backyard wedding

 

dress: rebecca taylor, shoes: missoni, necklace: anthropologie

My friend, Sara (and her husband, Stephen), had a beautiful backyard wedding earlier in July. I absolutely loved the backyard setting and casual feel, and it holds a very special place in my heart as our wedding will also be in the backyard of an old home in the historic district of Dallas. If our wedding is half as gorgeous as hers, I will be overwhelmingly thrilled. It was an unbelievably sweet celebration, and I love that this wedding was about their marriage and not so much an "event". 

I wore a Rebecca Taylor dress and Missoni heels. The fringe on this dress creates such great movement and a little more depth to the garment. I'm looking forward to tying a button down or wearing a cropped jean jacket over it for a more casual evening. 

p.s. Those mason jars with the chalkboard labels on them were such a fun and unique touch. I kept trying to show mine off...

underground fountain

shirt: Calypso St. Barths, skirt: vintage, shoes: Jeffrey Campbell, purse: Fendi

Once again, Brad and I enjoyed a nice night at Palomino. You really can't beat a 4 dollar glass of wine and some crudite with white bean dip. I picked Brad up from work for a quick break around dinner time, and rounded up a button down (up?) with this magenta vintage skirt. Simple enough for a quick bite to eat, but something a little different than jeans and a tee.

bradcoopermusic.com

shirt: 3.1 by philip lim, shorts: j. crew

These are an arrangement of pictures from a night a few weeks ago:  dinner for a friend's birthday, cocktails at the Black Swan in Deep Ellum, and Brad's show at the Prophet Bar. 

The Black Swan is a new-ish "hidden" speakeasy, and I think my drink was something likened to a moscow mule, but gussied up with apple cinnamon infused whiskey. There's another speakeasy in Dallas that mixes drinks to your preference also, and I really like this style of service. My order always involves whiskey and ginger, and I've always been supremely pleased. What a friendly pair they are.

After the speakeasy, we headed over to Brad's show. The opening band had lots of zazz, and Brad had a great turnout...there are loads of Brad Cooper fans out there...obvi. It's fun to see my man up there jamming his little heart out, and to see so many of our friends/unknowns sing along to his music. He has a blast at each show he plays, but I also know it's a great deal of work on top of his other commitments. I'm proud of him and his strong work ethic. These days, it's rare to see. 

st. ann's

Last week Brad and I enjoyed a Friday evening shopping at Billy Reid (gasp...new burgundy loafers for Brad) and patio time at St. Ann's. The food and drinks were summery, and just what we wanted after a long work week. I was most excited about the mac 'n cheese--but we both agreed that it didn't touch Cedar's Social truffle mac 'n cheese. 

I wore ivory tucked into cream to celebrate a crisp summer evening. I love the high-waisted aspect of these shorts with the ballooning shape. Lots of rump space in these bad boys! We had a fun time playing around in the empty lot next door to St. Ann's and thoroughly enjoyed the setting sun peeking through parts of downtown Dallas.

shirt: philosophy by republic, shorts: rugby, shoes: miu miu

july 4th: part 2

This post comes a little late, but I had such a fun fourth. Brad's house threw a party in the evening with loads of our good friends. I had just learned about the danger of grilling out, i.e. cancer causing carcinogens, but I enjoyed my thick, juicy cheeseburger all the same. Who cares if every now and then we ingest a little toxic pollutant in order to aptly celebrate our great nation's independence??

It really was a nice, low-key evening filled with beer and fireworks and red, white and blue. And I realized, I'm thankful. Even though I look at our society and shudder with the paths we're choosing, and the neglect for our bodies and so many other things I don't even want to delve into, I am grateful for our freedom because some countries don't even have that. God bless America.