for the love of...dresses!

I LOVE DRESSES.

First, I'm going to take you back...way back to 2001. I spent my college years in sweats and athletic shorts and $0.99 Wal-mart flip-flops. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those things, but I just didn't invest in actually feeling good about my clothes. And not feeling good about my clothes [the ones placed on my body] meant that I didn't really embrace that I could feel good about the way I presented myself to the world.

Example: In college, I only wore sweats. I wore all the different kinds the thick grey ones with elastic at the ankle. Boot-cut fleece. Bright orange fleece. Black. Black. Black. Knit. Polyester. More fleece.

Let's just say that sweatpants are not the most flattering apparel choice.

They were comfy and easy. Oh, the comfort. I could sleep in them, roll out of bed and head out into my small world in one fell swoop.

Of course the other side of this comfort coin is that when I wore blue jeans and a t-shirt [one without any Manchester College track&field insignia] I was asked why I was dressed up.

I was frumpy girl.

I remained rather frumpy for a few more...years.

Then when I traveled to Spain and Germany, I invested in two dresses. I lived out of a backpack for a month and my wardrobe staples were a brown dress and a black dress with multi-colored camis under. HOLLA! I LOVE DRESSES! The dresses were as easy as sweats AND I felt pretty! Win-win!

On the left you can see the dress that changed my wardrobe choices. New York and Company. It's near the end of it's life, but I'm still making it work holding on for sentimental reasons.

Maxi dresses are my fave. All day, every day.

The purple dress was an online order...I didn't realize it would be so short! Eeep! I only wear it with leggings since my butt practically hangs out.

Maternity dress from Target clearance on the left. Cutest dress ever on the right. 

Belts. Are. Brilliant.

This is my most recent acquisition. It's LOFT and I paid a whopping $12 for it at Clothes Mentor. If you haven't discovered the consignment store happiness that is Clothes Mentor, you need to go.

I have *cough*18*cough* dresses and I wear them all. The black wrap with the teal tie is my least favorite because I'm always afraid the wrap will...unwrap. The printed maxi is my FAVORITE!

I'm sorry for the insane quantity of pictures of me.
Grainy pictures brought to you by my iPhone.


What about you? Do you wear dresses? Are you particular about the length? Would you never be caught dead in a dress?

UPDATE: In looking at these pictures, I've decided it's probably time to get a new bra [one that fits my now smaller boobs], so LUCKY YOU a bra post is coming! YAY!