10 vacay outfits out of my carry-on + 13 pieces I'm coveting
including a Missoni dupe, a West Village Book Club catch-up and a mid-year check-in for paid subscribers
For those stateside, I hope you enjoyed a festive 4th of July holiday! In an unprecedented move, I opted to stay in the city for the long weekend. Since moving here in 2018, I’ve never once been in New York over the 4th—typically choosing to go up to my hometown in Western New York to be on Lake Ontario, or, in the case of last year, the beaches of the Balearics with my girlfriends.
Switching it up proved quite fruitful. I’ve had a weekend charged with creative energy, and despite the heatwave (Friday’s real feel was 108°!!!!), I managed to spend quality time with a few friends who also hung back in the city. All of this, of course, amidst lots of sweet treats, and spending my fair share of time consuming Taylor Swift wedding content—I was not a believer that she was doing MSG, and boy was the joke on me! Well, all of us, I guess.
For the actual 4th, I was able to catch a bit of the Sail4th 250 action on the West Side Highway and lay out in Rockefeller Park before getting a massage at Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown. Then it was over to Brooklyn for dinner at Long Island Bar where a burger with a USA flag in it and a frozen cosmopolitan seemed just the right amount of patriotic. Being able to see the fireworks from my friend’s building rooftop was an actual ~pinch me~ New York moment.
What I packed for Mexico
Styles I’m eying for Euro Summer
West Village Book Club catch-up
The Vault (Paid Subscriber Exclusive): What’s been working these last six months and what I want to be different in January
This past week, I went on a bestiemoon with my bestiana Jenna. We decided to meet up in Riviera Nayarit because she was coming from San Francisco, which has a nonstop flight to PVR, and I’d been wanting to check out Mandarina for a while (see: my hotel wishlist!). We opted to do three nights at One&Only Mandarina and two nights at the newly opened Siari, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, which wound up being a terrific combo to totally switch up the vibe, only half an hour apart.
We enjoyed different things about each stay. Standout elements at One&Only Mandarina (besides making eye contact with Javier Bardem on horseback…) were the multiple pools and beach club—shared with Rosewood—as well as the spa where we blissed out with a 90-minute couples massage. Pro tip on girls trips: always get the couples massage setup when on a trip! It’s silly and why not? At Siari, we were enamored with the food, service, and freshness of the brand-new room product. Highly recommend.
And what would a girls trip be without throwing a few fits? Of the outfit variety, of course. After looking through our pics from the trip, I decided it was warranted to round up some standout pieces here on The Sunday Series. So, in today’s edition, I’m sharing some of the stars from my carry-on during this five-night beachy trip.
ps. As always, the shopping links I’ve included below are affiliate links. I make a small commission when you shop my links at no cost to you, so if something catches your eye, purchasing through my links means a lot! I’m also including a link to my ShopMy where you can see all the links I’ve culled for the past year plus. Thanks so much for your support as we shop ‘till we drop, my fashion queens.
My go-to coverup: I’ll forever be raiding my closet for vintage Ralph Lauren button-downs to wear as a carefree beach layer. There’s something about an oversized, slightly worn-in menswear shirt thrown over a swimsuit that feels more comfortable to me than any sarong could. If you don’t have a stash (yet!), look for anything oversized and linen-adjacent in your own closet first—half the charm is that it looks borrowed, not bought for the trip.
But I did make one new purchase in this category for the trip, and it was a success: a Missoni cover-up. The brand’s zigzag knit makes for perfect resort wear, and this one earned its keep. I’m having a hard time finding a link for mine because I’m going to be so real, I got mine at Century 21 (sorry not sorry, she loves a deal!!!!). But if you want the same aesthetic at an even better price, this sarong is giving major Missoni energy. There’s also a matching bikini top and bikini bottom! Neeeeeed.
Sunnies side note: Sunnies pictured above are the Khaite x Oliver Peoples collab that Jenna knew I had on my wishlist. She very generously gifted them to me for planning our trip! Obsessed. I also brought my Pradas, my Armanis, and my Gentle Monsters.
I picked up a few new bikinis from Shall We?, a New York-based brand that did a pop-up in my neighborhood, and wanted to flag the small female-owned business here because they were genuinely some of my favorite new pieces of the whole trip. Her stuff sells out quickly, though, because she sources all the vintage fabric (the one I’m wearing below was a Balenciaga fabric), and everything is made right in New York! An alternative if you’re looking for something equally cheeky and cool: this top and this bottom from Tropic of C. I always also reach for my Devon Windsor sets. I find their cuts really flattering and am eyeing her Poppy top in lemon drop with the matching bottoms for later this summer!
This new Never Fully Dressed dress made its debut at the beginning of the trip as a fun mini with a cowl neckline and detachable scarf. This is exactly the kind of piece that takes you from a bronzing beach day into golden hour, feeling like a new person. Sharing our reel so you can see how she moves!
Other dinner stunners were a smattering of resortwear we bought at the O&O boutique. God, I love a resort boutique! Almost all of the designs were Mexican-made which I really appreciated. I got two pieces from a Tulum-based brand, La Troupe. Looks like the top is sold out, but the skirt is available and for a significantly better price than I paid. Lucky you! I paired them with these heels, which are so versatile and on sale. Score.
In addition to the ones pictured above, I brought two other new pairs of Sam Edelman heels me on this trip! This strappy stone pair made me feel like a million bucks and are almost sold out everywhere, but I found a few sizes left on Nordstrom for you. I also wore these raffia slide mules with a block heel, which are super practical for the office, too!
Last but certainly not least, my denim embroidered Zimmermann shorts and a matching hat rounded things out for the day we switched resorts. Zimmermann always nails that effortlessly put together resort look and I really want to keep adding to my collection as their peices are also so high quality. I whipped back out my polka dot dress from them that I got for Italy last summer; she’s not avail anymore, but someone who’s a size 2 (US 8) should snag this insane polka dot mini that’s on major sale. J’adore.
I don’t know that I’ve mentioned this here yet, but I’m officially spending five-ish weeks working remote across Europe/Northern Africa in August and September. I’ll depart in early August and come back in mid-September. Lots of moving around! Copenhagen. Mallorca. Greece. Madrid. Costa del Sol. Tangier. Marrakech. Paris. Kinda crazy, right? But just crazy enough for me.
Naturally, I’m already a little stressed about how to pack for a trip that requires such variety. Even if I follow my foolproof packing method, I don’t know that I’ll be able to do this one effectively in a carry-on, but it might be required given the number of inter-Europe flights/trains/ferries, etc. I’m really not sure yet. But what I do know is that I already feel the shoppies for a trip that I really shouldn’t be shopping for! In the spirit of “sharing is caring,” here’s the stuff I’m salivating over at the moment.
Silly and simple, but I need a new phone case! Something colorful and zany. I’m eyeing this case with this grippy mount and this strap.
This tangerine DÔEN dress: I saw Lily Sisto sporting this on her recent Europe trip, and I was swooooooning. May just need to pop over to their boutique on Bleecker Street for a try-on! (Also, couldn’t help but notice her Olympia Le-Tan passport book bag paired with the dress. Consider it CLOCKED and added to my personal wish list...)
On the note of dresses, I want the confidence to wear Morgan Stewart McGraw’s chocolate brown organza dress from Renggli. It would be so perfectly packable, too!
More silk scarves to wear as tops. Again, talk about packable. Specifically, this Pucci summer moment, or something like this silk Tory top which looks much more expensive than it is!
I have yet to pull the trigger on the several Julietta necklaces on my radar. Really want this one, or this new collab with Nodaleto with a Swarovski crystal.
These Celine aviators. I don’t have too many big sunnies, but they are certainly dominating summer trends.
Bags, bags, bags. Still dreaming of this LOEWE strawberry beaded clutch or, in a much more moderate spending bracket but still sparkly, this SIMON MILLER beaded starfish bag. Both impractical, just how I like my accessories.
It’s been ages since we sent a proper book club catch-up to our subscribers over at West Village Book Club. If you’re not one of them, let’s change that, because we are SO BACK. Our July 1st send rounded up life updates from the six of us, plus the books we’ve each loved so far this summer, plus what’s on our respective radars.
Last but definitely not least, as we’re exactly halfway through the year, I wanted to do a little dive for my paid subscribers into what’s been working for these last six months as well as what’s not. Knowing the start of 2027 is six months from now, it’s the perfect time to think about what we want to tweak.
Keep in mind that my 26 upgrades from earlier this year are still totally in play, particularly staying committed to a strength workout at least four times a week. Game changer.
And on that note, I’ve written a lot about routine and health/fitness goals here, so that feels like a natural entry point. And, funny enough, I stumbled upon the photo below in my Mexico camera roll, so let’s start with supplements and such…
Every morning, I start by drinking a big glass of water mixed with two things: LMNT sugar-free electrolytes and 5mg of creatine. When I’m home, I do a scoop of this one (unflavored) in my water. When I’m away, I bring as many of these convenient travel packs for the number of days I’ll be gone.
I’ve been screaming from the rooftops to any of my friends and family who will listen to me about the benefits of creatine. I’ve been taking it daily since earlier this year and really do notice a difference as it relates to strength and recovery—my lifts feel less punishing the next day, and I’m hitting new PRs when it comes to the weights I pick up more consistently than I used to. There’s also a whole body of research on the cognitive benefits (better focus, less brain fog). I’ll take all the help I can get in that regard!!! It’s genuinely one of the lowest-effort, highest-payoff things in my routine right now.
In the summer in particular, I like to incorporate an anti-bloat capsule into my morning. I’m on my second order of these ones. Then, for the real uplevel, I’ll combine it with a slow-release form of berberine to help with fat burning. I’ve been taking this one.
