Family Ties

My outfit Wed night for the BIG family get together….

The inspiration from this Mango Ad:

I loved the pop of Orange jacket and my cropped 3/4 sleeved cotton one was much more appropriate for the hot climate here than the blazer in the inspiration… I didn't have black sandals with me so wore the white strappy ones and I think they make a better statement!

Jacket - Kika Paprika (the piece that was named 'daphne')

Shirt - H&M

Faux leather dolphin shorts - H&M

Heels - Bebe

Necklace - Forever 21

Bracelets - Cookie Lee

Sunglasses - Wildfox

TUESDAY:
Didn't wore an outfit on this day but spent the day at the beach with my Turkish friend who lives in San Diego and has a daughter same age as mine. Invited them to come to our beach while my mom and step dad were in the city for the day:

WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday we spent the day at another beach with friends but had an unfortunate event of my friend's daughter being bitten by a fish and a whole commotion of getting the poison out and calling a Dr etc…
The good news was she was OK at the end.

At night we were invited to a huge family get together and to celebrate my mom's cousin's birthday at their house…
We had close to 40 family members!
My Grandpa comes from a family of 6 siblings each of whom had at least 2 to 3 kids (my mom's generations) and those had 2 to 3 kids (mine and my cousins' generation) and then we started having kids.
So it was a joyous get together of generations of family welcoming the new ones and honoring those who are no longer with us….

On my right, my mom's cousin's daughter, On my left my mom, her cousin and the cousin's daughter in law….

The Younger generation of the family… Birth years in the 90s….

My mom's cousin (the host) in the middle of a cousin daughter who is my age and I….

The Birthday Girl (another cousin of my mom's)

AND THE HUGE FAMILY GROUP PHOTO

 (Believe it or not there are so many missing from this photo even as big of a group as we are….)

Wave Riders

 I cut up bunch of inspiration from J Crew's summer (July) 2014 catalog. As they are just simple casual combo's that suit my life style… Here is one:

Just pairing floral shorts with a striped top and touch of sequins and metallics is unexpected…

Not sure what was going on with my camera, the colors are weird in some of the shots….

These shorts are new. I ordered them to wear with swim suits. They are super short but somehow stay put and the back has more coverage than the front so your butt cheeks do not hang out despite the short front look. Very light too...

Top - Ann Taylor LOFT

Shorts - Nordstrom's

Sandals - J Crew

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Backpack - Shoedazzle

WEDNESDAY:
So this was really an outfit I wore on Tuesday as we went to the beach on Wednesday and I just had swim suit and cover up on.
But the kids had a blast. We went to the beach by the gorgeous Torrey Pines Reserve/state park in San Diego. Pristine beaches at the skirt of impressive cliffs that contain lush trails. The caveat is you have to pay $12 to park. BUT, it was worth every penny as you get the park and literally just cross the street to the beach. That convenience was golden. Other beaches we circle and circle till we are dizzy to find parking and walk 10+ blocks with all the beach gear and the kids in the heat and then it all has to be repeated as we head back. Here it was a breeze.
And the beach was perfect. No seaweed, no rocks. The waves looked big but had little pull power which made it safe for kids. The water was super warm and the beach went shallow for quite a while again allowing kids to catch the wave break safely.
And those kids were hooked. First it was our 5 year old girls that caught the 'must catch the next wave' bug. They would sequel in delight as they rode the wave all the way to the shore and immediately hop off and swim back to catch the next one. They did this non stop for an hour straight before realizing they were famished and took a break. The boys were first just braving the big waves themselves. When the girls took their break they took the boards and realized how cool it was to boogie board. And funny how they all needed the rash guards for the actual reason to protect their stomachs from getting a rash.
Even with that though they all had red spots and bruises to show for their hard work all day.
My friend and I couldn't resist the unusually warm ocean either and swam couple times. It is so nice that our kids are now self sufficient in water and we can swim beside them and not have to hold their hands with every wave. It is so refreshing…

 Look at them catching the waves… They created quite the scene to watch as they sped to the shore on the wave...