On this post, have some fun with your home decor this summer, what I bought at the Bloomingdale’s Summer Sale, the French brand Ba&sh, and more.
Hope you had a good week.. I am looking forward to the cooler weather. It sure was nice to escape up north to the fog and even a little rain last week! I was planning on sharing a little travel guide to the area , but it is enough for a full post, so Monday or Tuesday my post will be all about planning a trip to Trinidad and what to do and not to miss.
I am planning to take the rest of August off from the blog, just so I have some time to get to projects and things. I am always working on a post and when done, answering comments and sharing on Instagram, and then it’s time to work on the next week’s post. I know it doesn’t look like much, but takes hours to write, find links to things I share, and format and resize photos, which have to be shrunk. Often collages are involved. It all adds up to a lot of sitting – often 8 hours or more! I need a few weeks to focus on other things so I hope you all will understand.
Change Up Your House This Summer!
I think we don’t play around with our own home decor enough. We get too hung up on things being just so and often leave it like that for years!
I’m wanting to rejigger the house! I’m bored with it. A good thing to do during the summer is change things up. Don’t overthink it. Get out of your comfort zone and paint a wall, or a pieces of furniture. Move things to different rooms, and use them in new ways! Get rid of things you don’t love, but have had hanging around forever.
Think of your house as your mini design lab and have some fun. Add in something vintage or that you found at a yard sale. Make your own art! Display your shell collection, or blow up old photos. There are so many possibilities and most of us keep things the same too long. Less perfection, more fun makes a cool home. Watch videos on Homeworthy of unique homes and get inspired. Summer is a good time to have some fun with it.
Right now I am working on changing up my entry. I want to add hooks right below this picture for bags and things. I may move the bench or make it work. I want my hats on the wall to grab. I just used tacks to pin them now and see how I like it. This is my prototype. I may wallpaper half and have hooks below..Stay tuned !
On My Radar…
I found this book Invincible on the shelves at Homegoods and was intrigued as I have always adored Norma Kamali – her designs and her message of empowerment to women. This began as a list she made for a friend and morphed into a book. I’ve been loving this guide on her healthy diet, exercise, and other good habits. I am always inspired to make healthier choices from these kind of books!!
Z Supply, a California clothing company that I recently took notice of, has some great classic and comfortable pieces that are beautifully designed. They are also affordable. I found this classic black t shirt tank dress in a slub cotton. It is still available in black in large here.. and in more colors here. I bought small, but medium was also good with a little more swing. I am thinking of adding another color before they are gone. It’s my favorite kind of summer piece -comfy and simple, and versatile. You can browse what they have here and here, but know things go fast I think because of the good price points.
A Harvard study revealed that fresh flowers in your home make people feel more compassion for others! They also helped with anxiety and worries and people in the study felt less negative after being around flowers at home for just a few days. I believe it. Every Friday I try to make things nice for the weekend and buy flowers at Trader Joes, get some fun things to eat, and tidy the house up like guests are coming, though it is just us. I love starting the weekend with a nice house and fresh food and flowers. Do it for yourself!
Cookish is a Christopher Kimball book I discovered on our trip in shop I love called Plaza. Max’s step mom Marguerite has a cookbook library (goals), and we spent some time perusing all the cookbooks at this store and loved this one. This book is packed with easy and fresh dishes with lots of flavor. I plan on working my way through this book. Great photos which is a must for me.
Bloomingdales Summer Sale!
Bloomingdales has their Summer Event on now. I was clued in by my friend Leslie who works at the Valley Fair Bloomies in the Ba&sh department. If you aren’t familiar, Ba&sh a French brand, is short for Barbara and Sharon. The two best friends had the idea to create a dream wardrobe that they could share it with other women. I love their things!
All last year I wanted their Meredith jacket, and the soft blue finally got marked down. (If you are a Bloomingdales Loyalist, you get $25 back for every $100 you spend until this Sunday. It’s worth signing up for that.) These jackets are beautifully made.
This jacket is a great fall, winter and most of the year piece. I will wear it with long shorts in September, and later with distressed jeans and more. I love the silver hardware. The soft yellow is also darling with the gold buttons, and the raspberry is just a standout too. If you want one of the black, navy or cream versions, they are full price, but you can at least get $75 back during the event.
Leslie had been holding the jacket for me until I could come in and try it. (I bought Medium/2.) She is so good with styling and brought me a sale Ba&sh dress to try too. Leslie said their dresses sell the best in France since it can be quite warm and dresses are cooler and versatile. This Clovia dress ( also size M /2) felt very French girl! She gave me one of the Ba&sh belts to go with. This is a Bohemian look with the suede belt and not what I’d pick normally. I loved it!
This is the thing about getting style help…. You try on things you would normally never consider. We all need to do this occasionally and it’s free at Bloomies and Nordstrom.
This dress can go from now into the winter months so I bought it! I usually try to buy a piece for fall on the summer sales. I’m sort of excited to wear it and hope I’ll have something nice to wear it to. It is on sale ( a markdown even though it looks pre-season), and the suede belt is gorg and full price, but a good investment and not a usual type of purchase for me, but I had to get it. I can’t wait to try the belt in fall with longer blouses and other dresses!
Go see to see my pal the brilliant Leslie ( I loved her dress too) at Bloomingdales in Valley Fair if you want help pulling together a look or want to know more about this cool brand Ba&sh. I adore her and her department is on the second floor. She can help with any of the brands up there too.
While there I had time and perused the long summer sale rack and found surprisingly good things. I picked up this Rails white blouse ( I bought small) on sale plus and extra 30% off in checkout, and this cute French Connection button up ( bought XS) in a green stripe ( is more true green than online) also marked down. This striped shirt is the nicest fabric and in 5 more stripe colors.
The Olympics!
I absolutely adore the Olympics. My mom always had us watching all of them as kids and she instilled in us how very special it is for the world to come together. This is a year we really need to see unity and heart warming stories don’t you think? I plan on watching non-stop and my DVR is set to record ALL of it so I hope it doesn’t blow up. Max isn’t as passionate as I am about it, but he will tolerate it for the next few weeks! Thanks to my mom, I always win in the Olympic category in Jeopardy! LOL.
The opening ceremonies certainly were different. I loved seeing the athletes coming down the Seine in boats. I may be biased, but I do think our athletes looked great in Ralph Lauren blazers and custom made jeans!
This fun article shows some of the other nations looks with flair including my other picks -Mongolia, Netherlands and Taiwan- aka Chinese Taipei.
This clip shows how Ralph Lauren designed the uniforms and the American manufacturers making them, which is awesome. The U.S is one of the only Olympic teams not funded by government, so it’s a huge expense for Ralph Lauren.
The highlight of the evening last night had to be the incredible performance of Celine Dion singing Hymne A L’Amour at the base of the Eiffel Tower. I don’t think there was a dry eye after knowing her struggles with a progressive neurological disease. Such a beautiful way to open an Olympics set in Paris!
If you missed last week, I shared snippets from a weekend in Trinidad, a beautifully renovated historic Kenwood home tour to inspire , and good things still to be had at the Nordstrom Sale!
I’ll be back with the Trinidad trip tips later this week!
I hope you have a lovely weekend,
Kim
Please stop by Elizabeth’s blog for more weekend fun…
PINECONES AND ACORNS
Juliet has already started our August holiday. Elizabeth will join me next week taking August off too.
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Hi Kim, enjoy your break and will look forward to your return. Olympics, after such a looonnnggg opening ceremony, said I’m officially over the Olympics. I have to agree with you the US team’s uniform is beautiful, unlike our poor Aussie athletes’ uniforms.
Ha! I think they jumped the shark with some of that ceremony, as much as I love Paris.
I know some of the other uniforms were pretty funky. I didn’t know it’s up to whomever volunteers to pay for them in the US!
Hi Kim,
Loved those Ba&sh pieces you bought, the belt is gorgeous!! Have a wonderful summer; enjoy the beauty of “kicking back” and slowing down. All the best!
Thanks Francesca! I hope you have a great rest of the summer too! xo
Great dress with or without the belt. Enjoy your August.
Thank you Carolina! xo
Good morning Kim! Here is another great post and thank you.
Who knew that flowers have such power? I love your Friday tidy-up idea and will start that habit too. It’s never too late to spoil ourselves.
The Olympic Opening Ceremony, while a bit long, was worth watching with that beautiful finale by Celine Dion. I was crying even though I didn’t understand a word she sang. It was simply moving with her powerful voice and strength to perform. Just lovely.
Finally read last week’s post as well and thank you for featuring Homeworthy again. I am addicted to it! Isn’t everyone?
Enjoy your time off and while I will miss you, I am glad that you are wisely taking a break. We all need them.
Be well! XO-holly
Kim, what a great post! I too, go to Traders for flowers and tidbits on Fridays usually. It’s always an upper. Also, I love the idea of switching things up in the house and being more playful. Why do we get stuck? I loved your Bloomie’s pieces! Your taste is so great and everything looks fab on you.
Enjoy your break. You work hard and are appreciated for putting out such creation and positivity.
Kim, love the Clovis dress and looks great on you. Never think of shopping Bloomingdale’s.
Enjoy your break, I’m sure you deserve it.
I enjoy decorating and updating my home and w flowers even if it’s just for me. It gives me joy.
Look forward to your blog in September.
What a great post Kim. I absolutely agree re fresh flowers and have always have some. At home I try and buy British grown and seasonal, here in Brittany I tend to cut flowers from the garden and mix them with sprigs of herbs or wild flowers.
I felt sorry for so many of the athletes and organisers yesterday, the weather was a huge let down. (We’d had the rain earlier during the day.)
Enjoy your break and I look forward to reading your Saturday meanderings in September.
Good evening Kim!
I am looking forward to your post about your weekend adventure with the boys and family to where Max grew up. It looks like a magical place and like you had a wonderful time.
I love changing things up. Typically I add or subtract accessories, sometimes pillow, add new books and flowers or plants.
Your foyer looks beautiful!
I need to get a copy of this Norma Kamali book. As for cookbooks, we have tons of cookbooks and are always buying more. We love them. In fact at some point the last room to be renovated will have new bookcases, simply because we have books everywhere. There are stacked in closets, on a bookcase in the garage, next to the beds. etc.
Milk Street/Christopher Kimbal is amazing. I miss him on Cooks Illustrated but he is wonderful at Milkstreet.
How fun to have a personal shopper design a few looks for you. Our little village is small and the biggest store we have here is Talbots, Belk and Chicos. Otherwise it is boutiques and online shopping.
You look beautiful! Love the dress and the shirts.
Have a wonderful holiday this August, enjoy your break.
xo
Hi Kim,
I like and relate to how you prepare your Friday to be, so you and Max can enjoy one another and your home. I do the same and start on Thursday.
I will dig deeper into The Harvard study on fresh flowers. We do not have a Trader Joe’s close by, I love their flower department and the whole store. When we lived in Scottsdale close to Paradise Valley we were so close to TJ, Whole Foods, and Sprouts, we were so spoiled by conscience. I miss that lots. I too love fresh flowers on the dining room table. Mostly I have our long stemmed white daisies because that was my mama’s favorite, they are silk. It’s the way I honor her memory, and she is always close to my heart at every meal. It was her favorite flower.
Invincible looks like an awesome book. I embrace the message of empowerment to women in a big way. I don’t think I have heard of Norma Kamali. I know I live in a cave. I now depend on you to keep me informed and cool.
The Cookish cookbook looks good. Sounds like you and your mother-in-law had fun together.
Bloomingdale’s is a fabulous store. The last time I was in a B store was in Century City, LA with Hen. It’s a beautiful store with TOP designers. I just had fun taking it all in as Jen was looking at gorgeous clothes.
That Rails white blouse is beautiful on you love the entire look and detail. Green strip shirt looks nice on you too
Leslie was so good to point out the Clovia dress. My favorite is a Bohemia vibe, the dress is fab, and the belt just finishes off the look. You look so pretty in it. You will feel like a princess in it.
The Olympics is something we have been looking forward to. The entire opening was sensational, original, very French, creative, imaginative, and in awe of everything. We are huge fans of Celine Dion. Her Hymn was so touching. Celine’s voice was beautiful, knowing her fight against her Neurologic disease and her fighting through this chronic disability issue and to see her yesterday was truly breathtaking. Tears of respect . She looked so beautiful. I will never forget when we saw her with The Bee Gees and then all by her self in Phoenix. It was just the best, treasured memories.
Fun change up in your front room entry. Change is good for soul. It’s fun what you did with the hats. Bear brought down so many of my hats where I could not reach. I forgot I had so many.
Sadly I had to toss some very good ones, some of the seams came apart. Many I will be donating because I know they will never be worn. Time to pass them into a new home.
In closing, I hope taking off the month of August will give you the opportunity to check off some of the to do things that may have been haunting you. Also thank you from the bottom of my ❤️for all the interesting things you share each week. You add so much happiness to my life, and I learn things too. Being a California cool lady is a big added bonus.
Take TLC and “be in joy.”
Thank you so much Katherine!! I know felt lucky to have Leslie’s help. Bloomies is so fun. I avoid the mall here, but I still love the department store experience, especially nice ones..
Wasn’t Celine incredible? Will never forget it… The hats. I am still working on what to do there. I think you can never have enough hats when you live in sunny places right? Hope you stay cool and thank you always for the kind notes. xx
Kim—a cook book collection…that would be amazing! I’ve been wanting to start a cookbook book club.
Can’t wait to read your post on max’s hometown!
Xx
Annie, I want a library! LOL.
Bonjour Kim! I never comment any blog or post on Instagram so I was very surprised when you answered me the first time I did it on your Insta account and I appreciated it a lot. It certainly takes a lot of time for you to write and to answer, that is why I understand why you want to “disconnect” in August.
Concerning the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, my closest family and I really loved it. However it seems that it was quite divisive among French people because of some scenes. Happily everyone (I think) loved Céline Dion singing L’Hymne à l’amour. This is one of the most famous songs by Edith Piaf. It is very sad but so beautiful.
Looking forward to read your post on Trinidad!
Hello Caroline, Sure! So happy to.. Yes the opening ceremonies were different and of course they can’t please everyone… Still really neat though.
I loved Celine. x
Enjoy your time off from the blog! I look forward to your return! 🙂
Thank you so much Elizabeth!
Thank you for the Ralph Lauren video. Very informative. That they custom dress each athlete must take forever as I would guess many can’t travel to the Lauren location. I do home they get to keep the clothes after.
I know Anne! Yes they keep all the clothes. I think RL does such a great job and they have people that are in Paris helping them with the clothes..
Hi Kim, lovely post as always – I, too, have a large cookbook collection, I need to stop buying them! Your picks at Bloomingdales are lovely, your friend did a great job in helping you.
I saw Celine’s performance and was blown away too – I haven’t yet watched the documentary on Netflix, but I’ve seen bits of it and it’s so amazing that she was able to sing like that, after all she’s been through.
I watched the Ralph Lauren clip that you included – the clothes look lovely and it was interesting to see some of the manufacturing process.
I hope you have a great summer break – you put your heart and soul into your blog and you need to kick back a bit and have fun!
Hi Patricia!
I know.. I have a cookbook problem too. Wasn’t Celine just amazing? I’ll never forget that.
Aw thank you and hope you are having a great summer too!
Since I always have my nose in a book, I’m rarely reading blogs these days but I miss them. I haven’t updated mine in over a year, which is really terrible. Maybe I’ll bring it back to life when autumn comes around. It’s deadly hot and the humidity is in the high 80s now that August is here. But, at least, we’re getting some clouds. So fingers crossed for some rain.
I agree about updating our homes from time to time. I’ve been stuck with the same decor for years and am itching to shake things up a bit. Maybe l’ll get to it when the weather cools down. Seems like i’ll have plenty to do in autumn but time will tell whether it will really happen 🙂
HI Lorna! I hope you get back to blogging … I love your photos and view of the world!!
I hear you about changing things up. Autumn is a good time too. Enjoy your summer! x
Oh my goodness, Kim, I’m sure you need the R and R! I look forward to you being back in September.
Thank you so much Maggie! Hope you are having a good summer too. x