Sweet Little Long Summer Dresses

 

Retirement is great.

I truly love it.

But.

I miss buying and wearing pretty clothes.

Leaving the house every day to go to work (or any where else) has never been something I wanted to do, or enjoyed doing.

Staying home most days suits me just fine.

But there's just no reason to get up and put on a cute little dress for hanging around the shanty.

And now, with a beach trip planned in a few weeks, I have a hankering for a cute new summer dress.

Looking at some of my favorite on-line shopping spots I have seen some adorable long dresses.

Summery, floaty, pretty little summer dresses.

But ooooh have I seen some ugly.

I know I should be very careful here - one girl's cute little summer dress is another girl's horror.

But I'm just going to say, that "Little House on the Prairie" look is this girl's horror.

 

  

Tiers and ruffles.  Smocking and ruching and frills and sleeves with holes in them.  

Sleeves gone wild - flutter sleeves, bell sleeves, ruffled sleeves, bishop, balloon, lantern, leg o' lamb sleeves.

I do love long swishy dresses.  I like thinking of myself sitting on the deck of our beach rental in a simple white maxi dress.  Feeling it skim my toes as I walk along the sand at the edge of the ocean.

The reality of me at the beach, however, is me in jeans and a Tshirt.

The reality of me not at the beach is usually my "uniform" of little black dress, a scarf, and a hat.  

Often with my favorite cape, and almost always with my camera.

The reality of me at home is yoga pants and a Tshirt.

But none of that stops me from dreaming of swanning around in pretty long flowy dresses.

Maybe I'll just treat myself to something for this upcoming beach trip.

Maybe.

Because I would look beyond ridiculous decked out in one of those fairytale dresses on the beach at Topsail Island, North Carolina, maybe something like this . . . 

Maybe.

But,

those tiers . . . 

I do not want to look like Laura Ingalls Wilder lost on the beach searching for Pa.