Fourth of July 'Fit Inspo

Living in sunny FL means we always have a nautical fourth of July celebration. We spend our Independence Day by the water with our pups, the whole fam bam and lots of friends, having a yummy BBQ and shooting fireworks. Here are some Fourth of July goodies I thought fit the "FL Fourth" bill.

Pom Pom Tank // Coral Laurel // Anchor's Aweigh Dog Toy

Illesteva Leonard Sunglasses // Navy Stripe Espadrilles // Soludos Natural Stripe Sandal

I Am Mala Beads // Cheers // Essie Clambake

How do you celebrate the Fourth of July?

Xo Steph

Lake Shore Apparel

My darling friend Rachel from Lake Shore Prep is a sweet student by day and a kick butt blogger and business woman by night. She is quite talented to say the least! So it's no surprise that I have been itching to get her to work on a post with me for ze blog for a while now.

Since it's summer, I thought now was the perfect time to get a few Q's and A's with Rachel on her laid back aquatic brand Lake Shore Apparel. Here's what went down.

I love the summer lake house/nautical/beachy/relaxed feel to Lake Shore Apparel, don't you?

 I need to get my hands on one of these tees.

Q's and A's With Rachel

• What is Lake Shore Apparel?                                                                                                         Lake Shore Apparel is my business! I founded it last summer!

• How did you start your t-shirt line?                                                                                               I was on the boat with my friends and I realized that there were no Northern t-shirt companies so I thought I would start my own!

• How did you come up with the name?                                                                                           My city is right on the lake, and there is a street going along the water called Lakeshore! I thought it fit, and there are lakes everywhere too!

• How would you describe your personal style and how do you incorporate it into LSA?            I would say that my style is classic and simple! I don't like saying preppy but yes I am preppy. Lake Shore Apparel is almost an exact copy of my style, the designs are simple but still fun!

• What can we expect to see in the future from LSA?                                                                     You can expect more shirts and other sorts of things too! Look out for decals (stickers), croakies, koozies and more!

Thank you so much Rachel!!!

***If you are interested in purchasing LSA click HERE

      LSA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LakeShoreApparel

      Rachel's Blog: http://lakeshoreprep.blogspot.com/

Go,go,go!

Ta Ta for now, friends!

Xx Steph

Good Readz

This summer I've been speed reading through stacks of books. It's safe to say I have once again returned to my bookworm-ish ways now that I have more free time on my hands. Here's a handful of books I couldn't put down (aka the best kinds of books :D)

• Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple is a funny mystery that takes place in Seattle, and I love the city of Seattle but I digress. This book was fun and entertaining the whole way through!
• The Paris Wife by Paula MClain follows the love life of Ernest Hemingway and Hadley Richardson as well as Ernest's early writing career, rise to stardom and the hardships the couple faced. Other famous authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald appear in the book. 
• Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss is a story about past life memories and experiences (reincarnation). If you think the idea of reincarnation is interesting or you believe in reincarnation this is a must read. This book really makes you think (in a good way)!
•  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is about a couple (Nick and Amy) and how Amy suddenly goes missing on their 5th wedding anniversary. It follows Amy's diary entries and Nick's story about his wife's dissappearence as well as friends and relatives accounts/opinions of both Nick and Amy. Everyone has a different story about what happened to Amy as they get to the bottom of the mystery. I think this movie is being made into a movie too! It is definitely suspenseful and thrilling.
• Room by Erin Donoghue offers an interesting view on how a child would act if they lived the first 5 years of their life in a room with no windows and no way out, and then is suddenly put into the outside world not knowing anything. I can't really say much more without giving the story away but it's so crazy! 
• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter includes lots of characters of different ages, all with imperfections that make them perfect for the story. This book is relateable and includes different styles of writing (such as short stories, movie pitches and play writing) which keeps the book fresh and interesting as it follows the lives of the diverse characters. 

Also on my list but not pictured above: I have a new obsession with Domino Magazine, HGTV Magazine and Lucky Magazine. I love interior design and rando inspiration and these glossies fit the bill perfectly. Darling magazine is also an old fave!

Happy reading friends!

Xo Steph

Eye Candy

Smitten with these swell items and their happy hues!

Sophia Studs // Small Sarra Cuff // Carrie Bangle

Sophia Webster Sandals // Yee Ha! // Pink Lady Frames

Pom Pom Flower // Lip Bullet // BrigitteW Quote 

Design Darling Home Decor // J.Crew Teardrop Earrings

Cheers!

Xo Steph

Grocery Bag Goddess

I was scrolling through my Pinterest feed and found something I thought was pretty coolio. A friend of mine was pinning pictures from London Fashion Week (Spring 2014) and out of the bunch she pinned I found this picture...

Ashish turned plastic shopping bags to couture via sequins.

So I googled Ashish's shopping bags and found out there's a whole collection (instead of just one single fashion art piece which I originally thought it to be). 

And there's a meaning to each one of these bags too. 

This line of bags is Ashish's way of poking fun at British consumer culture through reworked shopping bags clad in thousands of vibrant sequins. Each bag is inspired by plastic bags from various supermarket chains in the UK.

This Tesco bag has been recast as "Disco" (as seen in the above pictures)

While this Marks & Spencer bag (M&S Market) has been given a
cheeky little letter switcharoo on the brand's name (as shown above)



I love the fact that Ashish (a very high fashion brand) is using an every day item, allowing anyone to be able to relate to their 'fashion vision' if you will, instead of other high fashion brands that may be so out of the ball park price wise that we don't give them a second thought or glance. Don't get me wrong though, these shopping bags are still very pricey. But they are fun to look at and read about am I right?

What do you think about these Ashish shopping bags?

Toodles!
Steph

Blog Lovin'

Drum roll please? And the award for favorite blogger goes to...

 Brooke Kiernan McCallion! 

Brooke is a super chic graphic designer and blogger living in South Carolina. 

I'm smitten with her animal lovin', bicycle cruisin', restaurant hoppin' ways. 

Not to mention how adorable and original her blog and insta account is.

Here's a sneak peek at Brooke's fabulous Instagram

Aren't her pictures so fun and colorful? They make me want to move to Charleston.

To be honest, I only keep up with a couple of blogs (Brooke's blog and Bess Pearson's blog). But I must admit I check Brooke's blog at least once a day. It's safe to say I'm a teeeeny tiny bit obsessed.
Her posts include anything from music to fashion to musings as well as doses of inspiration, design, travel and much more!
Check out Brooke's blog here:
http://www.brooke-kiernan.com/

Ciao for now!
Steph

London

Hi again!

As I mentioned in my previous post I am back from my first trip to the marvelous UK. If you follow me on insta, you got a good little peek at my vacay (P.S. Sorry I'm not sorry for the 2 posts a day.) I've gotten a few messages from sweet readers asking me to do posts on everything from restaurant spots to sights and attractions to shops. So I'm going to fit aaaaall of that into one big ol' post. 

We arrived in London after an über long red eye flight across the pond and 

started exploring right away, running around on pure adrenaline

The first thing we saw was one of Paul McCartney's houses (he owns 4 in Kensington alone)  

Green Park was across the street from our hotel and on the other side of the park is Buckingham Palace. Many people picnicked here and I totally wish I could have joined them!. Tres cool.

Food: Pretty much anywhere you go in London, you can spot a Boots or an M&S Market. We went to both places for quick lunches or dinners throughout the week. M&S has super fresh food and Boots is kind of like a CVS or Walgreens with a small food section.

Next we went on the London Eye. So cool! You could see everything from up top. It's definitely a must if you go to London.

We walked to Big Ben and sat in the grass for a hot second to look at it. Such a be-a-utiful day in London.

Westminster Abbey - the church William and Kate got married in!

For the Queen's birthday, the royal family were in a parade called Trooping The Colour and went by in these carriages. William and Kate are in this one. 

We went to the Tower of London - an old castle that has the crown jewels inside. 

Peep London Bridge from the Tower of London hashtag artsy

Next we went to Neal's Yard/ Covent Garden. Neal's Yard wins the prize for 'Most Colorful Alley' and Homeslice in this alley had the most amazing looking pizza/ Covent Garden has a bunch of restaurants and shops

We ate at Spaghetti House in Covent Garden for dinner and I had the freshest caprese salad ever! Yummmm

We went to the studio where all the Harry Potter movies were filmed. We saw all the sets, costumes and props used in the movies which was everything for me. I am obsessed with all things Harry Potter!

The REAL Diagon Alley

The boy's dorm/ Ron Weasley's bed

Chamber of Secrets

Umbridge's Office

Dumbledore's office

Dobby!

And this is the model of Hogwarts that they used to film all scenes of the school. 

I could keep posting pictures from the Harry Potter tour forever. 

Then we did a Jack the Ripper tour which was just okay. I guess it just wasn't really my thing!

WARNING: If you don't like murders do NOT go on this tour.

We ate at The Breakfast Club which was soooo delish! We had to wait in a line outside the door for over 30 min to eat here but it was so worth it! I had the pancakes with cream and berries and i recomend it. Two thumbs up. Plus their OJ was fresh squeezed. Doesn't get much better than that!

We went to the British Museum. There's so much to see here I don't know where to start! This is a classic me not looking/frizzy hair problems and my sister blinking picture. Happens all the time hehe.

Went back to Green Park for a walk. Totally felt like Kate Middleton 

wearing my riding boots + J.Crew buffalo check coat.

We went to Buckingham Palace a few times but I accidentally deleted the picture I had of the palace. Womp womp wommmppp.

We saw the play The Mousetrap written by the famous author Agatha Christie. This play is so popular it's been playing for 62 years non-stop! This play was a good mystery with some comedy in it.

Food: We ate at Cafe Concerto and Cafe Pierre a couple of times each because they were all over the place by our hotel. It was a good place to eat for us since we were always on the go. Good food + quick service.

We walked and saw the replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre but we didn't go in because it had a super long line to get in so we walked across Millenium Bridge and walked through Saint Paul's Cathedral. I didn't take pictures of any of this because I just totally forgot to do so oops! 

We ate dough balls at a Pizza Express. SO GOOD!

Next we went to Harrod's which was Heaven on Earth to me! It was like a maze of nice things/stores

 and wonderful food. I am totally in love.

Afternoon Tea at Harrod's was the best tea I have EVER had! The tea cakes were perfect too. I wish I could come here every day. Harrods is the best place hands down for afternoon tea.

Up close shot of my tea cakes

New phone case I bought at Harrods because the obsession is real people

The food hall downstairs in Harrods had all the most amazing food, pastries, chocolates and candies. Gimme these donuts.

Another fave store was Fortnum & Mason - the Queen gets her food here!

... And chocolate. Let's not forget chocolate.

Stocked up on tea cookies here hurrah!

The last couple of days we spent out of London and in the English Countryside. I loved the fresh air and gardens. Here's Henry VIII's castle (Hampton Court)

Walking through a real garden maze at his castle was really cool! I found the trick to getting out of it. Keep turning right! 

The food at the castle was fit for a king or queen

We saw Stonehendge right before the Summer Solstice which is when the sun shines perfectly through the stones.

I took a stonehendge selfie sporting my J.Crew hat that I scored in the sale section for $20. I think the hat compliments the stones quite nicely don't you think? I kid, I kid

Wheat fields + poppy flowers. Too in love.

Went to the city of Bath - so lovely! 

Bath had a restaurant that served dough sticks similar to our beloved dough balls so of course we got 2 orders of that yumminess.

We bought Cornish ice cream in Bath which was soooo creamy!

The city of Bath 

Cheers!

Steph