I've missed the forum, and while I had a good March, I'm glad to be back! I have to admit, the amount of posts feels a bit overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll get back into the flow soon. I hope everyone's having a lovely spring/autumn so far.

Spring here is more like summer in a lot of places: it's been hitting the 80s (25-30C) this week with brutal humidity as well. When I got dressed this morning, the humidity stood at 83%. As far as I'm concerned, the only solution to that is a dress that will catch every potential breeze and not touch me more than necessary. I promised myself I wouldn't start wearing sundresses and shorts until April (it's hot here for so long I try to delay the inevitable as much as possible), but now April's arrived! I pulled out my newest sundress, bought back in January: it has some kind of magical seaming that keeps it flattering although it's a couple inches too big for me in the torso, and the skirt construction is also magically designed to be as swingy as possible. I also discovered this morning (while desperately trying to keep my neck cool) that my hair is now just long enough to go in a small bun, and between that and the twirly skirt, clearly a ballerina nod was in order. Wearing a sash around my waist would have decreased the breeziness quotient, so instead it went around my neck. Tiny earring studs and two small silver rings (that won't irritate me in the heat) were all the other accessories I felt up to. That's what I've been wearing around the house all day, other than the giant mug of ice water glued to my hand.

I went on my walk this morning, when it was still fairly cool (low 70s I think/23ish C). I'm a big fan of (muted/greyed) pastels in general, and I love that Angie's been posting about them so much, so I decided to wear my pale blue jacket as a topper (I prefer to keep my arms covered for sun protection as much as possible). It's the shortest I own, and it reminds me of Jane Austen, because in every film adaptation of hers the women have at least one tiny yet long sleeved jacket. Once I added the topper, I realised the dress looks a bit like 19th century wallpaper too!

Looking at the picture, I can see that I probably ought to have given in and worn sandals, so as to balance all of the pastel-iness on top. But I really don't like open footwear, and luckily my feet run cold, so instead I went with oxfords. I can't wear these without socks, as they're not broken in yet, and I only have a couple pairs thin enough to work with them, so scrunched grey socks it was. I liked how they added a more practical touch anyway. I thought my hair would be enough to bookend, but the picture seems to suggest otherwise. Luckily during my wanderings in the park, I felt good, and as everyone else I met was in exercise gear, I doubt they were terribly concerned about too heavy shoes!

I wanted to show how lovely and flowy the dress is, so I tried an action shot. One worked fairly well, but I can't resist including an outtake too, because my expression makes me laugh.

Whew! Clearly I haven't lost my propensity for over-explaining. But as we're all good friends at this point, I hope you'll forgive me. Speaking of friendship, I only chose 'E' as a username due to a desire to sidestep search engines a bit, not because I didn't want forum members to know my name. So, the E stands for Eva. (ETA: I'm named after a Polish great grandmother, and it's pronounced EH-vah vs AY-vah or EE-vah. I know it doesn't really matter as it's an internet forum, but I always hear people's names in my head when I read them, and I know Eva is pronounced multiple ways, so thought I'd clarify in case anyone is curious.)