I don’t know about y’all, but I’m in need of a dose of some fashion inspiration right about now! Elish is to the rescue! I love this super simple yet super stylin’ look!
She’ll tell you more 🙂
S U M M E R Â S T Y L E
“The dog days of summer call for a more relaxed look: braided, messy hair, fresh face, and kempt wardrobe.”
“Anytime you feel a bit uninspired, go back to basics and start there!”
Necklace: Anthropologie
Tank: Anthropologie
Jeans: Current/Elliott
Shoes: DSW
Got some fun fashion for y’all today, from Elish of course! We shot in a temporarily unmanned UPS truck driven by one of SummerHouse’s favorite delivery dudes! 🙂 
“Mississippi summer is officially here! Breezy pants and a loose tank can carry through from spring to summer, then from summer to fall seamlessly.”
“Until you can be by the water catching some sun, keep your cool in light and flowy pieces.”
Top: BCBG Generation
Necklace: The Giving Keys
Necklace: Shalla Wista
Belt: Anthropologie
Pants: BCBG Generation
Shoes: Gianni Bini
(We got caught, but he was a good sport anyway! 😉 ) 
Today is the third and final post in our three-part Arco Avenue graphic tee series! Elish and Katie are always a blast to work with and I always love picking up a few style tips from them whenever we do shoots like this! 🙂
I hope you enjoy this third post as the other two!!
> > > > > Â G O I N G Â P L A C E S Â < < < < <
Elish on this look:
“Ever noticed how heels are game changers? Over-sized shift dress? Throw on some heels then talk to me. V-neck knit shirt and jeans? Hand me some stilettos and I’m all set.”
Katie on this look:
“This is a great “casual-but-put-together” way to wear our custom graphic tees!
The heels are by Matt Bernson (one of our favorites). We love the fun pop of mint and espadrille detail that makes up this gorgeous shoe. And how awesome is the rounded chunky heel?”
“This double layer Heather Hawkins spike necklace is EVERYTHING. It easily transitions from day to night, and all of HH’s pieces are made from natural stones and real gold.”
“Instead of a big purse this summer, try a small wristlet or clutch. This one by Vince Camuto is the perfect size for your cash, cards, phone, and a small lip gloss.”
V-Neck: Arco Avenue
Jeans: Current/Elliott (Elish’s own)
Matt Bernson Shoes: Arco Avenue
Heather Hawkins Necklace: Arco Avenue
Vince Camuto Clutch: Arco Avenue
If you see anything you like, by all means, check out Arco Avenue in The Township in Ridgeland! And thanks so much for stopping in. It means the world! Hope you have a great weekend!!!
Today, I bring you PART TWO of this fun series with Arco Avenue and Elish! I’m so in love with these graphic tees that Katie had made for her store! They’re so perfect for any shoe loving lady! But I’ll let Elish and Katie do the talking from this point!
> > > > > P A T T E R N Â P L A YÂ < < < < <
Elish on this look:
“As this quote implies, there is no reasoning with a girl about shoes. So why not spend a hundred to feel like a million?” 😉
Katie on this look:
“I can only try to explain how much I love this outfit! From our custom made graphic tees, to the pattern mixing, and of course the Gigi New York clutch, this look is SO on trend for summer.
If you get one of our tees, you’ll be back for another. These tribled V-neck graphic tees are super soft and have a loose, easy fit. No need to wait for a “skinny day” to throw it on! They are perfect with everything from your skirts and heels to a day at the beach (and everything in between).”
“THE SHOES… oh my. The orange pattern is to die for, especially mixed in with another great pattern like the one in Elish’s skirt. Orange has to be one of my favorite colors for this summer, and in a statement heel like this one, it makes me swoon even more. And I just have to mention how much I LOVE Elish’s white pedi (also a super hot summer trend). Get the perfect white polish for this look at Arco Avenue! Only two coats of this butter LONDON polish are needed for nails with perfect, smooth, full coverage. And bL is always 3-free, so your nails stay healthy!”
“If you aren’t familiar with Gigi New York handbags and accessories, let us introduce you. This line was designed by two moms who wanted durable, high fashion, and functional handbags. Gigi New York is all of that and more. With accessories from phone covers and leather bound journals to handbags in all shapes and sizes, they are perfect for the trendsetter, mom-on-the-go, or business woman. One major thing we love is that you can personalize any of these pieces with your initials in chic little gold foil letters. A nice change from the overdone styles of monogramming we tend to see too of much in the South. Order yours today at Arco Avenue!”
V Neck: Arco Avenue
Skirt: Anthropologie (Elish’s own)
butter LONDON polish: Arco Avenue
Poetic License Heels: Arco Avenue
Gigi New York Clutch: Arco Avenue
So our garden is planted!! Price and I have made it a yearly tradition to plant a garden this time of year! (Well, this is only our second year to do it but… We plan to keep it up!)
We learned a LOT last year about what we liked growing (like herbs and tomatoes), what we did not love (like okra and carrots…), and how to space plan better so picking ripe goods was a little easier.
I’m pumped about our array of goodies this year!
I must say… I’m most excited about the strawberries! I hope we don’t kill them! 🙂 And having fresh tomatoes around all the time was a major plus last year. I’m looking forward to those too!
I’m also pretty pumped about Lemon Mint… I have no idea what this stuff is, but if it’s halfway as good as lemon OR mint, then I think we’re in for a real treat. I’ll keep y’all posted on uses for this stuff once I figure out exactly what it is…
Last year, we quickly learned that we had to fence off the garden because of our curious little beagles… They are none too happy about this fence… Dover, our boy beag, inspected the perimeter and decided to show us how he felt about this “thing” that’s keeping him from digging sprees…
“I’ll show them,” he’s thinking…
Anyway…
Another thing we learned last year is that cilantro (one of my FAVORITES!) is very picky. It doesn’t like too much sun or too much heat. Because of that, I put it in a pot and put it on our back deck which only gets sun about half the day. When it gets super hot, I might move it inside. I just hope it makes it longer than a month this year!
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Do any of y’all have gardens? Do you love them?! What’s your favorite thing to grow!? I cannot tell you how excited I am about having fresh, homegrown produce right there in my backyard in the near future!! 🙂
In keeping with my tardiness when it comes to getting Fashinspiration posts up… This post is going up a full month later than I had originally planned… Better late than never, I guess?!
Here’s what E says about this adorable suit and how she styled it!
“Recently we had an event at work, welcoming internationally renowned designer Barry Dixon! Everyone was extremely excited and ready to put their best foot forward. I debated a bit on what to wear, but quickly decided to bust out my spring suit.
I mean come on…let’s be serious. How many times can you wear a coordinating white with pink trim spring shorts suit? I have to strike while the iron is hot! While I obviously love a statement outfit, I don’t really consider myself a girly girl. And pink happens to be a color I usually stay away from.
That being said, I wanted to toughen up my ensemble a little. I added a spiked collar necklace and my new favorite heels to shake up the look. A shorts suit really packs a punch for summer and is a fun way to transform work attire from day to night.”
Suit: ASOS
Tank: Target
Necklace: Zara
Shoes: Zara
Hello, Wednesday!
At this point in the week, I’m in need of some fashinsipration other than festival duds! (Hangout starts FRIDAY! EEE! So excited! But I’ve got to focus on real-ish fashion since festival wear is only appropriate in just the right settings…)
Elish shakin’ things up is just what the doctor ordered!
Take it away, E!
I’ve been enjoying breaking out my summer wardrobe staples lately! Perhaps… a little too much. Sneakers (post coming soon!), baggy T’s, & shift dresses have been making a regular rotation during the week. I realized I hadn’t dressed up for work in a while, and decided to shake things up a little.
No one wants to get stuck in a fashion rut. While I can’t wear this everyday, it was refreshing to pull together a polished look…on a Tuesday no less! Who said I wasn’t spontaneous?
Top: Victoria’s Secret
Belt: Banana Republic
Skirt: Vintage Re-Done via Libby Story
Shoes: Calvin Klein
Ring: Vince Camuto
Lipstick: Mary Kay “Merlot”
LOVE IT!!! That lipstick is killer (among other things!!) Thanks, my stylin’ friend, for always lending such lovely advice! 🙂 XO!
I’m so happy it’s finally starting to actually feel like summer outside. I don’t know what Mississippi feels like right now. DJ’s dad tells him it’s been cool like up here in Virginia. But it’s 80 degrees here today, and breezy at that. It feels amazing.
I’ve always had that aching for summer. Every year it comes around the same time. However, our winter this year was horribly cold and wet. So this time around, the aching is worse. And I don’t know how to contain it. I don’t know how to explain that feeling, either. I miss the feel of a warm breeze on slightly tanned skin. Light and airy summer dresses. The smell of saltwater washing over golden sand.
It’s also around that time of year I met DJ. I think I notice that most of all. When you meet someone during the summertime, everything’s different. We’re all skinnier, tanner, glowy-er. You know what I’m saying. Now that we’ve spent six months in the cold/snow, we’ve put on a few pounds, our skin is white as a sheet, and we’re just plain lazy. We simply don’t feel like doing anything but lay in bed and watch movies.
It’s so exciting.
When I met him in July, he was the tall, dark, handsome man from Mississippi who stole my heart. Now we’re both so used to each other that we’ve accepted the extra pounds, the dry skin and hair that winter has brought us. Nothing’s glowing. No one’s tan. The muscles of summer have disappeared.
Am I just crazy or does anyone else notice this with the cold weather?
Maybe I’m just crazy.
My point is that it’s all coming back now. I’m running a mile everyday on my lunch break again. I’m eating healthier. I’m moving more. And the sun’s shining. And the weather’s amazing. He’s gaining that muscle back and his skin is darkening. That’s when I really have to contain myself. Because duh. My man looks good.
I just can’t wait for long rides in his truck, windows down, warm breeze through the windows, his arm wrapped around me in the middle seat. Trips to the beach. Rides on the motorcycle. These things are the best things in the world to me. The little things.
And because I need something to break up my crazy rambling, here are some pictures I took last year around summertime, which only make the aching worse:
What kinds of things are you anticipating this summer?
Until next time, be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and on my blog, of course,Coffee Rings & Southern Things!
In anticipation of the warm weather that comes along with the lovely seasons of Spring and Summer, I put together a list of a few lovely warm weather activities (using a few of my favorite fonts!)
all fonts were downloaded free from dafont.com
What do you most look forward to as warm weather approaches?!
I had some fun over the weekend playing with a couple of new color combos! The two that ended up being my favorite were the ones in the pictures…
The first one is called Shell + Ink, which is a pretty navy blue and coraly pink/orange pairing. The other is called Summer and is that same pretty coral color paired with a deep bright yellow!
Pattern: Walk The Line. Colorway: Shell + Ink
Pattern: Raindrops. Colorway: Summer
The test cut-outs were Highest Heels (the shoe) and My Heart Belongs to Mississippi (which I hope is obvious!)
The new colorways as demonstrated on Highest Heels and My Heart Belongs to Mississippi
My Heart Belongs to Mississippi in Summer Raindrops
Highest Heels in Walk The Line Shell + Ink
A look through cyan colored glasses…
What other color combinations do y’all think would look good? I’m always always always open to suggestions and would greatly appreciate your input! 🙂
By the way, I’m officially setting a date for myself to have an ETSY store up and running! That date is SEPTEMBER 29! There, I said it out loud. Now that that’s done, I’ll have a little more accountability/motivation/pressure to get things in order!
I’ll try to keep y’all posted in the meantime! Thanks for the moral support! 🙂
THE HIVE | The Lovely Bee 