Maybe it's because I've been watching an awful lot of New Girl recently (I really love that show!), but I've been constantly thinking about "age appropriate" style/behavior and how it directly affects the way people treat others. You know how in the show Jess sticks up for her "quirky" persona and ensures it doesn't make her any less of an intelligent woman? Even Zooey has to defend herself in the media. People are so quick to write off others for any and every reason - the way you talk, the way you dress, whatever. I see it happen a lot in the blog world and while I understand constructive criticism, I wonder why it bothers others so much what another individual is wearing. For example, I bought this Trollied Dolly dress via a ModCloth Cabin Fever sale way back last year. I remember thinking it was the cutest thing ever and I just had to have it (It was mega cheap, too!) When my order arrived I quickly abandoned that day's work and tossed on everything one by one to see how they fit. Luckily this fit like a glove. Unfortunately I felt like (I looked like) a baby doll. I was worried that if I wore it out and about people would look at me as if I were playing dress up. That silly fear (that was totally self imposed) kept me from wearing this dress for a full year! A couple of weeks ago I decided to abandon that fear and just rock it, and you know what? I really really love this dress. Even if it doesn't look like it was made for a 25 year old, I'm into it. Sure, the collar is a little bit "costume-y" but it's adorable in my opinion. There are so many Trollied Dolly dresses on the ModCloth site that I adore (and even more on the TD website!) Who knows what I'll be wearing when I'm 30? Will I be embarrassed about some of my choices? Undeniably! Will my style be totally different? It's possible. I'm just going to try and not worry so much about what other people think/feel about my clothing choices. It's sort of embarrassing to admit I let that hold me back ya know?
Last night was the first full night's sleep I've gotten in over a week. Here lately I've been waking up every 30 minutes or so for no reason. I'd toss and turn, then spend the entire day feeling totally crappy. I owe it all to the ZzzQuil I popped last night before bed haha! I feel so refreshed like I can take on the world. Of course I didn't really want to get out of bed this morning, but that's nothing new. Sunday is officially my last day of "sleeping in" and that's bumming me out! Toby's teacher is coming by for a home visit on Monday morning and then he'll actually start school next week. That means 6:30am (or earlier!) wake up calls for like the next forever basically. School is tough on the parents, too! I know I shouldn't complain - I've always ways I wanted to be a morning person. I want to enjoy (as much as one can) getting up at sunrise. I feel like there are so many more hours to the day when I don't roll out of bed at 9:30am. I'm hoping that after a week or two I'll be totally used to it and I'll be a morning person for life. Is that how it works?! C'mon, I need some reassurance here! If you have any tips on becoming a morning person, I could totally use them!
Today I'm finishing up some design work (I have a couple of really cute, girly blog designs launching here shortly!) and also finishing up the last of my sign orders. Friday is usually our "cleaning house" day and this little place needs it. My mom, nana and I are loading up and taking my 11 year old cousin Kaylie out for a girl's day tomorrow in Nashville. I have no clue what's on the agenda but I know it'll be fun. She's excited about shopping for jewelry and I'm excited about my $6 off coupon for Zyrtec at Costco... I'm really starting to show my age! haha
Trollied Dolly dress via ModCloth
Vintage clutch
MIA Jukebox wedges
pretty dress! :)
ReplyDeleteIrene Wibowo
I have the same worries sometimes, but for me there's a fine line between cute/quirky and Lolita costume. There's one Modcloth dress I saw at a pop up shop that was too cutesy even for me (and I'm all about bows and peter pan collars). I think hints of cutesy and elements of whimsy like your dress above are wonderful, but a cutesy print, huge bow, a-line silhouette and peter pan collar might be too much for me, but someone else might rock it. it all about feeling comfortable for yourself.
ReplyDeleteset your alarm for five minutes earlier every day. after a couple weeks you'll get used to it. :) i *try* to get up about ten minutes before the rest of my family. i feel like it's easier for me to take on my kids who wake up going 150 mph if i have had a few minutes to myself first.
ReplyDeletei also turn on a dance-y tune and flail around for a couple minutes. it definitely wakes my body up. :)
here i am giving you all these tips, but school starts back in two weeks and i'll be having to wake up an hour earlier than i have this summer, to get my older son ready. let's see if i can follow my own rules then!
I love this dress on you. People always gotta problem with anyone who dresses an inch outside the norm, so you really might as well make yourself happy, amirite!!
ReplyDeleteAlso when you talk about 9:30 being late it makes me feel like I'm REALLY not a morning person lol.
Rachel
HAHA! well if it makes you feel any better, 9;30 totally wouldn't happen if not for Toby! pre-Toby we were regularly 11am people. even still, we'll have a random day where it's 10:30am before I notice the daylight. luckily (despite going to bed at an appropriate time each night) Toby sleeps in a bit since he's been skipping his daily naps! phew
DeleteThat dress is adorable and looks great on you, and it sucks that people are such judgy judges. I just try really hard not to care, which is harder at times than others. (I *love* New Girl, that is one of the best newish comedy shows out there imo.) Also, I feel ya on the late riser thing. Since we're self-employed too, and often we're working til 8-10 at night, we go to bed late and get up pretty late anywhere between 8:30am-10:30am. Some people I know are so snarky about it it pisses me off. I'm like, ok, are you working til 8-10 at night people? Ugh. They just instantly think you're a slacker. But we often work all weekend too, and sometimes don't even get one day off. We just work different scheduled hours, but it's like people don't get that or something. :P
ReplyDeleteThat dressis bloody adorable on you! Life's too short to worry about "dressing your age"-especially if you're self employed ;) I'm easing into that philosophy more and more as I age, and often shake my head and my young self terrified of judgement and subsequently rocking jeans and band tees every day. And who cares if we're "playing dress up"?! The time to feel beautiful is NOW! :D
ReplyDeleteThis post hits home with me. As a 29 year old I find myself fighting with what clothes are age appropriate. Like you and Jess on New Girl, I love adorable, even 'baby doll' type dresses. But I'm trying to work on not caring what anyone else thinks. To just wear the clothes because I like them and feel cute in them.
ReplyDeleteAnd this dress looks amazing on you!
That dress looks great! I guess I've never thought much about dressing my age. I just wear what I love and own it. I think owning it is the most important part!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually totally a morning person! There's a lot of great stuff about getting up earlier. There's more daylight hours, you can go to the grocery store early when it's nice and quiet, you can be the first one to grab all the good stuff at the farmers markets, and there are some really gorgeous sunrises! Being a morning person is all about appreciating the little thing!
I think as the daylight hours shorten you'll start to really appreciate all that extra daylight you get waking up earlier!
-Becca
Ladyface Blog
Love the dress!
ReplyDeleteAnd for embracing the morning routine...I try to get up about 30 minutes before my family, sit on the couch with my coffee, cuddle my dog and watch GMA. Or if it's not so freaking hot, I'll sit out on our porch swing. It's nice to have that time and feel like I got to set the tone for the day.
I love that dress! The style actually looks really similar to this Reglisse dress pattern from Deer & Doe (http://boutique.deer-and-doe.fr/?fond=produit&id_produit=8&id_rubrique=3), aka, giiiirl you could make that ;) The color/pattern combination of yours is particularly nice!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as being a morning person... well, I never was, until the past few years. I always stayed up late, slept until like 2 (seriously! I worked a lot of night shifts and I was homeschooled as a kid/teenager OK!), wasted my day, etc etc. Right around the time I quit working retail and call centers was when I started to shift to AM. It took a while, but now I LOVE mornings. I even get up early on the weekends, after staying up late! It's just programmed into my brain. Sometimes it's nice to wake up even earlier than needed (I get up around 7am for work), so I can lay in bed with my cat and play on my phone or whatever. I think the most important thing is to stick to a schedule and try to get up at the same time every day. And, of course, know that mornings are SUPERIOR to nights. It's so fresh and clean and pretty outside, why wouldn't you want to be awake for that? :)
This dress is totally adorable on you + your rock it girl!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteI love that dress and honestly don't think it looks childish on you at all! It's obviously kinda cutesy or whatever, but to me it just reads as a fun vintage silhouette with cute details. I feel this way sometimes, too, but mostly when I worry about the future. I'm in my 20s and don't care too much now, but I'm always trying to balance my fear of becoming the 50-year-old weirdo in super bright florals with my desire to always dress however I want.
ReplyDeletexo, Michelle
Neon Rattail
I absolutely LOVE this dress on you! SO cute with the sailor detailed front and how you paired them with your red wedges.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat as you on the weird sleeping front. Haven't given in to any sleeping meds yet, but after last night's 3 hour sleep (err, nap?), I might have to follow in your footsteps for the zzquil.
xo,
katrina
thedemuremuse.com
Oh stop it! This dress looks SO GORGEOUS on you Miss Kaylah!!!
ReplyDeletethis dress looks absolutely amazing on you!!! so gorgeous!
ReplyDeletewww.modernsuburbanites.blogspot.com
I think "dressing your age" is very subjective, depending both on your daily situation and how you want to be perceived (including how you want to be perceived by yourself). If you think it is fun and works for you, then who else cares? Personally, I don't think this is too cutesy at all. Just quirky enough. Of course, that said, I sometimes will feel too cutesy or babyish. But then, I also work with kids and am usually ten years younger than my other co-workers, so therefore might be more sensitive to that....See? All relative to the person! I'm glad you are feeling comfortable in clothes you enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWorking at a school, I had to be at work by 7:30 am at the latest. Truthfully, there is NO other substitution to just flat getting to bed earlier. Like someone else said above about working up to waking earlier, I'd start now to work up to going to bed earlier. Also, setting stuff up the night before (like setting out the next day's clothes, possibly even getting out the stuff for the next morning's breakfast, pre-packing any lunches that need to be packed etc.) really helps to make things a bit more smooth. Plus, you can schedule in a little de-compress/"you" time for that half hour or so right after getting Toby off to school as something to look forward to, maybe?
N'ahhh, I don't think it's too childish at all. I do try to dress the way I want to be perceived (or well, that's something I'm working on!) and what makes me feel good about myself. I always try not to have any "notions" about a person, regardless of how they dress-- because they're usually super incorrect. But I know people are gonna think what they're gonna think. So the best one can do is just present themselves in a way that makes them feel confident, right?
ReplyDeletehttp://cuddlyasacactus.wordpress.com/
I've found that getting to bed earlier helps, but comes with a couple days of misery first. The only thing that really helps me though is the night before having everything prepped - outfit laid out, coffee programmed (or at least set up so all I have to do is hit 'on'), and the blessed snooze on my alarm. If I set my alarm for 10-20 minutes earlier than I actually need to wake up, I feel like I'm getting away with something hitting my snooze a few times and for some reason, feel a bit more rested.
ReplyDeleteOh, but a little boy excited about school JUST MIGHT DO THE TRICK :)
Good luck!
xo Kristina Rose
www.thewhimsicaldays.blogspot.com
I totally go through the same internal battle: Is this dress/outfit too "little girl"? I think for me, keeping the colors neutral and dark help sometimes. So I'm wearing a short skirt and knee highs, but it's black, so it's totally fine! Who cares that I'm almost 30! Sailor collar? Pair it with jeans and it's just quirky enough! And at the end of the day: who cares. If you're happy and comfortable, you're doing a-ok!
ReplyDeleteWear what you want! I am thirty, and I would STILL wear that dress! Unless you are working in a structured business environment, wear what makes you feel pretty and good!
ReplyDeleteyou look gorgeous! love the red wedges! <3
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I'd ever become a morning person! It terrifies me that I'll have to wake up so early for real grown-up-people work next year. Good luck with your mission though!
ReplyDeleteAs for this dress. I love it! It looks amazing on you! I actually have a very similar sailor dress except it's in navy and white. When I tried it on I was like, "I look five." Then as I continued to prance around in it I realized it needed to come home with me because I loved it. Nobody has ever told me I look childish in it, so that's a plus. I think you can wear any style as long as you have confidence!
I get up everyday for work at 4:55, and I don't think it ever really gets easier. I just end up consuming mass amounts of caffeine, not necessarily better for me. Although I do really appreciate my days off then when I am up by 8:00 and feel like I have already accomplished so much by noon. It is great feeling. Good luck with the transition to early mornings!
ReplyDeleteSabrina
www.poppyandjade.wordpress.com
I think about this a lot, too, because my favorite ever is wearing bows in my hair and frilly dresses. I love plastic toy jewelry, novelty prints, and fun colors. I totally own that I dress like an adult-baby and joke about it, but I really think the hyper-judgment about looking too ~twee~ or baby-like comes from subconscious misogyny and the need to judge and control women's choices. All those things aren't just considered childlike, but also feminine, and I honestly think that's the main problem. Children get to look overly feminine because they're children, but when an adult woman choses to blatantly indulge in her femininity, she's seen as weak, stupid, unprofessional, etc etc.
ReplyDeletelol I'll take any excuse to shout "MISOGYNY" though, let's be real ;)
I think about this a lot, too, because my favorite ever is wearing bows in my hair and frilly dresses. I love plastic toy jewelry, novelty prints, and fun colors. I totally own that I dress like an adult-baby and joke about it, but I really think the hyper-judgment about looking too ~twee~ or baby-like comes from subconscious misogyny and the need to judge and control women's choices. All those things aren't just considered childlike, but also feminine, and I honestly think that's the main problem. Children get to look overly feminine because they're children, but when an adult woman choses to blatantly indulge in her femininity, she's seen as weak, stupid, unprofessional, etc etc.
ReplyDeletelol I'll take any excuse to shout "MISOGYNY" though, let's be real ;)
I struggled with this "dressing your age" stuff for awhile. Especially when I became a mom and felt like for some reason I needed to dress like a grown-up mom. I've pretty happy that I've finally hit the screw-it phase and am dressing how I want to dress and what feels good for me. I've spent too many years living for other people and what they want/expect from me to waste anymore time not living for me.
ReplyDeleteI totally get the dressing for your age thing. I really lover cutesy baby dolls/retro inspired clothing but I feel like sometimes it makes me look much younger than I am (23) but I still wear them because fashion is supposed to be about what you like and other people just kind of have to deal! I love this dress on you, it's so pretty :)
ReplyDeleteAmia
www.teapotsandbelles.blogspot.com
considering I'll be 30 in early November. . . I'd wear this and I can still get away with it, but people still think I'm a teenager if they don't know me, so it works out well. hehe. You look beautiful and you can wear it even at 30!
ReplyDelete+Victoria+
Cute! & if you successfully make the transition to morning person, you should totally share what worked for you, haha. I feel like I'll never accomplish it. Luckily I have a little time to work on it, though.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand your fear, not to look `appropriate´ to other people. But I learned not to care, especially as my way to dress is often no big deal in reality. I think you look so pretty in this dress, by the way.
ReplyDeleteAnd the morning person thing...I have no good tip, I´m afraid. I kind of forced myself to get up early and later I had too, because of my job. That´s when I got used to it and now it´s not really a problem anymore. Only when there´s no coffee around... ;)
oh i do adore this dress on you though and no dress up thoughts from my end!
ReplyDeletekw ladies in navy
Love this outfit. I really try and wear what *I* want to wear, because if I worry too much, I find myself being more influenced by other people's style without me realising. I always want to try and be me, so whenever I am on that track I feel good :)
ReplyDeleteBeth // Sans Souci
The dress is so cute and not at all "inappropriate" for your age. Western society can be so prejudiced! >:(
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this dress! And I love the clutch even more, so stunning. You should just rock this outfit (and more like this one) it looks amazing :)
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your fear of the dress so much! I'm a 28 y/o teacher and I always used to think I needed to dress to my age and to my job. But lately I've been trying to let those self imposed ideas go, and it's felt so liberating! When I work I still wear sensible clothes, but outside work I wear whatever I want, whenever I want it, feels so good! =D
ReplyDeleteYou should relish your ability to sleep in! Since I started work in March and getting up at 7am each day, I cannot for the life of me sleep in on the weekends - my body is just UP and it is really annoying. Sometimes, it's kinda nice to be able to get so much done in one day, but most of the time, I just try to rage myself back to sleep, which obviously doesn't work at all. But don't worry, after a month or so, you may not hate getting up early any less, but at least it won't be as hard!
ReplyDeleteAlso, people should just be nicer, in general - you look amazing in that dress, so WHO CARES if it's "appropriate" for your age?!
xx Johanna
Dear Life, We Need To Talk
I think it looks perfect on you, and life would be no fun if we couldn't wear pretty clothes that we like! Forget age appropriate-or please do because I need someone else wearing whatever they want with me! P.S you totally need one of the bee dresses! I like this one
ReplyDeletehttp://www.trollieddolly.com/dresses/198-getting-collared-dress-peach-
honeybee.html
and it would great with the patented black cardi and flats/ crazy shoes!
-Katie
robutton.blogspot.com
This dress is amazing on you, and you look beautiful and totally age-appropriate!
ReplyDeletexox Sammi
www.thesoubrettebrunette.blogspot.com