Pearls, Pinot, and Parmesan: A Spring Shirtdress

Last week I had a week off in between finishing finals and my graduation, and I spent part of that week in Asheville, NC with my friend McKenzie. Asheville is a beautiful mountain town in Western North Carolina, and it's grown a lot in the past 5 years. We spent the first two days of our trip hiking and checking out local breweries. I obviously prefer wine to beer, but when I'm visiting a city with good local craft breweries, I enjoy checking them out and ordering flights of local beers. Asheville has a ton of local breweries, the city is basically the craft beer capital of the East Coast, and it seems like new breweries are always opening up. We went to about five or six different ones, and my favorite was One World Brewing, if you're ever in Asheville I highly recommend you check them out.

On the third day of our trip we did some shopping in Biltmore Village. The Biltmore Estate, a gorgeous mansion built by the Vanderbilts, is in Asheville and the Biltmore Village was historically a village for the estate workers back when the Biltmore was a private residence. Now, the Village is a cute neighborhood of Asheville with great shopping, cute cafes, and a couple of wine bars and restaurants. Since we were having a girlie shopping day, I decided to wear my new midi shirtdress from the Gal Meets Glam Collection. I love this dress collection by Julia Engel, it's so feminine and beautiful, and high quality. I'm excited for her to release new May dresses in the next few days.

This shirtdress immediately caught my eye when the collection was first released. A shirtdress is a timeless style that's flattering on almost everyone. I was also very excited to buy my first midi dress. Being on the shorter side, I've always shied away from maxi dresses, because I always end up looking weighed down by all the fabric, but a midi dress is the perfect length for when I'm not in the mood for a short dress. I love where the hem of this dress ended up hitting me, not too high that I look like a stuffy librarian with a dowdy knee-length skirt, but not so long that it looks like it's trying to be a maxi dress but failed. The length is the perfect Goldilocks length, just right. The details in this dress also make it very special. The dress came with a thin belt in the same color as the dress, perfect for adding waist definition without adding a flashy accessory. Also the collar is a lovely rounded shape, which adds an extra layer of femininity. I got so many compliments from strangers on this dress while we were out and about shopping. You can feel when you wear it and see it in person that it's a very special dress.

I decided to use my accessories to build off the femininity of the dress. My purse and earrings are very girlie, fun, and perfect for spring. I usually carry around a larger purse, but this pink bag made me feel so pretty and dainty. I had to switch from a full size wallet to a card wallet, but the bag fit that with my sunglasses, phone, phone charger, and keys with no problem. I love the details on this bag. The perforations create a delightful and fun pattern, without getting too busy, and the gold buckles dress it up a little bit. I bought this bag at the most recent Kate Spade Surprise Sale*, so keep your eyes out for it in the next one. I also linked a Kate Spade bag bellow in a similar shade of pink.

I got my earrings in my most recent Rocksbox, and as soon as I saw them I knew they'd be perfect with this dress. The dress is somewhat simple, so I was able to wear long, dramatic earrings without it being too much going on. I love how the stacks of flowers are just so perfect for spring. These earrings made me feel absolutely fabulous while I was wearing them, and put an extra pep in my step. This was the perfect outfit for strolling around the Biltmore Village.