Hi, y’all! Long time, no chat—last week, I spent the week at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina with my two sisters and two of our cousins, and we had the best time. I’m going to pull together a full travel guide for that wonderful seaside town (that hopefully will be on the blog within the next week or so!) and am excited to share one of my favorite places with you. One thing I will note is that while we were there, it almost felt like there wasn’t a pandemic going on—we were sometimes the only group wearing masks at restaurants to talk to the hosts/bartenders, mask wearing wasn’t enforced at the grocery store, and we were often the only ones hand sanitizing like crazy. At some restaurants, the servers weren’t even wearing masks (which I didn’t know was allowed?!?!). Compared to DC where things are very, very strict, this was a huge culture shock. While I understand wearing a mask can be annoying, it also is a tool that I wish more people would embrace—if we all wear masks, it’s a small way we can keep each other safe and stop the spread, thus allowing us to have the opportunity to go out and do things like enjoy a patio margarita. That being said, we did find it easy to socially distance on the beach—most people set up their umbrellas at least six feet apart anyway and everyone was respectful of each other’s space.

I honestly can’t believe that next week is July—while I really felt like March and April dragged on, May and June seem to have flown by. I’m still working from home, but it’s gotten easier now that I’m in a routine and we’ve built processes at work to enable better communication since we don’t have the benefit of overhearing each other in the office. Said simply, it’s gotten a lot easier! (Which is good, because I think we will be working from home for a looooong time.) I am still leaning towards moving back to Arlington when my lease is up as I would love a little more space to spread out—and fit a proper kitchen table and desk! I’ll likely have to give notice at the end of July, so I’ve still got some time to think about it—and I will definitely keep y’all posted!

I have a smorgasbord of things I wanted to share, so I thought it’d be fun to do a life lately post today—hope everyone is hanging in there and having a great week! x

THE SHORTS I’M LOVING /

I loved a good par of J Crew chino shorts back in the day, but over the past five years or so, haven’t really reached for shorts as part of my summer wardrobe. I’m much more comfortable in white jeans or dresses. But since quarantine, my wardrobe has become much more casual, so I thought I’d add a few pairs I could easily work from home in to my closet.

I was over at my sister’s apartment recently, and she had these American Eagle Smocked Shorts out and I thought they were so cute that I made her wear them to the patio we were going to! I also immediately bought myself two pairs—the blue and red pairs, and they are so cute and comfortable. They’re also under $25. I’d highly recommend them even if you aren’t a short person—as I mentioned, I’m not normally! There is also a matching top if that’s something you’re into.

THE PERFECT DRESS FOR 4TH OF JULY /

Did anyone else grow up wearing Old Navy flag t-shirts every 4th of July? I sure did—and while I don’t buy them anymore, this Old Navy Star Dress would be the perfect ensemble for Independence Day! I wore it at the beach last week and it was such an easy wear—it’s flowy and was comfortable enough for me to ride my bike to happy hour in. Added bonus, it’s only $15. For size reference, I’m 5’4 and bought a medium; it hits right above my knees.

One thing I will flag is that Old Navy returns have been such a drag during the quarantine—they say because of social distancing restrictions it could be up to 30 days from the time they receive your return, but I’ve found it’s often closer to 60 days. As such, if your local Old Navy still isn’t accepting returns or you don’t live near one, I’d recommend only buying items if you can front the money for a few credit card cycles. I’ve had some luck calling customer service and asking them to process my refunds after the 30 day period, but it does take about an hour to get through to an actual human.

A CHEAP BEAUTY HACK I’M LOVING /

If you’re on TikTok, you’ve probably seen this hack, but recently, I’ve been tinting my eyebrows at home using the Just for Men Mustache and Beard Dye. My eyebrows are pretty light and I fill them in almost everyday, so this has been a lifesaver. It fades after about two weeks, but the box of product lasts a long time. Before I left for the beach, I filmed a quick IGTV tutorial on how I do the tinting—you can check that out here! It’s pretty fool proof and hard to mess up, so definitely give it a try if you’re curious!

CLEMSON FOR 4TH OF JULY /

My youngest sister, Lindsey, is a rising senior at Clemson University, and my other sister, Jennifer, and I are going to see her next week for the 4th of July. Since the holiday falls on a Saturday, my company is celebrating the holiday on Friday. I took Thursday off so we could head down there and have a nice long weekend—especially since it’s about an eight and a half hour drive from DC! We’ll probably keep things pretty low key and enjoy the pool at her apartment complex, watch Hamilton on Disney+ (!!!), and grab the best bagels in town.

We visited Lindsey once at Clemson when she was a freshman and it was great seeing where she went to school and exploring the cute college town. We also made it over to Greenville on that trip, and I am hoping we can get back this trip as well—it’s such a cool place! I’m excited to be back and see what Lindsey’s life looks now that she’s basically a senior (!). While she has an apartment, her roommates are all in town this summer, too, so Jennifer and I booked a room at a hotel nearby so we could have a real bed. (I don’t thrive on couches or air mattresses like I used to!). This will be my first time staying in a hotel in a post-COVID world, so I’ll be curious to see what the experience is like—but the CDC considers hotel stays low risk, so that’s given me peace of mind.

TRULY LEMONADE HARD SELTZER /

While we were at the beach, we bought a pack of these Truly Hard Seltzer Lemonades and I think they are my favorite hard seltzer—even better than White Claws. In the pack, there’s regular lemonade, strawberry lemonade, black cherry lemonade, and mango lemonade. I enjoyed all of the flavors, which I feel like almost never happens in a seltzer pack. If you’re looking for an easy summer sipper for the beach, pool, or patio, add these to your cart!

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That’s a look at my life lately—I’ll be back later this week with a new link love.