Ahhh, summer finally feels like it’s here in Vancouver, and I haven’t worn long pants in a week and it’s been great. While in previous summers, my focus has been in dresses, clothes, and all that, this year I’ve really started to hone in on growing my summer accessories collection—starting with bags.

Bags really do complete a look as well as dictate how functional your outfit is going to be that day. So here are my top picks for the ultimate summer bags this year.

Rattan Crossbody

This Amerii bag has been a go-to so far this summer. It’s the perfect size (fits my wallet, phone, keys, and even my mirrorless camera) and you can loop the strap around the bag twice for a mini bag look.

Ring Handle Bags

The ring-shaped handles have been making a big splash in the fashion world in the last couple of years, and with summer straw bags, it’s not different. I love the shape and structure of this one by Gap, but also love the functionality that the crossbody strap provides. Count on Gap to make a non-functional bag functional.

The Straw Tote

You KNOW how much I value functionality in a bag, and tote bags (no matter what material it’s made of) are usually my go-to’s. I think the straw tote is SUCH a cute summer look. Whether you’re headed to work, to the gym, to the beach, or just out for brunch…this bag will fit all of your essentials and more, and works great as a carry-all while looking cute. Love the leather straps on this one by J.Crew, and the price is pretty reasonable. I think when buying a tote bag, it is worth it to pay a little more for better quality because you’re more likely to carry heavier loads with this bag. Don’t want to purchase a flimsy bag that will break on you halfway through the day!

What are your favourite versions of the straw bag? Let me know in the comments!

So instead of just saving the tabs for days, until I finally come to my senses and realize I don’t need another frilly summer top or pair of light coloured pants, I thought I would just share them with you. Incase there are some of you out there who aren’t trying to budget their entire life and actually have the freedom to buy some nice clothes.

So welcome to my “New In Summer Finds That I Am Loving” article. Or as I like to call it, “Angel Wailing About All The Clothes She Can’t Buy: Episode 1”. ENJOY!

Linen-Tencel® High-Waisted Buttoned Pants in Dark Yellow | $89.50

These yellow high-waisted Frank & Oak linen & tencel pants. UGH. I can picture it now…wandering the streets of Rome in this and a cute cream linen tank and adorable kitten heals. A basket bag filled with oranges that I just bought from the market. How cute is that thought ?

AGOLDE 90’S Jean Affair | $288

These adorable 90’s cut jeans from AGOLDE…LOOK AT HOW WELL THEY PAIR WITH THOSE CHUCKS (aka the only shoes I wear now). I’ve been seeing AGOLDE all over YouTube and Instagram lately, and I am 100% also getting sucked into the hype.

Babaton Samuel Linen Blazer $228 & Dara Pant $148

If you tell me this whole outfit isn’t the most stunning summer linen vibe EVER, then you’d be lying. Love how they created such a sharp silhouette with such light colours and textures… and then the black textured bralette just ties everything together perfectly. UGH. what a dream. (Babaton Samuel Linen Blazer and Dara Pant)

Wilfred Christine Dress | $128

This dress, this fabric, this pattern…I am so obsessed. Okay picture this: this dress with these sandals and this adorable tiny purse…such a cute Aimee Song moment. And we all know no one does summer style like Aimee does. ??‍

Le Fou Wilfred Illona Dress | $228

I feel like this dress is very much so inspired by Reformation’s sophisticated summer babe style, but since every blogger ever is already talking about Reformation, I thought I would stray from the status quo and show you guys this piece from Le Fou. Le Fou is a house brand by Aritzia, but it’s their limited edition summer brand, which releases collections every new spring/summer season.

DRESS K009 | $58

Oak & Fort actually has some adorable summer pieces this year that strays away from their usual neutral, simple, style. Like this “picnic b*tch” dress (as Ashley from bestdressed would call it). Love the yellow gingham pattern and innocent cut, but paired with a pair of strappy sandals, like in the photo, I think it can still look very elevated and sophisticated.

TANK K002 | $28

This green colour has been all the rage lately and I can kind of see why. With ’90/’00s fashion coming back, the cut and colour of this top fits right in and I think it’s an adorable combination. Plus this muted green actually is a pretty versatile colour. Pair it with blue jeans or any light neutral colour of pants and you instantly get a Revolve level summer outfit.

PANT 3430 | $68

Speaking of light neutral pants, I think these are SO cute and definitely deserve a mention. Definitely a typical O&F cut, these will still show your figure despite it’s baggy straight legs because it will cinch you in at the waist when worn with a belt.

I feel like these ubiquitous strappy sandals go with EVERY look now, but seriously how cute do they look with these pants? They really bring a more feminine vibe to this work wear silhouette.

I’m going to show you my two Ardene looks, that I’ll be rocking all summer long for music festivals, but also just roamin’ around Vancouver.

Look #1: Comfy in Floral

I’m really favouring one-pieces and matching sets this summer, and this floral romper from Ardene is giving me life. I really like the wrap/cross-over detail in the front. There’s a little clasp in the middle that you can do up if you’re looking to be a little more conservative. I like to wear mine open so that my lace bralette peeks through every now & then. It’s made of a super soft cotton material that’s comfy yet still really breathable for hot weather.

Tie your denim jacket around your waist, and wear shoes that are one of the colours from your patterned piece and voila – you’ve got a perfect music festival outfit.

Look #2: Sweet and Spicy

Red has been on my radar this spring/summer—something about the bright, in-your-face colour has me hooked. Sticking with the floral theme, I’ve been wearing this red smocked floral tube top non-stop since I got it (seriously, check my Instagram). I love how it looks with this dark denim skirt – this look gives me serious Cali vibes. If I lived in Cali, I would wear them around town, for brunch, even to run errands.

The nude, faux-suede mules dress the outfit up, while the daisy clad backpack adds keeps you hands-free when you’re dancing at a show. This outfit even looks great with the denim jacket from the first outfit thrown on top.

Despite Vancouver’s unpredictable weather, these outfits have been making me feel like it’s summer already. I’ve got a few music shows and festivals planned for summer so follow my Instagram and YouTube to make sure you catch a glimpse of me wearing these looks!

Here’s a sneak peek of me rocking my first outfit in my upcoming vlog. Stay tuned.

Until next time,

It has been a challenge and a half trying to take advantage of the sunny days but luckily I’ve had a few successful days where I’ve been able to free up some time in my schedule, and just get outside.

I’ve become the most typical Vancouverite—even if it’s still below 10-degrees, as long as it’s sunny, I’m putting on Spring clothes and wearing it as if I wasn’t still actually freezing my butt off.

I pretty much jumped at the opportunity to rock this red tube top from Urban Planet. Slowly and surely, I’ve been converted to incorporating colour in my wardrobe. Although red is already a glaring beginning to this trend—somehow I feel like it won’t be the only bright colour I fall in love with this Spring/Summer season.

Here’s to more sunny days (fingers crossed).

More soon,

My favourite section of the market was definitely the flowers. There is just something about buying or receiving flowers that gives me so much joy. We walked until we each found a bouquet of flowers that we loved and treated ourselves a bouquet each. My choice of bouquets? Anything with blue or purple hydrangeas. They’ve been my favourite flowers as a kid and to this day I still adore them. Other than the flower market, Post Alley was another mandatory spot to visit to try the infamous Pike Place chowder. I can confirm that it was well worth the hype! The only advice that I have is to get the full-size soup with bread on the side rather than buying a bread bowl if you’re sharing. The bread bowl is definitely more of a novelty and isn’t worth it in my opinion. It only held a small amount of soup and why would you ever want less soup? How GORGEOUS is the Flow Away dress by Tobi by the way? Something I would want to wear while exploring Mykonos, Greece. But since that plan is still a while away, I have settled for wandering the streets of Seattle. I paired it with my De Bray backpack from Aritzia, which by the way is currently ON SALE. I matched the brown detailing on my bag with brown leather slides from Steve Madden.  We ended our Pike Place visit with a walk down the pier where the Seattle Great Wheel was located. I wish we gave ourselves a little more time to spend by the water.

Seattle is surrounded by water and on a cloudless day, it’s hard to tell where the sky ends and the water begins. Next time I have the chance to visit Seattle I will definitely plan at least one meal by the water (Crabpot anyone?).  

Until then, 

The difference? As a kid, you just went camping. There was no preparation. At most, all you had to do is pick what snacks you wanted and what clothes you wanted to bring. But as an adult, the planning and preparation is a whole adventure of its own. What food do I buy? What do I wear? What do I need to bring? I found myself stressing about these things a solid week before the day I was supposed to leave. 

With every adventure comes a set of lessons that you learn from the experience. So here are my lessons from my first adult camping trip!

Buy a tent off Craigslist

We left tent-hunting way too last-minute so it was quite difficult to find something brand new for a decent price. So we decided to look else where and discovered that Craigslist had some barely used tents for really decent prices. Not to mention buying off Craigslist means no tax, and sometimes you can even haggle a little to get a price even lower (which we shamelessly did of course). 

Buy a gas-fueled fire pit

This one is actually completely unnecessary for most people. But for people who are from Vancouver, which I assume you might be, having a gas-fueled fire pit is actually extremely useful.  Anyone that’s lived in BC for a while knows how easy it is for our province to initiate campfire bans due to the large risk of wildfires during the summer. This year has been extremely terrible in terms of widespread wildfires so the campfire ban has been taken even more seriously than usual. Living in a province that has campfire bans every year, having a fire pit makes it so you can still sit around a “campfire” at night and roast marshmallows and sausages. The fire is completely controlled and is easy to start and distinguish. 

Having the fire was also extremely nice at night for extra warmth and light.r Not to mention it gave us something to do! There are even some that come with a cooking grate that converts your fire pit into a partial grill. 

I bought mine from Canadian tire and it was by the brand For Living. The price has since gone back to $140 but a great alternative would be the Outland one from Amazon which is the same price that I paid for the For Living one when it was on-sale. 

Brush up on your safety knowledge

If I wasn’t with my awesome camping partner, I definitely would have made some potentially fatal mistakes on this trip. The biggest one being my (lack of) awareness for the danger of bears. I definitely would not have known to bring bear mace or to put all food items and scraps in the car before heading to bed. I also learned to always set up your fire downwind from the campsite. We had the fire pit for this trip so this wasn’t a huge worry of ours, but it’s still definitely something important to know. 

Buy stew

We pretty much lived off of beef stew and croissants this trip for our main meals. My grocery list for this trip consisted of:

• sausages
• marshmallows
• stew
• croissants
• hot dog buns
• eggs

We ended up having food left over for the week and our groceries only cost us about $40. Given we just ate croissants, eggs, and stew in the morning, hot dogs for lunch, and then more stew and hot dogs for dinner. But everything was actually delicious so I was a happy camper (literally). 

OH and definitely bring a portable stove or grill to cook your food on.

Bring snacks

Since our fire pit made it so easy for us to make roasted marshmallows, we pretty much just ate roasted marshmallows every time we wanted a snack. However I definitely still should’ve brought some chips or cookies or some other sort of snack to munch on throughout the day. 

Don’t forget to buy/bring water

WE FORGOT TO BUY WATER. Thankfully he had several jugs of tap water from his last camping trip that was still in the bed of his truck. And I bought a 6 pack of Gatorade and some iced teas while grocery shopping so we didn’t die of thirst on this trip. But I definitely won’t be making that same mistake again! Boiled river water for instant coffee wasn’t an ideal situation. 

Bring a knife!

I definitely did not think I would need a knife or a hatchet but I was very wrong. Again, thankfully I had a camping partner that knew what he was doing and he had both those things. Whether it’s for cutting food, opening packages, or whatever other reason it may be—it was, without a doubt, extremely useful to have a knife. 

Warmth and comfort is KEY

Although the night-time wasn’t as nearly as chilly as I thought it would be, the wee hours of the morning were still FREEZING to me. So a huge tip I have is definitely to have a WARM sleeping bag. Also, I’ve been told that sleeping naked in your sleeping bag is the best way to create warmth. But I found that when wearing clothes inside my sleeping bag actually kept me warmer. 

As for clothes, I ended up living in my sweatpants and hoodie for the entire weekend with the exception of some sweat shorts for when it got hot in the middle of the day. So here’s my advice as a fashion blogger: don’t worry about having cute outfits. Just bring comfy clothes and you will be happy. 

Set up your camp while it’s still bright out!

We had quite a bit of trouble looking for a camp spot that we were happy with since we decided not to go to a campsite. We didn’t find our spot by the water until it was dark outside so we ended up setting up camp with the help of lanterns and headlights. AND BOY WAS IT DIFFICULT. I 10/10 do not recommend it. Get there early. Set up while it’s bright out. End of story. 

Bring LOTS of TOILET PAPER AND INSECT REPELLENT

And last but not least…

I think this one is pretty self explanatory. 

I hope that I was able to shed some light on camping for those of you who lack the experience, like me. Even though I did get laughed at a few times for my cluelessness, I truly enjoyed my time and would definitely do it again. 

What was your first camping experience like?

Until next time, 

I paired this shirt with a pair of distressed vintage Levis cut-off shorts and my mom’s Stuart Weitzman loafers. And for those of you wondering, I have the BIGGEST struggle buying pre-cut vintage shorts that most retailers carry now. I literally have to try on about ten pairs before I can find even one that fits me semi-decently. So if you also have that struggle… don’t worry. It’s not just you. 

This weekend is Canada Day weekend so to all of my Canadians out there, Happy Canada Day! And have a wicked long weekend. 

Until next time, 

I fell in love with this one because of the simplicity of it as well as the jersey fabric that seems to hug me in all the right places. I like that the extra fabric on the sides makes it look like I have hips, and the elastic band waist cinches me in at the waist. Not to mention the thin t-shirt material is extremely comfortable and breathable for the summer time ?

I definitely see myself rocking this skirt a lot more this summer, especially with the mini heat waves we’ve been experiencing. Can’t wait to see what other pieces Bench comes out with for the summer!

Caught up with some olds friends, made some new (doggy) friends, ate pasta, and had ice cream for dessert. Can you think of a more perfect summer day? 

How was your Tuesday?