Love is in Bloom--April Showers Bring May... Weddings

As I typed this post, I realized that... for the first time in a few years... I do not have a wedding to attend this spring.  I do remember vividly, however, the frenzy to get that perfect ensemble together... to make sure all the friends you haven't seen in several years realize how awesome you are doing (even though you might not be) merely based on your outfit!!  "Damn!!  Look at her!!  She looks GREAT in that dress and heels.  Her life must be going swimmingly!!"  (Yeah.  Right.)  While chaos almost always ensues when I try to put together an outfit for a wedding in ANY season (or any event for that matter), it's SPRING!!  Tulips bloom in pretty colors, lush lawns shine in rich greens, all the concrete buildings in DC gleam in the sunlight (rather than emanate a dull grey), and... well... my itchy eyes take on a lovely pink-ish red, bloodshot hue.  Agh.
Well, all debilitating allergies aside, the spring season invokes an immediate reflex to grab all clothing items in lovely shades of... well... ANY bright color in retaliation to the long, harsh winter.

Sooo~ as evidenced by the size of this post, I really had a difficult time narrowing my dress and shoe options into several select outfits... as I usually try to do.  All of the darling dresses from everyone's spring dress lines called out to me--similar to the sweet beckoning of a perfectly chilled dirty martini after a long work day.  Furthermore, dresses are a weakness of mine.  Mia frequently jokes that I could open my own dress boutique... so it's no surprise that I basically went batsh*t in the research for this post.  I, myself, have purchased three spring/summer dresses just in the last week!!  (We won't even get into the pairs of shoes that will steadily arrive from various online retailers on my doorstep soon.  Yikes.)

Also, let's get real.  If I shopped at Nordstrom or Ann Taylor for every item in my closet, I would be a lot worse off financially than I already am!!  The above collection are dresses from "adorable yet affordable" favorites of mine, such as Forever21, JCPenney (hard to believe--but trust me), and ArdenB.  One of my prior posts applauded the affordability of certain items at NY & Co as well.  All of the dresses shown in this selection are $50 or less, except for the ArdenB one shoulder floral ruffle dress in the top row ($69).  I purchased that dress for myself recently at regular price after many phone calls to ArdenB locations and its online customer service.  Why go through that much trouble??  Well... LOOK at it.  It's freakin' cute!!  :)

**I usually add a "Kudos" section containing links to each product, but the item list for this post is so extensive that I skipped that task.  I enjoy giving props to the retailers that carry such lovely things, but I will mainly give a shout-out here: Nordstrom, Endless, Ann Taylor, Amazon (shoes), the "adorable yet affordable" retailers mentioned above, and various online sources for the earrings.  If you see something you like, leave a comment or send me a message through the site!!  I can send you the info in a jiffy.