A Book Review and a New Necklace Too: Celebrating Summer in Style

Top: Wild Fable, Target; Skirt: So, Kohl's

Shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Bag: Gifted

Top and Skirt: Nine West, Kohl's

Shoes: ALDO, Macy's

Bag: Amazon

It's June 21, and you know what that means: tropical fits and summer reading lists.  And I don't mean Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and Hemingway (unless you're into depressing stuff by dead guys).  I mean light-hearted love stories by ladies like Elin Hilderbrand.  I marked the first unofficial day of summer with her Endless Summer, so it's only fitting to commemorate the first official day with her The Hotel Nantucket.  And it might just be her beachiest -- and most hopeful -- book yet.

Everyone at the newly remodeled, possibly haunted, and incredibly luxe Hotel Nantucket is looking for something, be it love, redemption, fame, or revenge.  Reading about it is half the fun.  The other half is Hilderbrand's lush writing, especially when it comes to her characters.  She tells the tale of a sweet but steely Minnesota transplant as convincingly as she voices a prep school prince, a glam grifter, and an eager-to-please ingenue as well as a colorful cast of others.  Disappearing into her stories is like, well, taking a vacation.  Minus the bill and the sunburn.

Of course, making jewelry is a little like taking a vacation too.  Which is how I ended up with this Parrot Paradise Necklace:

In addition to parrots, it's got flowers and even an anchor.  Also, it's big.  Really big.  Maybe a little too big.  That's why I decided not to list it.  Something tells me that I may be the only one to appreciate the way it takes up the entire front of a shirt, like a Hawaiian breastplate or an aggressively festive reverse dickey.  

It's just you and me against the world, Parrot Paradise Necklace -- offering up one awkward aloha at a time. 😏🌺

Reptile Resurrection: Buyer and Boa Beware

Clockwise: Mix No. 6, DSW; ALDO, Macy's; Mix No. 6, DSW; Steve Madden, Macy's; ShoeDazzle, Zulily; Mix No. 6, DSW

The only good snake is a dead snake.  Or, better yet, a fake snake.  Which is as good an intro as any to the rainbow of faux reptile rollicking here.  Once upon a time, I had a whole terrarium full of snake print stuff.  Skirts, bags, belts, you name it, I had it, choking the life out of the neighboring leopards and florals.  And then one by one, I weeded them out, thinking, these wild wardrobe sidewinders just aren't for me.  Then, about six months ago, snake print became trendy again, and I, forever a slave to fashion, was helpless to avoid its scaly embrace.  Because there's something irreverent about wearing snake print, especially in unnatural colors.  It's like you're changing the snake from an agent of death into a fun party crasher.  It's still dangerous, but in a good way.  Like riding a rickety roller coaster.  As opposed to, say, riding a rickety roller coaster run by a clown.    

So take heed, boas, cobras, and garters (especially garters, as you're the one I'm most likely to see).  Mess with me, and I'll turn you into stilettos.