Weekend Style:Making Fall Happen

Have you ever been inspired by a look that someone else wore and then gone about replicating it in your own way? That happened to me a few months ago. My friend Andrea wore this really cute printed dress and it resonated with me. I loved the colors, vibrant pattern and length so when I happened to be in Forever 21 with Sweet Pea a few weeks later I had the opportunity to peruse the racks and my eye lingered on the chevron print. Once I tried it on I was totally sold. It fell in line with my vision and I had at least 6 different ways to style it for each season in my head and knew I had the perfect boots for my first look. To say I was happy with my purchase is an understatement.

I never had a chance to wear it until a few weeks when we went to brunch by the water. My godmother has been out of state staying with my god-sisters while she recuperated from surgery and I haven't seen her in several months so when I heard she was going to be in town I checked the calendar to see what day we had free so I could give her a squeeze. She's one of my most favorite people of all time. Her daughters are too. They live not too far from each other in the same town in the Midwest and I miss them terribly. Whenever we get together we always have a good time and I've learned so much over many, many shared meals over the years. In some ways I feel as though, everything I am as a woman I learned from them. They shaped how I viewed the world as a young black woman without my realizing it. Along with my mother and her other stylish friends, Terri & Mysh were my role models and sort of blue-printed how life was 'expected' to go for me. I love them fiercely and whenever they would come to town it felt like a holiday (being that they're about 16 years older, a lot of my life they were away at school) and the feeling continues. I think it's because we know our time together is limited and we try to make the most of it.

So on Sunday we met at a local hometown favorite Schooner or Later for brunch (read drinks) and then headed over to 2nd street for homemade ice cream, a little shoe shopping (for my mother) and playtime with the trains for the boy. The weather was perfect and it made me happy to be back in my hometown with my own little family. Over brunch I shared with them some photos I'd dug up from years past and we all got a good laugh over some of the outfits and squealed with delight when discovering images of relatives long gone.
It was yet another sweet Sunday that filled my soul and propelled me toward the week ahead.

The weather is also being quite fickle and taunting us with hints of fall with cooler mornings and evenings but still warming up nicely in the afternoons. I was happy to toss on this cute dress and these FABULOUS boots for the mid 70 degree weather. And while I'm at it, let me tell you about these boots. One of my other favorite people gave them to me awhile back. I'm lucky enough to share the same shoe size as a few of my closest friends and even luckier that we have similar taste in shoes. She bought boots she didn't love and after finding a replacement pair she sent these lovelies to me. I'm ever so happy that she did. I love them so much and I have many outfits planned around them already. Now, I just wish the weather would cooperate with my vision.


What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?