Flower Power

Good morning y'all! Is the summer flying by or what?! I just went over our schedule for the next couple months and we're only a few weekends away from Labor Day already! The stores are even starting to carry thicker knits and light sweaters. I cannot even with that!

We're having the most beautiful summer here in Asheville, and we're trying to take advantage of it as much as we can, especially doing outdoorsy things with Harlow. She loves to run and explore so wide open spaces are our best bet! Even better when it's a gorgeous place like the NC Arboretum where we can stroll and relax and maybe even learn a thing or two! During this trip, we finally learned the names of the purple black-eyed Susan looking things (coneflowers!) and the Rose of Sharon plant. That name always makes me think of Grapes of Wrath.

I've been dyyyying for Harlow and I to wear our red embroidered dresses together and I thought 'what better time is there to twin in our floral dresses than when we're going to go run through the gardens?'

Harlow's dress I found during the Montford Arts Festival last month from Third World Tienda, which is a husband-and-wife operation that supports artisans in Ecuador by purchasing their hand-made goods they make in their own homes, allowing them to care for their families while also making a wage. That is be-yond incredible and I am more than happy to support them -- and look what adorable children's clothing they make! You can find their cart at the corner of Batter Park and Wall Street in downtown Asheville if you want to peruse all their beautiful embroidered goodies!

I found my dress at Honeypot Vintage while we were staying at The Windsor Hotel for our Asheville staycation. You can check out that post here and see what an amazing place the Windsor is and how incredibly convenient it is for families of little ones!

I packed our Turkish Towels in my bag so we could spread out on the grass and hang out while Harlow either ran around or took a snack break. I swear I love these towels for everything, from pool towels to picnic blankets.

Harlow loves to play with them and be silly, sometimes wearing them like a cape or sometimes just hiding under them so we can play a game of "where's Harlow?!" She does this with my bathrobe at home and it's the cutest thing! I wonder if it means she'll love to play dress up when she's a little older. Goodness knows I did! I had a big trash bag full of my mom's old clothes, old dance recital costumes, and some pieces meant just for dress up. I remember my mom had this black sweatshirt with an orchid flower painted on it and I thought it looked so cool when I wore it belted. It was really big on me so it was slouchy, and with the belt and some good '80s leg warmers I thought I was basically Madonna LOL!

Here I am telling you about our day in the arboretum and our coordinating dresses and then I go on a tangent about my mom's hand-me-down sweatshirts that I haven't thought about in years. That's one of the sweetest things about being a mom: seeing so much of yourself in your kid and then seeing where it takes you in your memories. I'm already saving some of my clothes (and lots of bags, shoes, and jewelry) for Harlow to wear when she's older or to just to have fun in when she's still in the dress up phase.

Maybe one day she'll wear my red dress. The one I bought to match hers :)

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Since my dress is vintage I can't link to the exact match so I wanted to share some similar styles I found!

Def check out Allegra & Luca's website. Their dresses are beautiful, come in lots of different colors, and come in women's and children's sizes! Which makes 'Mommy and Me' matching that much easier.

Also love this Etsy shop's designs. The dresses are soooo pretty and come in a variety of lengths.

Hope you have a wonderful, beautiful day!

xxBrooke