weekends away

Earlier this summer, my husband and I made a little getaway to Richmond.
We booked a hotel smack dab in the middle of downtown, with a great room and an incredible view.

It's amazing how rejuvenated we felt after such a small getaway. Richmond is only a little over two hours away from us, but we felt like we were far from home and ready for adventure.
Being in a city environment with new restaurants and new shopping areas (and a big theme park that we went to on Saturday!) was like being in a whole new world.
We walked around holding hands, went into a beautiful historic hotel, stopped for coffee, went shopping, and even went to one of those phenomenal theater experiences where they serve you food at your seats. We had delicious blue cheese nachos, pasta and coffee while we laughed out loud at The Heat (and the incredibly drunk girl sitting behind us that had to be escorted out.)

As I was thinking about summer coming to an end, I was looking back through this trip and remembered taking a few outfit photos on our last night. We got dressed up and went to a super cool restaurant called The Boathouse which sat right on the water and overlooked the Richmond skyline. It was a lovely weekend, one I hope we're able to repeat with similar mini getaways to nearby places. Sometimes you don't have to go that far to feel like you're whisked away to something exciting.

Dress: London (similar, similar), Shoes: Poetic License (shop, shop)

the lay of the land

I've recently become obsessed with landscape print dresses.
I've seen a few abstract/landscape type dresses on a few other bloggers, like this dress from The Clothes Horse and Delightfully Tacky.

I think the first dress in this category that really caught my eye was of desert canyons, and it's a dress from Modcloth.

Glam Canyon Dress

In my heart of hearts I know I would never wear this dress...or at least, I wouldn't wear it often. The fabric is shiny and the print makes it a statement piece, to say the least.

Yet still, I find myself yearning to find a lost $100 on the sidewalk to splurge on this impractical purchase. 

Some more Modcloth scenery dresses:

Mount Desert Dreaming Dress

Graceful Greenery Dress

Little Mesa Perfect Dress

Jenna's Field Good Dress 

Scene and Believed Dress

I just can't get over how gorgeous these prints are.

The only down side is that they are all way out of my budget, save for The Mount Desert Dreaming, which rings in around $60 (still a little steep, unless it was for a really great occasion). And I am pretty partial to the desert color palette!

I was able to round up a few more affordable options, which I also love, although they are definitely not as vibrant and breathtaking as the choices above.

Afternoon at the Oasis Dress

Glacial Relationships Dress

Key Best Dress (such adorable detail)

I think I finally realized how in love I was with these prints when I stumbled across an amazing print from Anthropologie. It was on sale, and I was this close to dropping $80 for this thing.

I wracked my brain for a good 10 minutes, trying to find any justification for buying it.

I just stood in the dressing room, not wanting to take it off. What a cool dress.

Skyward Dress

Speaking of skyward, there's another style of landscape print that is definitely surfacing. Not of earth, but of space. The final frontier. Amiright?

Supernova Twirl Skirt (love!)

Moon Rock Concert Dress

Saturday Night Thrive Dress
(technically of city lights, but has a similar vibe)

Moonlight the Way Dress
(question of the day: why is this $350?)

Which one is your favorite?

One of these days, I'll invest in a landscape dress.

Right now my vote is with a galaxy savvy skirt, or one of the three budget-friendlier landscape dresses, like the Key Best. Something I can remix often, and get a lot of use out of! 

Gotta start small, right?