Yellow is the Happiest Color || All Dress April

Every once in a while, I happen upon a dress or outfit that is so special I will do almost anything in order to get photos. This dress is one such outfit. I received it (along with several other dresses!) just in time to wear for the beginning of All Dress April — in which people try to wear a dress or skirt every day in April — and I knew I wanted it to be my first blog post for the aforementioned occasion. But, while the outfit came together easily, I nearly gave up on a photoshoot.

Dress, vintage (similar here, here, here and here) | earrings, vintage (similar here and here) | shoes, Amazon | belt, thrifted | hat box, thrifted (similar here)

I went to no less than three locations and over seven different spots within those locations before I finally found a spot that worked. In two hours, I walked almost as many steps as I usually walk in one full day. All in search of a photo spot. I keep forgetting that, as we get further and further into spring, the sunlight will be rising earlier and creating harsher light around the time I’m used to shooting photos. 9:30am light is no longer soft and pretty; it is now closer to what 11am used to be, and then we get to 11am and it’s nearly impossible to make anything look good. But, perseverance (and a chance distracted glance into a parking lot as I began to turn around) and the promise of some flowering trees made me try just one more time.  

Of course, the trees are barely visible behind me, and the light was by this time sliding past 10:30am,  but I’m happy enough with these photos solely because they show off how pretty this dress is! Lately, I have been collecting up more and more full skirts and circle-skirt dresses, and when Lotty Dotty Vintage posted a 32+ waist only purge in a buy sell trade group I’m part of, I miraculously claimed this and two other gorgeous vintage swing dresses that all fit my ever expanding waistline, and should be easy enough to alter (probably temporarily, just in case I need to sell them later) post baby.

I wanted this to be the first of my All Dress April posts here on the blog mostly because it’s such a bright and cheerful dress, but also because I know it won’t fit by the end of the month. Of the three dresses I bought, this one has the tightest waist. But aside from that, it’s a strong start to a month of trying not to live solely in leggings!

I’ll be quite frank: I don’t get dressed up every day. I’m often asked how I do it, or told I’m such an inspiration to other moms with young kids, but I have to be totally honest and say I wear leggings most of the week. As much as I want to wear pretty dresses all day every day, there are just some things that are much easier in leggings. Scrubbing toilets, doing dishes, cleaning floors… I do these things in scrubby clothes. And often that means if I have a day of cleaning ahead, I don’t get “dressed” at all. 

Even though I have always encouraged others to wear the dress all day every day, I still have it in my head that I can’t wear a dress or I’ll ruin it. And I’m hoping doing this month of dresses will change that mindset! Or at the very least, get me to be dressed for half the day. Half the day is better than nothing, right?

This month I’ll be focusing on dresses I  may not get to wear post baby; things I can’t breastfeed in, mainly! I remember agonizing after Evie was born because I missed so many outfits that just didn’t work with a nursing baby, and this time I’ll be prepared! And I’m excited to pull some dresses from the back of my closet that I haven’t worn in a while simply because I forgot I had them (it’s gotten to that point, y’all. Time to clear out again!)

And I am also excited to delve more into my style this month. I feel as though throughout this pregnancy I’ve just gotten more and more sure of myself and what I want my style to be, which is something I’ve never felt quite so strongly before. It could be that I’m nearing thirty, and I’ve always hear that the thirties are when women tend to settle into themselves most. If that is so, it’s definitely true for me! I get less and less afraid to express myself through style however I want, and say what I think (as nicely as I can) and do what I think is right as I get older. It’s the beauty of age that nobody really talks about.

Although nobody ever talks about the fact that when you’re close to thirty you also give up ever trying to pull all-nighters. Not gonna happen. Nope!

Dress, vintage (similar here, here, here and here) | earrings, vintage (similar here and here) | shoes, Amazon | belt, thrifted | hat box, thrifted (similar here)