A Week of Dresses: Summertime Edition

Annie, our 8-year old daughter, recently challenged and inspired me to try to wear more dresses.  She loves dresses and I love seeing her wear dresses.  She wears them virtually all the time! I like wearing dresses and skirts, but admit that over the past months I'd fallen into a rut of wearing my exercise clothes for my early morning workout, and then just keeping them on as I homeschooled my children and worked around the house.  I'd shower and change before leaving the house, of course, but some days when I stayed home I realized I was still in exercise clothes at 5pm! 

Annie encouraged me to wear more dresses. "But you have to get used to the idea," she warned, "that you have to cook dinner in the dress, and work outside in the dress, and wear it all the time!"  (Which was a good reminder to bring back another favorite item in my wardrobe: the apron.) 

Since I want her to be inspired by me, as I'm inspired by her, I took her challenge seriously.

Around the time she and I were having discussions about my lackluster wardrobe choices, I saw the film of the 1902 Charleston Exposition, and that sealed the deal for me.  

So this week I challenged myself to wear a dress every single day, no matter what my day's activities were going to be.  

I have to say: I LOVED IT.  A few days (like today) I was tempted to wear jeans, because it has been colder and rainier than usual here.  But I kept my commitment to Annie. Every day this week after I exercised in my workout clothes, I showered and changed into a dress, and it had a profound impact on the way I worked for the rest of the day.  I felt happier and more productive.  It just felt great to be dressing nicely again and to be happy with the clothes I was wearing.  I plan to keep it up!

I took photos each day, but they aren't great because I'm not a photographer. I just tried to snap a quick photo and get on with my day!  Also, our bathroom is being re-tiled, so there are spare baseboards on the floor in our bedroom.  We are living in a construction zone these days! :) 

So here's how I spent this week in dresses:

SUNDAY

On Sunday my husband had to help install a pastor at a church about an hour away, so we were guests there and had lunch at the church, then we visited a nearby waterfall and covered bridge before heading back to our own church, where we installed *our* new pastor!  

I wore this sleeveless dress, but I don't like wearing sleeveless clothes in church, so I wore the cardigan with it during both church services/events.

While driving around or visiting waterfalls....great for the warm afternoon...

...and while going to church....

MONDAY

Monday was an at-home day.  It's one of my two laundry days, so I spent the day homeschooling, doing housework, and getting my laundry done.  I wore this red dress.....

but had an apron (a sturdy April Cornell) over it most of the time....

and when I got chilly in our basement doing schoolwork, I just put my trusty black cashmere sweater over it!

TUESDAY

On Tuesday we did morning homeschool and then had errands in the afternoon. My children both had orthodontist appointments, and then we went to the feed store/nursery (to buy herbs!), to the pool to start our membership, and then to the grocery store.  

In the morning I wore this polka-dotted dress with my beloved vintage polka-dotted apron (and yes, my cozy houndstooth Vionic slippers--very comfortable) while doing housework and homeschooling.

The rest of the day, for errands, I just wore the dress with sandals.

WEDNESDAY 

On Wednesday we spent the morning doing schoolwork.  I spent the afternoon cooking because I was making a meal for a friend who has a new baby, and doing some freezer cooking to prepare for a busy week next week.  So most of the day I was another vintage apron....

...but in early evening I left home to drop the meal off and then get my hair cut, and I wore my dress and sandals. 

THURSDAY 

Thursday is a very busy day around here.  We had our last co-op all day on Thursday, followed by Annie's 2-hour ballet class.  So Thursday morning I was running around in my grey dress and this apron, which was a gift from a friend a few years back....(and bare feet, oh well!)....

...but for co-op I wore shoes. :) 

And because it's unseasonably cool here this week, I took along my black sweater and ended up wearing it for much of the day!

FRIDAY 

Yesterday was Finn's birthday!!  He turned 12.  In the morning we finished up our schoolwork before summer break, which basically meant a bit of grammar and math for Finn, and Annie's last standardized test.  I also did housework and baked Finn's cake. As you can see, I hadn't even made my bed yet at this point--I was so busy trying to get things done!

Finn, Annie, and I went out for lunch and then went to see a movie.  Normally I would not wear boots with this dress, but it was cold and rainy.  So I wore my boots,and later took along my trusty black sweater (again) to wear in the theatre. I'm glad I did!

And I just kept the sweater and dress on at home when we did dinner with my in-laws, cake, ice cream, and presents!

SATURDAY 

Finally, today!  I actually wore either pajamas or exercise clothes until noon, simply because it was a laid-back morning, and I knew I wanted to do a long workout in late morning.  But after I exercised, I changed into the green dress I wore on Wednesday, but paired it with boots, the same trusty sweater (I'll be washing that on Monday!), and a scarf because let me tell you: it's cool out there today!  I am spending the afternoon preparing for a conference that I'm presenting at soon, and this evening we are going to church for a potluck. 

A close-up of the scarf--I love it, it's Pendleton wool and so warm. It goes perfectly with the dress and sweater, so I'm going to remember that for fall!

I was glad to get back into a dress today after spending the morning in exercise clothes.  I do feel that it helps me feel better and aids me in being focused and productive. I don't understand the science behind that, but I don't care: I just know it works!

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And that's one week in dresses: the "cool weather summer" edition. I may do this again in the fall; it was fun and it motivated me to think harder about my wardrobe and how to look nice while still going about all of my daily activities. 

And besides all that: I love aprons!