After a particularly gut wrenching week during which I've reconsidered my chosen career, pictures of pretty things can do wonders for the spirit. I'm not a proponent of shopping to fill a void, or spending money to save your sanity, but there are times when a little retail therapy is a necessary prescription (so I told myself on the way home from work around 10pm last night when I was happy to find a few stores still open on 34th street, and managed to find a few moderately priced spring tops that eased my pain).

This month's Anthropologie catalog takes you back in time to an era when women dressed up to do the laundry and walk the dog. (There are times I think perhaps I could be happy leaving the work force and being a housewife, donning day dresses and cooking all afternoon, or moving to Vermont and making cheddar. But then my mother reminds me I'm lactose intolerant, and tells me I would last five minutes being home all day, and she is right about both.) This patchwork inspired catmint dress is a friendly nod to a simpler time. A friend recently mentioned being very into Free People lately, which reminded me of the brand's classic vintage spin and fresh prints for spring. Their website feels like the trip I took upstate to the Blue Grass Festival with my college friends the summer after graduation (to which I could have worn this tunic and fit in smashingly). A cowboy hat and calico dress can brghten anyone's day.

Happy shopping, and happier times for the weekend.