The Search For The Perfect Spring Frock

Whilst I love a good dress all year round, I become especially obsessed with frocks when there's a sweet scent in the air and the chill of night dissipates. Come Spring I dream not of t-shirt dresses or shifts or shirt dresses, but of proper full skirted, fit and flare frocks. Preferably with pretty patterns and cute detailing.

Here's a few I'm liking right now:

1. Sunflower Bardot Midi Prom Dress | ASOS   2. Selina Dress | Boden

3. Secret Squirrel Dress | Maiocchi   4. On the Terrace Dress | ModCloth

5. Joanie Dress | Made590

It's so hard to pick a favourite! I am completely and utterly smitten with the ASOS midi dress, but being on the short side I couldn't pull it off. Sob. Boden is a new discovery for me and I'm liking all of their dresses. This colourful confetti print in particular caught my eye. The print on the Maiocchi dress is just wonderful; plus I bought a dress from them last year and it is the most flattering cut of any dress I've ever owned, so this one is very high on my 'must try' list. The ModCloth frock is simple and elegant and classic. Lovely. And I have a longstanding love affair with all things Made590. I actually have the Joanie dress in a different (super limited edition) fabric and I love it. I'm finding the gorgeous green and pink hues of this version hard to resist. 

Which would you pick? 

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ps. I have a confession to make, because I know exactly what's going to happen next. I know that I will go out and buy several gorgeous Spring frocks. I will be unable to resist their ladylike prettiness. And then I will spend the entire season wearing one of my fourteen denim shirt dresses from Muji. 

ps. Also - side note to all dress designers - can you please, please stop cutting bits out of perfectly gorgeous frocks (like this one)? Not all of us want to share our back / mid riff / love handles with the world...

Buddha's Birthday : Cheonggye Stream

Yesterday was the Buddha's Birthday holiday in Seoul, which means a three day weekend and hours of traffic for anyone crazy enough to try and leave the city. It also means that for the past few weeks parts of Seoul have been festooned with lanterns. 

The lanterns are quite simple really, nothing fancy, but en masse and in such gorgeously bright colours they have quite a magical effect. It helps that - whilst the date varies year to year - the Buddha's Birthday generally coincides with the mass of fresh green growth and colourful blooms that mark Spring in Seoul. 

Cheonggye Stream looks especially wonderful at this time of year. The stream is such a vibrant public space in all seasons, but now that the weather is warming up it's even more so. Crowds of people stroll along in the sunshine, jostling for prime photography positions (it was getting pretty dangerous on the stepping stones at one point!); office workers take a coffee break in the shade of the many bridges; kids throw off their shoes and dip their feet in the cool water as little silvery fish swim by. All in the heart of the city! File this under 'things I will miss about Korea'.

Collecting Colours : Green + Pink

So fresh, so bright, so happy! Pink and green is all about sweetness and light and happy times yes? It seems to fit perfectly with the mood in Seoul right now. I'd forgotten how breathtakingly pretty the city can be when Spring hits. 

Around every corner there's stunning bursts of green, fresh new leaves; there's purple azaleas blooming en masse, and pots full of pansies and violas in a rainbow of colours. Add to that blue skies (when it's not smoggy...sigh), a warm breeze and the festivities surrounding Buddha's Birthday and it's a pretty magical time of year. I hope these diptychs capture just a little part of that.

Number two is my favourite, which one is yours?

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Every month through 2013 I'll be 'collecting colours', and you can join in too! Just create something, anything based on the colour pair for each month. Link up below, Instagram, Tweet and/or add your photo to the Flickr group here. You can go here to get all the information you need.  

Signs of Life

Although it does feel like Winter is dragging on and on, we did have some lovely almost Spring weather over the weekend. And with the slightly warmer weather  comes some signs of life. Seoul is slowly, slowly peeling off its drab grey Winter coat.

These shots were all taken on our roof garden. I get so excited when I spot the little patches of bright green in our lawn, or when I see the first new shoots on our azaleas. With everything lying dormant and brown for so long, it always seems a little miraculous when it all suddenly bounces back to life.

Spring in the Garden: Irises

When we first moved in to this apartment, a bit over a year ago at the tail end of last winter, there was a row of bulbs planted in the garden.  Spring game and they grew lush and green, and we waited for them to flower.  We waited, and we waited.  And then Summer came and then Autumn and they gradually turned brown and shriveled up, leaving me pondering what on earth they were - decorative grasses perhaps?  But this Spring we've discovered they are magnificent irises which have suddenly bloomed like crazy, allowing us to rejoice in all their purpley blue glory!  

ps. Isn't 'irises' the most awkward plural you can think of?  I think perhaps 'iris' should be like 'sheep' - both singular and plural - don't you?

pps. Happy June 1st!  Isn't this year just screaming past at an alarming rate?  Yikes...

Spring in the Garden: Maple

Oh hello, Monday.  You again hey?  What I really need is a week in bed with cups of hot tea and endless crosswords, but what I get instead is you, with all your to do lists and wants and demands. Bleurgh.

Nevermind, here are some pretty pictures of the Japanese maples in our garden, which have burst to life after Winter which such force!  They always cheer me up.  I remember we planted a Japanese maple in our front yard when I was a kid, and it always seemed so exotic and pretty and fragile.  It didn't do too well though, partly I guess because it's the Japanese maple, not the Melbourne, Australia maple.  And partly because it was somewhat overawed by the giant, giant oak tree (this thing was, is, huge!) that was also out the front and that no doubt pinched all it's water and sunshine.  Boo to the bully oak!

By way of comparison, here's what the maple looked like four short weeks ago:

Hope your week is kicking off to a good start! x

Spring in the Garden: Azaleas

As I've already confessed I am not a gardener.  Luckily we have a garden full of low maintenance plants that just do their thing,* and I am constantly fascinated and amazed by their transformation through the seasons.

A few short weeks ago the azaleas where just a bunch of straggly brown twigs.  Now, thanks to some sunshine, warm weather and lots of rain, they are literally bursting forth with green growth and a carpet of bright purple blooms.  Lovely!

*(Plus we also have some people that come to our apartment every fortnight or so and keep all our plants happy and healthy - they are Korean retirees actually, with a passion for plants, and they do an amazing job).

Spring has sprung!

Last Sunday it was a beautiful, sunny 12 degrees celsius.  For the first time in forever the husband and I spent our Sunday afternoon sitting on the balcony, reading, sipping white wine and complaining about being too hot.  It's amazing how quickly the weather can turn - a week ago sitting on the balcony meant risking frostbite (hence why a mere 12 degrees feels like a warm Summer's day to us now!).

To celebrate the spring-ing of Spring I went to the flower market in Namdaemun and got some delicious smelling things (I have no idea what type of bloom they are, I can identify a daisy and a rose and that's about it...so if you know please tell me!).  I also picked up a gorgeous succulent for the Hornsea bowl that I was unable to resist buying a few weeks ago (Hornsea is my new love, I feel the irresistible pull of another collection brewing...)

Death by Doxie*

I'm a sucker for alliteration, so I wanted to have a regular 'Daily Dose of Doxie' post. But whilst the chances of me posting a dachshund photo every single day are actually surprisingly high, I've opted instead for a little less sausage dog and a little more outright plagiarism (see note below).  Hence 'Death by Doxie'.  I will commit to one dachshund feature a week though, okay?  So, here's Elfi about a month ago enjoying spring in the gorgeous Namsan park.

Namsan is a mountain right in the heart of Seoul and right near our apartment.  It looks a little like this and is a beautiful place to go exploring.  The dogs love it, and so do I!

It's now hot and humid here (boo), and before that it was hot and dry (yay), and before that - when this photo was taken - it was just sunny and nice and warm, with spring flowers and fresh green growth everywhere.  Beautiful! (By the way, before that it was freezing and windy and grey and snowy.  I am already fretting about getting through my first full winter here, with average temps around -2 degrees celsius.  Help!)

Anyhoo, I haven't seen what autumn is like yet but I can say that if you're planning to visit Seoul, spring really is a beautiful time of year.

*with apologies to @pilgrim_lee for blatantly ripping off her words...