Fall Fashion: Birthday Edition

This dress was a birthday gift from my mother in law, last year. I love the bright pattern and the silk, and the lace.

 I think my mom loves this dress too because she ended up buying the exact same dress as I did, So, once again, 

after buying the same outfit, I returned it and got us another DIFFERENT dress that we could both share. 

So really, this dress is my mom's....

I'm glad she doesn't mind sharing. 

I am wearing:

Jacket: Thrifted

Boots: Banana Republic

Belt: f21

Dress: Anthropologie 

Dustin is wearing:

Tie & mint colored button up: Thrifted

Sweater: Lucky Brand, Buffalo exchange

Today is my birthday! Yippee. Yesterday Conrad was really crabby-he's getting his molars in. He had a runny nose and was hating life, so I didn't think we were actually going anywhere at all. I had anticipated a "gourmet" meal at home complements of chef Dustin, but we went out and ate sushi instead! A dinner date at home would have been just as fun, but Dustin made plans to leave Conrad with his mom and step dad and told me we were going to get sushi (which we haven't had in a very long time!) We went to a new place by our house and sat in a booth in the back of the restaurant. He asked what I wanted for my birthday and I told him all I wanted was a date with him, just a few hours to ourselves to talk, eat and laugh. That's exactly what he gave me. (And a gift card to Lowe's....The man knows me.)

Birthday cards or cards in general are my favorite things to receive from Dustin. I've kept all of them from the last 7 years and they are all in a big zip lock baggie stored away safely. While we were at dinner, he asked me if I was ready for my card and he pulled out a piece of paper folded up small and handed it to me. Already my heart melted realizing I was receiving a letter. I love hand written letters. (When Dustin proposed, he read me a letter he had written and I'm so glad he did because I can keep it and read and remember exactly what he said during his proposal.)  I read the first line and couldn't believe how romantic he was. When I describe Dustin to people and tell them that he's an engineer, they immediately think that he's just a dweeby, nerdy, brainy-nerd man. But wouldn't you know, he's got one of the most poetic, sweet, tender, surprising & thoughtful sides to him. When I started to get emotional reading the "card", Dustin reminded me that he hasn't built me a house with his bare hands yet, so don't get too emotional. (Reference to The Notebook when Ryan Gosling builds the house with his bare hands....probably the hottest thing a man can do. Guys building things in general is just hot to me, whether it's building a house or calculating the stability of an earth slope so you can build a house on the soil.....) 

It's amazing how special these dates are now that we don't go on them all the time like we once did, before we had Conrad. 

It's my Birthday, so I'm going to go crawl in bed and watch Vampire Diaries with 

my man and eat something real fattening. 

{Tomorrow is the start of fall fashion week, so check out emery's blog for details!}

www.emeryjo.blogspot.com