So this is love…

Brace yourselves for a huge overload of pictures. Because… oh. my. goodness. If I could only ever wear one thing for the rest of my life, it would be this dress. This dress is perfect. Every woman dreams of having a dress that fits like a glove, is the right color, has the details she loves, and makes her feel like a million dollars, and this is that dress for me. When eShakti contacted me to do a review, I had no idea I would fall this hard! They will fit any dress on their site to your measurements, and since I have about a ten inch difference between bust and waist, and 15 inch difference between my waist and hips, I jumped at the chance!

I’m so, so pleased with everything; the fit, the color, the embroidered details, the twirl of the skirt, the pockets (!!!), the length. It really is the most wonderful dress, and I’m definitely going to get more dresses from eShakti!

And just for you, they’ve created a 10% discount code — ecowles — which is valid till June 15. So go buy a perfect dress!

I feel so gorgeously retro in this, too. I tried to style it as vintage as possible,  even using my grandma’s vintage jewelry with it. Of course, the dress, heels, and sunglasses are all new. But I almost felt like I could walk into the 1950’s and fit in perfectly.

I especially wanted to try hard to do a truer representation of 1950’s makeup. I think that’s the biggest thing people tend to get off, using outrageous cat-eye liner and stark white shadows, whereas if you really study the icons of those eras (Grace Kelley, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Liz Taylor), you notice that they actually tend more to use dark soft shadows and lashes instead of outright liner to give their eyes that shape.

That’s not to say that cat-eye wasn’t also part of the era, but I think the other looks of the fifties are so overlooked and probably a little more true when you’re trying to recreate the 50’s look.

And I tried with the hair, too, but my hair is not being cooperative in this weather, and lost a lot of the curl once I started photographing.          In other news, Asa has started teething lately, and these last two days have been particularly cranky for him. Not that he’s constantly crying, but when he gets tired, he gets so unhappy. Thankfully, giving him a finger or a teething toy to gnaw on seems to help. I just wish he knew how to hold on to the teething toy himself, because he loses it a lot.

Does anyone have suggestions for a teething baby who hasn’t learned how to hold onto things and bring them to his mouth yet? Well, he tries and is partially successful, but not always, ha! And he doesn’t know quite how to keep it at his mouth once it’s there.

I might try rigging his pacifier with something to make it better for his poor sore gums, but we’ll see. He’s probably also a bit fussier because of the heat we’ve been having lately! It has been in the 80’s here, which is so wonderful to me, but not so great to him. He’s been sweaty and cranky midday, and between that and his teething, some days he just has the most heartbreaking cry. My poor sunshine boy isn’t so happy right now.

Today, especially, he’s been pretty cranky and out of sorts. He still smiles, but not nearly as much as normal. It’s so hard to work when the weather is nice. That’s something I need to figure out; scheduling my work shifts so that I either am working while Asa is sleeping (getting harder as he gets older and isn’t sleeping as much!) or early mornings and late evenings so I can enjoy the weather more!

But then I also want to do the couch to 5k, so I’ll have to make sure to get that in in the early mornings or late evenings too, when it’s cool, so… yeah. It might not seem like a lot, but it’s harder to get fitness in with a baby and work shifts. I don’t know how some women do it!

At least I have lost all of my baby weight and all I want to exercise for is to build up my stamina to go hiking in the summer!

Bird’s Eye View dress c/o eShakti (they have a skirt and an orange one too!) | Target heels | Vintage grandma’s jewelry | Wet n’ Wild Persimmon Pout lipstick

I also have realized that I’m falling back into the “blog because I have to produce something” habit, so for the next few weeks I may be posting quite sporadically as I work things out– I want to post because I have something worth sharing, not just because I feel like I have to post! But I have lots of post ideas ahead that I can’t wait to share!

Is there anything you all would like to see more of? Makeup? Cooking? Asa? Lifestyle posts? Let me know in the comments!

I hope you are all having a fantastic Wednesday!

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