At the Beach

I adore so many things about Roxy — her thoughtful personality, her optimism, and her beautiful blog, My Cup of Te. Her blog is where I can find everything from satchels to awesome photography, and to top it all off, Roxy just happens to be one of the sweetest people ever. We share a special affinity for champagne and all things lovely, and I'm so excited to have her guest blogging for Mellow Fever. See for yourself why!

                                                                                                                                                                     
Hi guys! Roxy from My Cup of Te here! I'm overly thrilled to be here at Mellow Fever filling in for Deanna as she gets her SB 2011 on! I'm extremely flattered she asked me over, but not even the tiniest bit jealous at all that she's probably splashing around in the turquoise blue waves with her besties...and sipping on tropical cocktails complete with colorful baby umbrellas...and wearing fabulous over-sized sunnies and mini bikinis, and...did I say I'm not jealous? Anyways, I thought I'd share some things about the beach that are just my cup of Te(a)!

At the beach...

"Surfing" has nothing to do with the world wide web or http://, besides you can check Mellow Fever when you get back; it's been well taken care of ;)

As far as your worries and woes, no matter shape, size, or color, they will float away faster than pretty balloons...

...which makes jumping for sheer joy uncontrollable and often! You should probably skip versus walking too.

At the beach wearing something ridiculous and ten times the size of your head on your head is totally acceptable and certainly necessary while silly winter coats, much less clothes...

and cars are completely unnecessary.

The beach is where you take kicking back and relaxing to a whole new level, whether it's like this...

...or with something mouth-watering and delicious like this! I'll take two- two for me and one for Deanna. It's only fair since she gets to go on Spring Break, and I don't ;)

At the beach you no longer see the sunrise with sleepy eyes...

...and it's a joy to wake up, that is you ever went to bed in the first place—what uppp Spring Break 2011!!!!

And with that I will close with a My Cup of Te mantra—Live Sparkly lovers! As in don't forget to pop the bubbly and pour one out for the homies (aka me) seething with jealousy at home. Oh, and Nate Dogg too, just in case you heard.

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}

Dreamy Vacation Home

I only recently had the luck to find a little {dash} of ash, and man, am I happy for that! I had an immediate obsession with the design inspiration boards that Ashley puts together, and am so pleased that she's doing a guest post of just that for Mellow Fever. She's incredibly sweet and unbelievably creative; I know I can always find something lovely on her blog. Meet Ashley!

                                                                                                                                                                     

Hello friends of Mellow Fever! This is Ashley from a little {dash} of ash. Deanna asked me to do a guest post while she is away on Spring Break — the theme: my home decor inspiration for a dream vacation home! I was really excited and thought it would be so easy to put together a collage of my inspirations — but when I started to think more about it, I found it to be a harder task! Most likely because I have so many different visions of a "dream vacation home"!

Did I want to create a beach house in whites with subtle hints of navy (nautical) or soothing blues that reminded me of the shore? Did I want to create a house in the mountains with lots of large stones and hints of greys and greens? Or, a small little cottage on a lake with shabby chic details? I started browsing through some images on {pinterest} and quickly found a common theme of an entire vacation "experience"! What do you think of my Scandinavian Inspired Beach Retreat? One day.... For more inspirations — check out my blog {here} - xxoo! Ashley

[photo cred to Pinterest and Ten Scenic Drive]

Spring Break Essentials

I doubt she needs an introduction, as Carly, the College Prepster, is everywhere. In addition to her wonderful blog, she has a popular Tumblr and a weekly e-newsletter, Prep Talk, which covers everything from life lessons to recipes to fashion (the latter being shameless self-promotion, as I happen to write one of the fashion columns for Prep Talk). I'm so thrilled for her to be guest-posting today while I'm rehydrating on a beach in Puerto Rico, because she's an awesome person and blogger. So, without further ado, Carly!

                                                                                                                                                                     

I am loving J. Crew's new spring line. As I've mentioned on my own blog, College Prep, it's not quite the "Old J. Crew," but I really do like some of the more recent looks.

J. Crew right now totally allows for one-stop shopping. Everything you could possibly need for a spring break trip all under one roof. I'm all about making things easy... and this is easy peasy.

Spring Break look from head to toe:

1) Classic Straw Fedora
2) A.R. Trapp Troubadour sunglasses
3) Stila Lip Glaze
4) Polka Dot bathing suit
5) Timex traveler watch
6) Essie nailpolish (Peepshow)
7) Filson totebag without zipper
8) Irena gladiator sandals

The carefree neutral colors of the accessories really lets the melon colored bathing suit pop! While you're packing your bags for whatever spring break destination, pack about 90% neutrals and 10% color and then mix & match throughout the trip!

xoxo

Say Yes...

...to Friday's Fancies!

Alison has been one of my favorite bloggers for a very long time now, and with good reason. Not only is Long Distance Loving a fantastic blog that covers everything from fashion to, well, long distance love, but Alison is one of the sweetest, friendliest people I've had the luck to meet via the blogosphere. Every Friday, she creates amazing ensembles for her Friday Fancies series and was kind enough to do so for Mellow Fever while I'm away!

                                                                                                                                                                     
Hi! I'm {av}, the voice behind {long distance loving}! In Deanna's absence, she asked me to share my Friday's Fancies while she is on a {much deserved} spring break in Puerto Rico. For today, I pulled together my dream beach attire!

all numbered images are screenshots from the links below  |  photograph at bottom right: {av}

1) This shade of green sang out to me! Shoshanna nailed it with this Ruffled Bandeau Top and Ruffled Bikini Bottom. It also reminded me of the beautiful colors of Old San Juan--I visited Puerto Rico on my last college spring break! {see the bottom right photo!}

2) I'm an enormous fan of Milly. This Bead-embellished cotton and silk-blend tunic hit it out of the park for me! It adds a touch of glam to this versatile cover-up.

3) A beach trip isn't complete without a fabulous place to sit...and this Condé Nast House & Garden Beach Towel would certainly be a great seat on the sand!

4) Deanna and I both adore Kate Spade, so the moment I saw this hello sunshine willow tote, I knew it had to be included in my Friday's Fancies. In my book, Kate Spade + sunshine = pure joy.

5) Though I'd love to toss in a pair of wedges, I had to go the practical route with flats. {Who can walk in heels on the beach anyway!?} These Tory Burch Miller Logo Thongs are an easy complement to my dream beach attire. I love the gladiator look, but when I want to run into the ocean, I don't want to unlace my sandals!

6) I don't know what girl doesn't dream of Chanel sunglasses. Now that I've seen these Signature Ribbon Sunglasses, I'm sure they'll be haunting my dreams too ;)

What are your must-haves for the beach this year? 

{besides sunscreen of course!}

I hope you enjoyed my Friday's Fancies! Want to create your own? All you need to do is dream up an outfit you'd wear today if money were no object! Hop on over to {long distance loving} to link up—and check out a slew of other fun outfits made by bloggers across the world!

An enormous thank you to Deanna for having me post for her today—Mellow Fever has long been one of my favorites in the blogosphere, so I'm honored to grace her blog!
Have a happy Friday! xoxo {av}

Paradisiaque

A little escape now and then should be mandatory. So should this Diane Von Furstenberg bikini.

This weekend, I watched l'Auberge Espagnole, a French film with Audrey Tatou, and decided that for my last quarter at Northwestern, it is entirely necessary to take a class called Intro to Painting. I hope my parents understand — then again, I'm graduating with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Drinking Tea and Correcting Everyone's Grammar, so it's becoming increasingly difficult to alarm them at this point.

I also wrote a guest post for Long Distance Loving; Alison is one of my favorite bloggers and quite possibly the sweetest person on the planet. Head on over if you'd like to see my spring picks for New York (home) and Chicago (home away from home)(until June)(crying)(freaking out about the future)(guh!)(and now job-hunting)(crying some more)(scrambling for my stash of dark chocolate with almonds)(calming down)(breathing). Phew.

Anyway, how was your weekend?!

[photo cred to 1 and 2]

Guest Post!

My guest post is up at College Prep! Carly is super, super sweet, and I was so flattered to be asked to write about my manic obsession for all things pretty and preppy. You can find my post here, and thanks again to College Prep!

[photo cred to Vogue May 2010 via Dress Design & Decor]