Recently…

Recently I have done some shopping.

In stores.

Seriously, I never go shopping in person any more.  Having Emerson and a full time job and a husband who I adore and love hanging out with (and who hates shopping), my life is planned on the Internet.  Everything except groceries is bought online.

Well Saturday I had to buy a birthday present for a friend's kid so I headed to Target.  While there, I saw this fantastic dress.  I had to try it on, and the Large fit me perfectly.  A hair too long, but I was able to walk just fine in my stacked J. Crew flip flops.  I wore it that very day to the birthday party with flip flops, air-dried beachy hair, silver cuff and hoops, a silver bead necklace from H&M and bronzer.  Very fun beachy look.  The dress washed and dried great (I did not follow the instructions to air dry while twisting it for the crinkle look – I was hoping to shrink it some).

I personally like it better non-crinkly (especially since the crinkling falls out with wear).  The dress is fully lined, completely covered the boobs (maybe not work appropriate but great for anywhere else).  I think this dress is great for barbecues with flip flops, but would also be lovely for a summer wedding if the flops were switched out with proper heeled sandals.  I got a bunch of compliments and my husband said I looked gorgeous.  Win!

Monday I was supposed to go to traffic court but my conscience got the better of me.  See, less than a week after my birthday I got pulled over at 6:00am for running a stop sign in a Metro parking lot.  When the Transit Cop (yeah, not regular cop) took my license, he realized that my license expired on my birthday.  Fabulous.  So I got almost $200 worth of tickets for a 3-day expired license and running a stop sign in a virtually empty parking lot.

Well I decided to go to court, hoping the cop wouldn't show up.  As time went by, I got notification on the ticket for the stop sign, but never for the expired license (I went two days later and got it renewed).  I checked online, they only had record of the stop sign ticket.  And well… I DID run that stop sign (well I slowed down…).  So the date of my court hearing was coming and I chickened out.  I couldn't go and lie to a judge, and what if the cop DID show up – Metro is hurting for money.  So I paid it.  But I still had the day off work.  So I went shopping.

I finally got Emerson's baby announcement custom framed (it came with an 11″x17″ poster version of the announcement).  I bought some frames to work on decorating the master bedroom.  I looked in various stores for a mirror that would look right in the nursery.  And, I looked for clothes for me.

I wasn't looking for day-to-day clothes, but proper attire for the Bonnaroo Music Festival.  I know before I mentioned that I found THE ULTIMATE ROO DRESS at Old Navy.  Well, notsomuch.  The XL was humongous on me.  By time the Large was back in stock and I received it, I realized the dress is ridiculously sheer.  Like so sheer you could see my belly button through the dark purple one.  Boo.  So I have been freaking out for Roo clothes.  In a panic, I got the ivory version of my navy maxi dress from Gap.  I look like butt in off-white, and this dress doesn't seem to fit quite as well as the navy one but I felt desperate.  I took two dresses from '08 Bonnaroo that don't fit in the bust and cut off the straps to make them skirts.  Not a good look on me (tank and full skirt) but I figured it was better than nothing and I couldn't afford or justify spending a lot of money on Roo attire.

Well Monday I went to Ross and wow.  Seriously, if you are looking for some cute sundresses head thee to Ross!  I tried on 27 dresses, and most of them were at least halfway decent on me.  I was thisclose to buying two super cute matte jersey maxi dresses – one was a gorgeous shade of purple and had a silhouette similar to the one from Target that I wore Saturday.  Another was a red and black zebra print that actually was wearable sans bra thanks to padded inserts in the bodice.  The thing was… I don't have a life to wear sexy matte jersey maxi dresses.  They weren't work appropriate, I don't have any weddings or bachelorette parties or Girls Night Outs on the books.  And if I did, I could wear my new dress from Tarjay or my LBD from Ann Taylor that I bought last year.

But I did get a cute blue print maxi dress from She's Cool that I can wear sans bra and rock at Bonnaroo.  I also got a gauzy black calf-length sundress that has straps just wide enough to cover my bra straps (don't remember brand).  The dresses were only $12.99 each.  Rock on!  I think I may return the off-white Gap maxi dress now, and I may keep trolling Ross to see if I can get another dress just like the blue one but in a different print (I need an XL and I found shorter ones in XL that weren't quite right, or the longer version in L or 1X).

So it's kind of exciting to have a nice pile growing for Bonnaroo and a few new pieces in my closet.  Also I have lost a bit more weight recently so the 14 regular white Gap pants from last year are snug but work and the 16s are loose, but good casual pants with a fitted top.  And best thing – neither are too short any more.  Wow, this crazy ever-changing postpartum bod!

Oh yeah, other outfits from recent…

 Sunday I went to breakfast with the fam and my mom.  I wore a deep indigo top from Banana Republic Outlet with the white Gap pants mentioned and a navy bead necklace from J. Crew.   Not a great pic, but nice to see all three of us together.

Monday I wore the new Tarjay dress when shopping.  Yeah I heart it that much.

Tuesday I was back to work and I wore my turquoise dolman top from Kenneth Cole with winter white trousers from Talbots and a turquoise multi-strand necklace from a boutique in Rehoboth Beach.

Today I am wearing a purple print blouson-sleeve shift dress from Ann Taylor Loft with my Duo boots and turquoise necklace.