Hello Barbie

This was a combo I actually tried it on before packing. The night I tried it on I felt like it looked like a Barbie outfit. For the life of me I couldn't find where I wrote it down and how I tied the shirt (tied at waist, using its self belt, or a separate belt) so I went as seen above. Not sure if it reminds me of a Barbie outfit anymore but went with this title anyway. It would have probably had a similar effect if worn just the shirt and the capri pants. But, I do love layering and  this eyelet corset top adds more interest to the outfit. I love the white on white look with touch of black. These heels with the zipper ruffles looks so cute under these capri pants.  The chunky multi chain necklace compliments that zipper detail on the shoes. Notice how my hair is curly, my aunt's method seems to be working like a charm. Who knew it could be so easy. It is hard to refrain from brushing my hair as I am used to brushing it after showers, every morning and every night. Now I only comb it in the shower and that is it. Very LM.

Photos taken at my mother's friend's house which we were invited for dinner tonight.

Black and white satin blouse with self belt - Forever 21

White Capri Pants - D&G

White eyelet corset top - from Mom's

Leather shoes with zipper ruffles - BCBGirls

Silver chain worn as a bracelet - my husband's made by my aunt

CZ ring - from Turkey

Multi strand chain necklace - Forever 21

Today's Activities: My sister is here visiting. Woke up on time and took the kids to the beach just her and I. It was windy and the sea was too wavy but lots of other relatives and friends showed up so it was still fun. After naps my cousins arrived. Just the girls took my son to eat 'lokma' which is a special dessert made out of dought fried in oil and served with syrup. Then the cousins and my sister entertained the kids at home. After the kids ate we left for dinner at my mom's friend's house whose daughter is my friend as well. It was a nice long night.

When in Rome

My family gives me such a hard time about these poses where I look up. They go 'what are you looking at?' but I think usually they come out cool. They also say I should try different poses so tried a couple sitting ones below. I have worn this top a few times before and love it. It looks good no matter what I pair it with. I initially was going to wear my red wedge heels under this and they looked good but it was way too matchy and took away from the casualness of it, so went with the denim sandals instead. I realize the sandals match the shorts but as I have said many times I only have a 8 pair selection on this trip. I CAN NOT wait to reunite with the rest of my shoe collection back at home. I wore my silver heart baby phat loop earings initally but then we were trying on jewelry at my aunt's and I fell in love with the pair I have on. Sun was setting so kept them on for the photo shoot. They will go great with an evening dressy outfit I think. The top part is a black pearl, middle stone is turqoise and the bottom is a black topaz all connected with gold scrolls handmade by her.

I am sitting on what is supposed to be a fountain but this summer we had to cover it with pillows so my daughter won't fall into it!

Notice my legs are covered with spots? They are mosquito bites. Inevidable here.

Striped knit top - Forever 21

Faded thin denim shorts - from Turkey (WeiJL)

Denim ankle cuff sandals - Steve Madden

Yellow watch - Forever 21

Earings - Handmade by my jeweler aunt

Today's Activities: Had car troubles so cancelled beach and did the pool on the lawn activity again. My aunt's housekeeper's son is here who is 10 so he got my kids playing pretty hard. After naps (my son did not nap which is normal if he is not tired out by beach/swim) my sister arrived. We all went to the beach together. After dinner and kids went to bed went to the movies (again the tiny open air theater here) to see 'When in Rome'. Cute movie.

Keeping it Casual

Another very casual and simple combo. Not much going on these days so no need to dress all up. This is just a simple white tank with khaki shorts. Did spice it up tiny bit with a leather belt and a long necklace, but continued to keep it simple with gold flip flops. It could have been a dressy combo if I went with brown high heel sandals. I tried on 3 different necklaces with this. First was my brown leather and bronze coin necklace. Of course it looked great but it was almost too matchy which you know I tend to not like since blogging. Then I went with a simple white bead and shell necklace which was also good but this long gold chain with an ivory tooth and coin charm seemed to work the best at the end. Paired it with white/gold watch and white/nickel ring.

The background is my parents' summer house wall. My stepfather is an artist and he had thee fishes cut out of tin and they are all nailed with a single nail where their eyes would be. When it is windy their tails flap giving them swimming effect. Pretty cool....

White ribbed tank - Target

Khaki shorts - JCrew

Leather belt - Limited

Gold flip flops - Bebe

Gold long nekclace - Forever 21

White watch - Michael Kors

White/nickel ring- Swatch

Today's Activities: No housekeeper/nanny today (she is on vacay) so woke up with my lovely daughter at 6:45 AM! after going to bed at 1 AM. Brutal. We were done with breakfast and getting dressed by 9:15 of course so decided to just go to the beach early. But took the stroller instead of the car and as I had hoped my daughter did fall a sleep so she got caught up a bit. Had a nice beach day, stayed longer and had lunch there even. My mom's cousins have arrived and they use the same beach so we meet lots of family members now which makes it fun. I crashed hard when the kids went down and thank goodness my mom got up with the kids so I could nap longer. Once again were too lazy to do beach in the afternoon. Hung out at the house and played water games. After dinner took the kids for a stroll and ice cream. Told you not much to dress up for! :)

Marina

My stepfather the artist is here so hopefully we'll have some cool photo shoots if we can manage with the kids. Went to a cool Marina today so great backgrounds. This was supposed to be a super casual combo but when I put it on I liked that even in its simplicity it actually looked chic and dressy. I loved how the mustard yellow tank goes with the stark white shorts. The gold bib necklace immediately brings it up in the dressy scale. Forgot to take closeup shots but I am also wearing a lot of bracelets: one arm I have a burnished gold leather and silver chain necklace tied around for a multi layered bracelet. On the other arm is my 4 colors of beaded evil eye bracelets in navy, orange, white and yellow. The faded gold thongs complete the look.

HAIR NOTES: You will notice my hair is puffier and curlier than usual. I am adopting a new method I learned from my aunt who also has very curly long hair. I call it the dirty method. It requires you to only shampoo your hair once a week! You can get your hair wet in the sea everyday but you simply wash it with plain water afterwards and never comb. Every other day you can use conditioaner while washing. After towel drying you put curling creams. I still had to curl just the front layers which were frizzing when dry but all the other parts remained non frizzy. So, may be this will work. Cause it is such a pain to maintain any kind of hair style when you go to salty sea twice a day with kids that splash water even when you try not to get your hair wet!

Mustard colored bra top tank - CLOSET

White shorts - Target

Faded gold thong sandals - Chinese Laundry

Gold Bib necklace - Kohl's

gold leather and chain necklace worn as a bracelet - Forever 21

evil eye bead bracelets - from Turkey (Alacati Bazaar)

The phtos below are infront of a 'wish tree' loved its colors:

Today's Activities: Went to the beach in the morning. Really becoming friends with the mommies and their kids who come to the same beach everyday regularly like us. After lunch and naps we hung around the house for a while. Late afternoon got all dressed and went to the Marina. This area was always a marina but this year they built large cobblestone walkways connected with beautiful bridges and a great selection of classy restaurants, bars, clubs and shops which stay open until early morning hours. We have been to this place many times before this summer but always at night after the kids have gone to bed. It was nice to go during the day so we can see te entire water/boat view. My son and even my daughter loved walking the cobblestone walkways and bridges which was good since we can only fit a single umberella stroller in our tiny rental car. Had a late snack at kumru shop then had classic gyro dinner in the classic downtown shopping area which is right near the Marina.

This and the cover shot were taken in front of this amazingly beatiful blue wall which belongs to a restaurant called 'Gant'.... I think I might copy this color scheme (blue with grey and white and stone) for a future room or living room in my next house...

Minty Peach

Put this together on the fly. Didn't really have any plans to go anywhere so didn't put much thought into it. The silky shorts in army green do look nice with this peach silky top for sure. To make the outfit more fun added these crochet and silk and butterfly necklaces. They have orange and green and  yellow but there is also hues of peach in them so they worked pretty well.

Peach top - Forever 21

Silky shorts - Forever 21

Crochet necklaces - handmade from a street vendor in Turkey

Ankle cuff suede sandals - Victoria's Secret

Sunday 7/18 Activities: Missed beach time this morning so just did a blow up pool in the lawn for the kids. There was another death in the family so while the kids napped we went to the funeral. In the afternoon had to take them to the beach even though it gets packed on Sunday even at our local beach club. Luckily since I was alone I was able to find one lonely chair in front of the sand to put our stuff. When we got home my stepdad had arrived from the States and my son went nuts at seein his 'Grandpa Neal'. Had a nice family dinner and went to bed early.

Highlighter Bright

Totally behind in posts, so will try to catch up...Wore this outfit on Saturday (7/17).  I absolutely love this skirt. Bought it at the hip area of the summer town (Alacati) in a cute boutique called 'Agu'. I am disappointed because the ridicilously bright screaming flourescent color did not really come out in the photos. It is bright orange/pink highlighter color. I loved its style with layers and layers of fabric and cream tulle. And the fabric is soft t-shirt material so it is very comfy. Since it is a lot of layers it is heavy and stays put. I pull down the waist line a bit to make it tad longer. I was going to pair it with a white tank (which I will for a more casual look) but for today thought this old vintage lace corset top was a perfect match. This way I could wear my beige suede ankle cuff sandals too. Went simple on the accessories since the skirt is so bright with just peach/cream shell necklace layer over the pink to orange hued simple gold necklace. That is my new thing, layering short necklaces over one and other.

Cream lace corset top - Vintage (mom's)

Bright mini skirt - from Turkey (Agu in Alacati, Cesme)

Ankle cuff suede sandals - Victoria's Secret

Shell Necklace - Mom's

Gold necklace - H&M

Saturday (7/17) Activities: After a nice beach outing in the morning followed by lunch and naps we got ready in the afternoon for 2 birthday parties. First was for the daugther of my high school buddy who was turning 3.  It was full of kids my son's age. They had a balloon face painter and lots of goodies and a huge snow white castle cake. The second was a Turkish friend from San Diego who is also visiting family like us whose daughter was turning 1. This was also a huge party with lots of kids and fun activities. We realized birthday parties here are like elobarate dinner parties. They serve all sorts of fancy appetizers and platters and platters of food and a full bar of drinks. We ate so  much. Of course since my daughter always manages to get into trouble I never ever sat down but just followed her around. They had a blast though.

Here is my mom and I with the kids right before we head off the parites...