Happy Fourth of July! I am so thankful for this amazing country that we are blessed to live in that is full of so many freedoms! I’m grateful for all of the men and women, both past and present, who have fought for that freedom and the families that have sacrificed as their loved ones were away fighting. I am thankful for the blessing of living in a country where we are free to worship God and gather together with other believers without fear of persecution. We are so blessed in more ways than we can count, so today let’s not forget to take the time amidst all of the fun and celebrations to thank God for this beautiful country called America.
One of my most favorite colors to wear during the week of the Fourth of July is red. It is such a fun pop of colour that is very patriotic. I decided to share a more dressy look for this outfit, but it could just as easily be dressed down with a pair of slides and a denim jacket for a more casual celebration. It is a fun and easy look to recreate that you’re sure to reach for beyond Independence Day.
I’m so excited to be sharing this second look for the Fourth of July. I love the simplicity of the all white with the little pops of red. The fun gingham ruffles on the sleeves keep the Americana vibe going and the red shoes tie the red in perfectly. The basket purse was the perfect accessory to tie this whole outfit together. If you recreate this look for the Fourth, be sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see!
Happy Fourth of July week! Each day this week I am going to share a different look to give you some patriotic outfit inspiration. I LOVE dresses, so you are definitely going to see a trend in the outfits. Today’s look was inspired by shades of blue, I love the royal blue paired with the lighter blue of my clutch. This dress also comes in red which would be such a fun pop for patriotic holidays! My dress is unfortunately sold out in the royal blue color, but besides the red it also comes in a beautiful shade of navy that is also perfect for the Fourth!
One of my most favorite things about dresses is all of the options for styling them! This post is the first in a continuous series I’m starting here where I’ll pick a dress and share multiple ways to wear it. With each post I’ll share a casual and a dressy way to wear the dress and sometimes even an in-between! Dresses are my go-to when I am getting dressed in the morning because I know that they can carry me through the whole day no matter what it holds and by changing a few accessories I can completely change the look!
The first look is something I would wear to a nice event like a wedding or church. I love the detail that the belt adds and the ruffles on the shoes go perfectly with the feminine details of the dress. My favorite detail are the statement earrings. I love how bold they are and that they have the blush centers tying all of the other accessories into the outfit.
I wore this look to church a few weeks ago, but it would also be perfect for a baby shower or bridal shower. The cork heels and basket purse are less formal than the pumps and statement earrings and I opted for simple gold hoops to go with the more simplistic feel of this outfit.
The final look is how I wear this outfit for an everyday basis. For the earrings I did hoops, although simple diamond studs are also a great option. I kept the basket purse and traded out the heels for simple slides. In the summer this is basically my uniform and is perfect for running errands or grabbing coffee with a friend!
Dress:Neesee’s Dresses, sold out Similar Purse:Target, sold out Shoes:Target, old similar Earrings: SugarFix
One of the things I love to do in the summer is visit the local farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. I was so excited to hear ours was opening a few weeks ago and hurried over the first Saturday they opened. While it is still a little early in the season to be able to buy my fruits and veggies there, I loved getting to walk through and pick out some flowers as well as look at all of the craft booths. What are some of your favorite things to look for at the farmer’s market?
I am so excited about today’s post! It had been too long since I had last been to the ocean, and even longer still since I had been there on a vacation, so getting to spend a day warm on the sand was heavenly (and to anyone who caught that Disney reference, we are instant besties). If I am being honest, the weather was a little cooler than I had hoped for, I think it was in the upper fifties, maybe low sixties, but I still pulled out my swimsuit and a cute summer dress for the day. Monterrey was a little less than a three hour drive away and we headed straight for Carmel Beach in Carmel-By-The-Sea. I had a lot of people hype this place up to me, and often when that happens I find myself disappointed, but truthfully, it was better than any expectations I had! The water was so beautiful and the atmosphere there is something I cannot describe. Driving through Carmel-By-The-Sea on the way to the beach was like driving through a fairy tale! Every home was so unique and had a magical look unlike anything I have ever seen! Then to walk from such a setting straight onto the beach… truly, there are not words to describe it. If you are ever in the area, truly give yourself more than a day. I am already dreaming of going back and spending longer in this beautiful area of California!
The first thing I wanted to do was run and get my feet in the water, so I slipped my sandals off and I was ready to go! I literally ran straight into the water and quickly discovered that it was cold! I may have worn my swimsuit under my dress, but it sadly never did see the light of day, though I am still thankful I wore it since I did still manage to get wet while playing chicken with the waves, lol.
Now, for a fun and random side note, I totally chose this outfit on purpose for a very unique reason. When I first saw the movie Monte Carlo, I fell in love with Meg’s character and her sense of fashion. My most favorite outfit that she wore was a peach shirt dress that doubled over her navy swimsuit and I was determined to find a way to duplicate that look the next time I made my way back to the beach and I am so excited that I was able to keep that promise to myself. If you don’t remember what outfit I am talking about, go watch the movie or google “Meg from Monte Carlo’s shirt dress” and you’ll be able to see why I was so excited with how close this duplicate turned out!
We spent several hours at the beach just wandering up and down it absorbing the beauty of it all. One thing that we all discussed later that we really liked about our friend group was that while we were good about taking pictures, we were also really good at putting our phones away everywhere we went and just living in the moment spending time with each other and experiencing everything! We all walked away with many pictures, but more importantly were able to walk away feeling like we actually lived our trip and not just photographed it which can often be a hard balance to find.
Lori walking along the beach taking in the view of Pebble Beach Golf Course
Candid of Megan and her boyfriend Ben sitting on the beach
The sad thing is that the pictures don’t even do it justice as beautiful as they are!
Me, Megan, Ben and Lori
From Carmel Beach we decided to drive high way one all the way down past Big Sur which was a dream come true! I grew up reading about this beautiful stretch of coastline and to be able to actually drive the highway that so many of my favorite book characters have driven was so surreal. I can’t say for sure, but I do believe that we pulled over at nearly every.single.outlook. along the whole coast! Each view was more beautiful than the last and deserved to be stopped and admired. One word of advice though, take dramamine. Even if you are not normally prone to car sickness, believe me, Highway One will be the place you discover you can get it.
The water was so clear and blue it didn’t even look real!
Because good friends take that cute “pinterest picture” for you… 😉
Then, we were there, the Big Sur Bridge! It held a totally different kind of beauty than the Golden Gate in SF, but it was still so stunning! You might say we were a little obsessed with bridges on this trip…
After Big Sur Bridge, we had to decide whether we continued on for another thirty minutes to see McWay Falls, or head back to Monterrey to eat dinner since we were all starting to get hungry. After a hard time making a decision, we last minute decided to go ahead and fully dive into the adventure we were on and go to the waterfall and we did not regret it for a single moment. To see such a beautiful waterfall falling straight into the ocean is something that if given the opportunity a person should never miss out upon.
Xoxo,
Leighton Michele
Outfit Details (you didn’t really think I was going to leave you hanging?!)
