I can't believe I bought this dress

So I wear lots of patchwork-hippie, simple shirt and skirt combos. I sort of have a uniform. It's a style that works for me. My clothes are practical for a mom with two kids.

I've been wanting to get one of those cute handmade patchwork hippie dresses with the ties in the back, but I can't ever find them in my size. One that would have been a perfect fit came up on eBay recently, and I almost bid on it. Ultimately the price was too steep. I had just bought yellow kimono sleeve patchwork dress to wear to JiffyCon, and I didn't have much more to spend. (Come to JiffyCon and you'll see!)

I really like the new JiffyCon dress, but it's makes me feel a little crunchier than usual. Silly as this may sound-it is a fluff post, after all-I want to go on a fashion adventure this summer, get gussied up, and go out on a hot date with Chris. I feel the urge to branch out of my earth mama hippie crunchy sugar magnolia mold.

So on a whim I started looking for less crunchy dresses. I tried to push out of my comfort zone. I found that I like the halter top maxi dress style. It retains some crunch, and still looks charming and hot date worthy. I narrowed the choices down to 7, and I showed them to Chris. He helped me eliminate 4. In the end, this shimmery salmon backless plunging neckline floor-length halter won out. Even better, it was floor-length for little old 5' 9" me. Even better still, it was my size. It's as far out of my comfort zone as one can get. Chris said he picked another dress over this one because he wonders if I'll wear it. It's up there with the pirate bikini I got last summer in Puerto Rico as far as how much skin I tend to reveal. I wore that (a couple times). I picked up the vintage lace paisley shawl to go with it. The shoes I got a few weeks ago. I also got two packages of adhesive bras. Adhesive Bras! I just got a dress where the only bra I can wear more or less consists of giant band-aids.

Thanks to the platform heels and the lace shawl, the look retains just the right amount of crunchiness that I won't feel completely out of my skin. My mom had a shawl like that from the 70's.

So the big question of the day is "where the heck am I going to wear this dress?" Who knows, but I can't wait to go.