Shopping and Style File: Early Spring

While I'm settling back in at my desk very much not at the beach, let's take a quick jump way back to when my mom and I did my traditional shopping trip in February and then Bonnie came over to do my Spring styling a week later. I've written about this many times before, but particularly now that my life is so busy and when I do have free time all I want to do is sit at home, I really don't shop at all unless it's the random online purchase Bonnie has recommended or when my mom comes to visit. My annual birthday trip is one of my very favorites and it's the only time we set aside several hours, fuel up and hydrate, and venture out to the clearance Dillards in Irving.

(For the uninitiated, Dillards has a few clearance centers in Texas, and presumably other states, and all items are at least 70% off the ticket price and some are way more. It's a challenge and a delight and I can only tackle it once a year with my mom by my side.)

This year we went after Landon's Regional swim prelims and I joked as we drove out at 1 pm that we needed to be sure we left by 5 pm so we didn't get stuck in horrible traffic on the way back.

Reader, we left at 5:15 and absolutely got stuck in horrible traffic on the way back.

But we had a great time and I managed to check off every dress I had on my "buy" list for the Spring. Like something to wear to my coworker's black-tie April wedding in Savannah, Georgia. I really wanted dark + floral + regular bra + feels pretty. And that I already had shoes and earrings to match. And bam, $45:

The fabric looks really beautiful in person and I love it.

Next up I have a partners' retreat in South Carolina the first week of May so I needed a dress to wear to the first night dinner. "Resort chic" + not something I'd wear to work but still something I want to wear around the people I work with + regular bra. And this! Perfect!

It looks so so fun in person. The sleeves and long part of the skirt are sheer and the skirt blows behind me as I walk and it's super flattering. Also $30, by Guess.

I wanted something for our Mexico trip that I'd also just wear around on weekends. This is so comfy, is a nicer fabric than you'd think, drapes beautifully, and hot pink is my favorite. And it was $12.

My mom was surprisingly restrained in her purchases, though not for lack of trying. For whatever reason the shopping gods were just smiling upon me that day. Maybe because they knew it was almost my birthday and I really needed a dress for that wedding. My mom still provided plenty of entertainment. There was so much more, but this is what I remembered enough to write down after:

Mom: “Did we walk in a different door than usual?” [No.] “Well, I’m completely overwhelmed.”

Mom, in dresses: “I’m not buying ANYTHING with spaghetti straps. . . . Except this. . . And oooh look at this!”

Mom, in shoes: “I was being so strong but the rows just keep on going.”
Mom, still in shoes: “Some of these I can’t even pretend I could tell your dad I need.”
Me: “Well that’s growth! You acknowledged that and passed them by!”
Mom: “No, I’m talking about all the ones I’m holding.”

And then, because it was my birthday trip, I wanted to find one new dress that was just fun. Something I would never look for online, that I could wear out on a Spring date night at a fancy Dallas restaurant where everyone is in designer everything and some creative skin showing is the norm. Something to reward myself for all those "it's just a Tuesday" moments of denial and health and practicality.

And I found this.

Not something I'd normally even try on and yet.

I die.

I love it so much. I am confident I will find somewhere to wear it and until then I will smile every time I see it in my closet.

It was a good time. Landon also did great at Regionals, so I feel like my mom was just bringing luck to everyone that day. The next weekend, Bonnie was here to style me for early Spring!

Milo helped, lining himself up with the shoe options she pulled from my closet. Normally Maggie is first assistant, but she was so sleepy that Milo volunteered as tribute.

Bonnie does about a 3:1 work:casual mix, making outfits for the next couple months of late Winter/early Spring.

More casual:

And some actual outfits I wore the week before Spring Break. Some directly from this album, others because I'm better at putting separates together after two years of following her lead.

I have a ton of work travel coming up- in one interesting week in April I will be sleeping in 4 different cities over 4 days. Tomorrow I go to Houston to see a client, but while I'm there I'm giving an Introduction to SEC Investigations presentation to all the litigation associates (I was supposed to do it in Dallas, but when you're headquartered in Houston it's pretty easy to just pop over there). Because I'm the only female partner in the group, and I happened to be paired with a female associate, we went all in on a Barbie theme that is FABULOUS. I'm wearing the hot pink blazer outfit Bonnie made above and I cannot wait. You can't believe how many screenshots from the movie lend themselves to an SEC overview.

Happy Monday everyone!