Amazing summer break

Tonight I sit here typing this post both sad but happy. I always am sad when summer comes to end because my girls go back to school and reality is back, the early alarms, crazy routines, hectic schedules and missing my daughters. I love summer time because I get to have my girls home with me so we can have fun adventures and get to spend every day bonding. Sure they have their cheer practices and other activities they both are involved in or I have to do different protects for work, but we get to basically enjoy endless hours of time together. Once school returns I feel like they spend more time at school then with me, I basically leave them in the early morning hours not to see them again till after 3 then they have their practices so we maybe spend a few hours together before its time for bed then back to the daily grind again. 

Today we spent the morning and early afternoon at the beach, it was amazing. Water was crystal clear and flat. Perfect end to the perfect summer break. 

I am happy because both my girls make me so proud with all the amazing things they have achieved, I'm so blessed to have some super smart kids both being gifted or high achievers taken advanced classes or honor AP courses. It's inane my oldest is going to be a junior this year which means only two years left till I'm writing this end of summer post after dropping her off at college. It is so hard being a mom and having to eventually realize that we have to let them go to become who they are meant to be. I want to sometimes just freeze time and keep them here in the safety of my home cuddled up watching our latest favorite Netflix series lol, but I know I have to let them grow, chase their dreams and achieve their goals. 

Butterfly World photo, one of our families favorite spots to visit. We have a monarch cocoon ready to open any day. We even have started our own butterfly garden over the summer planting seeds that have grown, new plants and old orchids. Can't wait to share some photos. 

I now sit here reflecting on another amazing summer filled with new memories and amazing adventures. We truly had an awesome summer again with another amazing summer road trip, long weekend adventures to the Keys and days floating in the ocean talking, reminiscing and dreaming of the future. I have this feeling that things are about to change for the better. Huge changes are on the horizon and I'm not just talking about my oldest going off to college. We have some big changes with my career coming up, my hubby's job, and moving. We really are about to start an amazing adventure over the next couple of years that in the end will lead to being where my heart has been for over six years. I can't wait to share more in the months and year to come. For now I'm going to leave you with some of my favorite ootd shots from the last week of summer, along with some other fun summer photos of our amazing summer antics and adventures. We always love to explore and are a wanderlust family at heart for sure. I can't wait to share many new adventures in the future along with some really amazing and exciting announcements in the weeks to come. 

Heading to bed since my alarm will begin going off again at 5:30 am, but I will say one last thing, it's officially the start of my birthday week. Going to have some fun stuff to share this week along with some spontaneous giveaways. Didn't get the response on the Rafflecopter hosted contest I started a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my 20k followers but I do have all the entries from those who did enter and decided I was going to share some of the many prizes I had set aside with everyone. If you already entered my contest you will be receiving an email from me once I confirm your entries then sending out prizes to everyone. Anyone who wants to win some fun prizes to celebrate my birthday week from some of my fave shops and designers keep an eye out here and in my social media for more chances to win. Figured since it's my birthday and I know I love opening presents I want to surprise all my amazing followers who took the time to enter with their own present. 

As always peace, love and light to all. Hope all the teachers and kids going back to school tomorrow, or in the weeks to come have a great first day and week of school. Cheers to another amazing school year and to an awesome upcoming holiday season, may it be Dliteful, full of surprises, love and of course peace xoxo 

My arm-stack from the beach today. Wanderer bracelets an amazing brand I joined up with as an ambassador this summer and have been honored to be a part of promoting this amazing brand. Use my code MELISSA20 for 20% off and all sales help secure jobs for local Bali artisans. Excited to bring you more amazing product releases, a bigger discount and more from this amazing brand for fall. 

Chill out mom it's just the end of summer break, we have a long weekend coming for Labor Day and the holidays are right around the corner. My girls think I'm so emotional and they are right lol, love those kids so much they are my everything, I absorb and cherish every moment. I'm so blessed to be able to spend all the time I get with them and couldn't imagine it any other way. I would go back and make all the same career and school sacrifices I made to be able to stay home with both as babies because in the end I was still able to chase my dreams and achieve my goals just took a little longer but being a mom has always been first. 

The tank is by Chaser brand, shorts are Silver Jeans Co boyfriend shorts in light wash and my compass gold Necklace is from Bikiniluxe.com. 

One of my favorite of many amazing birthday presents that have arrived and have many more to share this week. I have been a long time fan of Spell Designs also known as Spell and the Gypsies Collective and Spell of Byron Bay. Since my first kimono a couple years back I have been scooping up whatever I can find, over the summer they launched a US site and I celebrated by ordering some amazing graphic tops for my collection along with making many purchases for my birthday with gift cards and cash I was given for that reason. This skirt is amazing. I also got a few other skirts, couple of dresses, some tops both graphic and floral print, intimate apparel, a kimono, purse, jewelry and more. I have a lot of amazing gypsy bohemian posts and outfits coming soon. The top is older and from Free People. Alex and Ani Bracelets which I can bet the new fall bracelets may be part of my presents this week, I added a few new styles and designs to my wish list earlier in the week. My mom always gets me one or two along with other family and friends. They make amazing gifts and this girl can never have enough. Love to stack, mix n match my arm candy. 

Speaking of Alex and Ani this was my butterfly world influence arm stack Monday. Love their wings of change charm, UNICEF butterfly, feather charm and quill bracelet, peridot in honor of my birth month, and other fun pieces I adore. 

Another Spell Designs skirt and top, paired with Alex and Ani bracelets and an amazing turquoise and silver squash style necklace with amazing feather details I came across on eBay of course. This skirt is one of my faves and can't wait to share the blue mid dress this week. Yeeeee:). 

If you saw my Pam & Gela post the week before last I also stocked up on some pieces I had been wishing for from their awesome huge warehouse clearance sale. It's still going on now and just ordered a few more pieces along with some new fall styles, one more birthday splurge my hubby insisted on. The choker is by another fave Ettika and watch out this week for my new purple locks, my current color is going to be touched up and revamped for fall I can't wait to share it with you all Friday. 

Finally ending my photos with one last beach shot from this amazing ocean and beach today. Feeling so blessed and ready for whatever is coming for fall. I have some amazing new brands and brands/designers I have been honored to work with for some time now, their newest fall styles and looks all coming in the weeks ahead. I promise you will love all the new trends and my faves if you like my style or taste. Have an awesome night, sweet dreams xoxo 

Late Fashion Post

Hello everyone and so sorry for my absence I have been so busy with work, then my kids got sick, and I have been having health issues myself so things have been chaotic to say the least. I have a little post to put together with some home decor items and then wanted to go over some of my outfits from last week on social media. Let's start with the fashion first then we can move onto the great home decor finds from Target and Homegoods I came across last week or over the weekend. Target was having a great bedding sale online and if you spent over $100 you saved $25 so I actually returned my in store purchase to order some items online for my bedroom then saw they had some items I had purchased on sale so returned them and even got a couple extra items since I saved so much. Saving is for sure my middle name. 

Loving denim on denim, last week I shared a pair of Black Orchid jeans with multiple denim patches and wanted to get that look with what I had in my closet. I found these old Loft jeans with distressed look, that have darker patches to cover the holes and paired that with a chambray top from Walmart last winter. Of course I had to add one of my many graphic tees from my collection, this one I got at Marshall's awhile back for under $10. 

Necklaces are from my favorite Etsy shop Fawninginlove, the shorter is a triangle opalite and then longer is a blue and gold tone tusk style horn. Love her jewelry it is all high quality, amazing customer service and her packaging is totally adorable. Shoes are my strappy grey ankle boots from Shop Sophie May. 

Next up is a flat lay of an outfit I wore for my first collaborated styled shoot for the blog. I am so excited to have some of the first images and once editing is complete I will have some shots for you just in time for Valentine's Day:). Lots of fun stuff going on with my blog. This graphic tee is from the Light Blonde and you can find her on Instagram @thelightblonde. She has this tee in white with black or a limited addition Valentine's Day tee with white and red. This was another limited edition that is burgundy and cream. I took some inspiration shots of looks for the shoot and had paired it with this burgundy tone textured pencil skirt from Forever 21 and some nude faux leather lace up sandals from GoJane that I got for under $20. 

Forever 21 wide leg, gaucho style jumper in chambray paired with lace up nude shoes, a kimono with feather pattern and pompom trim then finished off with my gorgeous Fawninginlove blue and gold tone bohemian horn. I also have the turquoise she sent me and love them both. 

The Blue agate necklace with feather is also by Fawninginlove on Etsy and the bracelets are all Lacey Ryan. You can find some of her collection at Maurice's or she has her own site you can find a link for in my favorite shops on side bar. 

Here I am wearing a white gauze style top with lace insert and tie tassel sleeves by Free People, was an eBay score for under $20. I also found this Spell and the Gypsy maxi skirt in brown and a pink tone for under $40. I paired it with my arrowhead necklace from Simply Quinn's. You can find her link and the promo code to save on your purchase in my favorite shops in side bar:). 

I think I may have shared these in a prior post, just in case I didn't the above items are from Tara Lynn's Boutique. Again her link to her shop is in my favorite shops and if you use my link you can save on your purchase. She was kind enough to send me this gorgeous tapestry red fabric skirt, Love each other graphic tee and grid pattern tunic. These will be in my upcoming post with styled photos from my blog shoot. Just a quick note if you go back to before the summer I have been discussing doing these shoots for some time. I was going to have my daughter or husband take the photos for me or use my DSLR with remote but it always ended up being more of a hassle when I usually snap my photos on the way out the door literally, that is why half are taken in my driveway. I finally decided after talking with many people I work with and a friend who is a makeup artist that I would do collaborations with local photographers looking to build their portfolio and hair stylist or makeup artists that way we can all build our portfolios up to help each other. My first several dates we set were rained out and I had picked outdoor locations. I did compromise and do some indoor shots but didn't care for them, being a photographer myself I like natural light photography and love outdoor photos. Nature is a huge part of my life we love to hike, travel to the mountains and explore the local nature all the time. Where I live there are amazing photo spots from the beaches, Everglades, downtown, historic district, Wynwood which is the art district and has the most amazing hand painted and graffiti murals. There are even some of my locations that I love like Tree Tops park which right by my house, and I have been shooting there for years, we even had our family photos taken there back in 2003. Anyway moving along I finally was able to get some photos done and I am working now on scheduling my next styled, collaborated shoot in a couple of weeks with my friend Vanessa that happens to be an amazing and extremely talented makeup artist. 

Be sure to check out this amazing shop on Instagram @TaraLynnsBoutique and follow her page for all the latest new styles. She is always getting new trends and designs in stock. Customer service is amazing and every time you purchase you are supporting a small business owned by a mother with a love for fashion. I love supporting smaller owned shops and businesses. 

Pam & Gela, check out my link for 20% in Favorite shops located on the right side bar of the desktop version of my blog.  You must view full site to see side bar content.

Hands down this has to be one of my favorite graphic tees to date from Pam & Gela. I ordered this off Nordstrom's site on clearance, they did send me the tee with the security tag but a quick trip while working picking up samples into one of the stores and they removed it for me. Paired it with my ripped, high waisted  black jeans. 

I love this graphic on this tee because it has a shiny wet like look and will look good paired with jeans or with leather leggings. I even have a cute leather skirt from Pam & Gela that it is perfect with. You can layer a flannel or leather jacket and it has that rocker vibe I love. 

We have had a lot of rainy weather due to cool fronts moving down across the state so I decided to pair my off the shoulder Pam & Gela sweatshirt I scored on eBay with some Vigoss tomboy, distressed jeans and my matte black Hunter boots. Purse is by Bohemian Vibe Boutique I have been carrying this bag a lot since purchasing over the summer during their Christmas in July sale when I got it for 50% off. Was a great bargain at $30 and wish I could find another for been this one has taken its final beating lol. 

I added a Never-full bag to my collection last week and the grey fur purse clip I got before Christmas from Bealls outlet for $3.99. If you haven't ever heard of the shop TheRealReal check it out. They have designer bags, shoes and clothes that are lightly used, you can also try their payment plan as well if you don't have the money to pay for it all at once, I got a $25 credit for signing up and was approved for the payment plan but ended up just purchasing the bag since it wasn't to expensive. I saw so many amazing bags and shoes, if they don't have a bag or it shows it is sold out you can click to be added to the wait list and they will email you once they get another of that style bag in stock. Love this shop and will be adding a link to my side bar under favorite shops. 

I know everyone who reads fashion blogs or follows bloggers on social media have seen these animal print fold over clutches everywhere lately. I was looking for an inexpensive option because it's something I would only carry with certain outfits and couldn't find any under $40. I decided to make my own. I use to work in interior design and have rolls of upholstery and high end fabrics from previous design projects in my garage. I bought this gorgeous leopard print fabric that has a fur or hyde like texture years ago on clearance to make pillow covers for a client and used some silky rayon material in black to line the inside. I sewed it on the sewing machine just like a pillow, starting inside out then flipping it right side out and stitching in a small zipper on the top. It can be folded wide or long ways for different looks. Didn't cost me a dime and only took me thirty  minutes to make. Love how it turned out and can't wait to get some better photos of it. 

Friyay tank and the Aztec leggings are from Target. I got the tank last week but the leggings are several years old, got them on clearance after Christmas at least three years ago. 

Scooped up some holiday print tanks at Walmart over the weekend for Valentine's Day and St. Paddy's day for $3.88 each. You can never have enough tanks. 

Kept it simple with a MetoWe raglan from Pacsun and some ripped boyfriend jeans by Silver jeans. My necklace is a chocolate and regular diamond butterfly by LeVian I have had for a long time, was a gift from my hubby. Also have a feather pendant he got me by them back probably about six years ago it was a year or two after he got me this one. I also have a cushion cut chocolate diamond they gave me with a purchase I hope to make into a pendant or ring for my daughter for her graduation gift using my princess cut and other stones from my first engagement ring. 

Back in October when I was finally due for my upgrade my hubby got me this rose gold iPhone 6S plus and realize I had never taken any photos of it cause I always use my phone to take all my pics lol so snapped a quick shot with my daughter's phone. She also got the same phone but she has silver or space grey which ever one that has the black front she likes the black versus the white front on the phones. 

My weekend manicure which is hard to see the gorgeous color, it's an army green with some sparkles. Love the color. 

I am someone who either goes with natural or French nails or the other extreme dark vamp colors like black, dark grays and reds but this green was beautiful only wish I could capture it's true color on my phone. 

Got this cute shirt dress with pocket from Target. Love the loose fit and stripes. 

My shoes are lace up black heels I featured a couple of weeks ago that I snagged from Forever21. Love them they are so cute and believe it or not comfy being as high as they are. Only $34 and seen some similar looks for around the same price. I will say because I have purchased several pairs of lace up style shoes from flats to heels that you really want to make sure that you don't scrimp to much trying to get a deal because quality does matter. Not only does it mean more comfort but the laces are important, I purchased a pair online and the laces broke already. They were only $25 but still wore them a handful of times and went to lace them up to have the cheap, thin faux suede just snap. I wasn't even pulling them tight. I was so happy with the price and they looked so cute but from the start the zipper was hard to zip up and then noticed the material had areas you could see where they had glued the piece that holds the laces. You get what you pay for but I will say I got my nude pair above from GoJane they are made by Classified and they are made really nice. Also I have noticed the faux leather is softer then the suede the suede tends to be stiffer and need more breaking in. Just a little tip for everyone. I have a lace up flat black, nude and grey pair then the black heels here and ordered a red pair of lace up heels with a shorter heel off eBay and hoping they aren't cheap cause I got them for under $20. 

More of my Pam & Gela Cali tank, with some Citizens for humanity flare jeans both items I won off eBay and $25 for each item. I also got the Pam & Gela You got a friend sweatshirt style muscle tank off eBay and then the Partners in Crime graphic tee shirt from Nordstrom Rack.  Pam & Gela had a sale where you could save an additional 20% off their already sale priced items so I got some more tees I didn't have, and two dresses. 

Nordstrom and Saks clearance tees arrived the top photo of the Cali tee looks off you can not see the bling which is crazy, the letters are blinged out.  Think this photo you may be able to see them better. That one was an Ebay find but still has the rhinestones weird stuff for sure didn't even notice till someone else asked me, but it has stones.

Pam & Gela Coke style logo, was made for me and my Coke love and P&G love❤️

Arrived today and can't wait to wear it, below are some more of my collection with a few left out that are being washed or in my closet that I over looked. Got this tee from Blue and Cream site.

Link below to get 20% off your first order from Pam & Gela

Pam & Gela 20% off first order promo link

Some of my Pam & Gela collection. This is just some of my tees you can see more of my collection of tees, sweaters, tops, bottoms and dresses on my Twitter or IG feed. Been collecting for a couple of years and love their line. 

Ft. Worth fun fashion, Texas

Hey y'all, hope everyone is having a fab week. I know we are having a blast. Vacation has been amazing and Texas is awesome. I love the vintage and antique stores. Amazing bohemian, country, southwest, gypsy and hippie inspired apparel, home decor and more. It's just awesome plus all the wild life. We have a pack of deer that come to the yard every night at dusk then the neighbor breeds horses so we get to visit with them every morning when we wake and afternoon or evening when we return. They have babies along with the deer, which are cute to watch play. My girls and of course my hubby and I are really happy with our choice of rental properties. 

Today we are off to the safari, Texas style and then to the Ft. Worth nature preserve to see some Bison. Yesterday we hit the Ft. Worth stockyards and did some shopping, saw cattle and enjoyed some real Texas BBQ. Amazing. 

Real quick while I was in the car wanted to do a post to share some of my favorite vacation shots along with some cute vacation fashion... 

Today wearing my bargain find, "Go climb a Cactus" graphic tank from Wet Seal. Paid $6 for this fab find. 

        Wetseal // Go Climb A Cactus

Paired it with a black, with white embroidered floral pattern, kimono I found at Forever 21. This has a lace trim bottom and 3/4 length sleeves. 

     

 

                  \\ J Crew Factory//              

  

       Embroidered Cotton Gauze Short

Link: https://factory.jcrew.com/browse/single_product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441853660&nav_type=FACTORY&bmUID=kVRY6th

(Will add clickable link when I get on my laptop) 

       

Necklaces // Mini Cactus from Forever21    // Cattle skull got in Ft. Worth at stockyards for $3.99. Love it. 

Again will add links to all items that are still available and if something isn't available I will find something close or another shop that carries it for you, right now traveling so just trying to give as many details as I can. 

    

Bracelets are by Lacey Ryan from Maurices.com. Then wearing two of my Live Lokai bracelets. The classic and camo for WWF. 

Last night after a long shower to clean up from a hot day, temps reached 103 felt like 120 lol, I ended up in my faithful VS pink sweats. These are the embroidered logo boyfriend sweats in blue. The graphic tank I got in New Orleans at the original Peaches records. Love my graphic tanks and tees, also got a distressed Rolling Stones lyric tank there, then I have gotten several other aweome tees and tanks which you will see soon. 

Yesterday went with a graphic tee I bought on Etsy, the shop is called Wooden Arrow shop, you can find the sweet Christie's shop Instagram page, which has a link to her Etsy shop in her bio @wooden.arrow.shop. She makes some amazing jewelry, embroidered hand stitched decorative hoops and awesome vintage finds. Be sure to check out her shop and follow her on IG. I started stocking up on cute Texas and desert style graphic tops back after Christmas. Always have loved the deer and cattle skull or antler style tees and tops but really started getting in to buffalo while planning our trip to Texas. Found this perfect tee while purchasing some decorative pieces for my bedroom. Couldn't pass it up. Was my third buffalo tee, got my first at Urban Outfitters and then one over spring break in NC. 

Paired this tee with some Silver Jeans, Suki model shorts. You can find these at www.silverjeans.com and will add link for exact shorts soon. I got mine from Buckle along with the necklace because I had a gift card. Bracelets again are Lacey Ryan, her IG is @laceyryaninc or you can find some pieces at www.maurices.com just search Lacey Ryan and her site is www. Laceyryan.com. Love all her piece because they can be mixed and matched then stacked with lots of other style bracelets. The quality is also amazing and the designer is so sweet, inspiring and talented. Make sure to show her some love❤️.

            Fort Worth Stock Yards

                          Texas

     

 

                  🌵Paso Roble🌵

       Our cozy 1900 Stone Tudor home

     

     

This was the Cattle walk where they walk the cattle down through the Main Street. Very cool, I love Longhorns and they had a ton. Will have better shots from my DSLR when I get home, haven't had the time I had thought in evenings to upload photos and post on the blog. Sorry. Really enjoying the family time. 

Found the green beaded bracelet in Ft. Worth yesterday. Love it and was $14.99

Hand made by a local designer. Love to support small businesses and creative/inspiring peeps. 

     

We get to wake to these faces and visit with them every afternoon or evening when we get back from adventuring. They have several babies and are so friendly. My girls love horses and the deer are also awesome. We love wildlife since where we live we don't have much really. 

     

               Mama & Baby Horse  

Hope you enjoyed my ootd choices for passed few days and some vacation shots. Almost to our destination so back to family time. For more photos and fashion fun check out my Instagram account @Cr8tivefashionwanderlust and I have a twitter now @Gypseawanderer. Have a great hump day:). ✌️❤️