pants in the summertime

normally a sundress girl, i've really found myself drawn to printed pants this summer. sundresses with no layers just aren't as much fun to wear! i know, this is super counterintuitive, probably. who knows. up until this year, i've only ever owned 1 or 2 pairs of jeans at a time. and even then, i never ever chose to wear them over a dress or skirt. but now, all of a sudden, dresses and skirts are looking boring and jeans offer way more options. this will probably/definitely change when fall weather hits and i can bring my beloved tights out of storage, but until then.. i'll keep loving my weird jeans collection.

i've been having so much fun with my floral pants lately! i had to share these pictures of me wearing them with my favorite shirt. :)

these shoes have existed in my wardrobe since high school. i should definitely replace them.. it's not like they've worn well or anything, but no other black flats ever compare to how cute they are. i'm just so picky about my shoes. :(

i added a new pair of pants that i'm obsessing over to my wardrobe recently, too..

i actually can't even put into words how excited i am to finally own mint jeans! that are comfy! and not high-waisted! and affordable! i'm just so in love. i've worn them 3 out of the 5 days since i got them. it's fun seeing what matches with them (spoiler alert: it seems that i think EVERYTHING matches with them).

i'm also really obsessed with this shirt. austin's brother, bentley, works at a local screen printing company, and hooks our group of friends up with really cool shirts all of the time. this one's extra special because it's austin's band, virginia werewoolf, and it's the only one of it's kind. ;) i could honestly probably say that 90% of my tshirts are c/o bentley, haha. i really, really love all of them. dressing up band tshirts is one of the funnest things to do.

outfit one:
necklace: anthropologie (in store)
shirt: modcloth (available on curator)
cardigan: american eagle (the same one in all of my posts ever)
jeans: insight
shoes: steve madden, circa 2006

outfit two:
necklace: catbird (no longer available)
tshirt: band tshirt, c/o bentley & austin
jeans: bullhead
shoes: converse (i just spent 45 minutes oohing and ahhing over some of the printed converse they have on their website.. geez)

<3

summer style rut

i really hate the summer, you guys.

overwhelming heat, mosquitoes, high school kids in my store ALL DAY rather than just post-4pm, bees, hearing about everyone else's awesome vacations that i'll never be able to afford, spiders, etc..

and also the part where i only know how to look cute when i can layer times a million, and i cannot layer in the summer.

boring boring boring.

i actually did feel pretty cute, today, though. i work with adorable girls who have been inspiring me style-wise. my sister and i are hopefully going shopping on tuesday (gotta keep taking advantage of these sales, y'all!), so maybe that'll help me, too. and have you guys seen the asos sale?! i have four dresses, a belt, and a clutch in my bag for a grand total of $65.. whoa. here's looking forward to learning how to dress for the next 2 months..

necklace: build it yourself via anthropologie
tank top: american eagle
jeans: levis
shoes: target (out of stock, but look at these!)

<3

in which i shamelessly show off my floral pants

richmond shopping did me well. i got a few tops (something i never have enough of - because i can't count band tshirts), a bracelet, and the most perfect pair of jeans i've ever seen in my life.

i've been on the hunt for floral pants for a long, long time. don't get me wrong, i see them all the time, but usually in places like anthropologie or madewell (both out of my budget) or forever 21 (i don't trust their pants). i actually saw this pair in urban outfitters earlier in the day, but they were $80 so i didn't even pick them up to try them on.

but then i found them again! they were on a clearance rack, there were 4 pairs, all not at all my size, but i tried a pair on anyway, anddd they fit.!!!!!!!!!

needless to say, i spent the rest of the day shopping for tops to wear with them. :)

necklace: catbird (no longer available)
top: h&m
jeans: pacsun (they were $18.99 in store)
shoes: shi

<3

i went to nashville, part 4

i'm sorry for stretching these out soooo looong, but i wanted to make sure that i posted about everything. it was mine and austin's first vacation and hopefully not our last trip to nashville.

i mentioned that we took the last bit of our trip to make mini stops in other big cities in tennessee.. namely, knoxville and gatlinburg. in knoxville, i really wanted to stop by nostalgia.

 

this picture was taken from across the street, but i loved the turquoise accents on the front of the building (the sign, the walkway). this place was huge, and we were lucky to have gotten there fairly early in the day, so we had time to mosey around the whole store.

one of the first things that greets you is this cute cute old-tv-turned-aquarium:

 obsessed! <3

they had incredible selection.. i ended up buying a sweet little vintage top, something that is forever alluding me. :)

our reasons for stopping in gatlinburg were a little bit sillier.. i wanted austin to see the main street with all of the tourist attractions (i LOVE that road.. i bet that it's just as much fun to stare at as the attractions would be!), and i needed a new pair of jeans. i only owned one pair of jeans prior to this trip, and, with weather changing/my current job requiring dresses to be worn with tights at all times, i needed another pair or two. my one pair of jeans came from the levi's outlet in gatlinburg, so i figured it'd be a quick stop because i knew my style and i knew my size (when i bought my first pair of jeans, they were the only pair that i tried on!). unfortunately (to austin's dismay), i was wrong. THIRTEEN pairs of jeans later, i ended up spending exactly what i would have at home on a new pair. don't get me wrong, they're perfect and i really did need them, but it was a bit of a waste.. and not a fun side adventure. ;)

after those (and a couple of other) stops, we had to really head home.

i was a sad pup. <3