A summery watermelon skirt and a cute little snail

Outfit details

Prescription eyeglasses: (frames) Venus Eye Design V-12
White hair flower: Ardene
Red plastic rose stud earrings: Claire's
Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥
Red ruched neckline t-shirt: Forever 21
Black thin knit shrug: Fairweather
Bangle bracelets: assorted sources (Forever 21, Claire's, thrifted, etc)
Green faux leather skinny belt: eBay
1950s corduroy bucket purse: etsy seller Rue 23 Vintage Clothing
Vintage watermelon pocket a-line skirt: etsy seller Cricketcapers
Red and white stripped wedge sandals: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red

Photography by Antonio Cangiano
♥ ♥ ♥

Earlier this summer, on a very rainy day, Tony and I stopped by to visit my sister in Kelowna for a little while. We didn't know in advance that her boyfriend (the two live together) was quite ill, but when we found out we opted not to pop into their apartment (lest either or us should catch what he had), instead we visited with my sis for a few minutes in the very, very dimly lighted - but chicly decorated - lobby of her apartment.

 We'd hoped to get in a proper photo shoot that day, but the rain ruled that out in an outdoor environment and then when we didn't hang out in my sister's place, we lost that setting, too. Not to be detoured though, Tony grabbed a few quick iPhone photos of me, which, given the massive lack of light, still managed to turn out alright. I'm very glad they did, as this adorable a-line skirt with its darling watermelon pocket is one I've been eager to share with all of you since the moment I got it several months ago.

 I'm sure you'll see it again in future warm weather outfit posts, but as we're heading in fall and winter pretty soon, in case it doesn't get worn again this year, I thought I better post these pics now, two days shy of the end of the season.

As we were making our back out to the car, I spotted a sweet little snail on a fence and asked Tony if I could borrow his phone to take a quick photo of it. One doesn't encounter all that many snails (especially if you don't have a garden) in this part of the province (unlike in the Lower Mainland, where snails and slugs alike often abound), so - as a lifelong fan of snails - when I do see one here, it's cause for momentary celebration.

 On a different note, though we're not been able to get to very many of them this season and I've only unearthed a tiny handful of vintage pieces over the course of the summer at the ones we did visit, as many of you have expressed an interest in seeing a "best of the summer" yard sale find post (akin to my best of the spring one from last June), I plan on putting together one in the near future.

 We're having particularly lovely weather this September and as a result, yard sale season is still going relatively strong. In years past I've seen it stretch into October, and I'm hoping such will be the case in 2012, too, as it may mean that (assuming I'm feeling well enough to hit them up) that there are still a few more weekends this year in which to potentially find some wonderful old school pieces.

 When it finally looks like the locals have packed it in for the season (quite literally) and there aren't likely to be more yard sales this year, a "best vintage finds of the summer" post will appear here. I really appreciate the enthusiasm that guys you had for the spring one and am super excited to share my summer finds with you, too, even if their numbers pale in comparison to the especially good spring garage sale run we had.

 So while it will likely soon be time to wave good bye to watermelon skirts, sizzling rain storms (and the cute little snails they bring out), and yard sales, I'm not too blue about the fact that summer is wrapping up. Despite being very ill for August and much of September, this was still, bar none, one of the best - and happiest - summers I've experienced as an adult and I'm extremely grateful for that.

 The memories and smiles gleaned from this season will stay with me for the rest of my life, and - I truly hope - stand to indicate how future summers may be often be from here on out now that we're in beautiful British Columbia.