GOODBYE SUNSHINE, HELLO LOVELY FALL

Fall is in full swing here in Seattle and I couldn't be more excited. Having had a rather eventful summer, I am ready to slow down and settle back into a routine. And there is no better place to start than on this sleepy little island a few hours north o f Seattle. This weekend I am visiting the boyfriend's parents on Lummi Island and it couldn't have come at a better time. Something about this place re-energizes me and gets my creative juices flowing. There is so much silence. Real silence; the kind that allows you to hear your thoughts. The hustle and bustle of the city is my drug and silence is nature's detox for my mind and soul. 

This summer I began my journey as a minimalist and started building my first capsule wardrobe. You can read more about it in this post. Now that summer is over, I've started unpacking my warm weather clothing from storage and out came this oversized flannel. I've remixed it here with a white tank transitioned from my summer wardrobe and jeans & booties purchased for my fall capsule. You can also see how I stylized this flannel almost 2 years ago here! Yay for recycling staple pieces!

Flannel - Nasty Gal (similar here)

Tank - Zara

Jeans - Topshop

Booties - Nordstrom Rack

Hope you lovelies are having an rejuvenating and relaxing weekend! xxx

MYKONOS, GREECE

Greece has always been on the top of my travel list because of it's unique whitewashed walls and bright blue rooftops. I love all white themes with pops of color.

Some fun facts about Mykonos:

1. There are not very many taxis on the island. AT ALL. I would recommend renting a car or ATV to get around. We opted for the car for the safety factor.

2. In the winter, it snows in Mykonos.. sometimes. Crazy right?? Imagine this beautiful little Cycladic island covered in snow.

3. Locals tend to cut tourists off on the road.. (with good reason because we tend to drive a lot slower) and it is extremely rude to honk. Be prepared to get the middle finger if you do. :)

4. Renting a car is very easy! Just remember to put on the E-brake so it doesn't roll off a cliff. Seriously though. There is no "park" function.

5. DO NOT DRINK THE TAP WATER. According to our host "you will die". Ok probably not - but you don't want to spend the entire trip on the toilet.

6. Meats, cheeses and olives are a regular part of breakfast! and lunch.. and dinner.. and with wine.. basically anytime. I need this to be my life.

7. SPF 6 exists there. So if you get sunburned easily and need a little more protection bring a GENEROUS supply of sunblock.. It was hard for us to find anything higher than SPF 40. 

We stayed at the Mykonos Star on the Northeast part of the island and there was a beautiful little secluded beach just below.

What I wouldn't give to have breakfast with this view every day!

I'm glad we stayed at a hotel outside of Mykonos Town for the peace and serenity. However, this cute little town is definitely worth exploring. I couldn't get enough of these picture perfect cobblestone streets.

The second night there I had a bad case of jet lag and slept for about 2 hours total. At 6am we decided to make the most out of it and drove out to see the sunrise.

WHAT TO WEAR TO WEDDINGS

Hi Babes! It is a Sunday night and I just got back from a lovely wedding on Lummi Island this weekend. This summer has been full of beautiful weddings but this one was particularly unique because we were hit with a storm on the day of. There were power outages all over Washington, including where I was staying. The wedding had to be moved indoors just a few hours prior to the ceremony - talk about stressful!! But the bride and groom handled it with grace and it turned out to be an absolutely wonderful night. As the father of the groom put it, in marriage there will be sun and storms. How you both handle the adversities you'll face together is what makes a marriage.  

I never know what to wear to weddings since my everyday wardrobe consists of neutrals and blacks/whites. There are also so many rules! Obviously don't wear white... but apparently red can be frowned upon as well.. Totally depends on the weddings and venue. 

Since many summer weddings are held outdoors, I've been sticking to bright colored coral dresses. These wedges have also totally saved my feet - I was dancing in them for hours last night!

This cute shift dress is from Nordstrom. I love it because it can double as a work dress (which is how I am wearing it here). For the wedding all I did was throw on a light trench coat and changed up the purse.

Photos by the gorgeous Kim Nguyen of Hello Kim Win. She has been doing a black and white outfit series lately and they are ON POINT so if you love neutrals as much as I do, go check out her blog!

Dress - Nordstrom

Necklace - Nordstrom Rack

Wedges - Macy's

Bag - Madewell

SUMMER FAVORITES

Summer 2015 is going by way too fast! It has been a busy & fun one filled with weddings, birthdays, hiking and wine drinking. In Seattle we only get sun 3 months out of the year so when it's here I often feel like I have to fill my days with outdoor activities and social gatherings. Not to mention, air con is rare so most of the time I'm looking for an excuse to get out of my sweltering apartment.

Even though summer is coming to an end, I thought I'd share a few things that could not have survived without this season.

THE DAY DESIGNER

The first is this amazing planner from my sister (best birthday gift ever!) called the Day Designer. It was love at fist sight. Seriously, the packaging was even gorgeous.

In college I was a HUGE planner nerd but for some reason it did not make it into my daily post-graduate life. I guess I had always equated planners with being in school so I missed out on what could have been a couple of highly organized years.

If you love to-do lists and mapping out your day, this planner is perfect. It has saved me from going insane this month with all of the meetings and events on my calendar, as well as planning my trip to Europe next month. Before this I was living off of the tiny calendar on my iPhone, which did not give me a big picture of everything I had going on. And it's true what they say, writing down your goals does help you envision and achieve them.

Whitney English Day Designer Review

LUSH COSMETICS

I don't know how I hadn't discovered this magical place until now. I've been in before and have tried their bath bombs, which are great but they definitely have MUCH more to offer. With the heat and humidity in the summertime, I try to go light on the make-up so my skin can breath. After trying the lush facial masks I will never use another. They are super affordable and ALL NATURAL. Amazing right??

My favorites are the BB Seaweed and Don't Look At Me masks. Both are super moisturizing and leaves your skin glowing. No foundation needed afterwards. I also love their Ocean Salt and Body Scrub. They are not kidding about the "scrub" part - my skin always feels so smooth after using it!

WEDGES

I'm not a big fan of heels but I am obsessed with wedges. They give me the added height I need without murdering my feet. I can wear them to weddings, work and vaca no problem. The chunky heel is also very slimming for your legs don't you agree?

I was looking for the perfect pair of nude summer wedges when I came across these Michael Kors ones. They are PERFECTION. However, everywhere I looked they were sold out of my size. Then one day after I had decided to give up on my search a pair magically appeared at Macy's! It was meant to be. And she lived happily ever after... 

P.S. I am eyeing these for the fall!

Michael Kors Damita Wedge

LEMONS

They are actually one of my favorite fruits all year round because of it's versatility. I can use it for cooking, infusing my water, even baths! Yes, baths. I like to slice a few lemons and add them to my bath. It is a great for exfoliating and smells wonderful. They are also a great way to detox your body and help with breakouts. Don't believe me? Try it!
   

CROPPED

I love the shape of this crop top, however it showed a little too much mid-section for my taste. Next time I'll probably rock it with a high-wasted skirt instead, but I decided to post these anyways. After all fashion is about about trying something new and deciding if it's for you or not.

I feel the need to talk about these $15 sunnies that I've been wearing ALL THE TIME. I own a few pairs of designer sunglasses, but forgot to bring any on a trip to Houston last year. I also happened to forget my entire makeup bag.. GASP! Every girl's worst nightmare right?? Well I didn't want to drop a couple hundred dollars on sunglasses and new makeup so I headed to the local Target and that is where I bought these. 

I love them because they look chic and I don't have to worry about carrying a separate case around to protect them. They usually just get shoved in my over-sized bag somewhere - just one less thing to waste energy on. So I may seriously consider never buying designer sunnies again.. well never say never.. but I'll definitely think twice.

Also I am loving these earrings from RocksBox this month! For those of you who are not familiar with RocksBox, it is a jewelry subscription service. More about this in my next blog post! For now if you'd like to try it out for FREE, sign up with my code: maryqxoxo

Top: Urban Outfitters

Shorts: One Teaspoon

Bag: Rebecka Minkoff

Booties: Clarks

Earrings: RocksBox 

(Use my code maryqxoxo to get a free month's worth of RocksBox!)

WHAT I WORE : TO WORK

The best part about being in the tech industry is you get to wear whatever you want to work and NO ONE cares. I mean you've still got to use common sense (i.e. lets keep it classy). With that said, I am totally guilty of rocking my yoga pants to the office - probably 3/5 days of the week. 

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of meeting fellow Seattle blogger, Kimberly Nguyen of Hello Kim Win. After following each other for a over a year or so on Instagram we finally realized that we both work at the same company. SUCH a small world!

So obviously we had to grab lunch and chat blogs/fashion/all things girlie. This girl is completely down to earth, not to mention a genius in my books so for all you college tech nerds out there - I would totally suck up to her. You'll know what I mean if you check out her bio!

Photos by Kimberly Nguyen

Cardigan: Forever 21

Tank: Nordstrom (Topshop)

Pants: Nordstrom (Topshop)

Shoes: Nordstrom (Steve Madden)

Sunnies: Target

Watch: Daniel Wellington

THE T-SHIRT DRESS

Guys, I have this weird obsession with t-shirts. I want them all.

SO when I discovered this t-shirt dress phenomenon I was beyond excited! I immediately wanted to buy all of them, but the tiny minimalist conscience inside had some restraint. I settled for this grey one with clean lines, a boyfriend-esque look, and short enough hem to still be feminine.

Global warming must be real because it is way too hot to be June in Seattle right now. I wore this dress everywhere last weekend because it is SO comfy, light and fuss free. It is also incredibly versatile! You can throw on a denim chambray over it for a picnic at the park or put on a statement necklace & a cute pair of sandals for happy hour. 

We went exploring this weekend around out new neighborhood and came across this gorgeous viewpoint. It overlooks the I-90 bridge and Lake Washington.

Dress - Urban Outfitters

Denim Chambray - Banana Republic

Sandals - Nordstrom (Birkenstocks)

Watch - Daniel Wellington

Bag - LV

CLOSET DETOX

Summer is less than a month away! I'm currently working on creating my Summer Capsule Wardrobe and will share it here once I have it completed. But first, I have to finish cleaning out my closet.. I know, sounds fun right??

I used these four steps/categories to help me with my "Closet Detox".

The first thing I did was donate 5+ bags of clothes to Goodwill. This is was the stuff that I hadn't worn in years, clothes from college, clothes I had put into storage and forgot about, etc. A little voice inside my head was screaming nooooo… but I had to remind myself that they were going to a good cause and someone else would enjoy them much more than me.

What about sentimental clothes that you never wear? I laid each item out, took detailed pictures and donated them as well. 

This is the clothes you still like and will wear but are not currently right for the season. It's best to pull all of these off your hangers so they won't create noise and cover up the clothes you can wear.

Unfortunately I don't have a ton of storage space in my urban one bedroom apartment. Thank goodness for under the bed storage. After a quick stop at Target I brought home a storage container that fits perfectly underneath my bed and stuffed all of my winter/fall clothes in it. I may get another since two will fit under there and I need all the storage I can get!

This pile included clothing that I wear on a less-than-a-monthly-basis but are hard to let go of because of one or both of the following reasons:

1. I spent a fair amount of money on it.
2. I still love it, but it's uncomfortable/not practical/does not fit properly.

Selling them makes it easier to let go of since you can make a little extra cash to fund that upcoming trip, a future capsule wardrobe, or to simply put into savings.

I sell my clothes on Poshmark but there are a lot of different sites you can do it through. Once I have the item posted I put it into a separate container and store it until it is sold. If it doesn't sell quickly, I will usually just donate it.

Take a peep at my closet. :)

This is your capsule wardrobe; the clothes that you absolutely love, fit you like a glove, and will wear all the time! My closet is not quite finished yet; there is actually still a lot of work to do. But I already feel that much better when I walk into my closet to find something to wear.

Weird Fun fact: I have this neurotic thing about matching hangers.. like they have to all be the same or I will throw them out! I love these cream colored velvet hangers because they lighten up my closet and my clothes don't slip off of them.