I guess I am not the average girl - I love swimsuits (a swimsuit lovah in Sarah Jessica Parker's Sex-and-the-City terms). Next to my overzealous purchasing of cute underwear, I buy too much swimwear. I hardly even go swimming or sunbathing, so my adoration of swimsuits is a little expensive and slightly pointless. Alas, that will probably soon change once I move into my new apartment with a sweet swimming pool. Good thing they have a fitness room, too, so I can (try to) keep myself all trim for swimsuit season. Although I have this darling striped bikini ($93) featured here, I am really a tankini girl because I can keep all my bits undercover and still sample that delicious BBQ while out on the lake with friends. (Yes, the lake - Missouri is a bit far from the sparkly blue ocean, which is where I would rather be, but hey, no sharks!)
This suit by Nautica ($102, click on all pictures to buy suits - i know, i shouldn't make it so easy to spend money) is adorable, and I wish I could add it to my collection. But I must restrain myself from another impulse online purchase (I am sure you know what I mean!).
I have always been a bit partial to giraffes (they were my fave wild animal growing up as a tall girl) so I love this one ($84 top, $54 bottom) at Nordstrom. It also helps that this color combo is great for my red hair and complexion.
This electric purple one from American Apparel ($45) is hot, as Paris Hilton would say. If I could pull it off, I would, especially since bright colors are so now. Happy Swimsuit Season, my little fishies!
From the fragrant pink roses to the beautiful pistachio dresses, the wedding weekend was pretty amazing. A good dose of humidity and rain did not even dampen the fun. All of those in the wedding looked gorgeous, but not as gorgeous as the blushing bride, pictured with me to the right.
I decided to do the mystic tanning thing for the event, keeping it beautiful with application of the gradual self-tanner lotion in between, and no one could tell the difference. Everyone kept complimenting me on my beautiful tan! And no skin cancer. Hooray!
I have some pictures of my hair on that special day! I adored the style so much that I have a big desire to use it every time I am in a wedding, but I, of course, won't, lest I wear out the smashing look that all the other bridesmaids wanted. Everyone said they had hair envy toward me. I might even want to use it for my own wedding, a little higher, with the veil underneath the extravaganza in the back! The back is very similar to the one I posted on May 24!
In two days, I will have my hair professionally styled for only the second time in my life. When I was 11, my sweet mom took me with my bouncy red curls and my sister with her straight brown hair to the hair shop, and we got beautified. On Saturday, the bride will be paying for the entire bridal party to get their hair done. It's going to be fun! I never had a stylist do my hair for prom or for being a bridesmaid because I like hair, and I have always been completely content with my own hair designs. If I were the egotistic type, I might even call my styles amazing, but I'm not so I won't. For this professional styling, I have one rule: my hair will not be plastered to my head with enough hair spray to make me faint. That, hair stylists out there, does not look good. It looks like a poor girl has a stiff mop on top of her beautiful face. I am not having it, but here are some options. I am leaning toward a half-up look...
I am so excited for this weekend as I get to participate in a tea party before my best bud's wedding. But this tea party is unlike many you might have heard about. In addition to tea, we are having wine, lots and lots of delicious wine. Plus, we get to get dressed up in party dresses (see post below) and pretend like we are southern belles. The event will be held at a gorgeous plantation - like location called Graceland. The gal who planned it is a superb party planner, and I helped pick out the amazing wine from a great vineyard in Hermann, Mo. My favorite wine of theirs is the Vignoles (pictured here in that darling blue bottle), but I also love the Seyval, the Adam's Choice and the Blush. Missouri has some great wineries! My sister and I often rent a bed & breakfast and have some amazing wine all day long. It is perfect!
This is the easily the year of the dress. I have never seen so many people wearing dresses all of the time - not only to church and to weddings, but also out on the weekend, to the winery, to work, to do errands, to go garage sale shopping... I love this trend, and I am fully embracing it. I have been lucky enough to find several cute dresses at darling prices, and I have already taken full advantage of all these easy-to-wear outfits after attending 5 graduations last weekend. I have put together a few pictures of some dresses I own or I am coveting. Enjoy!
This season it's about the bright colors and the patterned dresses, and the gorgeous Grecian dresses, as well as trendy black and white combinations. You can't go wrong with all these possibilities. It's always fun shopping for a classic LBD (little black dress). This year, things get better with the appearance of the LWD (little white dress). Just steer away from wearing those white ones to a wedding. The white is reserved for the bride on her big, beautiful day!
Another trend I have been wanting to try is the maxi dress, but I haven't bit the bullet and bought one yet. Whenever I see people in them, I see them as a bit too prom-like or something...
Finally, here are some of the dresses I have purchased...
Along with the whole bridesmaid bit, comes the inevitable ghost-like whiteness of my skin. I love being a redhead for many reasons, but our fair, unable-to-tan skin is not one of them. But I profane of baking in the sun (or in a tanning bed) to get that beautiful glow. Thankfully, our great world has come up with some very nifty products that make me tan without overexposure to the sun (the red-headed lobster look is so not in style). So let me tell you a bit about the bronzers I enjoy. Right now, I am using Nivea, but I have just started using it, so I do not have that great of a review yet. It has worked well so far, but has been more prone to streaking. It might be because I have not been doing this for a while, or it could be because this one is a little more powerful than what I am used to.
This next one I have not tried (it's like $32 a pop, and I rather stick to the $6-$10 range of the others). This fancy pink bottle promises to give you a great air-brush tan from the comfort of your home, plus it is not supposed to make your clothes tan, too! That is my #1 complaint about sunless tanners - my bras, towels, underwear always become a shade of tan, but a turn through the washer usually gets rid of it.
My fellow blogger friend, Sarah, likes the Oil of Olay version, but I have not tried it. Check out her thoughts on this one by clicking on the picture of the lotion. You will be transferred to her amazing blog - View from the Front Porch.
I have also not tried this one by Aveeno, but I love many of their products and think that I would feel the same way about this one. The nifty two-tone, dual-lotion bottle makes me want to buy it. I am going to try this one next!
Finally, Dove Energy Glow is my fallback. It has always worked for me, but I like to try others to try to find the best. Happy Sunless Sunning!
p.s. Click on the pictures to find out where to purchase the tanners.
