Let's be honest - it's not exactly 'resort wear' season at stores right now. Halloween? Yes. Holiday dresses? They are coming in. Cute leather jackets for fall? Absolutely. But resort wear, not so much.
With 2 upcoming Caribbean trips this fall (yea I know, poor me), I need to make my packing lists and see what holes I have and how I can fill them. In October. In New England. I made the tragic mistake of NOT shopping the end-of-summer sales fully knowing that I have 2 Caribbean trips on the horizon. Maybe this post should be called 'What 2 Pack When...'. So, let's see what I have versus what I need.
I'll start with the obvious: beach and pool. I have bathing suits, coverups and flip-flops,
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| Image from jcrew.com. |
so I'm set there. A beach bag, a beach read,
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| Image from goodreads.com. |
some bad magazines (US, People, In Touch), sunglasses,
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| Image from nordstrom.com. |
and beach hat rounds it out. From my June bathing suit shop, I think I'm set here.
Outfits for evening shouldn't be too difficult to find. I'll need some dresses for evenings with a pants outfit thrown in just to be sure. Strappy heels, bangles, maybe a wrap if the evening is breezy. About week ago around 10:30pm, I found myself trolling the 'sale' sections of websites, like nordstrom.com and neimanmarcus.com (great return policies!) trying to find more cute, silk, breezy cocktail dresses. Out of 3 dresses, I found a silk Elie Tahari one that might fit the bill for evening wear. Thoughts about it? The jury is out on this one. I have some great, nude, strappy sandals that are good with it.
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| Image from nordstrom.com. |
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| Image from ebay.com. |
Between this dress and a couple of others (like this Milly one from 2 years ago), I think I can make it through the evenings.
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| Image from nordstrom.com. |
But what about non-pool-day-wear? I don't own a ton of it. (How can there be an entire line of clothing out there that I haven't exploited?!) I'll need several outfits for trip(s) to spa, breakfast, lunches, shopping. I have basics, but no real 'resort wear'. Tunics and shorts are fine, but maybe it's time for me to really dip my toes in the resort-wear-pool. In October, this is next to impossible.
However, a trip to the Natick Mall on Tuesday yielded some answers. Wandering from Neimans (returning dress #2) to Nordstrom (returning dress #3), I stumbled upon the Tommy Bahama store. Tommy Bahama? I totally forgot about it. But wasn't it all 'old lady' clothing? I ventured in.
Much to my surprise, they had some REALLY cute things. Linen drawstring pants (of which I own exactly zero pairs), linen sweaters and tops, dresses, tunics. Granted, there were some not-so-cute things, but overall I was pleasantly surprised. I had only a few minutes, so I tried on a couple of things. This linen/gauzy sweater over the white linen drawstring pants was so cute. I can imagine wearing this down to the spa, to lunch, or out shopping. Both came home.
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| Images from tommybahama.com. |
They had tank tops (albeit a little more than I want to spend on a tank top) to refresh the post-summer tanks in my drawer. I grabbed a navy one and checked out so I could race to school for pick-up.
I have to head back there this weekend and dig in. If I can find a few more cute outfits, I'll be set. I really want to check out this silk shirt; it looks so yummy!
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| Image from tommybahama.com. |
And this skirt looks like just the thing to wear with a white top and silver sandals down to breakfast, doesn't it?
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| Image from tommybahama.com. |
Finally, I need to find this entire outfit and check it out. I love the skirt (and it would be perfect with my new navy tank)!
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| Image from tommybahama.com. |
So, I think I have it covered. Beach and pool? Check. Evenings? Check. Daywear? Another trip to Tommy Bahama, and I should be good to go.
Now, if I could only figure out where I put my non-mommy-cute-beach-bag. ~ JH
