Oh Friday! I have missed you so! 

Don’t you just love the start of the weekend? I hope you are having a fabulous Friday! I have some really fun things to share this week! You will see photos I snapped with my cell of specific items and then some wonderful shots my son Jacob Kennedy took. Thank you, Jake for being so generous with your talent and helping your mom out! Jake is studying photography and video in school, and I am so excited to see him pursue a field he really loves! If you would like to see more of Jake’s work, or for an inquiry, you can visit him at his Instagram Business Page @734rocious.

So let’s get to it!

Now just to give a little background, I have 2 wonderful parents and 5 siblings. My parents have 3 girls and 3 boys, a “Brady Bunch” if you will. We all adore each other! My one sister Susan lives in Florida, and my other sister Stacey and I live 5 minutes apart in Michigan. So when we get all of us together with my mom it is such a treat!

Well, last weekend, my sister Stacey invited me to accompany her on an errand she needed to run on the other side of the state, which meant we would of course include girl talk, eating and shopping…(does that sound amazing or what?)

Stacey has long held the title for fashion, shopping, and a keen logistical sense she was gifted with. I need a navigation system to help me find my way out of a wet paper bag. But Stacey could land in Paris or Rome or just about anywhere and find her way around! You want her on your team! So off we went, and our first stop was to meet her son Chase at a restaurant he works at in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He treated us to lunch on the water at a restaurant sports bar called The Score. We sat for a couple hours eating and listening to a live band on a Friday afternoon, it was so much fun! I will share more on that in a future post, but I give it 5 out of 5 stars on a sunny day outside!

Stacey and I enjoyed visiting with him and going to see his new digs, and then we went back to the hotel and ordered in and spent the remaining couple of hours in girl chat and checking out fashion and beauty items online. The item below, Australian Gold Bronzing Intensifier, is a product she shared with me that she uses just to give her skin a little warm color. It goes on very light and adds just a little bit of a bronzing color for those of us that can use it, (right here, girlfriend!) This is available at most drugstores for under $10, a nice thing to have without a big investment.

She also shared with me her fave beauty purchase from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

Above is the Dream Skin Advanced Set by Dior. The first 3 items are sample size, and the 4th is a full size. These items would retail at $254, but they are on sale as a kit with the beautiful travel bag for $165. Stacey let me try all 4 items with her. They are simply lovely on your skin. The little red bottle is the eye serum which helps fight the look of fatigue around the eyes (boy I can use that!) The second bottle is number 2 in the 1-2 punch to make your eyes look and feel refreshed! The third little pot is Capture Total Multi Perfection Creme tones the skin from the deepest layers to the surface. (Yes yes yes please!) And the tall bottle is the Capture Totale Dream Skin Advanced formula which is an incredible moisturizing formula with a slight tint to it perfect for any age and feels like silk on the skin. I felt pretty pampered and spoiled using her precious new products!

Well, we went shopping of course, and today I will share one of the many amazing stops we made. This was in Holland, Mi which is about 20-30 minutes from Grand Rapids. We stopped at a store called JB and Me.

The store is quite large, with beautiful wood floors, lots of natural light, and everything you need to be accoutered head to toe in loveliness! And knick knacks, books, journals, art, jewelry just all kinds of loveliness! We were in there a long time! And it was hopping!

Everywhere you look is a beautiful display that feels lovely, feminine, easy and casual!

Beautiful handbags at reasonable prices, and incredible on trend style.

I saw about 400 things I liked.

This was truly therapy shopping!

This piece below sets the tone for how you feel in this store.

Places for people to sit and rest and think about their purchases. Everything is so lovely!

Yes, we walked out with a few things! Stacey has often considered opening a boutique much like this one with an eclectic mix of lovely casual wear. She has even done research on locations, and she has such good taste, she would be fabulous at it!

On to this week’s fashions. It was a hot one when Jake and I took off for photos the other day.

We went into Downtown Plymouth for a few shots. In the picture below I am wearing a Short Sleeve Maxi Sweater by Calvin Klein.

It has a side slit hem, and is sheer, so it is perfect for layering.

My bag is the Topshop Seline Tote Bag, which I think is now only available in black (things fly off the shelf!) but it’s on sale for $27.99 which is a great price for such a cute bag!

I am wearing a tank top I’ve share before, the Seamfree Tank from Soma (such a great place for basics!) I’ve come to the realization that your basics are often the most important investment because you use them over and over! And my white jeans have been on repeat this year, these are the Fray Hem Skinny Jeans by Vince Camuto. I like them because the fabric feels like nothing is going to show through, and its durable enough to keep things firm (for a girl like me, that is important!) And I love the fray hem! Next is a fuschia top also by Vince Camuto, the Side Tie Ruched Stretch Crepe Top.

Perfect for office to evening wear, it’s nice to have a pretty summer blouse that is just a little bit dressy.  It comes in 5 gorgeous colors!

I’m wearing two necklaces, the top 2 rows are a brand new necklace by Stella & Dot, the Renegade Necklace, and I can already tell I will be using this one over and over! I love it! It actually has both gold and silver in it which makes it so compatible with any other jewelry I want to wear! It’s a new warrior in my jewelry box! Welcome to the family, Renegade!

And finally, I went with Jake to our favorite local park for some pictures.

We got to the park, and my phone rings, and it’s my sister Stacey, she says she has a gift for me! I told her what I was doing and asked if she wanted to come over and help me with some pictures! So she dropped the gift at my house (some lovely napkins that will look beautiful in my Tasty Tuesday Pictures!) and she stopped by!

So here are the deets on what we are wearing. I’m in a midi length sundress by Rafaella, the Tie-Dye Midi Dress. It has this lacy detail at the bottom and comes up at the knee and drapes lower in the back. It is so comfy! I love it! It is on sale at Lord & Taylor, and if you use code JULY it brings the price down to $42.84!

I also tried a wrap with it, to keep the chill off in an air conditioned restaurant, and to help hid my farmer tan! I actually picked this wrap up at Target last fall.

My necklace (upper two rows) is the Renegade by Stella & Dot.

Stacey is wearing a kimono from Evereve. This particular one I think is sold out, but here is one by the same brand (Allison Joy) and really similar.

Stacey’s sunglasses are by Kate Spade, aren’t they fabulous?

Stacey’s backpack is the Bree Convertible Backpack by Rebecca Minkoff, and she has loved it! Her sandals are “Coconuts by Matisse” which she picked up at JB and Me.

Stacey’s tank is from Evereve, the Tori Ribbed Tank by Peyton Jenson, available in white, dark blue, and black. (I think I need one!) Her jeans are Kut from the Kloth, and they arrived in a Trend Send Box by Evereve. This is one of those boxes you can have delivered where a stylist picks things out for you based on your size and preference. You pay for the items you keep. Trendsend is available through Evereve. I always find keepers in the Trendsend box!

So Stacey drove over in her new ride… a BMW Z4.

It fits her perfectly! By the way, did you happen to notice it is red? My favorite color?

Uh oh, Double Trouble!

So I have been trying to be very intentional about including more fun things in my life lately. It seems I never regret it when I squeeze in one more thing! I try and get out every day for a nice long walk with my doggy (those really lift both our spirits and its good for us!). And when Stacey called last week and asked if I could go with her on her errand in Western Michigan, I didn’t even think about it. I said yes! It didn’t cost a lot. We had a hotel room (this sounds silly but I get excited about going to a hotel because I don’t go that often!) the lady at the hotel gave us a $50 discount because one of the lights wasn’t working in the room! (She told us before we checked in… Winning!) We chatted and laughed and dreamed future dreams, and oh it was so good for me to just get away and make a new memory!

Troy and I are going to visit our son that lives in Chicago this weekend. I am so looking forward to it! Another adventure! Yesterday my mom and I went shopping and laughed and talked non stop… another new memory. (We scored on our shopping, by the way!) These are blessings and if you can start adding up lots of new memories, it is so good for all of us! I love hearing of how people just pack their lives with awesome experiences! These make our lives rich with memories, but you have to make a plan! It doesn’t have to be hard, or expensive, but you have to decide to make it happen. So you think it through, maybe even pick up the phone and invite someone to join you! Every new adventure is the start of new memories!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend making some wonderful new memories!

I’ll be back Tuesday for another Tasty Tuesday.

Love Always,

Amy

We didn’t realise we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun.

~Winnie the Pooh

Places I link up:

Jo Lynne Shane My Life and Style 

Sharing A Journey

Fashion Should Be Fun  

Not Dressed As A Lamb

Elegantly Dressed and Stylish

Glass of Glam