Fashion Files & all the Unfall Feels

Just a few outfits worn in time for the summer season’s last hurrah. It still feels warm and last week we were in a veritable heat wave. These past few days, I decided to dress for the weather and the season- the season of still summer. Yes, pumpkins are ripe in my own tiny patch, our friends' house is completely, charmingly already decorated for Halloween, and the fall football season is upon us but goodness, it's still summer and these pictures were taken either before Labor Day or on it. 

I wore this outfit to my friend's house on Thursday for Bible study. I know the prohibition in  wearing-white-after-Labor-Day is not sacrosanct to everyone, including me; still, I decided to take advantage of it not being Labor Day and wearing the white top. Truly I have so many tops/blouses, I can easily not wear a particular top after a particular date :). So this white blouse will sit in my closet until after Memorial Day next year. I bought it from Vineyard Vines long ago.

The shorts were an impulse purchase this year when my sister was in town in early summer. We were consignment shopping together. The shorts were half off (of a consignment shop price no less). Yes, I like to buy clothes that I don't need, especially, that are cheap in price :). They're J Crew and feel like good quality.  

I wore this outfit to Indiana to attend MG's birthday party. The top is another old Vineyard Vine staple (that unfortunately may be stained and ruined. My sister brought some treats from Canada from when she was last there and on the way home from Indiana, I got into said treats. The chocolate was quite melty which got my fingers very dirty and I touched the shirt and chocolate got on the shirt). The skirt was an impulse purchase at Walmart recently. It definitely passed the "cheap for clothes that I don't need" test at $5! It was regularly $26! What?? (The brand is Walmart's Free Assembly which is perhaps its idea of a Free People knock off?)  I do like the skirt- it's lined, fluffy, playful and while arguably too young for me, I decided who cares about the latter quality. 

I wore this on Labor Day- this is it for the pale colors and the white until spring. My last summer hurrah... This is a J Crew mumu style dress that does really scream spring or the early days of summer but I decided to wear it on Labor Day- that's me, pushing boundaries like the rebel that I can be at times :).

A decent bit of excess material is always a plus when a likely unhealthy meal is on the agenda...

Well, I'm going to segue my clothes wearing of late into a mini summary of the summer to document the memorable season that was the summer of 2026.

Interestingly, the mumu dress reminded me of something from spring. I first wore the dress this spring when I was doing a long term sub job at our district's intermediate school. The sub job was a challenging one and I remember saying to myself that I did NOT want to sub the next school year. I found out about how good the school benefits were when talking to an aide with whom I worked during this time period and decided to try to find a job within the district. Subs in our district are not employed by our school district and get no benefits.) About two weeks before the school year started, I found and accepted a school job, albeit not a glamorous one but one that does provide great benefits and I'm not subbing so I accomplished two goals :). But most of the summer I did not plan on starting a job within our district. It's funny how quickly things can change with regard to how our days are oriented!

But back to the dress, when I wore it on Labor Day, I was reminded of a couple people at school complimenting me on it when I wore it. The adage is that hearing a song can take you back in time to when  you first heard it or when you heard it a lot. I think the same can be true of clothing items if you have a particular memory of a time period when you wore something.

Anyway, so in the spring back when I first wore the dress, I could not wait for the school year to end because it meant the school year and my unfun sub job was over!

By Memorial Day, summer 2026 beckoned and I was there for it: I planted my garden areas in early May, Alyssa came home from college in early May and by Memorial Day, I was FREE!!  What an incredible feeling! I remember being fairly indolent the first few days of the break telling myself that I'd earned a break :). 

I'm sure that with families no two seasons are ever alike. This summer felt especially different for a number of reasons. Not necessarily bad just different.

I think I mentioned this at some point over the summer but for the first time since having kids, I didn't have a child home with me during the days in the summer. The past two or three summers, Alyssa worked in the service industry meaning she worked atypical days and hours. She would have random week days off and some days she wouldn't go into work until 3:00 pm. This year, she had an internship that required her presence in an office during typical business hours. And so I was by myself the entire day until Donnie and Alyssa came home from work. I found that I didn't mind the solitude much at all. I was happy to see my family when they came home but I filled the hours easily with gardening, a bit of socializing, keeping the house tidy, etc. 

But the shift felt monumental notwithstanding how well I adjusted to it. Of course our kids grow up and aren't physically around us as much. It's normal and to be expected.  But still a change. I surely enjoyed spending time with Alyssa when she was home. We played our favorite card games, watched a series on Netflix, went on plenty of walks, fried in the sun together on the weekends (never have I been so tan!), went on Big Gulp runs and even got properly out of Dodge for a long weekend when we went to see Abby in Tennessee. 

If the summer vis a vis Alyssa was different than any others, this summer with regard to Abby was even more so. Abby was planning on spending a good part of July at home with us while she support raised (she works in ministry so she has to raise her own funds). But, her plans changed due to a relationship she formed and she didn't end up coming home at all in July. She came home in June to spend Father's Day with Her Favorite Person in the World, aka Donnie but that was it as far as her being here. She hasn't been home (well, our home) since Father's Day- going on four months. I'm pretty sure it's the longest she's ever not been in Ohio with us. Again, it's to be expected- we want our kids to become independent so this is a to be expected transition but it's still a big change that feels hard at times to reconcile. It seems like so not long ago, we tucked her into her bed every night at home. 

Ok, you know what's not helping my moody brooding? I'm reading a book about time travel- so going back in time is on my mind. Today, before we left to go to Donnie's sister's house, the house was quiet when suddenly the whirl of a lawn mower engine disrupted the quiet. Lawn mower engines are part of the summer soundtrack on the weekends in the suburbs so hearing this was not particularly noteworthy. But I thought to myself, what if the lawn mower sound was the first of the season? What if it were early May instead of early September? Would I want it to be May again? If I'm completely honest, yes, at this point, I'd go back to May in a heartbeat. But I can't. So I will try to be as excited about the "ber" months like all other bloggers are (lol!). I know there's a lot to look forward to this fall and winter and I need to concentrate on that. Pining for what is in the past accomplishes nothing. And so I'll metaphorically pack my light colored clothes away and accept the reality of upcoming cooler days, the leaves changing colors, and all of fall's changes. 

Linking up with Amy and Marsha for Fashion Files and Joanne for Talking About it Tuesday