Candy Stripes

My summer break has officially started and so has the hot summer weather! Since I am done with teaching for the year, I am looking forward to getting out and exploring new places in Los Angeles and catching up on some reading, although, to be honest, what I am really looking forward to most is getting to sleep in! I think this candy stripe dress is the perfect way to celebrate my first days of summer vacation because this dress certainly screams "summer!" and seems fitting for a celebratory occasion. Also, it's going to be the perfect piece of clothing, now that the temperatures are rising!

I was instantly drawn to this dress because of the playful candy stripes. Since I have a lot of very loud and bright colors in my wardrobe, I love that this dress has more muted pastel colors. Pastel colors  are perfect for summer and perfect for this wall behind me. Another thing that you can look forward to in the upcoming months on my blog are new colorful walls, as I am certainly going to hunt for some while I'm on summer vacation!

Dress: c/o ChicWish here another colorful dress here and here 
Shoes: J. Crew similar gold sandals here
Bag: Zara similar straw bag here
Sunglasses: Celine

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Anza-Borrego Super Bloom

Last week, we continued our tour of the prime super bloom locations in Southern California. This time we visited Anza-Borrego State Park. We visited here several of years ago during a previous super bloom but this time, pleasantly, the flowers were even more glorious, as is evident from the picture above with all of the lovely yellow wildflowers!

Since we did a bit of hiking and off-roading around the park, which is, essentially, a desert and very hot, even in winter, I decided to keep things casual with my new Palm Springs tee and jeans. We actually drove through Palm Springs, which is about an hour and a half away from Anza-Borrego, so the tee was quite fitting for the occasion. I also opted for this straw bag because not only was it a perfect match for all of the vibrant blooms we encountered but, more importantly, it was the perfect size to hold some of the things for our trip, such as our camera and binoculars.

As a final note, the above location, which just happens to be, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful areas of the Park during the super bloom, is where I originally got a handful (and seatfull!) of thorns on our first trip to Anza-Borrego! You see, I saw a picture in the Los Angeles Times of a couple sitting under this exact tree in this exact location and I thought I would recreate the picture by also sitting under the same tree. Well, it turns out that, while these flowers are beautiful, they are also filled with teeny tiny thorns and my hands (and seat!) ended up covered with them after I sat down. My husband and I spent a good deal of time after that with tweezers, plucking out the thorns on that particular trip, so I was very careful this time around not touch anything and to just kneel, not sit, among the flowers!

Tee: J. Crew here
Jeans: J. Crew
Bag: Cynthia Rowley similar here
Sunglasses: Gucci 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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Hello Summer!

Nothing says summer quite like a cotton striped dress, a white pair of sneakers and a straw bag! I particularly love this yellow striped dress from H&M because it's light weight, which makes it cool and comfy to wear all summer long. I would also imagine that it could double as a cover-up over a swimsuit, so it's very versatile! Also, did I mention that it's under $20? It's definitely a win win for summer!

Speaking of going swimming, this straw tote, which I found at Marshalls, would also be great for a day spent at the pool or beach. I actually don't go swimming be it in the ocean or in a pool that often, if at all. (I know, I totally get the irony being that I live in Los Angeles!) If I did, this would probably be the type of outfit that I might wear. Since my wardrobe is summer and beach ready, maybe this will be the impetus to get me out for either a dip in the pool or a walk along a sandy beach sometime soon!

Dress: H&M here
Tote: Cynthia Rowley similar straw pom pom bag here
Jacket: Target similar denim jacket here
Shoes: Target
Sunglasses: Celine

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