birthday dress (and a wardrobe philosophy)

Rationalizing a splurge is already much too easy in the week of your birthday, and then I read about Sydney's tradition of a yearly birthday dress, followed by a trip to the mall to look at wardrobe options for my sister starting her third year of medical school (after just finishing the first round of boards - way to go, Clayre!) - all resulting in a new little white dress perfect for my birthday dinner date and beyond.

dress: JCrew; bag: Steve Madden via TJ Maxx; shoes: Payless
posing with one of the Big Pig Gig sculptures downtown; amazing hair day courtesy of my new stylist!

Now for a little more rationalization: for a while I've been trying to shift my shopping mindset to spend more on fewer, higher quality pieces, rather than buying a bunch of inexpensive ones. Even so, I'll probably end up with a mix of that across my clothes spending budget (I do like good deals!), but I'm finding that investment pieces get you better fabrics, better fitting, longer-lasting, just all-around better looking clothes. Inasmuch as clothing can provide any measure of happiness, these often give me more.

For example, last summer I splurged on this JCrew skirt, wore it in three seasons, to dinners out, wedding showers, church services, sightseeing, work events, errand running, and more, and it's still going strong. Super versatile and totally worth it. That'll be my new white dress, along with this striped one. They can be dressed up or down to suit almost any event and will be worth the investment (though they did both happen to be on sale!). An inexpensive dress or two that I can walk to town and get sweaty on 90 degree days will be helpful things in my wardrobe too, but for everything else this summer, these dresses will be my go to items, and they're high enough quality to last through it all.

(Also: I don't know that people really notice when you re-wear the same items a lot, but who cares?! I love these and feel good in them ... so don't be surprised if I'm wearing one of them tomorrow. And also the next day.)