i feel like scones...

Today I'm spending a quiet day in with my linguistics asignment, featured in today's picture. This purple stripy dress is my super comfy Saturday dress, which I wear when I can't be bothered buttoning myself into jeans but it's not cold enough for trackies. It's a bit chilly today, but trackies are a no-go so it'll have to be this.

I'm almost a week into my challenge, and I've realised that I actually own a heck of a lot more dresses than I thought - just that most of them I've only worn once or twice. I'm looking forward to breaking out my pretty going-out dresses for a day at uni.

This homebodyness has made me crave home-baking... I might have to bake some scones later. Mmmmmmmm...

xx Grace

i was like, 'holy frock'

I wasn't really feeling it for the camera this morning, hence my weird suspicious half-smile. The truth is, the realisation that this semester is almost over has just come crashing down on me in a flurry of assignments and tests and exam prep. Wearing this pretty floral dress is actually making me feel a lot better, and sharing the joy of tights with my friend Sonia this morning definitely made me laugh!

I don't really have too much more to say today... the title of today's post is a direct quote from my friend Theo.

Love to all

xx Grace

the shock!

My bright blue shoes have given me such a shock, I can't even believe it! But you know what else shocks me? The fact that every single day in New Zealand, approximately one woman dies from a gynaecological cancer. Ladies, I would love it if you could head over to the nzgcf website and check out the symptoms of the four main gynaecological cancers... with screening and early detection, this statistic could be reduced.

Today's dress is a lovely floral item I picked up a few years ago when I was visiting my sister Rachel in Melbourne. I don't wear it that often, because without those leggings it's rather short! Tonight, I'm off to the call centre for my evening shift... and as a bonus, I'm working with the lovely Asia (of the 50 dresses). She and I are then heading up to Shadows, the uni bar, to see my friend's band Jackal. Can you imagine me rocking it out in this gorgeous dress? We'll see...

If you are in Auckland and free, come to the gig!!

I had so much fun wearing yesterday's vintage frock! Yes, I got some odd looks, but the feeling of the heavy fabric billowing around my legs more than made up for it. My best friend Natalie (while laughing at the dress) picked me up from uni, and we headed back to her place to bake some afghans. Look at us being all domestic!

xx Grace

post me a parcel of love

I love my parents. They are amazing, wonderful people who raised me to be the kind-hearted person I am (hardy har har). Every morning since starting the challenge, one or both of them have greeted me in the morning with 'nice frock'... which isn't too bad. But yesterday when I arrived home, my mum asked 'did you have fun frocking today?'. They're going to have so much fun with this.

On Monday morning I started reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and I finished reading it about 11.30 last night. It is a really fantastic book which I would recommend to anyone. It's set in post-WW2 London and Guernsey, and is written entirely in letters (the post kind, not the alphabet kind) and telegrams. Now, this is a fun fact about me. I love recieving letters. Proper, handwritten letters, sent in a real envelope with a real stamp. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

So to reach out my hand back into the past, try and grasp the days when people would write to each other rather than light up the screens of tiny devices, I raided my lovely mum's wardrobe and found this amazing vintage number she made for herself in the mid-70's.

She offered my her wedding dress, which I politely declined. She was serious.

put simply, the full story

This is who I am: Grace, a 21-year-old university student from Auckland, NZ

This is what I am doing: raising money for the New Zealand Gynaecological Cancer Foundation.

This is how I am doing it: wearing a dress every single day for the month of October

This is why I am doing it: I want to give helping out others a go, and challenge myself at the same time

This is what you can do to help: click the donate button on the left, and make a contribution, however small.

This is what you will get: a smile on my face, and the knowledge that you have helped out an amazing cause

This is what I will get: the chance to smile more.

xx Grace

the paisley sideburn brothers

Today's dress reminds me intensely of long, hot summer days in Milan. It was around this time last year, and summer was just burning its last goodbye before autumn set in. That summer decided it wasn't going out without a fight, and the heat was absolutely sweltering and unrelenting - I practically lived in this cool stretch cotton dress... without the tights, of course. You can sort of see that the tights have a pattern... yes, I'm wearing pattern with pattern and I'm not afraid to admit it! You only live once!
My gorgeous friend Hannah, who writes aychblog, has offered to come over and help with styling sessions and work with what I already have. I'm so looking forward to this, to avoid any future disasters. Hannah always looks completely fantastic, if I can catch even a smidgen of her style I'll be happy.

My friend Lucy (of the purple dress text) pointed out something today. This was the issue of whether I'm supposed to wear a different dress every day. The answer is, of course, no! I don't own nearly enough dresses to do that, although I would love be be able to. The lovely and wonderful Asia, among other friends, has told me I can borrow dresses from her. She counted - she owns over 50. If and other wonderful people are willing to help, I just might manage not to wear the same dress twice

Lucy brought up the whole same dress twice issue when I was hanging with her in Albert Park today. I decided to take a picture of her since she's supporting my by wearing a beautiful frock of her own. I don't know if you can see in the background, but just look how many people there are enjoying the sunshine in the background! It's disgusting! Yeah... I hate summer. From tomorrow onwards I'm going to have to start slathering myself with sunblock every morning. *yay*.

xx Grace

P.S. bonus points if you know where the title of this post came from.

donation frocktation

Hey chickdees--

Fantastic news! Online donations are now up and running! I would love love love it if you could help me support this fantastic cause. Donating online is quick and painless - and if you feel the need you can easily donate anonymously, plus you get a tax receipt so you can get 1/3 of it back next April! Sweet deal!

If you don't want to donate online, you can hand me your donation personally to put in my fabulous new coin purse I bought from Trade Aid today.

xx Grace

day numero duo

This morning I received a text from my friend Lucy saying 'Nice purple frock'. This was odd, because I haven't actually seen her at all today. Stalkerrrrrrrrrrr
Anyway... I decided to take advantage of the weather while it's still fairly cool, and wear this long-sleeve purple tunic dress I've had for aaaaaages. I have huge love for dresses with pockets, they are really practical but so far seem to be added more as a design feature than because they're super useful. The t-shirt dress yesterday has really deep pockets which are basically like two handbags attached to your hips, but the pockets on this dress are pretty pathetic... you can barely fit a phone in them. What's your opinion on dresses with pockets?
I'm wearing the dress with, yes, brown tights. Which actually have runs in them, but isn't that what all the young kids are wearing these days?
Donation info will be coming very very soon, promise to keep you kids updated. Please spread the word about my frocktober... I'd love to raise as much money as humanly possible! Your ideas for raising money would be much appreciated also.

xx Grace

Frocktober: day 1

Hey everyone–

Recently I heard the phrase ‘Frocktober’ – a chance to dress up for the whole month of October and celebrate being a woman. I heard that and immediately dismissed it. My personal style is… well basically non-existant: jeans or denim skirt and t-shirts most of the time. I hardly ever wear dresses, pretty much only if I’m going out somewhere fancy. The more I thought about Frocktober, the more I thought what a fantastic idea it was.

So I’ve decided to make a pledge this Frocktober: I am going to wear a dress every single day for the rest of October.

This may not seem like a big deal to a lot of you, but considering how little I wear dresses, I’m looking forward to the challenge.

And no, I’m not just doing this for fun… at the end of Frocktober I will donate money to the NZ Gynaecological Cancer Foundation (www.silverribbon.co.nz). I’m not sure right now exactly what form the fundraising for this will take, but over the course of the month I’ll make sure to get a clearer picture.

I’d love your support over the month, and look forward to blogging about how I go!

xx Grace