What I Wore On Summer Vacation
I never really understood when people would say “I need a vacation from my vacation,” but after spending 10 days driving up the southeast coast, I sort of get it now. Z and I started in Miami, made a lunch pit stop in Ft. Lauderdale, drove up to West Palm Beach to visit family, spent two nights in Orlando (strictly for Universal Studios), made another lunch pit stop in Jacksonville, sweated our souls out in Savannah, and ended in the Holy City (AKA Charleston). About a week in, we hit a wall but nevertheless, we persisted and enjoyed every minute of this epic adventure together.
My biggest takeaway from this elongated vacation is that I will finally be succumbing to packing cubes next go-round. Packing for a 10 day trip is a lot, especially considering the amount of laundry you are creating all along the way. However, I’m proud to report I did a fairly decent job covering all my outfit bases with the variety of clothing I packed. If I could do it over, I’d pack a few less “cute” dresses and a few more exercise dresses, but more on that later.
Keep scrolling to check out what I wore throughout our 10-day trip and see if anything is worthy of being added to your closet for summer!
Amazon Swimsuit + Target Pants
Can I get a WHATWHAT for last-minute vacation buys?! That’s exactly what these two purchases were. Even though I had months to plan, I still felt like I didn’t have what I needed a few days before we left, so I found this very fun bikini on Amazon (that comes in a ton of colors), and these perfect white pool/beach cover-up pants at Target. Word of warning, though: you get what you pay for with the ‘kini and after one wear, the bright pink had small spots of purple? It’s cheap dye, but hey—it’s a cheap suit that looks really good. Tomato, potato. The white shades I had gotten from Target last month, and they were perfect for the trip!
Blue Leopard Target Cover-Up
This was also a last-minute buy that just SCREAMED Miami Vice to me, so I had to have it for Miami specifically. I didn’t wear it outside of Miami, in fact. I also got compliments on it from random hotel guests, so I’m happy with my choices. Zac snapped this during a torrential downpour that rained us out for an entire afternoon, so we just got drunk off piña coladas in lieu of pool/beach time!
Blue Target Bikini
I’m really having a moment with blue lately; I’m obsessed with it. I never have been; in fact, I’ve always found it very boring. But suddenly I can’t get enough. Therefore, when I saw this blue ‘kini at Target, I was like “well… yes.” I got the D/DD top and large bottoms. It’s low waist which I’m no longer used to, but I felt super comfortable in it and it was nice to feel the sun on my tummy after being hidden underneath high waist everything for so long. 10/10 recommend!
white LPA Blouse
Y’all. I’ve had this hanging in my closet for months, waiting for this trip. When I tell you Zac lost his shit upon seeing me in it… I was hoping for that reaction from him, so I felt accomplished. It’s such a gorgeous FUN top; I own nothing else like it. The bell sleeves and pattern are so retro, and the overall look is flirty and sexy. I wore it over a pair of high waist jean shorts and paired it with my Target heels that are my favorite heels maybe ever? I took a small in this because it’s definitely an oversized fit! I also carried this Amazon clutch with me throughout the trip to every dinner we went to. It’s the best.
THE EXERCISE DRESS
I’ve been wearing and singing this Outdoor Voices exercise dress praises for a few years now, but had no idea just how perfect it is for summer days spent in theme parks. I wore my white one during our 12-hour stint in Universal Studios with my insanely cute and INCREDIBLY comfortable New Balance, and honestly could’ve gone for 24 hours. I take the medium in the OV dress, and it has built-in shorts that really save the day. It does NOT have a built-in bra, but I feel supported without. The real star of the show, though, was my Girlfriend fanny pack. I wear her pretty much daily, but she came in so clutch for this kind of excursion. She fits A LOT and can be worn as a fanny or a crossbody bag.
REFORMATION TOP + JEANS
I have this top in black and had to get it in white. I don’t make the rules. I wore this to our first dinner in Savannah with my favorite pair of Daze denim jeans (cropped flare) and, again, the Target heels. Usually, I’d wear this top tucked into a pair of truly straight-leg jeans, but these are the only pair I brought and it looked better untucked! I take a 10 in the top and a 28 in the jeans.
FREE PEOPLE TOP + LINEN PANTS
I don’t often wear tops with tie fronts, but something about this Free People top spoke to me and I listened. It’s a very fun top and risqué. If you have a small chest and are confident in general, you can rock this with no bra and be just fine. For me, I wore this gorgeous bralette underneath to add flirt on top of flirt. I paired it with these pull-on linen pants from J.Crew and topped off the look with my Charlotte Stone sandals I got last summer! The shades are by AJ Morgan and I got them at a small shop in Savannah earlier that day.
SMOCK DRESS + PLATFORM SANDALS
Could this dress be anymore appropriate for Charleston? I’ve had this in my closet for at least 3 months, and it made its debut our first night in the Holy City. It’s no longer available because I got it so long ago, so that’s dumb. But I linked some similar styles on the link below so check them out! The shoes are from Madewell and newer, and I LOVE THEM. They are so comfortable, it’s wild. The exact kind of summer shoe I didn’t have and was looking for. The earrings were $10 from a local store in Dallas called Favor the Kind, if anyone is interested!
SUMMERSALT SWIMSUIT
For our last romp in the ocean before we headed back to landlocked Dallas, I put on a favorite purchase of mine for this summer season: Summersalt’s wrap one-piece swimsuit. It’s just so insanely flattering, and obviously I love every and any mixture of red and pink, so it was a shoe-in for me. The tie waist helps define my own, and it’s the perfect amount of cleavage. I am a size 8 and it fits perfectly!
ASCOT&HART SHORTS SET
Had to make an honorable mention of my airport look! I wore this ascot & hart for Target set on our last morning in Charleston and wore it on our flight home, too. It’s so comfortable, so easy to wear, and the 14 month old in the seat next to me LOVED it. No, really. He wouldn’t stop touching it, so we went through all the colors with him. A matching set that’s cute AND educational?! Sign me up.
I’ll be recovering from our trip for the rest of the week if you need me. A detailed breakdown of each location to come!
MORE EMMAS(FASHION)THING
