Memorial Day: Memory Lane and a Mushroom

Bag: Amazon

Top: Wild Fable, Target; Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Sunglasses: Wild Fable, Target; Ribbons: Michaels

Shoes: Jessica Simpson Collection DSW

Bouquet: Michaels

I can't believe it's already Memorial Day!  I couldn't think of a better way to kick off this unofficial first weekend of summer than by reading beach book queen Elin Hilderbrand.  Endless Summer is a collection of short stories, extra chapters, and alternate endings to some of Hilderbrand's most beloved novels.  I very much enjoyed this, in Hilderbrand's own words, Choose Your Own Adventure approach to fiction.  I especially liked the extra chapter for Golden Girl, which reveals heroine Vivian Howe's ups and downs at the famed Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.  Her struggles undoubtedly mirror Hilderbrand's own at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and I loved seeing this glimpse of what it must've been like for one of my favorite authors to become the consummate storyteller we know today.    

Of course, it wouldn't be a holiday without festive fashion too!  For yesterday's family BBQ, I donned last year's never-before-worn, fruit-print LC Lauren Conard dress and my brand-new Jessica Simpson wedges.  The wedges' height was just what I needed to lift the (on me) floor-dusting dress from the ground.  The mushroom bag is an oldie but goody -- although a poppy would've been more appropriate.  Maybe I can find one before next Memorial Day and reenact my holiday hitchhiker pose.

I hope your weekend was filled with things that you love, setting the tone for a sensational summer! 🌞🌈

My Little Pony Express

Jeans: Vanilla Star, Target

Necklaces wrapped for a customer.

Tee: Target

Last week, I had to rush to the post office to ship an order.  It was kind of warm, but I hadn't shaved, so I scanned my jeans and tees for something to wear.  I rejected one after another (too boring, too tight, too wrinkled), until I got to my leopard jeans and My Little Pony tee.  It wasn't the first time I'd put them together, and I was excited to wear the combo again.  Turns out, I made the right choice; when I walked into the post office, I felt downright magical.

Just like Hasbro -- and whoever made this tee for nostalgic '80s babies like me -- intended.  

That said, here are some other pink outfits I wore recently.  You won't find any My Little Ponies, but there are two kawaii-tastic unicorn rings from PinkBopp.  

Because life's too short to dress like a grown-up!

Skirt: Necessary Objects, Annie Sez; Shoes: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Bag: Candie's, Kohl's; Belt: Belt is So Cool, Amazon, Headband: New York & Company; Sunglasses: Wild Fable, Target

Top: CeCe, Macy's

Rings: PinkBopp

Sparkly Celestial Necklace

Top: Decree, JCPenney

Bag: Dolls Kill

Skirt: Tinseltown, Kohl's

Louella Lollipop Necklace

Shoes: Jessica Simpson Collection, DSW

Sweater, bag, and shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Six-String Fling or Lifelong Thing?: Lights, Camera, Attraction!

Christina Lauren's Roomies is so much fun.  And not just because it reminds me of that Friends episode when Phoebe announces that she and Mike are moving in together and Monica says something like "Roomie?  Don't you mean groomie?".  But because it's about following your heart and your art, even when both get you into trouble.

Aspiring novelist Holland Bakker never dreams that taking the subway to stalk listen to Calvin McLoughlin play guitar will upend her life.  But when Calvin unexpectedly does her a favor, she does him two in return.  The first is to get him a job on Broadway.  The second is to marry him.  Why the rush to the altar or, in this case, city hall?  It seems that the Irish Calvin is in dire need of that classic romcom accessory, namely a green card.

What follows is flirty and funny, sexy and sweet.  As Holland and Calvin muddle through their marriage of convenience, Holland learns a lot about herself.  After an unrelenting bout of writer's block, she's even inspired to write again.  Also, part of the appeal of this story for is me is that I picture it taking place in the '80s.  In my mind, Holland has a perm, and Calvin has a modified mullet.  Also, they both wear acid-washed jeans.   

Hitting all the high notes -- and hijinks -- Roomies is a romance so crazy it might just work.

Big Puns and Bigger Pants: Patchwork Quirk

Jeans: So, Kohl's

Bag: SHEIN

Loop De Lou Necklace

Shoes: Jessica Simpson Collection, DSW

Hairclips: So and LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Top: Billabong, Macy's

Bag: Elizabeth and James, Kohl's; Skirt: Ross

Rug: Michaels; Shoes: Wanted, Modcloth

Top: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Bag: Delia's, Dolls Kill; Skirt: Mossimo, Target

Sunshine State of Rind Necklace

Top: So, Kohl's

Blue Butterfly Necklace

Skirt: POPSUGAR, Kohl's; Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman, Zulily; Bag: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohl's

You know how when you look out an airplane window and the land below looks like a patchwork quilt, all brown and green but in miniature?  And how it's such a beautiful and strangely calming sight when you're up there in the air, like the universe made a blanket just for you?  Well, that's kind of sort of how I felt when I started putting together these outfits.  You know, if my life was a 747 and the universe was saying "there, there" with an endless supply of therapy-dog-threads.  Anyway, I didn't even realize how many patchwork-style things I own until I started looking; there are more than you see here, but I got lax in the hauling-out-and-photographing department.  Still, I made sure to include the most patch-tastic item of all, the one that doesn't have a patch on anything else.  

Yep, it's my prized pair of "dad" jeans!  You may remember when I busted them out two falls ago, floor-dusting bells and all.  This time I got clever and "cuffed" them -- heading not for the big house, but for big style (insert groan).  (Also, maybe House of Style, if only as a  '90s shoutout.  No?  Okay, I'll stop.)   And I do mean "big".  Because I had to roll them up like six times!  Sometimes I forget how short I am until I put on pants.

There's a metaphor in there somewhere, but as with the photography, I'm too lazy to find it.   

The Spoof is on Fire and Other Conflagrations

Gather 'round for another story time twofer!  Up for discussion are two very different stories about female survival, Elinor Lipman's Ms. Demeanor and Colleen Hoover's It Starts With Us.  

I'd never read Lipman but got sucked in on a recent Target run.  Ms. Demeanor is a romcom, and as such, typical territory for me.  But it's much wrier and drier than my usual fare, which I found kind of interesting.  Its heroine, Jane Morgan, is a no-nonsense litigator who never met a problem she couldn't debate her way out of.  That is, until she's caught doing the dirty on her apartment roof with Noah, an entry-level lawyer from her firm.  Noah gets a slap on the wrist, but Jane gets slapped with an ankle bracelet.  Forced to make the most of being confined to her building, she decides to get to know her neighbors, which she was too busy to do when banking billable hours.  One of them, Perry, turns out to be sporting ankle bling too (he stole a teapot lid from the auction house where he worked, but he had a really good reason!), and they quickly bond.  A lot of other stuff happens, but I found it less, ahem, engaging than the paradoxically unlikely-yet-written-in-the-stars relationship between just-answer-the-question-Jane and Perry-the-petty-thief.  What can I say?  I love love.

By contrast, Hoover's It Starts With Us is a lot heavier.  As you know, I read its predecessor, It Ends With Us, for book club.  Fans were so attached to that novel that they campaigned for Hoover to write a sequel, and although she never planned to do so (It Ends With Us having wrapped up exactly as it should have), It Starts With Us appeared on bookshelves -- and yes, in book club too.  You know how you watch a TV series and it ends and you're sad to see it go but you also don't want a reboot because that would undo all the hard-won resolutions of the finale?  Well, that's how I feel about It Ends With Us, and I can't even blame Hoover because it seems that she feels this way too.  That said, I did enjoy reading more about Atlas in It Starts With Us.  This real-deal knight-in-shining armor is the most compelling part of both books, a reminder that good guys -- and indeed hope -- exist.    

And that's the end of that.  If you get only one thing out of it, then let it be this:  

Look before you leap -- or *bleep* -- from a roof.

Animals, Etc.

Skirt: Marshalls; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Macy's; Shoes: Chaps, Kohl's

Belts: Mom's closet; Orange bracelet: B Fabulous; Other bracelets: Mixit, JCPenney; Rhinestone fringe barrette: INC, Macy's; Jeweled bobby pins: Michaels

Flashy Fly Necklace

Top: Express

Bag: Violet Ray, Kohl's; Shoes: Wanted, Modcloth

Top: New York & Company

Top: Nine West, Kohl's; Skirt: Merona, Target

Bag: Zulily; Shoes: Anne Michelle, JCPenney

Sparkly Stripes Necklace

When the flashy fly bit the sparkly striped zebra, a beautiful rainbow appeared.  So what if I'm plugging my own jewelry and, in the process, also violent insects?  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Much like the fly on that zebra hide.   

What can I say that I haven't already said?  I've got a lot of old and new pieces going on here.  The most unexpected is probably the blue Express top.  I rarely shop there because it's expensive and has kind of a corporate cougar vibe.  But this fluttery shirred shirt made me glad I wandered in one weekend.  It's so well made and different from anything I own that I wish I would've snagged its magenta and yellow sisters.  At the clearance price, I could've.  Then again, it's hard to wriggle into, so maybe it's just as well I didn't!  

The rainbow New York & Company and coral Nine West tops are more wearer (and wallet!) friendly.  The rainbow one's so roomy that I was able to gather it at the side with a hair tie, which I love. 

So that's the etc.  Now we'll bring it back home with the animals.  Here are the Sparkly Striped Zebra and Flashy Fly again, duking it out on a (partly) fluorescent flat lay.             

It isn't often that I make neutral-colored jewelry, so when I do, I want it to be Vegas-glitzy.  The Flamingo would've wanted it that way.   

And now I'll have to try my luck at finding a flamingo to wrangle into a necklace.