A Prairie Winter (or, When the Tea Party Meets Etsy)

For the 27th time in the last few years I present to you... my new favorite dress! I peeped it on Etsy last week and simply had to break my self-imposed No Buying Till Preschool Is Out And We Have Extra Spending Money ban. And it was well worth it.

We were supposed to check out Mycelia's next year kindergarten this morning, but it was snowing too hard. She made it through the lottery and is headed for a childhood of FREE Waldorf education!!! But these photos weren't taken today, they were actually taken two days ago, just hours after taking the rainy photos in my last post (with an all-important post office delivery in the interim!).

I got the dress from RogueRetro on Etsy. The shop owner Amanda and I got to talking and through a random sequence of subjects she ended up sending me this link to footage of when she was on the Glenn Beck show. You see, she thrifted a Revolutionary War outfit that his mom had sewn for his dad back in the day (she lives in Seattle and he grew up nearby), and sent it to him without asking for anything in return. So he flew her and her darling daughter Ella out to New York and had her on his show. I'm not the dude's biggest fan (nor is she) but I really enjoyed watching this. As will you. (And I just dare you not to be inspired by Amanda, who is kind-hearted, hard working, and very successful. My purchase was her 3,000th sale! And she has made 39 more sales in the 5 days since!).

And this, my dear hearts, is the most perfect dress on the planet. I love me some soft pink, I adore me some white eyelet, and I crave me some maxi length. The bodice is my favorite. As you all ladies probably know, finding a perfect bust fit can be quite a challenge. For me, especially in the sweltering summertime, I really prefer to be braless. Obviously, this is not doable with a lot of dresses. All of my favorite vintage summer prairie style dresses insist upon my wearing my most uncomfortable strapless with them. But not this li'l darlin'! The back is smocked, ensuring proper fit. And the front material is thick enough and perfectly shaped. I'm in heaven.

Or I will be. When I can wear the dress like this, without the sweater and without the boots and without freezing my ass off. While driving my child to a school that upholds all of my values and ideals but is not draining my pocketbook. So that I can buy more dresses like this. And wear them. Or sell them. To make more money to buy more. So I can post 27 more new favorite dress blogs!