Little Black Dress

Normally I would never buy a sleeveless dress. I hate my arms. But I am not willing to do anything about them, so I just stick to wearing sleeves. “The Lazy Girl’s Guidebook” told me this was okay. I should know. I wrote it. Well, not really. I was too lazy to jot it down, but if I had written it, this is what my advice would say:

“Cover it up.

This advice works for most things.

The End.”

See, book written. Productive day.

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I really do like this dress (now sold out. Similar dress here. Similar plus size here). It is so easy and the material is really cool. It is a basket-weave and I love the flirty little ruffle at the bottom. I will layer with this dress in the wintertime, too. This was the outfit I wore on a day I ran some errands. Shhhh. Don’t tell my lazy self.

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Maybe you have noticed my kind of rad backdrop?

That was a rug/tapestry purchased from the flea market a few weeks ago. Yes, that is a monkey sailing a sailboat. I have idea what this piece is. It is definitely handmade. We much prefer the backside in the previous picture to the bright front shown above. So, we plan on hanging it backwards.

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I do not like to stand too close to it for fear of cooties. Or other substances. Or the fact that it might be able to move on its own via the germs littering its surface.

I really need to disinfect it. Or somethin’.

But alas, lazy and all that.

My husband was thrilled when he saw that I had haggled this piece down and was walking towards him with it. Held out at arm’s length, of course. Neither one of us really wanted to touch it to carry it to the car.

Thankfully, only one of us didn’t write a guidebook on how to be lazy.

I will be posting more detailed shots of the tapestry soon. Including it hopefully actually hanging up… And none of us covered in yellow tape and bugs. But for now, let’s move on.

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Whew! Had to sit down. That standing was hard work.

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I had asked my husband to get a close-up of my new necklace from H&M. Murphy was thrilled to be in these shots.

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The necklace cost more than the dress (Anthropologie’s Melanie V-Neck). It was $19.99 and the dress was $19.95 (down from $138. Gosh, I love popbacks!)..

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The kids’ task on this day was to clean this room. From the debris on the floor you can probably tell that they have read their mother’s handbook.

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Don’t worry. As punishment, they had to hug that tapestry. And I think I saw it hug them back.

Gosh, I love a happy ending.

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And it could be worse. I could have made them pose with a necklace.

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Or myself.

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

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!