In Bloom

I'd like to take a minute to gush and babble about my love of orchards. I think it starts with autumn being my favorite season and apple picking being a big love of mine. I love picking apples fresh from the trees. It's a simple joy. I love the way the rows of apple trees look with stray apples strewn about the bases of the trees. I love the fresh and slightly sweet smell of the air. Most of all, I just love being surrounded by the beautiful scenery and the growing fruits. I've known for a long time that I'm a country girl at heart. I need to be around vast amounts of nature. I could never be completely happy in a city away from woods, orchards, beaches, parks that aren't surrounded by busy roads.

Apple season is not the only reason I love to visit orchards. I like going during any fruit seasons and picking my own, but I also like going before there's any fruit and just beautiful blossoms. I experienced this the other day and it was so serene and picturesque. The flowers smelt so nice and the fields were full of dandelions (which I love, despite them technically being weeds). I wanted to build a house right there in the middle of it all and just stay there forever eating fresh fruits and taking in the beautiful scenery all the time. I would love to hang out in an orchard under an apple tree, just reading a book all afternoon and snacking on some apples!

Spring is a close second to autumn as my favorite season. I like when it's just warm enough to not wear tights and a coat anymore, but not super hot like it gets in the summer. And I love how everything starts to awaken and become anew again. I love the colors of the springtime flowers and I love the fashion too. Floral prints, white eyelet, denim jackets. The colors of Spring somehow manage to be soft and bright at the same time and I like that.

To my most recent trip to one of the local orchards, I wore this blue dress from Forever 21 that I feel fits be perfectly. I've found that it's hard to find a good long-sleeved dress, but this is one of the rarities. The shape of the dress is great and the sleeves remind me of the '70s because of the way they gather and hang near the wrist.

Dress: Forever 21
Purse: H&M
Hat: H&M
Shoes: Rialto Comfort
Sunglasses: Nine West

The back of the dress has an open criss-cross detail that I love. It adds a little bit of pizzazz to the simpleness of the dress without overdoing it.

I'm not in love with this hat. There are times when it looks ok, but most of the time, I don't end up liking the way it looks when I see it in pictures. I liked it better on me when paired with the sunglasses. Chris said I looked too much like Carmen Sandiego...but I kinda like the incognito look at times.

It was a really relaxing and enjoyable time, picking dandelions and admiring the flowering trees. I wish I lived closer to one of the orchards around here. I'd probably be there on all of my free days! I'm sure I'll be back soon...especially since strawberry season is one of the first!