Trying to Hold on to Summer

I know summer isn't officially over yet but, for me at least, summer vacation ended this week, so I'm a little sad and nostalgic for long summer days relaxing or exploring Los Angeles. Since this was such an amazing summer, it's hard get back into a more structured routine, especially the getting up early part of the routine! Although it's hard to let go of summer, I'm trying to have a bright and cheery outlook on the coming year and certainly keeping my wardrobe bright and cheery helps with this! I guess that's why I love this yellow stripe blouse from J. Crew so much. How can you not be happy looking at something so bright and summery?

This purple rainbow wall, located in North Hollywood, always makes me feel happy as well. Just try not to smile while looking at it! One of the things I love about it is the abundance of purple hues, especially since purple is my favorite color, although if rainbow was considered a color, which maybe it should be, that would probably be my new favorite color! My J. Crew "Cora" sandals definitely represent my love of all things rainbow colored and they too are another way that I'm trying to hold on to summer for as long as I can! Also, it's still really, really hot here so my summer wardrobe will be around for just a while longer on the blog!

Shirt: J. Crew here
Pants: J. Crew here
Sandals: J. Crew here
Bag: Louis Vuitton Speedy
Earrings: Target/Bauble Bar
Sunglasses: Celine

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Pattern Perfect

Anthropologie has been hitting it out of the park lately with the patterns on their skirts! This "Getaway" printed skirt is one of several skirts I bought there this summer. In fact, I bought it at the same time that I purchased my sunbather skirt, which I featured a few days ago on my blog. If you look closely at this skirt, the pattern is a myriad of houses and buildings accented in red with just a touch of blue. As I was looking up the skirt online in order to write this post, I noticed that it also comes in several whimsical prints and now I have my eye on the zebra and fish versions of it! Maybe if they go on sale I'll get one...or maybe even two?

In case you were wondering where these pictures were taken, I'm standing on the bridge where my husband and I were married a number years ago. In fact, we just celebrated our anniversary this month! Although these pictures were taken a couple of weeks before our anniversary, we did have a very special dinner at the restaurant at the hotel here. (I guess it was sort of a pre-anniversary celebration!) We had another lovely dinner on the actual day of our anniversary, so as you can see we've been eating well this summer! Luckily, this skirt has an elastic band so you don't have to worry about indulging in a little extra risotto or dessert!

Skirt: Anthropologie "Getaway" printed skirt here
Shirt: Target here
Shoes: J. Crew similar yellow pumps
Bag: Clare V. Petite Alistair here and here
Earrings: J. Crew similar red earrings here
Sunglasses: Prada "Baroque" here

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Sunbathers

The minute I saw this "Sunbathers" skirt from Anthropologie, it was love at first sight! I was head over heels for the whimsical, somewhat retro design of the print, which features women in bathing suits sunning themselves on tropical leaves. The skirt is from one of my favorite designers that Anthropologie carries, Eva Franco. I adored this skirt so much that I payed retail for it, although I did use a coupon that I received for filling out a survey, for fear that it might sell out! The good news is that if you are a teacher, you can get 20% off full price purchases at Anthropologie through October 7 with your teacher ID card in stores or online. It definitely makes items like this one a little bit more affordable and you'll have something stylish to wear on the first day of school!

Another thing I like about this skirt is that it has a tie and buttons in the front, which makes it super stylish, but there's also an elastic band in the back, which makes it super comfortable! I love this skirt so much that I have already worn it several times this summer. Since I was going out to a nice dinner on this particular occasion, I paired the skirt with a yellow ruffle top to bring out some of the colors in the bathers' suits but the skirt also works well with a statement tee. Well, what doesn't go with a statement tee? I think in the future, I might dedicate an entire post to wearing statement tees, so stay tuned!

Skirt: Anthropologie here
Shirt: Michael Kors similar ruffle top here
Shoes: Old Navy here
Bag: Mansur Gavriel here
Sunglasses: Prada "Baroque" here

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Ring Me on the Telephone!

I love bold black and white graphic skirts because they always look so chic and they go with just about everything! In fact, I have quite a few of these skirts already but I still couldn't resist adding one more to my collection! The newest addition to my black and white graphic skirt collection is this button-down striped "birdcage" skirt from Target, although I really have no idea why they call this skirt a "birdcage" skirt. At first I thought this was because the stripes give it a cage effect but then I realized that the skirt comes in several other colors and patterns and those are also referred to as "birdcage" skirts, so go figure!

This time around, I'm pairing this skirt with my Anthropologie "coloquial" telephone blouse because it had just the right "ring" to it! This is the blouse that I keep blogging about because I bought it in three different prints! At the time, that seemed excessive but I'm glad that I splurged because it sold out fast! The print is from a new line Anthropologie is doing called 52 Conversations in which they bring back old, classic prints, such as this telephone one, and issue them on new styles. If you check eBay, you can also find the original version of this blouse, which differs in that it is sleeveless. Now and again, the shirt does pop back on the Anthropologie website, so if you love the print you might be able to still snag it!

Blouse: Anthropologie here
Skirt: Target here
Bag: Louis Vuitton Epi Alma here
Shoes: J. Crew similar gold sandals here
Sunglasses: Celine

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The Return of Punk Floral

A few weeks ago I cleaned out and organized my closet. I probably do this about once or twice a year and every time I come to the same conclusion: I have too many clothes! Purging unwanted items from my closet and organizing the ones I want to keep does make me realize that I should "shop my closet" more and make use of the many fabulous things I already own instead of buying new things. So, for this outfit, I reached way back and found my J. Crew silk "Punk Floral" blouse from about five years ago. This is one of my favorite J. Crew prints for obvious reasons. If you missed out on it, there's actually a popover blouse in the same exact print from Nordstrom! It's also a part of their Anniversary Sale that ends today, so if you want it, now is your chance to snag it for a good price!

I paired my "old school" "Punk Floral" blouse with these tie waist gingham shorts from Target. I have worn these shorts more than just about any other pair this summer, so they were definitely worth the $15 I spent on them in the spring! While these particular shorts are unfortunately no longer available, I am linking to some similar gingham shorts below. Trust me when I say that these shorts go with just about everything and make anything, even a simple tee, look adorable!

Blouse: J. Crew blouse in the same print here
Shorts: Target similar here, here
Bag: Louis Vuitton Speed
Sandals: Target here
Sunglasses: Prada here

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Flamingos, Stripes, and Paint Splats

If this pleated skirt looks vaguely familiar to you, it might because I have the dress version in the same multi-colored stripe print. In fact, I featured this dress last month in a post entitled Target Does it Again. Clearly Target did it again and again because I like the pattern so much that I also bought the skirt version of the dress! One of the things I love about this skirt is that it looks fabulous with just about everything, including this fabulous paint splat wall!

In addition to matching with the mural behind me, I feel like this skirt was made to be worn with a statement tee. I tried the skirt with about three or four different statement tees and ultimately came to the conclusion that I wanted to wear it this time with with my pink sequin flamingo tee. Truth be told, this combination wasn't totally my idea, as I stole it from one of the outfits I saw on Talizat's Instagram. I love Tarilyn's style and we also have very similar items in our closets, so it's easy to just shop my closet and recreate many of her looks! Luckily, we both had this flamingo tee from last year, so it was simple to put this outfit together! If you also have the tee, feel free to copy or be inspired, or check out some of the other flamingo tees I'm linking to below!

Skirt: Target here
Tee: J. Crew Factory similar flamingo tee here and here
Shoes: Old Navy here
Bag: Zara similar round straw bag here
Sunglasses: Alice and Olivia

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