A couple of weeks ago, I had another Facebook live video with Carrie and Stacy from CS Gems, which was all about outfit ideas for a winery or other warm-weather outdoor events. I summarized my suggestions in this blog post here, and the first thing I raved about was this cami dress from Express. Naturally, I ended up buying another color for the season. I ended up with three last year, and I'm not even a little sorry about that. I just love the way they fit me, and since I don't have enough yellow in my closet, I opted for this beautiful floral print as my next acquisition. I'm guessing it's a popular item with them or they wouldn't have released it in a jillion other colors.
Sunnies: Ray Ban (other colors here) | Earrings: Old Navy | Necklace:House of Harlow 1960 | Bag: Tory Burch (roomier option here) | Dress: JCrew Factory (other prints here, solid colors here) | Shoes:Jeffrey Campbell (in taupe here, option here and here)
I don't know about you, but I am exhausted!!! It's been a long, but fun last few days. This weekend was the bachelorette party for a wedding I'm in later this fall - you can refresh yourself with the wedding shower here. I'm laughing as I write this because I wore the same exact dress for the the bachelorette party as I wore for the shower, just in a different print, obviously. What can I say? When something works, I buy all the colors! PS I took these outfit photos one week ago, before I was actually on the trip, hence the different hairstyle!
The bride wanted a relaxing weekend, so we decided to book rooms at the Marina Grand Resort in New Buffalo, MI. New Buffalo is located at the southwest corner of the state, just inside the Indiana border. We rented a loft suite that slept 6 - two in the master king bed, two on the pull out sofa bed, and two in the loft on twin beds. The view was beautiful.
View from our suite
It was about a five hour drive from here, so we rented a Suburban, loaded it up and 4 of us carpooled together. Some of these shots may look a little familiar to you if you followed along on Snapchat (carylee07)!
We ended up getting into town around 7pm local time, and we had no set plans for the evening other than having drinks and heavy apps in our suite. We made all the girls upload photos (the more embarrassing the better) of the bride over the years. We printed them all out, enlarging some of the good ones, and sprinkled them everywhere around the suite. There were over 120 photos everywhere, so it was a riot watching her trying to remember where some of them were taken and with whom they were taken. :) Naturally, we bought some of the stereotypical bachelorette party decor and threw it into the mix.
Saturday morning, we all met up around 10am to grab some breakfast snacks in the resort coffee shop and head to the beach. We brought snacks and drinks with us as well and ended up laying out for about 4 hours or so before posting up at the resort pool. Frankly, this was just a big tease for me! I missed the beach and need a proper beach vacation!
Dinner reservations were at 6pm, which ended up working out quite nicely. We ate at the Brentwood Tavern, which was located in our resort. After dinner, we had cocktails at the rooftop bar, also at the resort - the bride opened gifts and we ate cake! We ended the night at The Stray Dog where we had more after dinner drinks... and a second dinner. Ha! It was late by the time we ate again though, closer to 11pm. We originally planned to have lunch at The Stray Dog since everyone spoke so highly of their rooftop seating, but with a late breakfast and early dinner, we ended up just doing snacks on the beach in lieu of a heavy lunch. There ended up being 14 of us total and we all made it back in one piece!
I had lofty plans to write 5 blog posts this week, but I don't quite think that will be happening! I'll be downsizing to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday posts this week while I catch up on life! In Wednesday's post, I'll go over what I packed, so please be sure to check back in for the details!
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If you're as lucky as the husband, you're already enjoying your long weekend! I do still have to work today, but I'm definitely enjoying having Monday off. It feels like I was just writing last year's Memorial Day post! Crazy! But, as always, I've got some randoms to share with you. Have a great holiday!
This jacket seriously goes with everything, and this day, I needed an easy dress to throw on. I love that lace doesn't *look* easy though! And can we talk about second day hair for a second? I don't know how I've gone my whole life up until now washing my hair almost every day. Curling my second day hair is my most favorite thing to do now - it just looks so full and pretty! Not Your Mother's dry shampoo and hairspray are my favorites!
This outfit is a variation of the outfit I wore on the blog here. The outfit base is the same, but it was a bit chilly this day, so the scarf felt more appropriate than a necklace. And these sandals had just arrived the night before and I couldn't wait to wear them! It happens!
Top: Bobeau | Necklace: Kate Spade | Skirt:Express | Heels:Valentino
So, I've decided that I will buy every single knit midi skirt that Express comes out with. I already have it in the black and white stripe as well as the grey and black stripe. This solid black one is the softest of them all! I realized that a peplum would look really cute with this skirt, so I channeled my inner Peg Bundy (who was in Pitch Perfect 2, btw…) and rocked the combo to work.
This is the same portofino I'm wearing in yesterday's post here. I love it. It's one of my most favorites for spring and summer. I was pushing the limits on my sandals here. I swear spring is here, but it's not. Just when I think we are clear of the cold, it drops 30 degrees the following day. I still very much love these Gigi sandals - I am craving a third color but can't decide!!
And speaking of the schizophrenic weather, this is clearly another one of those outfits. It pained me to whip out my booties for the occasion, but it was cold and rainy, and it just felt like the right thing to do. When all else fails - go for stripes and a color pop. It's an instant outfit favorite, I promise!
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Have I mentioned how excited I am for the long weekend? If you're on the lookout for some sale shopping inspiration, you can peep out my Nordstrom Half Yearly pickshere and some of my Express must-haves in Gina's post here! And then please report back and let me know what you bought!
I fell in love with this dress immediately after seeing it online here. This red, white, and blue stripe combo is so crisp and always tugs at my heart! Topshop's stuff tends to run pretty small for me, so I always end up sizing up. Welp, I got the dress and was swimming in it. You know those photos of Jared holding up his pants pre-Subway? I looked like I was wearing the shirt that goes along with those pants! So, I placed a second order for one size smaller.
And before you start thinking I'm crazy - Nordstrom has free shipping and free returns, so there's really nothing to lose other than time, and this dress wasn't for anything time sensitive. Plus, after I got the first dress, I checked to see if it was available in one of my nearby stores so I could simply try it on. I love shopping online, but this dress is definitely one of those things that would have been best to try on in store.
Left: attempt #2 | Right: attempt #3
The pic on the left above is dress #2, which as you can see was still a little big and borderlined looking like pajamas. If I didn't love the stripes so much, I would have just given up, but I tried one last time and ordered one more size down (pic on the right above), and it worked like a charm! I also switched the belt for a "real" belt, which visually made the dress even better to me.
I'm sure I will still people will still ask me why I'm wearing my pajamas at work since my coworkers always feel the need to make comments of my outfits, but oh well! I love me some stripes and a good shirt dress, so no regrets here! Oh, and if these sandals look familiar it's because I have the exact same pair in red.
My little Jeffrey Campbell collection is growing, and apparently I like to buy them in pairs. And in suede! It's hard to resist though because these particular sandals are the perfect heel height and the suede makes them extra comfortable - no weird pinching or rubbing on my feet. And I normally try to avoid any kind of shoe that I need to buckle because, well, I'm lazy, so the velcro closure is such an added bonus for me! I will definitely add some ball of foot pads though to keep foot from sliding forward. No one wants to see that toe-verhang!
This is a continuation of Monday's post as I share with you the second of three outfits from the styling event this past weekend at The Clothes Line Boutique with CS Gems. This dress was the first thing I gravitated to the moment I started my hunt for things to wear. I find myself buying at least one new maxi dress every year, and this was my perfect one. You know I love my stripes, but the color combination is so perfect for spring!
I'm careful about the maxi dresses I pick out for myself because not all maxis are created equal. This one got bonus points for not requiring a strapless bra. I also liked that it has a cinched waist since it keeps it from looking too much like a tent.
I thought this necklace was a great complement to this dress. Since the dress is long, I wanted a long, chunkier necklace to break up the monotony a bit and balance out the proportions. Gold felt more natural with these colors than silver, and this bolo slider necklace was just what the dress needed. For $12, I'm pretty sure you needed this necklace, like, yesterday!
Even though I brought 4 different bags/clutches with me for the shoot, I thought Jenna's bag was the best match. Oh the irony! And it's always fun to pattern mix a bit, so I tied this scarf to the bag for added interest - and emergency warmth for the sleeveless dress!
I was worried the maxi dress would be too long on my 5'-2" self, but it fell just where I like my maxi dresses do when I put my sandals on. I really don't like my feet to be visible - I like for the hem to hover over the ground, without me stepping on it.
Needless to say, this dress came home with me. I knew as soon as I put it on that I wouldn't be able to let it go!
Clockwise from top left: Geo print top: LOFT | Fringe Trim Dress:LOFT | Striped shirt dress:Topshop | Stripe cabana dress: LOFT | Ankle tie gladiator sandal:American Eagle | Alligator clips:Sephora | Softened chambray: LOFT (sold out - other option here) | Ankle strap sandals:Jeffrey Campbell
I haven't done one of these "buying lately" posts in awhile, so I figured I was long overdue. And…. I was one outfit short this week, so. Let's get started!
Softened Shirts: Ever since I bought the softest chambray ever from LOFT (seen here), I've realized I needed another one. Or two. And it was like LOFT was in my head because all of a sudden they had a 50% off sale! So, I added the geo print top and darker chambray top to my cart very quickly! And I'm glad I did because the dark wash chambray is now sold out, but this option looks great!
Fringe trim and stripe cabana Dresses: I figured I would take further advantage of the LOFT sale by buying a couple of dresses…. even though I feel like I don't wear dresses as much as I should. So I'm not sure I will be keeping both of these, but for the price, they were worth the try.
Striped shirt dress: I haven't shopped the Topshop section in Nordstrom lately, so I decided to take a gander one night. I fell in love with this striped shirt dress. I've actually ordered it three times now!! Topshop tends to run a bit small on me, so I sized up. But it was HUGE, so then I went two sizes down. But it still looked a bit big on me, so I sized down one more time. It should arrive this week, and if this doesn't work, then I'll just have to throw in the towel. Hopefully it's not a lost cause because… the stripes!!
Ankle tie gladiator sandal: For the last two seasons, I've been wanting some gladiator sandals like nobody's business. But I know they're pretty trendy, and I don't know how I will feel about them one year from now. I love American Eagle's sandals (my new favorite is this pair seen here), so when I saw this pair of gladiators, I had to try them. And they're so comfortable! If you're in the market for some gladiators, but unsure of the trend, I definitely recommend these. The footbed is nice and cushy!
Alligator clips: Danielle posted a selfie on Instagram here wearing these alligator clips. She referred to a video by The Skinny Confidential about a sleep bun. Naturally, I was intrigued and had to track down the video, and subsequently buy these clips. I haven't quite mastered the sleep bun yet, but I do definitely like them while I'm doing my hair. I won't give up on the sleep bun yet though!
Nude Ankle strap sandals: So yes, these are the same sandals that I already have in red (seen here.) Jeffrey Campbell posted this pair on Instagram and I immediately started a conversation with Rachelle about how much I needed them! Sadly, they didn't have them in my size, but in my search for them, I discovered that my red sandals came in this nude color. And of course I couldn't stop thinking about them, so I ended up buying them. Oops.
And that's it! And it's plenty!!! What have you bought lately? Anything fun?
When I like something, I tend to buy it in multiple colors. I don't even have to mention the Portofino. Let's not, actually. #pleasedontmakemecountthemagain This top is the same top I wore here. When I saw the red version, I couldn't resist it. I wanted to reach for my white pants yet again, but I not only wore them already this week, but that's how I styled the other one when I last wore it. It's hard not to pair summer plaid with white! I attempted to tuck this into a pencil skirt, but at the end of the day, I just needed my destroyed jeans. These red strappy heels were the perfect finishing touch.
Sunnies: Vince Camuto | Necklace: House of Harlow 1960 (other colors here, smaller option here) | Bag: Kate Spade Saturday (option, option) | Top:Express | Watch: D&G | Bottoms: American Eagle (similar, option) | Shoes:Jeffrey Campbell (option)
So, this weekend, I took a one-way flight down to San Antonio. I was literally there for about 3 hours. Long enough to eat lunch with my mama, pick up Petie and get the car packed up. The husband was already there for a work conference, so we planned to drive the rental car back home to St. Louis. We left at 3:30 in the afternoon and ended up calling it a night at around 11:30pm in Atoka, OK. Petie did great, both in the car and at the hotel!
We left the next morning at 8:30am and finally made it to the house at 4:30pm. Glad we had the entire night to relax - even though I just sat in the car all day, I was exhausted! Annie and Petie had a less than exciting meeting. They exchanged sniffs, and went their separate ways. Ok then! At least they don't hate each other! It then got a little awkward later that night. Although Annie is spayed, Petie is intact. And I'm pretty sure he took Annie's friendly licks and sniffs as a green light. Needless to say, Annie was quick to let him know that she did NOT like him "like that." He was a bit whiny the rest of the night, but kept his distance.
We woke up the next morning, and everyone was happy again. Petie has even gotten to like Annie's bed a little more than his own! I'm not sure she's quite pleased with that or not. I know it will take a little bit more adjusting, but I can see positive progress as each day passes! Ultimately, I want both of them to be happy!! If someone were to fly and come get me just to drive me 14 hours back home so they could take care of me, I would feel pretty loved. I hope he can feel that we love him that much.
