People to See, Places to Go

This is one of my favorite days of the year!  I absolutely love the excitement of the few days leading up to our family beach trip.  We love to travel and travel as often as we can.  However, this vacation is different.  We set aside one week each year to travel just the four of us, and we try to make it to a place with little distractions (i.e. NO iPad, NO returning e-mails, NO phones) just connecting as a family.  I feel like this is more important than ever!  Now, back to the other reason (not as deep) I LOVE these few days....I LOVE to pack for a summer trip!  To me, packing means all of your favorite pieces from your closet all in one place - how great is that!!  I have a true love for summer clothes.  So much so, when I am packing I realize how out of hand my buying spring/summer clothing has gotten.  Oh well, there are worse vices, I suppose!  I love coordinating all of our clothes, so I put stacks out for each day and each night.  I do this so we can pull out a set of clothes and the family can match each day (for pictures, of course)!
     
Ok, so we are headed to Parrot Cay, a private island off the big island of Turks and Caicos.  For our first anniversary, we went to the big island of Turks and fell in love with the gorgeous water and beaches.  We always said it would be a perfect place to go back with a family.  With further research (Matthew loves to plan vacations), we discovered Parrot Cay.  Here we are with our sweet little girls, headed back to a place we love.  I'll post more on Parrot Cay later, but I want to share some of the pieces I ordered or bought at local boutiques to take.  (I'm excited to post some of Caroline and Sarah's vacation attire soon too).  Hope you love my picks as much as I do!  XOXO

 

I have already worn this Blue Dress quite a few times this summer, and I always get compliments!  I love the interesting sleeves and I always feel good in it!   The White Earrings   I got on sale at J. Crew.  The Gold Espadrilles I have actually had since last year, but they are back out and I have worn a ton!  These Gold Flowers Sandals I found at Embellish, a cute boutique in Chattanooga, but you can also find here.  This Yellow Dress just makes me happy and always feels good on!  I have some blue earrings to wear with it, but you could also pair these Blue Statement Earrings for a punch.  I have a pair of the silk ball earrings like shown in white, and if you don't have any yet, they are a must!  The Citrus Swimsuit fits really well.  I love that you can make the bottoms as high waisted as you want, or go low if you got a really good work-out in!  These bow flip flops are so much fun because Caroline has the matching pair!  You can't forget a Straw hat and I like how this one does not have too wide of a brim.  At 5 feet tall, I can't see out from under the really wide brimmed hats, but this one does the trick.  Ok, those are some of my favorite pieces in my bag.  Caroline is taking over tomorrow to share her favorite things she has packed!