We had a little snafu with nature this weekend. In an effort to welcome sprummer (DC’s version of spring which presents itself as early summer), we diligently attended to our backyard. We cleaned the patio furniture, weeded, mowed the lawn, power washed the deck, pruned trees and bushes and…accidentally wiped out a cardinal’s nest. My husband carefully conveyed the fledglings to a raised garden urn and for the next 36 hours we diligently chased squirrels out of the yard and kept our beagle and her quivering hound nose at bay while the attentive cardinal parents watched over the fledglings. All ended well and on a lighter note, I feel some vindication that yard work should be left to the pros, i.e., not me.

Sprummer also means I feel like starting anew, afresh, or at the least returning to a project I’ve let languish. So here we go with the blog again. I wanted to start on a Friday because my standard Friday post, Live Style Links, is my favorite post to do. (I hope it is yours too and if not, Monday’s post is just around the corner!)

As I mentioned, I was outside a bit this past weekend and while I always wear sunscreen, I do have separate brands I prefer for weekdays under my make up and weekends being out and about. For the weekday, I like La Roche-Posay Mineral Ultralight Sunscreen SPF50. It is a bit pricey but hassle free – goes on light and easy over your makeup or moisturizer. For the weekends and hardcore outside time (pool, beach, etc.) I like the Coola brand. They’ve got sticks, sprays, creams and lotions – making it easy to slather on and go! (Pssst, Sephora’s VIB sale is going on now so good time to stock up on Coola!)

As a child of the 80’s raised on the east coast, I’m a lifelong lover of espadrilles. These and these are my classic go-to styles.

I’ve been working with a professional coach this spring – see the above need to start anew/afresh – and it has been equal parts enlightening and humbling. I have some pretty grand plans for what I want to do in life and some pretty hefty self-defeating habits so we’ve been working on that. One of my top three big, bad habits is apologizing/saying “I’m sorry”. A lot. So much that my coach kept count during one 90 minute session and well, it was…not a low number. While we’ve discussed several tactics as to address this, I recently found this brief but poignant piece on transitioning the negative of “I’m sorry” in to coming from a place of gratitude that really resonates with me.

Oh boy! Oh boy! I cannot wait to do an outfit post around this skirt! The silhouette is positively dreamy and the color just radiates summer.

We went to Newport, RI for spring break – a nostalgic tour down memory lane back to our dating days and where we were married. It was loads of fun sharing our memories with our daughter! While there, I fell in love with this wonderful jewelry store Jason & Co. in Bowen’s Wharf and in particular this bracelet. Maybe an anniversary gift… 😉

Have a great weekend everyone!