Favorite Wears: Summer Meets Fall

 

  I have lived in Kansas City for a long time, and I had never been to Miami Ice until a few weeks ago! Not only is it close to my house, and totally cute, but shaved ice is the perfect jump into fall. I'm all about fall wears, but the weather can be a tad too warm still, so I'm cooling myself down with watermelon shaved ice. ;) And it tastes amazing. I mean, whatever you have to do... right?  I love this green shirt dress with tie cuff details. This is THE color for the fall season, and cuff/sleeve detail is a fast trend.  So, I'm jumping in head first with both in this one look. Fall dresses are the perfect place to start for cooler weather wears. Shop my look (similar boot options, as mine are from last year):

Photos by the talented Elizabeth of Elizabeth Ladean Photography.   She shoots portraits, engagements/weddings and lifestyle sessions all around Kansas City.  You can follow here on Facebook here and on Instagram here to see more of her work!

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Favorite Wears: Wedding Ready in Santa Rosa

 

  I love getting to merge a wedding celebration with a little vacation - it's the perfect combo! During our time in Northern CA, we drank a lot of win and did a lot of dancing.  It was fun getting ready for this wedding as the girls gathered in the master bathroom to get ready together, and it sort of felt like my old college days - living in a house with some of my best friends, getting ready for our weekend nights out together.
So, for this wedding - it was super hot (still), so I went for something breezy.  I felt bad for the dudes in suits. They were very warm to say the least.  I also wanted to keep my shoes on as long as possible - so went for a slightly lower block heel, which was actually very comfortable (and I didn't take my shoes off until a lot later in the dancing. ;) . These shoes are actually 40% off with code FRIENDS40 right now!
My wedding attire (+ earrings and necklace by Janesko's new architecture line, launching September 21st):

The wedding was held at Paradise Ridge Winery, which if I could do over again, I'd get there early to explore their expansive sculpture garden (like that LOVE sculpture in the photo below).  The wedding was beautiful - and the dance floor was hopping. I took little to no photos during the reception because I literally danced all night. It was an amazing music list and we all had so much fun. 

The bride and groom, as well as the bride's sister and my brother-in-law were definitely the most fun to dance with throughout the night.  It was a lively crowd, and my feet paid for it the next day - in all the good ways possible.

The next day, after a brunch with the newlyweds, we headed back down to San Francisco, stopping to gaze over my favorite bridge in all the land - the Golden Gate.  I can never get enough of this. It really is so beautiful. And this day, we saw a whale swimming way down there - which was pretty exciting. My outfit (my shirt 40% off with code FRIENDS40):

Until next time, San Fran! xoxo

(P.S. see the first part of our trip here!)

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Wine Tasting in Santa Rosa & Sonoma

  Over Labor Day weekend, my husband and I, along with some friends, flew to northern California for another friends wedding. I love when our friends have weddings in cool places. Before the wedding festivities, we had to hit up the wineries in Santa Rosa, where we were staying, and Sonoma (all very close). We got a driver and piled in their SUV (the only way to do it) for a day of drinking wine, but also breathtaking views and lots of laughs.
While we were there, all of Cali was going through a major heat wave - and north, were we were is not used to this kind of heat!  Barely anywhere has air conditioning - and it was a record breaking 104 degrees the day we were out wine tasting.  So, we got a bit creative for the wineries we decided to hit up, and big thanks to my awesome sister-in-law (who along with my husband's brother/her husband, live in the San Francisco area) knew a lot of the best places and was able to pivot with the heat and plan out a great day!
Overall, we went to 3 wineries, and ate lunch on the way.  I've mapped them all out below, and you can see pics from our day below, too.  But a quick overview of where we went because I loved them all for different reasons!

First: Matanzas Creek Winery - This place smells amazing, because it's a lavender field, too.  This place has the most beautiful views and lots of shaded areas to relax and drink your wine outside. Next time, I want to visit in June during lavender peek season!
<Before our second stop, we stopped by Cafe Citti for an amazing lunch.>
Second: Deerfield Ranch Winery - This place is in a cave! What more can I say? It was super cool down there - the temp and the experience.
Third: We went to St. Francis Winery, which had me thinking about my grandfather, whose name was Francis. Besides that, the views were also amazing here and had a nice cool inside to hide from the outside heat!

Here is a Google Map of our route and the wineries we hit up. Though there are tons more that are all great, I highly recommend these ones - ESPECIALLY for a hot day! They had great shade, and a winery in a cave cannot be beat. A very cool (literally - the cave stays in the 60s no matter what the weather outside is) experience; a great day overall!

During our time in Santa Rosa, we stayed at the coolest home that my sister-in-law found on Airbnb. It was super nice, spacious for all three couples and had an awesome back patio with a pool. Because of the super hot heat wave, we definitely got a lot of use out of that pool!

I'll share the wedding next!  But for those curious - my wine tasting outfit & swimsuit:

(my t-shirt was from Madewell)

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