Happy Fourth of July!

 

Happy Fourth of July! This year we are celebrating Independence Day the way we always do with a little family BBQ followed by watching fireworks from our backyard. To me, it is the perfect way to spend the  holiday! These firework shorts are also the perfect thing to wear for a casual BBQ in the backyard! Last week I featured the dress in a colorful version of this print and today, as promised, I am sharing these shorts.  One of the things I like about these shorts is the abstract firework print and also the elastic waistband that makes them very comfy so that I can eat as much BBQ as I want!

 

As I wrote in my post about the dress in the firework print, I really love that these shorts technically depict fireworks exploding in the sky but because the print is more abstract, they really could be worn all summer long, not just for the Fourth of July. The next time I wear these shorts, I thought I might opt for a yellow top to make the shorts more bright and fun for summer. For today's patriotic look, I opted for a white top. While there's no blue in this outfit, I added a fun American Flag pinwheel as a "prop" but you could add a blue bag or sandals to complete the red, white and blue color scheme!

 

Shorts: LOFT here

Top: J. Crew similar white ruffle top here

Sandals: Brooks Brothers similar gold sandals here

Earrings: J. Crew similar here

 

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Cherry Print Shorts

 

With summer right around the corner, it's time to wear shorts again! I just recently discovered this cherry print at LOFT and it was love at first sight. I thought I would first get the shorts in this cherry print because I liked the cute tie in the front and the elastic waist but I'm very tempted to get the dress or top in the same print! (I guess this continues the fruit theme that has been prevalent on my blog for the last couple of months or so.) Last week, you might recall that I posted about a blueberry sweater and now I'm moving on to cherries! I really can't get enough of fruit prints this year for the spring/summer season!

 

On the LOFT website, they paired these shorts with a navy and white striped top, which I thought was very cute but I decided to take a different route. As you can see, I selected a pink eyelet top from Target instead of a striped top. Because I love the idea of this cherry print with stripes, I opted for stripes in the form of my blue and white Clare V. tote bag. It brings out the navy in the stems of the cherries. I'm not sure what type of cherries have navy stems and leaves but it does make for a cute print!

 

Shorts: LOFT here

Top: Target here

Sandals: J. Crew similar gold sandals

Bag: Clare V. similar blue and white striped bag

 

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Bougainvillea Season

Last weekend, we went to the historic Irvine Ranch Historic Park in Orange County where these photos were taken and a couple of things were made clear to me. First, it's the beginning of bougainvillea season! For those of you who don't live in California, bougainvillea are these gorgeous pinkish red flowers that grow in large clusters almost everywhere out here. (I absolutely love how colorful and fragrant they are, but I hate spelling the name of the flower!) Second, it's also the official beginning of shorts weather here in Southern California, as the temperatures are starting to get rather warm here. In fact, last weekend was the first time in a while that I opted for shorts and I chose these cute seersucker ones. I must say that it felt good to get some warm sun!

I decided to pair these seersucker shorts with my new floral blouse from Old Navy. I love anything floral (if you couldn't already tell!), especially this time of year with all of the gorgeous flowers that are everywhere here! This shirt especially caught my eye because, after all, who doesn't love a bright and cheery yellow floral print? Below, I have linked to this shirt, along with some of my other favorite floral shirts from Old Navy, which are all great deals and fabulous additions to anyone's spring and summer wardrobe!

Shirt: Old Navy here
Shorts: J. Crew Factory
Bag: Zara similar round straw bag here
Shoes: Old Navy here
Sunglasses: Gucci

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It's in the Bag!

I'm officially a fan of the paper-bag waist-style shorts! After buying several pairs, including these red and white striped pair from H&M, I can't imagine wearing any other style for summer! While that might be a bit of an over-exaggeration, I'm definitely smitten with this style of shorts! I hope these types of shorts will stay around for years to come, as it seems like it's a classic. If not, however, none of the pairs I purchased were all that expensive. In fact, there are many affordable options in this style, some of which I'm showcasing below.

I decided to pair my paper-bag waist-style shorts with my "California" collector's tee. Since I live in California, this tee was a must have for my growing statement tee collection. Whenever I wear this tee, I always pair it with my watermelon bag, not because watermelons are quintessentially Californian but because the tee has a random watermelon on it! (I'm not sure why.) Plus, the watermelon looks great with red and white stripes, so it was the natural choice for this look.

Tee: J. Crew Factory here
Shorts: H&M here
Bag: SheIn similar straw watermelon bag here
Sandals: Target here
Sunglasses: Prada here

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Color Heaven!

It's no secret that I love colorful walls and murals! What if a place existed that wasn't just one colorful wall but, instead, an entire building painted as a gigantic, colorful mural? Truly, that would be my idea of color heaven! Well, the good news is such a place exists and it's at the Laguna Art-A-Fair! Yes, I definitely felt like I had died and gone to heaven in this place. You know, if I could paint my house like this I probably would but sadly, both city property laws and, more importantly, my husband would never allow such a thing to happen!

The mural for the Art-A-Fair building was done by the artist Okudart and it was definitely a feast for the eyes! In case you were wondering, Art-A-Fair is a fine arts festival that takes place in the summertime in Laguna Beach, California. We went to the building about a week before the festival started so that we'd have the place all to ourselves! Obviously, you don't want to do crazy poses like the one above in front of a large crowd, although maybe I could just pass it off as performance art?

Since there are so many amazing colors in the murals that wrap all the way around the building, I decided to go simple with my outfit, opting for just a striped tee and these tie pink shorts from J. Crew factory. As I discussed in my last post, the summer sales are hot right now and these shorts are definitely one amazing deal! I also love how my pom pom clutch literally picks up just about every color in the mural! Between my stripes and color palette, I think I blended in nicely with all of the art work around me, yet at the same time still stood out.

Shorts: J. Crew Factory here, pink scallop version here
Tee: H&M similar striped tee
Shoes: J. Crew similar silver wedges here
Clutch: T&J Designs here
Earrings: Bauble Bar almost identical pair here
Sunglasses: Prada here

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Very Cherry

I love the sales this time of year! All of my favorite stores, from J. Crew to Zara, are offering mega deals right now in an effort to clear out summer styles in order to make way for fall. Not being one to miss out on a good sale, I've been taking advantage of these deals over the last week or so.  In my shopping for these summer deals, I've noticed a pattern with some of my purchases in so far as many of the clothing items I've purchased are fruit themed! This obviously includes the cherry print shorts that I have on today, which I picked up for around $20 at J. Crew.

In addition to cherries, I've also purchased other fruit themed items including ones with watermelons, lemons and ladybugs. Yes, I realize that ladybugs do not qualify as fruit, but they do help to keep pests off plants (possibly fruit plants?), so I am going to throw them in the fruit mix as well! Why not?

Styling these shorts was easy! Online I saw that J. Crew had paired them with a striped ruffle top. Luckily for me, I have many such tops already in my wardrobe! In the future, I could definitely see these shorts paired with either a navy or red striped T-shirt or just a polo shirt for more of a preppy look. Just like a fruit salad, the possibilities for what to mix these shorts up with are endless!

Shorts: J. Crew chino shorts with embroidered cherries here
Top: J. Crew similar ruffle top here, here
Shoes: Ralph Lauren similar red espadrilles here, here
Bag: H&M similar gold straw clutch on sale here
Necklace: J. Crew Honeymoon necklace here
Sunglasses: Celine same style here