Carryon Culture: 5 tips to hack your travel like a PRO!

Me on any given day at home: yoga pants (or anything with stretch), tshirt pulled from the laundry basket, ratty flip flops, & hair up in a messy topknot. Total effort: 10 minutes.

Me on vacation: A perfectly curated colorful outfit complete with a fun bag, statement earrings, fancy shoes, an actual hairdo, and full-face makeup (with lashes). Total effort: 1 hour.. minimum, plus the other 500+ I put into to actually planning all said vacation outfits.

Who else can relate? Like I’ve said before, I’m a planner, so it shouldn’t come as (much) of a surprise to know that I curate my vacay outfits prior to a trip (usually months ahead I’ll start thinking about what I want to wear. That’s half the fun for me!) and then the day before, I’ll lay out each look and take a quick photo to actually remember what I packed & what I had paired all together. Obsessive? Maybe. Proven method? Absolutely! And guess what? Those 500+ outfits all get packed into ONE. TINY. CARRY-ON.

The Belk Denim Lab Experience

*Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Belk. I received compensation, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are solely my own and based on my personal experience.

It's almost August, and that means fall is on its way (I can literally smell the pumpkin spice lattes), and with fall comes back-to-school season and all the shopping that goes with it! Lilly is still a few years out from starting preschool, but that didn't stop us from doing a little pre-back-to-school shopping (ha, like we even need a reason)!

I know it's hard to think about cozy sweaters, knit scarves, and all the fall things when it's literally pushing 100 outside, but I like to get a jump on the upcoming season's fashion, and for me, that means denim (I practically live in jeans come fall & winter). In celebration of back-to-school season and all the new denim hitting stores for fall, Belk rolled out a brand new experience, the Denim Lab, to really allow customers to dial up their style. 

Beauty & the Bestie: An Evening at the Nashville Symphony

I'm so excited for you to be my guest and let me tell you all about the beast of a time I had at such a beautiful Nashville event recently! Ok, ok. I'll dispense with the cheesy wordplay (but there's nothing wrong with fanning the flames...a little) :)

So a couple of weekends ago, my bestie, Britney, surprised me for my birthday with tickets to the Nashville Symphony. But this wasn't just your average concert - this was Beauty and the Beast in Concert, meaning, a live orchestra would perform the enitre score of the classic 1991 Disney film in real time, as the movie played overhead (dialogue included). If you saw this post, you already know that any event involving music + movies is an instant win in my book. But adding Disney into the mix? That is literally the perfect evening.

So B & I had a date night, and it was magical.

Pink Retreat Series: Saturday & Sunday, Days 2 & 3

Psssst! This post is part of a series - click here to catch up on all the Pink Retreat recaps!

Welcome back to my next (& final!) post about my experience in Palm Beach at the Pink Retreat! Because I hadn't signed up for any extra activities beyond the walking tour, days 2 & 3 were a little more laid back for me. On the itinerary, day 2 had the option of sunrise yoga and a couple of painting classes. I opted out of painting (no way anything else was going to fit in my carryon anyway) but I wanted to get in on the yoga action (I heard there were mimosas!). Unfortunately, by the time I has registered for the Pink Retreat, all of the yoga spots had been filled (oh well, looks like it would have to be mimosas on my own by the pool instead. Not such a bad compromise after all). That left some extra time in my day to play around with.

Going into the trip, I knew I had to squeeze in some beach/pool/relaxation time (you can't go to FL without heading to the beach at least once!), and since we had gotten all of our shopping done on day 1, we had a hefty chunk of time left, and I'm so glad it worked out that way!

Pink Retreat Series: Friday, Day 1

Hey! Did you know this is part of a series? You can check out the other Pink Retreat posts here!

Sorry not sorry for all of the Pink Retreat spam coming your way. I'm finally getting around to editing the 2.5 million photos I took while in Palm Beach so get ready for an onslaught of colorful content coming your way! (Don't know what the Pink Retreat is? Check out the official website here!)

I'm going to jump right into it here. The itinerary for the Pink Retreat in Palm Beach sounded like so much fun! Even before itineraries were released, I knew this was a weekend I had to attend & would have so much FOMO if I didn't. One thing to know about the itinerary is that several of the events require signing up for and are "extra" like the walking tour, paint nights, and sunrise yoga. All run anywhere from $15-25 give or take and you can sign up for as many or as little as you like (but spots are limited & fill up fast, so plan accordingly). I signed up for the Friday walking tour and that was it, and honestly, it worked out perfect that way.

Pink Retreat Series: In The Beginning - an interview with Tosha Williams

c/o Lilly Pulitzer

Hey! Did you know this is part of a series? You can check out the other Pink Retreat posts here!

I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks now since the Pink Retreat, and I still have so much to share and discuss! I'm going to kick off the rundown of my experience at #TPR by giving you guys a little background & inside look at how this weekend even came to be, including an interview with none other than the creator herself, Tosha Williams!

For those that don't know who she is or haven't been to a Pink Retreat (yet!), Tosha is the one who made this entire event possible. The Pink Retreat is her brainchild, born out of obviously a love for the Lilly Pulitzer brand, but also for the sisterhood that bonds its fans together.

Pink Retreat Series: Colony Hotel Review

Did you know this is part of a series? You can check out the other Pink Retreat posts here!

Hi friends! I'm so excited to share the first post in my Palm Beach/Pink Retreat series from my recent trip. There is so much to discuss & share, so I'm splitting up the trip into several different posts. Up first is a full review of where we stayed: the Colony Hotel!

Palm Beach has plenty of options for accommodations, but only one clear (& obvious) choice for us. As a preferred hotel & kind of home-base for all things Pink Retreat (read more about #TPR here & lots more to come, so stay tuned), we knew we wanted to stay right in the action.

"Oh my God, you look like the Fourth of July!"

Happy 4th of July, friends! We all get to be out of office today thanks to living in the land of the free because of the brave, so let's party like it's 1776! Ok, ok, enough with the overused sayings. Today I'm just showcasing a little bit of my own personal July 4th style by giving some new life to a dress that has been hiding in my closet, and I felt it was time for it to come out & play.

Lilly Pulitzer has several really cute patriotic prints, but I don't own any of those (I mean really, when else would I wear a shift printed with fireworks?) so ya girl had to work with what she's got!