when the weather warms up, we start every weekend with an early morning trip to the farmers market and it’s one of my favorite summer traditions we have started as a family.  greeted by brightly colored produce sitting alluringly atop long tabletops, we eagerly step underneath each and every single tent to sample what they have to offer, making our way through the entire farmers market before deciding which farmers we should buy from.  we listen to farmers discuss their crops for the season, always imagining what it would be like to be one of those farmers waking up before the sun rises to get their produce to the market.  holden runs up and down the aisles, eager to bite into everything within his reach (regardless of whether the skin is edible or not).  we leave with a large basket full of fresh fruit and vegetables and it seems no matter how much we buy, it’s always devoured within a few hours of arriving home because it’s just that good.

while chasing holden up and down the aisles, i felt people staring.  while the majority of people were clad in black spandex coming straight from a morning workout or in their favorite pair of weekend jeans, i was dressed in stark contrast, the only person there in a brightly colored skirt with tulle poking out from underneath.  as i stopped to buy a basket of cherries, the man beside me complimented me on my skirt saying “women don’t wear dresses anymore.  it’s nice to see a woman looking like a lady.”   i received compliments at every booth we stopped in and a women even took a picture of holden and i waiting on our balloon animal and then asked if she could text it to me because she said we looked so adorable.  it didn’t take me any extra time to throw on the skirt versus my favorite pair of yoga pants (my usual early morning weekend attire) and where i’d usually have a giant pair of sunnies on hoping that nobody recognized me, the skirt made me feel good about myself (altogether forgetting the fact that i didn’t have a chance to put on makeup or run a comb through my hair).  i am grateful for all of the choices that women have in fashion these days, but sometimes, it’s nice to opt for something feminine and girly (or whatever makes you feel good…for me it happens to be giant tulle skirts) for an outing that doesn’t really require it.