flutter on by

I love Monday and Tuesday nights.
For the last few months, we've had two of our favorite friends come over almost every single Mon/Tues for The Bachelorette and SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance).
We order pizza, or make crepes, or grab ice cream, and/or make coffee and enjoy some quality television together.
The result is hours of fun conversation revolved around the dramatic happenings of a woman trying to find love and a group of dancers that just want to try and make their dreams come true.
We've had a blast. With the finale of The Bachelorette this past Monday, there was gasping, crying, screaming, laughing, throwing things. It was the best darn 2 hours of television I've ever experienced.
(And by the by, I was #teamChris from the very beginning!)

Dress: J. Crew, Necklace (shop!) (similar!)/Earrings/Shoes (shop!): Ruche
Bangles: Kate Spade

Yesterday's outfit was very minty fresh.
This dress was one of my favorite buys from our local J. Crew Outlet two years ago, our first year living in Virginia.
It has served as one of my favorite go-tos, and has encouraged my love for anything and everything mint in my life.

During Ruche's jewelry sale last week I snatched up one of the very last listings for this layered necklace!
It's absolutely perfect for this monochromatic look, and I can already see it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
(Especially since Ruche included a surprise pair of matching earrings for every necklace I purchased! They're the best! I would highly recommend scanning their jewelry section.)

After my husband kindly took these pictures for me out on the damp rainy asphalt, we wandered back towards our front door when we noticed all of our friendly butterflies happily grazing away at our front bushes.
There are literally hundreds throughout the summer, and I try never to take advantage of how beautiful they are to watch.
We spent the next 15 minutes or so just taking a few shots of our dear friends, watching them live their lives, just fluttering on by.

Our front door :)

sunset: outfit 13

It was such a beautiful evening on Friday, and we got the chance to shoot some photos right as the sun began to shine through the trees before it set. It has been such a great week, but Friday couldn't come soon enough! I was looking forward to the farmer's market on Saturday, and walking along downtown and showing my friend some of my favorite spots.
Introducing outfit 13:

Top: LOFT, Vest: Kohl's (shop!), Pants: Old Navy, Shoes: Zulily

This spot is one of my favorites around our neighborhood.
We've done a couple photo shoots around here (like this one), and it's beautiful all year round. Probably my favorite is at the peak of Fall, when the largest trees turn a stunning shade of yellow and every time we drive down the street we're stunned by them.
I've always been a huge fan of sunset (being an Arizona girl, and also never being enough of a morning person for sunrises), and we had just met some friends for snow cones when we were heading home and decided to stop for our daily photos while it was still light enough.
It turned out to be the perfect time of day for photos!

It's moments like this that make me realize how much I love being outside. I'd love to take the opportunity to go on some local hikes, and use these cooler mornings for some of the gorgeous trails we have downtown.
We've talked a lot about trying to go out on a lake this summer, and also trying to get some friends together to go camping. Camping used to be an annual event for our family, and I haven't been in years and years.
I've never been camping with Dusty, and I think it'd be a blast! We'd both love to try and introduce camping into our regular summer activities.