Summer Friday Feels

One of the things that was nice about summer vacation was not knowing what day it was! I think that's a luxury that only teachers, retirees, and those who are independently wealthy and don't work have! Well, now that I am back to work, I'm only too conscious of what day it is and it's no surprise that there is much anticipation with the arrival of Fridays! I guess that's why I love this tee so much and also why I now own it in two colors! Luckily, the rust color was a perfect complement for this new striped skirt that I recently purchased from Madewell. It was as if the tee and skirt were made for each other, much like how I think I was made for Fridays!

My husband was concerned when I decided to wear this tee on a Saturday and not a Friday. He commented, "You're wearing it on the wrong day!" My rationale for doing so was that I wanted to feature this outfit for one of my blogs and I haven't quite mustered up the energy to do any photos after school when I am dead tired, so I'm trying to get all my blog photos done on the weekends now, so Saturday it was! These photos were taken on the weekend after my first week back to school and also after getting my first good night's sleep in a few days. Just looking at them now makes me dream about the weekend!

So, while I wish I could echo the attitude of the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey and confusdedly ask, "what is a 'week end'?", I, sadly, no longer have that luxury anymore! On the positive side, it does make one appreciate certain things in life more and certainly it makes the weekends and Fridays, which symbolize the start of the weekend, all the more special!

Tee: J. Crew similar here
Skirt: Madewell here
Shoes: Old Navy similar here
Bag: J. Crew similar here

Two Way Tuesday: Rainbow Bag

It's been quite a long time since I've done my "Two Way Tuesday" posts on the blog, however, I am bringing it back with style and with color (lots of color!) by featuring this rainbow crossbody bag
styled two different ways. This rainbow bag was a recent purchase and I must say that when I found it, I felt like the bag was meant for me and my wall hunting adventures!

Indeed, both looks here featuring this bag have two things in common: the first is the aforementioned colorful walls that I am using as a background and the second is pairing the bag with an article of clothing that is also rainbow patterned or colored for double the rainbow and double the impact of color! I guess you can never have too many rainbows! In this first look, the additional rainbow item comes in the form of this colorful knitted top, which I have featured several times before on my blog. To be honest, when I bought the top, I wasn't sure if I would wear it much but it turned out to be a great buy!

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The second look that I paired with this bag also has a lot of color! I purchased this tee, featuring various paint samples in a rainbow of colors, last month from Anthropologie during one of their summer tag sales. The striped skirt is also from Anthropologie and was purchased last summer around this time. (As you can see, I really like to shop at Anthropologie during their tag sales!)

I suppose the one thing that is different about this outfit in comparison to the first is the addition of a hat. I'm not a huge hat person but I was attracted to the bright yellow band on this particular hat from J. Crew. I was also quite excited to learn that, according to my husband who knows stuff like this, the hat is actually a genuine Panama hat woven in Ecuador! The color of the band goes with quite a bit in my wardrobe but what doesn't go with at least one color from the rainbow? I guess one of the perks of rainbow prints and bags is that they really can go with anything!

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Stripes and Kaleidoscopes

One of my favorite prints is back on my blog and, in my opinion, is better than ever! I've posted this kaleidoscope print a couple times before on my blog in the form of a skirt (you can find these post here and here) but, of course, the print was so good I couldn't say "no" to buying it in a top! While I paid close to full price for the skirt in the same print, the kaleidoscope top was a steal during a recent sale at J. Crew. I think if you really love a print, you can never have too many items in it!

While this is not an outfit that I wore to work (these photos were taken a couple weeks before the school year began), it does represent the type of outfit that I like to wear for work. The striped pencil skirt and colorful, busy print makes the outfit fun with the colors and pattern mixing. However, it's still professional. Also, how fun are these pink pom pom shoes? While I might opt for flats if I was wearing this for work, because I'm on my feet all day, these shoes, I think, are definitely the perfect complement to this fun, yet polished, ensemble!

Shirt: J. Crew here
Skirt: J. Crew similar striped pencil skirt here
Shoes: Anthropologie similar pink suede pumps here
Bag: Mansur Gavriel here

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Trying Something New

There's definitely a handful of stores that I shop at for the vast majority of my wardrobe. It probably comes as no surprise that J. Crew would be the front runner in this category! It is, however, fun to mix things up a little bit and try out new things, which is why I was so excited when I stumbled upon a new store called And Other Stories in the mall this summer. This fun graphic print skirt is what initially caught my eye in the store's window and drew me in and it's easy to see why. From the colors to the pattern this skirt has it all! Plus, it was also on sale at half off, so it made the skirt even more appealing!

Unfortunately, this skirt wasn't in stock in my size at the store, so I had to go online and order it but luckily I got free shipping! When the skirt arrived in the mail, I was pleasantly surprised with my new find. I decided to style the skirt in such a way as to bring out all of the neon colors in the print. Luckily, I had also just purchased this orange short sleeve sweater from J. Crew, which was the perfect match for the skirt! As you can see, this outfit still has some J. Crew in it because, even though it's fun to try new stores, it's also difficult to ignore the stores that you've always relied on!

Skirt: And Other Stories here
Sweater: J. Crew here
Shoes: J. Crew similar silver wedges here
Bag: Louis Vuitton similar here

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Now and Later

I know it's still August but this seems to be around the time when everyone starts thinking about fall. From back to school to a new fall wardrobe, signs of fall are everywhere you look, whether you like it or not. I say this because the temperatures are still hot here (it's almost 100 degrees) and I'm going back to school this week, so thinking about fall is not my favorite thing at the moment. Well, one thing I do like about fall is that J. Crew is already rolling out new arrivals for the upcoming season and they're pretty great! What I specifically like about J. Crew's new arrivals is that they feature pieces that you can wear "now or later", as it says on their website. This gives you the option of buying pieces that are versatile and will work for both summer and fall or, as I like to call them, "transitional pieces". One such item is this stunning tiered dress in Ratti Grandi Fiori print.

Obviously, what I love most about this dress is the print! (By the way, this print also comes in a shirt version!) Yes, this print is another stunner from J. Crew and the colors are colorful enough for summer and yet still very appropriate for fall. I can definitely see how this dress could be worn now or later because you could just roll up the sleeves and pair the dress with a pop of color like my pink patent leather pumps or for fall you could throw on some black tights, boots and a denim jacket. I think the latter sounds pretty cute and I'll have to give it a try at some point once the temperatures cool down but here in Los Angeles that may not be for another few months!

Dress: J.Crew here
Shoes: Christian Louboutin similar pink pumps here
Bag: Clare V. here

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Itsy Bitsy Bikini Tee

To be perfectly honest, I wore this outfit last week to the dentist for a teeth cleaning. The good news is that my outfit looked super cute for this occasion but the bad news is that I have a small cavity that needs to be filled! While I'm not looking forward to having this done, I'm going to, instead, focus on the positive. For example, I'm really having fun shopping some of J. Crew's and other retailers end of summer sales. One of my most recent sale finds was this embroidered bikini tee!

I love this tee because the bikinis are fairly subtle (you might not know what you were looking at unless you really stared at the design for a while) and because the primary colors make the tee a perfect match with blues, reds and yellows. This blue striped skirt from a couple years ago proved to be a perfect match for the tee, as did my red Gucci bag. Since the skirt and bag covered the blue and red colors found in the tee, I decided to go with these yellow gingham sandals to bring out the yellow! (Yes, these shoes are another sale purchase from the last week or so that I got at J. Crew!) I love these shoes because looking down and seeing a pop of yellow on my feet always puts me in a cheery mood. In fact, I just might have to wear these next week when I get my cavity filled!

Tee: here
Skirt: similar here and here
Shoes: here
Bag: similar red Gucci bag here

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Sprinkles and Seersucker

If there's one fabric that screams summer, it's seersucker! While I own several items of clothing in seersucker, this dress is the first piece that I own in rainbow seersucker, which makes it all the more special and perfect for my style! I feel like the puffy dolman sleeves and rainbow color scheme also give the dress a strong 80s vibe, which is another thing that I adore about it! Another thing to love is that this dress is currently on sale at J. Crew, so if you love it like I do, now is probably the right time to get it because it was, at one time, sold out on the website!

As you know, I love to match my outfit to colorful walls. This wall that features a downpour of sprinkles is on the side of a doughnut shop and was about 15 minutes away from a restaurant that we were going to for dinner. I thought it would be easy to just go to the mural before dinner but a couple things made this more difficult than I previously anticipated. The first one was traffic, which in L.A. is pretty much a fact of life! The second was that when we arrived to our destination (after sitting in traffic), there was a truck illegally parked in front of the mural.  We were, however, still able to get some fun shots of the mural, even with the impediment of the truck, by taking the photos of the wall on an angle. Also, this gives me an excuse to go back to the location (hopefully when there's less traffic and no illegally parked truck!) so I guess it wasn't a total loss!

Dress: J. Crew here
Shoes: J. Crew similar silver wedges
Bag: Mansur Gavriel here
Necklace: similar style statement necklace here

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