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.

Girl In The Moon

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I put this outfit on for a date with my husband.

It had been spinning in my mind ever since I scored this awesome moon Top from Anthropologie on a popback sale price of less than $20.

I was over the moon about my new score.

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I put it all on and paraded into the living room to show my husband.

“What do you think of this outfit?” I excitedly squealed.

He studied it for a moment.

“Meh,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

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I was kind of crushed as I made my way back to our bedroom to search for something else to wear. I ended up picking this.

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The next day my daughter casually said to me, “Mom, remember that outfit you put on yesterday with the moons and the moon and star necklaces. I can’t stop thinking about it. It was the best outfit I have ever seen. If I could ever have an outfit like that one day, I would be so happy.”

“Really?!” I grinned from ear to ear.

I am sure at some point when she moves away for college, this outfit will disappear, but until then I was so happy to hear that maybe I wasn’t so wrong with my choices.

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Later in the week I ended up wearing the outfit.

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Blue is my favorite color. I adore all of the different shades going on here. I had purchased this skirt from Modcloth many moons ago. My favorite way to wear it is over my Colima Maxi Skirt. I love layering hi-low skirts. It makes me happy.

I think that this works as well.

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My small moon necklace is from on Etsy. The white star necklace was a Christmas present from “my husband” in 2013.

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My Astrological sign is Cancer. Its planet symbol is the moon (I know). I love when I can find pieces with the moon shape that are not over the… top. Do you get a rise out of sale items? Do you collect any astronomy items? I once took an astronomy course in college. Oh, vey. I think I confused astrology for astronomy. Do you know how much math is involved in astronomy? It’s lunacy. I totally spaced out. Went to the dark side. Thankfully it was just a phase.

Cockatiels and Stripes?

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This outfit pretty much represents what is going on in my brain at any given moment.

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Colorful cockatiels trying to mate with bright stripes. It is like a smorgesboard of crazy, but I think it works.

But again, I think in cockatiels and stripes, so my thoughts should be taken with a grain of salt.

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Unless you’re a cockatiel.

I’ve heard salt is bad for birds.

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Not as bad as rocks. Or airplanes. Or cats. Or stripes.

But close.

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Can we please be sober serious for a moment?

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I purchased this red and white striped skirt from eShatki years ago before I had a blog. It remains one of my favorite pieces in my closet and I previously wore it here.

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The cockatiel top was another older purchase. It is by Daniel Rainn (I cannot find it or a similar enough top to link to, but I have seen this top on eBay). I bought it for $13 at Nordstrom Rack many years ago. I had never worn it before. It is a tricky top. It has a sheen and it is a peplum shape (hidden by the skirt).

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I scored the Anthropologie Waterfront Wedges on a popback for 85% off recently (sold out, similar here). I have wanted to wear them with everything.

What do your thoughts look like? Are they bird and stripe shaped? Peanut and alligators? Polka dots and rabid wolves? I think I may have a problem. My thoughts don’t go together. But at least I can pretend that my outfit patterns do.

An Ombre Autumn Outfit

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In my mind, when I purchased this Luna Luz dress in the summer at a local boutique, the outfit pictures I would take in this dress would be in an orange and yellow autumn tree setting.

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However, I forgot one important fact.

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I live in California.

And these trees?

Well, these trees only know one color.

And it ain’t yellow, orange or red.

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Oh, well.

I guess this just means that the dress does not have any color competition.

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I purchased this dress ((I cannot find my exact dress for sale online, but there is a white Luna Luz dress for sale here. I have seen my dress for sale on eBay previously but I did not see any listed when I wrote this) when I went back-to-school clothes shopping with my children. My daughter spotted the dress in the window with the giant sale sign and urged me to try it on.

“MOM! That dress is perfect for you!”

I know. She is such an enabler!

It’s actually not her fault.

I chanted those words throughout my pregnancy and through her first year of life.

Her first word was, “Muspeftyou.”

My husband just thought she really loved the cat. We’ve worked on her pronunciation since then.

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I lie.

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Besides her first word was, “nobye,” and you better believe it.

I think I know who is responsible for that one.

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Are the leaves changing where you are? Do you own any ombre pieces? Do you actually remember your child’s first word? I forgot to write anything down, so frazzled and depressed was I. But we’re just gonna go with, “Da Da.”

I want you to know that I firmly believe that this has absolutely everything nothing to do with the second phrase that I continuously murmured throughout her childhood, “Did ya see that dress?”

Everything. Nothin’.

*I shared this on The Pleated Poppy and Reasons To Dress.

these photos were edited using VSCOcam C1 on level 3.