husband’s.

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Don’t worry.

I’m simply spinning.

I am not running away in terror.

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But I will be watching my back… Just in case.

What do you do about dresses that are too short? Do you wear them anyway? Or do you pair them with pants or a slip? I think this will be cute with tights in the winter, but what color should I wear?

*these photos were edited using the App Afterlife’s Meadow Filter.

P.S. * I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

An Antique & Artsy Date Night

A week ago, my husband and I ventured out on a date. We are always hungry early, and so like the old folks that we are, we decided to leave our house at 5:00. Being the procrastinator that I am, I had not changed clothes for the date. It was 4:45 and I was still in my pajamas…

From my closet, I yelled over my shoulder to my husband, “I have nothing to wear!”

To which I heard a grumbled, “Seriously?”

And then my muffled response, as I choked and gagged on my gluttonous amount of clothes, “I’m just kidding!”

And his muttered-under-his-breath-but-consciously-loud-enough-for-me-to-hear-from-the-bedroom-to-the-closet reply, “No you’re not.”

And he was kinda right. I never know what to wear on a date. I love free-flowing bohemian maxis. My husband likes short fitted dresses.

Never the two shall meet.

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I ended up picking this Modcloth dress (similar here) from last year that I had purchased when I went and saw Cindy Lauper (post here and here). It was a good choice, because my husband really liked it.

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It was his choice as to where we would eat that night and he picked a trendy little hipster restaurant in the old part of our town. That part of town is now filled with antique stores and gourmet restaurants. My husband loves the hamburgers there. I love the decor.

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Look at this chandelier made from honey bear jars. Wicked cool right?

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I can’t believe I just said, “wicked cool.” Next thing you know, I’ll be saying “uber”. If that happens, just hang me up with those bears, okay?

Let’s pretend that never happened.

I took pictures of the art on the walls, whilst unbeknownst to me also attracting the attention of the chefs.

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I pored over the menu, even though I always get the same thing.

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The hamburger.

I had to include the funny picture, because I hate pictures of me eating. Don’t you?

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It was a beautiful evening and we planned on just heading home and watching a movie.

Oh! But before I move on, I have to talk about dessert! We had amazing homemade cheesecake. Or restaurant-made cheesecake. All I know is that it was good and made on the premises. I do not like going to restaurants that serve desserts they have ordered from other companies.

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We decided to walk down to my favorite antique store. Thankfully, my husband likes antiques as much as I do. Although on this night, he was antsy.

Look at the cool letters with my husband’s and my initials. I want them. Desperately. I think it is kismet that they happen to be our initials. I also love the colors. But they are very expensive. So, I am holding out.

Maybe one day…

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Other antiques we liked: an old door. Oh! The colors on this door (but I all ready have this one). Another want. An old toy horse. A really cool tractor part that had the prettiest patina.

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Then we made our way outside where unbeknownst to us, there was an art festival going on that had started mere minutes before. The artists were setting up booths and some were doing sidewalk chalk art. The picture above is the beginning of an art piece by my children’s art teacher, Lisa Owen Lynch, setting up her awesome Star War’s Princess Leia drawing. We randomly ran into her and it was neat to see her at work.

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Look at her shoes! She is the coolest!

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And we left her just as the hair was coming together. She is so talented. My kids are very lucky to get to learn from her.

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I ended up purchasing a small bird painting for $30 from one of the artists there. It looks like a strange bird at first, but it is actually two birds. Because of that, I thought it was weird and neat enough for a place in our home. Plus, the colors are great. The artist was super sweet, too.

I love that what started out as a simple dinner turned into a fun antique browse and art walk. There is something romantic about spontaneity. And I treasure when an evening turns out better than planned.

Where have you gone on a date recently? Do you always decide the restaurant or do you trade off with your partner?

Swingin’ Through The Vines

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I have decided that my favorite silhouettes for my body type are shift dresses and swing dresses. I do not like tight things. I find myself pulling them down or pulling them up, forgetting to suck in my stomach or sucking it in too much. It is more of a hassle than I am willing to bear.

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So, when I saw this swing dress at Forever 21 for less than $30, I was sold. But it was a tad short. Probably because although the store’s name suggests that we will always be of a certain age, my body parts have not received that message.

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I paired it with my favorite slip, Free People’s Trapeze Slip. I want another color in this, because I wear the one I have constantly.

The necklace is Simply Livly’s Turquoise Necklace. The shoe’s are Anthropologie’s Tarara Gladiator Sandals.

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We took my husband’s VW Bus for a spin and I love that the color of the bus matched the color of the slip.

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We ended up at a vineyard with amazing views.

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I love when we stumble upon a gorgeous piece of scenery. Actually, I love stumbling upon anything unexpectedly good.

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Have you stumbled upon a beautiful piece of scenery lately? Did it make you want to spin? I will admit, this day was so gorgeous, it made me want to embrace the sky. Thankfully, my unrestricted garments made that possible.

Not the actual embracing of the sky, but the insane act of trying.