It is officially August! I don’t know whether to sigh in relief (that I’m off another month) or to weep tears of sadness! July was busy month that was finally the perfect balance of productive, relaxed, and family filled. I can’t believe summer is halfway over for me. I always feel so grateful to have these two months to reset, recharge, and refocus on some other passions before the school year kicks off in September.

I’ve been eyeing some of my favorite swim wear this summer noticing some great pieces I love to mix and match and others that I’ve been waiting to go on sale as it gets closer to the end of the swimwear season. Keep an eye on this as many pieces that are traditional never go out of style and I always find my favorites come toward the end of the season and I get excited to wear as new the following.

I’m not putting away my swimwear quite yet! I’m actually planning on spending most of August on the water with an upcoming trip my husband and me have planned for our anniversary. I remember organizing it a while back thinking I had so much time to get everything set and counting down. But now this vacation is just right around the corner. I plan on spending most of this adventure in swim wear or casual pieces because it will be high temperatures for where we’re headed. Any guesses??

I’ll be putting together another post early next week of what I’ll be packing to bring along and there will be some major clues. Last month, for the 4th of July weekend we made our first trip to Cape Cod and stayed at the most quaint inn, The Escape Inn before we met up with friends who are Cape natives. More to come on that trip in another post for my travel section. It was a favorite short trip and I’ve been editing photos and wishing I could have a house there!

The swimsuit I’m wearing is a steal at the price point from Amazon, a less costly version compared to the scalloped one by a higher end designer. I had seen some other bloggers trying it so thought I’d see what the hype was about.

Swim Details

Swimsuit/Amazon // Tote/Amazon // Headband/Anthropologie // Sunglasses/Gucci // Sandals/Steve Madden

I thought it my be helpful to leave a review here on this swimsuit because there’s some others I’ve tried from Amazon and loved and some I’ve passed on due to sizing, quality, or fit. I actually wasn’t a fan of the high waist bottoms in this style given my longer torso, depending on the cut this isn’t always a style I feel flattered in. I actually ended up switching out the bottoms for a different pair once we hit the beach. Overall, the quality is good, it is fully lined and the top is lined with light removable cups too. I just felt that for a set the bottom scallop area could’ve been more seamless in construction. But for under $30 it was a budget find that’s on trend.

There’s a few other brands and retailers featuring some swim pieces on sale that I’d had my eye on for our upcoming trip. Linking a bunch of my sale finds then favorite beach ware pieces in the widgets here so be sure to check them out.

The One Piece Swimsuit

The one piece I’ve noticed has definitely made a come back the past few years and there’s so many versatile styles that are made to fit so many different shapes and sizes. I’ve been loving the throw back to the belted swimsuits this season and anything with texture I can get on board with.

The Two Piece

This season I have been loving the one shoulder silhouette and the ruffled feminine pieces. I’ve been spotting a ton of floral combinations and pieces that can be styled with straps or strapless.

I’m looking forward to putting together some coverups next to coordinate with the swimsuits that are lightweight or could double as a blanket for the plane or a dress for lunch. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and enjoys what is left of summer!

Like most woman, I too enjoy having a few nice pieces of jewelry in my armoire collection that are significant to me in a personal way. Whether it be for anniversaries, a personal celebration, or graduation I love collecting or investing in some higher end pieces that will last over time. It’s always the meaning of the jewelry that brings me back to whom gave it to me and why, that’s the most important.

I also know some days I love having a stack of bracelets that I don’t mind wearing out to work, errands, orm tossing in my bag while at the gym and not having to worry about what happens if they were to get lost or misplaced. I’m guilty of taking off my jewelry and putting it in a secret hiding spot for safe keeping to only realize, I forgot where I placed it. Anyone else do this? This is a habit I’ve inherited from my mom, but with some new ways of organizing my jewelry I’ve gotten better at staying organized and making sure everything has it’s place. Another important part of my jewelry is making sure I can see it! Sure, sometimes I use jewelry bags to keep certain pieces from tarnishing, but overall I like to see what it is I have when styling something together. I’m always in a rush, so having my pieces in a way I can view them is important to me. For this reason I put my costume casual jewelry in acrylic cosmetic drawers like these.

For this post I thought I’d share some of the affordable jewelry & accessories I’ve found from Amazon and The Styled Collection that are at generous price points and are a dupe for a more expensive version. Some I’ve had for a year and they do wear well as long as you take good care of them and don’t get them wet with water or soap. If you like the David Yurman style a lot of them have that braided wire look or a cuff design. I’m someone who likes to mix my nicer pieces with budget friendly finds and have no shame in that. If it looks great paired together, it works for me!

At the end of this post be sure to click through the widget for some great organization tools for storing and displaying jewelry. Whether it’s on your bed side table, a closet shelf, or in an armoire you need a way to keep those necklaces laying flat for travel. I’ve tried a ton of traveling jewelry cases over the years and go back to some of my original ones time after time that work well. I also love the acrylic drawers that are easy to see everything. I use these for jewelry and cosmetics storage. Find a system that works for you and stick with it! Is there a method you use that would recommend? Please share it with me!