Dress me pretty

I don't know about you but I am very picky when it comes to dresses, I am always searching for that perfect feminine flowy dress that makes you feel like you've looked better. I decided to showcase five of my favourites from my small collection. My husband is a big fan (understatement) of summer dresses and who doesn't want to dress for their man and make them go weak at the knees. 

First up from sheinside is my long sleeved blue and white striped dress with gold and red elbow patches. I was a little nervous when I ordered this dress as a lot of sheinside clothes are one size fits all but it fits like a dream and is super comfortable. A great dress for a cool breezy spring day or a casual evening date by the beach .

The newest addition to my closet is this T.J.Maxx find, a pale pink baby doll dress. It's flowy, light, feminine, classicly simple but you definitely need a slip underneath as it is pretty shear. On the flip side it makes for a cute coverup when your at the beach and summer dress. I recently wore this with a delicate layered necklace to one of my friends bridesmaids brunch.

 This next dress was a Black Friday find at Kohls, a black spaghetti strap dress with a simple bright tribal motif embroidered on the chest. I have sentimental memories of this dress as it was the dress I wore when I went wedding dress shopping with my mum and best friend, we found my vintage lace wedding dress that day (hands down my favourite dress ever). Again its light, summery and one of those dresses you can pretty much do anything in from riding a bike or sitting at the bar with margarita in hand.

Another one of my favourites is again from sheinside, it's all lace. A gorgeous, delciate, detailed lace dress that makes you feel beautiful. I adore this dress I bought it specifically for my bachelorette party but have worn it several times throughout the year.

 Lastly this dress from Brandy Melville, a light speckled grey tight midi dress. So simple, classy, sexy, a dress that shows your womanly shape. From casual day wear with sandals and kimono to throwing on some heels with a statement necklace for a hot date with the hubs, its so versatile.

Tomboy

 Growing up I was the youngest of two sisters, a complete daddy's girl and had a natural chilled out demeanor.

My best friends growing up were always boys, and continue to be who I connect better to still. Girls were always inside playing with their barbies or being dramatic - which I thought was boring, where as I was always outside climbing trees, playing street football or causing a little mischief. The kids on our street would coming knocking on our front door everyday after school to see if I could come out and play, not returning til sundown (about a half hour after my mum had yelled for me to come in). I loved playing sports, my mum would say "if it involves a ball no doubt Gemma will play it", she was spot on as I played football, field hockey, and basketball in school.  

Embarrassingly I wore a backwards baseball hat, skorts (a skirt with built in shorts), and a t-shirt for most of  my pre-teen years, occasionally wearing a dress on holiday or on nice occasions. After turning thirteen I dramatically changed. We had just moved from London to Edinburgh and in that move I changed from going to an all girls school to a mixed one. I started to care about what I wore although it still being a more street style, I wore makeup and got highlights and straightener so my hair looked nice.

I am still a tomboy at heart but I have become a womanly woman who is independent, adventerous and still  without the dramatic side I am girly. I truly  thankfully I found a manly man who loves to be outside in nature as much as me and tells me I am a beautiful woman.

 This past weekend we lay in bed on a Sunday morning thinking about what to do with our day as it was going be a beautiful sunny day but wanting it to be a lazy day also. My husband suggested grabbing our long boards and skating over to Coffee Bean to grab a nice cold drink and plan our trip to Italy coming up this summer, genius. I do admit as we set off on our skate session I told my husband that I felt like a kid, here I am at twenty seven years old in shorts, a tee, white plimsolls riding a skateboard. If it wasn't for my older facial features I swear I could of been mistaken for a 15 year old.

Is it  lame to still enjoy skating? Am I too old to dress this way? Am acting like a kid?

 Honestly I believe that even in my thirties or when I have kids of my own I will probably still like the same fashion styles, enjoy skate boarding and a whole lot more. I came to conclusion that 'once a tomboy always a tomboy', and just because I enjoy some stereotypical "younger" activities doesn't mean I am an irresponsible adult, I am just being me.

My spaces

It is coming up on one year that we have lived in our first home together. I have loved the freedom our landlords have given us to paint our place and make it our own. They say you never forget the first house you've lived in and I surely won't, it's small, has thee smallest closet to ever exist, a kid size toilet but has lots of windows, vaulted ceilings, a big tree outside our front door, on a quiet street, great neighbors and I love it!

I have two favorite spaces in our tiny home. First is our bedroom, we have a large room where our clothes are squished into the tiny closet and two dressers, a gorgeous cobalt blue accent wall that our queen bed centers on, sitting on rustic wood pallets, with an awesome latch hook American Indian wall hanging, placed above it. My father in law served in the 101st Airborne during the Vietnam War, where he had a failed jump due to all the parachutes being tampered with from a member of his platoon. His parachute did not open but luckily got his emergency chute open just in time to steer himself into some trees to break his fall. In doing so he was severely injured and the only man to survive the jump. Whilst recovering he endeavored to spend his time making a latch hook American Indian wall hanging, which took him a few months to complete. It was hung in my husbands room growing up, when we would be over at the house Carl would tell me this has to be in our house one day. His dad passed it on to us after we got married, we feel very honored to display it in our home not only because it looks cool but to remember that miraculous story of his dads survival.

The second space that I adore is the little corner of our living room that houses our record player with a salt crystal lamp sitting on top of one of the speakers and my husbands grandmothers old chest. The record player also belonged to my father in law, he gifted it to my husband in his teenager years when Carl fell in love with the heart and soul of vinyls. The chest is a very sentimental piece to my mother in law and us, as it belonged to her mum that has since passed. It is a few decades old so we cleaned it up and used it in our wedding as a representation of her memory and were allowed to keep it in our home afterwards. It now houses our ever growing vinyl collection of over 300 records. My favorite thing to do is wake up on the weekend make some coffee, open up the chest, pick out a classic vinyl like James Taylor, whilst my husband makes breakfast (he's the master of breakfast) and sit together in the stillness of our morning. Letting the music echo throughout our home and enjoy waking up slowing together.

Make your spaces special and your own.