Inexpensive Ways to Enjoy the Weekend

Saturdays are the best for grabbing brunch, doing a little shopping, and hitting up local outdoor events! The temperatures are cooling down slightly so I’m embracing the boyfriend jean and gladiator sandals for the time being. I’m also loving this coral top! Isn’t it cute?

I absolutely love summer days spent outside enjoying the sunshine with my family. Sometimes we’ll be doing yard work and our cats will come outside and run up and down trees “showing off” their mighty strength to us. We pretend to be impressed.

Today, I’m going to enjoy the farmer’s market in my town that’s held during the summer at an old plantation home. It’s a quaint little event that brings the community together to appreciate a beautiful property and locally grown fruits and veggies.

I was thinking about fun things you can do this time of year that are low cost but still provide some source of entertainment. Contrary to what you see on Instagram, most fashion/lifestyle bloggers aren’t jet setting to a new destination every weekend because we’re normal people and can’t afford that lavish lifestyle. I’ve rounded up 5 things to do during the summer that are inexpensive.

1. Go to yard sales– Yard sales can be so much fun if you hit the good ones! My mom and I went thrift store hunting and then to a yard sale looking for little goodies. We found some really neat stuff and even found out that there was an estate sale going on down the road. The estate ended up being huge and well worth our time just to look at the beautiful furniture and antiques being sold.
2. Have a potluck– I hate using the word “potluck” because sometimes whatever is in the pot isn’t going to make me feel so lucky. I’ve been to enough church luncheons to know this is the truth. Nonetheless, invite friends over for an afternoon of eating and socializing.
3. Enjoy the farmer’s market– Similar to what I’m doing today, find out where your local market is and spend a Saturday morning browsing. Hint to my other bloggers: these events make great backdrops for taking pictures of your outfit!
4. Local concerts– Some towns have invested in the arts more than others, but in my town they have an annual concert series throughout the summer that’s free to attend. Find out if your town does something like this!
5. Tour the historical sites– Believe it or not you can actually learn a thing or two about the place you call home if you’re willing to. Living on the east coast, we have many places locally to discover. Depending on the location you choose and season you do it in, it can be free or very inexpensive.

What do you do for entertainment during the warm summer months? Leave me a comment!

Saturdays in Fredericksburg

Happy Monday friends! I know the first day of the week is hard to get through but if you’re like me you’ve already had a few cups of coffee so it’s slowly getting better. Embrace the warm deliciousness of it! Check your email and Facebook feed while dipping that wonderful biscotti in your coffee. Isn’t it the best?

This past weekend my family and I took a little day trip to Fredericksburg, VA. It was really nice to get away from the ol’ hometown for a few hours and enjoy all the history that Fredericksburg has to offer. The reason we went in the first place was for my dad. There was a local gun expo in town and he loves that sort of thing. He’s an avid target shooter and enjoys talking about his hobby with other people that share the interest. While he was doing that, my mom, sister, and I went to get cupcakes and see the Civil War battlefield.

Afterwards, we shopped around in the downtown area of old Fredericksburg. We went in some antique shops, checked out an Irish shop where we bought candy for the road, and I went in a high-end thrift store looking for Lilly Pulitzer. No luck. I ended up not buying a thing, which is weird for me! I fell in love with all the quaint little stores and adorable old houses that lined the streets. I saw this one, “The Pinkadilly Tea” and just had to take a photo. Pink doors are my love!

The rest of our day was spent in a new love of mine- Hobby Lobby. I had never been to this store but had heard it had cool stuff. The whole family went in and marveled at the aisles of things we didn’t need but so desperately wanted. Even my dad, who’s no fan of shopping, spent a few minutes exploring the massive store.

Our weekend was lovely and I’d like to go back and raid a few more high-end thrift stores. Let me know what you did in a comment below!

Summer Days With George and Martha

I love summer days when you have time on your hands to just enjoy the outdoors and the abundant sunshine. Earlier this week, I took some time out of my day to visit Mt. Vernon, the home of President George Washington. It’s located on the Potomac River and surrounded by lovely fields and forests. I honestly could have spent all day there and not seen everything. Despite the breeze, it was just too hot to be outside for very long. Here’s a peek at my day!

Being the tourist I am, I thought it would be most appropriate to carry around my Kate Spade bag all day. As much as I adore it, it got really heavy! I wore light weight clothing to make up for it though. My shorts are J Crew and top is a throwback from Old Navy years ago. I’ve gotten a lot of wear and tear on both of these items. I just love bright colors like these for the summer months!

The incredibly beautiful gardens next to the President’s mansion. It truly is a little oasis right by the Potomac River. The various flowers and plants that were in the garden have been grown there since the Washington’s resided in the home.

Not many people know that besides politics and the military, George Washington was a successful farmer. He absolutely loved the land and rose early in the morning to meet with his farm manager.

 

The porch view of the Potomac River.

The front view of the home. The trees lined the driveway and provided a wonderful breeze to enjoy while walking around.

 

How the (South) West Was Fun

Hello lovelies! I’ve been on vacation for the last week and took a break from writing. I must say that I missed it and am glad to be back feeling refreshed and renewed. I was in San Antonio, Texas visiting relatives and a few friends while also taking in a bit of what the area had to offer. It was a really fun visit with lots of memories made and laughs shared.

I have a personal connection to the area as well. My dad and his brother and sisters spent a great deal of their growing up time at an Air Force base in San Antonio. I hadn’t been to Texas before, so getting to see a few of the places my dad and his family used to frequent was really nice. Experiencing the insane Texas heat (and humidity) was also quite a shocker. You’ll notice my hair is up in quite a few pictures. It was just too hot to wear it down and keeping it styled was just not happening. Scroll through the pictures below to see what I did!

Flight from Dulles airport! Wearing J Crew shorts, Elle top, and a Dooney bag!

When my flight arrives in Austin, each gate was full so we had to get off the plane in the middle of the tarmac. I couldn’t decide if I felt important because this looked cool or forgotten because a Lufthansa plane was sitting a few feet away at our gate.

Ghost tour! In this window supposedly you can sometimes see a soldier standing behind you. Creepy.

My coworker/friend David went on the tour with me.

My EMF detector! Designed to pick up electro-magnetic forces in the atmosphere.

Our tour guide, Wolf of Bad Wolf Ghost Tours! Such a history buff and full of funny stories.

I enjoyed tasting some macarons in downtown San Antonio Saturday. The line was almost out the door for these treats!

My oldest cousin, Josh, and I. We hadn’t seen each other since we were kids!

Lots of horse-drawn carriages in the city! Most of them were lit up like this too.

The Alamo! Such an incredible place to see and learn about Texas history.

I really like the architecture of the Alamo. It says a lot about the Spanish influence of the area and the origins of Texas.

San Antonio River Walk! A great area to take in San Antonio’s delicious cuisine and people watch.

More on my time in San Antonio to come tomorrow! I’ll be doing a little haul of the things I bought at the San Marcos outlets including a new Kate Spade bag perfect for any young professional lady!

Birthday Festivities

The past two days have been full of celebration at my house! My sister turned 15 on Wednesday and my mom turned 35 (again) yesterday! Cake and ice cream were sitting around the kitchen all day with us nibbling at them frequently. I brought home a few balloons to tie on my sister’s bed post and also got her the last four Harry Potter movies for a movie watching marathon. She plans to have a big sleepover party with her 10 best friends in two weeks, hopefully this will keep them entertained.

For my mom, I took her to Annapolis for a day of eating and shopping. We ate at one of America’s oldest taverns right in the harbor. It’s been continuously operated since 1752 and people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson frequented the establishment back in the day. Before leaving the tavern, I asked the hostess a bit about the place and to my dismay she knew literally nothing about it. She handed me a pamphlet about the historical significance of the tavern, which is where I’m getting this information!

After lunch, mom and I went to the mall near by for a little shopping. I scored some serious deals! I’ll be posting tomorrow a haul of a few things I’ve bought lately. My mom isn’t much of a shopper like I am so I felt bad I was dragging her through the mall! She does enjoy her people watching though and she sat equipped with her iPhone and water bottle. Don’t worry, I tried to make her feel special though! Throughout the day (every hour to be exact) I let her open a little gift I had wrapped up the day before and put in my bag. A few of the things I bought her were Target ankle socks with panda bears and penguins, Yankee candles, nail polish, notebook, and chocolate bars. I love to open gifts so I thought this would be fun for her. Turns out I was right!

We ended the day with some ice cream and Auntie Anne’s pretzels. I love my mom and sister so much. They’re both a very important part of my life and I hope they had happy birthdays!