summer essentials

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Oh, man, it is hot. The distance between my apartment and my job is about a 15-min. bike ride. By the time I arrived in my office, I looked like the heat and I had gone a few rounds. Luckily, I'm the only person in my office on Mondays so I had the chance to make myself presentable. 

Isn't that the love/hate relationship with warm hot weather? In Chicago, it takes so long for the sun to come back after winter that it seems I spend half the year wishing for its return. But man, when the sun does come back, it comes back full throttle (we don't really have a spring in Chicago). This week looks like it's going to be a scorcher (in the 90s with unbelievable humidity and did I mention my office does not have air conditioning? Yeah...).  

Here are my essentials for beating the heat:

one || water. drink lots of it and often. I recently bought this pitcher from Target, and it's so awesome. I like to cut up lemons or oranges to give some citrus flavor to my water, and this pitcher makes the whole process so easy by keeping the fruit separate. Bonus: it's awful pretty. When I'm on the go, I always have a water bottle handy to make staying hydrated a no-brainer. I currently use this one and this one.

two || a hat. pick a hat, any hat. I have a giant head, so hats are often tricky for me, but I've had the most luck with baseball caps. Choose one bearing your favorite team, or go for an ultra simple one like this one.

three || yogurt. the hotter it gets outside, the less appealing a heavy meal becomes. I eat fresher and better in the summer, availing of the abundance of produce, but sometimes I want a lighter protein alternative, so I keep a couple of yogurts around (I like pineapple Chobanis - each 6 oz. cup of this Greek yogurt has 13g of protein). 

four || sunscreen. this is a no brainer. I like Neutrogena's line of suncare products - the spray is refreshing and convenient while the lotion is never greasy.

five || when I'm not at work, my summer uniform consists of a tank/tee, shorts, and sneakers. that's about as summer as it gets. I have lived in this tee since I bought it a couple of weeks ago, and I've worn Converse for years (I'm also eyeing a pair of Supergas).

six || books. things tend to slow down a little in the summer, and I like to take advantage of that by squeezing in some books. I still love the feel of pages in my hand, but on the go, nothing beats electronic books.

seven || a backpack. a more relaxed and often roomier alternative to the crossbody. pick one with a pattern or cute details to keep it from looking too much like you're going to school.

eight || a bike. it's a great way to get around for short trips (who wants to get into a hot car when you're just going to grab some eggs from the grocery store three blocks down?), is faster than walking, and is built-in-exercise. Plus, there's just something about bikes that says "dog days of summer".

What are your summer essentials?

june favorites

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I can't believe that it's July already. Summer's in full swing here in Chicago, and the weather is appropriately steamy. I realized that I hadn't done a favorites post for June yet and decided it was high time to do one.

What I've been loving in June:

I bought the Love Lake Michigan shirt while I was on vacation on Mackinac, and it's quickly become a favorite. I love the design (Great Lakes pride!), how soft it is, and that the company, The Mitten State, supports local charities within its home state of Michigan with proceeds from every purchase. I'm all for shopping that does good and supports small businesses. Plus, seriously, it's sooo soft. This particular design comes in a tank version  and a women's sizing version. As the website notes and as I can personally attest to, sizing does run small, so opt for a size bigger than what you normally wear. I opted for the unisex sizing for a more laid-back, stole-my-boyfriend's-shirt kind of vibe.

I was so excited when I found out that FEED and Target were doing a collaboration. When the collection finally hit stores on June 30, I went to my local Target to check things out. I love the Americana feel of it all, and I walked away with a handful of items, including this tote. I've already used it nonstop since then, and it's held up nicely. It's huge - I've fit my 13" MacBook in a case, my lunch bag, several water bottles, my headphones, an umbrella, and some packages that came in for me at work, with room to spare. That being said, it's not overwhelmingly huge, just spacious. I also used it as a beach bag for the 4th of July. I use the front pocket to hold my keys and cellphone, which eliminates the annoyance of having to dig for them (a common downfall of big bags).  The cotton is soft, the straps are sturdy, the moss-green polka-dot lining is adorable, and I appreciate that there's a hook (a zipper would have been unwieldy, I think) to keep the sides closed but keeps the contents still accessible. 

A couple weeks ago, Old Navy had a sale on their active wear. The last time I had purchased any running shorts were a good three years ago, so I was in dire need of some new ones. I had never tried Old Navy's active wear before, but the price was great (I paid about $7 per pair during the sale and an additional coupon code), the reviews were encouraging, and they looked fun. I like that they come with an inner lining, in a bajillion colors, and are long enough to not ride up but smartly cut on the side for a great range of movement. The only thing I didn't like as much but could live with was the fact that they don't come with a drawstring. I fit a large perfectly (they run from xs-xl), so this wasn't an issue, but I can see some might have an issue of being in between sizes with no drawstring to help tighten/loosen as necessary. I can't speak for quality as I've only just been using them for a couple of weeks (I bought 5 and rotate them frequently), but so far, so good. They're definitely worth a try. 

When the weather's hot, I wear very little makeup. I usually just opt for moisturizer with sunscreen, mascara, and lip balm/gloss/stick. If I'm keeping my lips fairly neutral, I might put on some eyeliner and smudge it for extra color, but that's about as complicated as it gets. To save myself the extra step, I usually go for a little color on my lips. I've eschewed too dark or dramatic lipsticks for everyday during the summer - red lips are great, but it's too hot to worry about perfect lipstick. I've found that Revlon Lip Butters and Maybelline Color Whispers are the perfect middle-ground: sheer to opaque color that applies like a balm with a little bit of gloss. Easy as pie. My current favorite is the Revlon Lip Butter in sorbet, a pretty gelato pink color that's soft and hot at the same time.

I love me a great summer nail polish like a juicy coral or a hot pink, but sometimes, I get a little sick of the color overload. When I want a muted but elegant manicure, I reach for Chanel Frenzy. It's a light enough grey that it doesn't feel vampy (it's lighter than Essie Chinchilly for reference) but it has enough of a brown/taupe base to it to keep it from looking too cool-toned against my caramel-brown skin. I've had this on my fingers for over three weeks now, and I've yet to get sick of it.

I might have mentioned on the blog about how I'm picky when it comes to pens. I like fine point only, the finer the better. Muji makes these gel pens in a rainbow of colors and in 0.38 point (they come in other points as well if you're not as weird as I am. ;) ). They last fairly long, have good ink flow, are refillable, and have a slim, clean design, like the rest of Muji's offerings. I ordered mine online, and they arrived 4-5 days later.

Lastly, these Frends headphones have become a fixture in my bags. They're obviously pretty, but the sound quality is nothing to sneeze at. I've found that they also have a bit of a sound-canceling feature to them, which is a bonus for when I'm flying or in general when I don't want to hear anything but my music. Who says bigger headphones can't be pretty? ;).