Well..can you tell it was humid at Bald Head Island when you look at my hair! I barely could step out the door before the frizz set in…oh well, what’s a girl to do other than to just deal with it?

I love a porch and love to set up a bar cart and make a cheese board in the afternoon. I set up the cart you see in the background in the hopes of dressing up and having a “cocktail hour” in the afternoons, but with four children running around, that idea quickly started to sound a bit unrealistic! These pictures were taken before we went out to dinner one night and I did manage to have a pre-dinner glass of wine. ***Look at this adorable Trina Turk Ice Bucket!

My cute, cute outfit is from Trina Turk! You know that I’ve been a Trina fan for many years and her clothes are so much fun! These cotton pieces feel like a very lightweight denim and don’t wrinkle like linen. They’re sold separately and so versatile.

I’m showing the top and elastic waist pants worn together with the top half tucked. This works for me because I’m not only short, but also short waisted so the half tuck defines my waist a little. My shoe choice dressed the look up…sky high platform heels from Sam Edelman that I’ve worn so often (love these too)!

In addition to wearing these pieces together, I will definitely be wearing them individually…the top with white jeans and the pants with a simple white tank and/or, the top work as a jacket over a tank.

Flats, a mid heel espadrille, or full on heels dress this outfit up or down. I decided on a beachy shell necklace from Target along with a necklace (worn as a bracelet), from Julie Miles, earrings from Julie Vos and a darling little bag from Sensi Studio. I can’t link the exact bag, but be sure to take a look at the the boutique below for more from Sensi Studio. It’s a new brand to me and I’m obsessed!

***Please scroll to the end for an important note from me!

I can think of so many options for accessorizing this Trina Turk set because it’s really very neutral…blue and white goes with everything! White sandals would be so cute with a bold red bag and bright yellow accessories would also be really great! This is one of those outfits that you’ll pull out often and wear it differently every time!

And…a little housekeeping! How many of you receive an email from me when I post a new article here on Crazy Blonde Life? I really wish I could just see you raise your hand and know, but I obviously can’t, so…I’m going to explain how things works.

First of all, I have a few kinks to work out here on Crazy Blonde Life, but that’s all technical stuff and I’m trying to schedule a call with the company that designed my blog (not as easy as you might think)!

Each day, for the most part, I try to post twice. That means, I usually create an Amazon post as well as another fashion/lifestyle post…lately, it’s been tabletop or entertaining. If you are on my email list, then both posts are included in the email with a button that says “read the post”. I’m wondering if you’re seeing both posts? Just in case…here are a few posts that you will definitely want to see…here and here and here!

I am well aware that some of you don’t care for the Amazon posts and that’s why I try to create two posts each day. While I was at the beach over the past almost three weeks, it was very hard to find time to create content (photography, video and written content), AND spend time with family. I had obligations to brands such as Chico’s and Easy Spirit and I did that work while on “vacation”. Baldy, was my photographer and he tries so hard, but knows nothing about photography, so I had to get the camera set up for him and that takes so much longer. Other than that, I defaulted to Amazon posts when time was running low…I mean, a girl’s gotta sleep at some point and we had a house full of family! When I say defaulted, these posts still take me about 3 hours to create so I got very early to get them done.

I’ve said so often…use these Amazon posts as outfit inspiration and shop your own closet…sometimes, the color combinations are unexpected or the shoe choice is one you may not have thought of. Let these creative outfit ideas spark your creativity and jazz up what you already have..don’t just take them for face value as a collage…they are OUTFIT IDEAS THAT YOU CAN USE!

I love being a blogger/influencer and finally after almost 11 years, I’m actually making an income and…this blog and my social media have turned into a real, legit business that I’m very proud of. I’m still pretty much a one woman show with the exception of a little help from my daughter and my photographer and it’s a ton of work to show up every day, but as I said, I love it! Balance has been hard for me though and I do feel the burn out at times.

On top of the work that goes into the blog, as you know, we’ve done a huge renovation and as is usually the case, we’ve had a few hiccups and are still dealing with those. We had a huge leak in the den ceiling when we got home from the beach on Sunday (not the best greeting). It was a mistake made by our contractor and they’re coming today to rip out the ceiling and repair the water damage. Once again, our home is turned upside down with all of the furniture from the den distributed to different rooms. I’ve basically had lots of men in the house for a year now and it’s been crazy and unsettling and some days, I didn’t deal with it very well!

All of this is to say…I’m trying to give something to everyone and I want to make sure that you’re seeing the content! I’ve made some really beautiful entertaining posts that are very time consuming and it would make me so sad if you’re not seeing them.

I’ve actually thought about stopping the blog and going entirely to Substack because I’ve really have tried to create a community here but I rarely get feedback on what I’m putting out everyday and it’s so discouraging. I don’t always have time to answer comments immediately but I do always read them and answer as I have time! Your comments mean so much to me!

Another note…I am also aware that everyone loves the recipes, and one of my passions is cooking, but as with all things, we go through seasons of life and cooking hasn’t been at the top of my list lately because I’ve been dealing with so many other things and I just haven’t had time.

When I create a recipe blog post, it requires so much work…deciding what to cook, making a grocery list, going grocery shopping, setting everything up (usually I do video at the same time) to look pretty, doing the actual cooking, photographing everything and then…I still have to clean up the mess, edit the pictures, plug the recipe into the platform I use so that it’s printable, and then write the blog post. And…for some reason, I have had very few collaborations that had to do with food, so it’s all my dime (meaning no one is gifting me anything to use or paying me with only a few exceptions).

Another another note…my life has evolved over the past 5 or 6 years in a dramatic way…I’m much happier and more confident and comfortable in my own skin now as a result of doing a lot of work on myself!

I used to write so much more about spirituality and self help because I was going through a painful time. I think that resonated with a lot of people and it helped me to navigate my way through what I was dealing with. I am still a very spiritual person, but just don’t write as much about it as I once did. We go through ups and downs and I want to focus more on fashion, food, and creating a beautiful life. I do sprinkle in a bit of inspiration here and there, but it’s not my focus right now.

This year has been difficult in a very different way than it was during the time I spoke of…mainly because of the upheaval involved in renovating a home and there were days when I was barely hanging on by a thread.

I just wanted to take a minute to explain a few of these things. I do try very hard to put out quality content…and provide something for almost everyone…not just Amazon. Please take a moment to look around the blog and see if you missed anything! Now that I’m back from vacation (and trying to recover), I’ll be posting more entertaining, fashion (other than Amazon), and as soon as the ceiling is fixed, I’ll be sharing some fall recipes!

I hope you’ll hang in there with me…and if you read this whole thing, thank you so much and I would love to know your thoughts!

As always, thank you so much for reading today!

~XOXO Suzanne