My Summer Essentials

It's officially hot here in Phoenix. Temperatures this week are consistently over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and we just booked some tickets to get out of here for a week in August. As much as I don't miss those midwest winters, I cannot wait to get back to Wisconsin to visit this summer! We're going to be spending some of that time on the lake in Door County and I've already started compiling my summer essentials list. I'm dreaming of those breezy days by the lake and sitting on the beach with these items in tow:

Jen Lancaster books Twisted Sisters and Here I Go Again. I absolutely love Jen Lancaster's writing style. I discovered her books quite accidentally in college and I've been hooked every since. I've read all of her hilarious memoirs, but I haven't read her two most recent fiction books. That will definitely be remedied this summer.

Cute and easy beach cover up. I'm terrible at finding good beach cover ups and usually just end up wearing a tank top and shorts over my swimsuit. But even though I'm generally against rompers, I really like this one. It looks easy to throw on after you've been swimming or laying around reading all day.

Fun tote for all your beach or poolside items. Because obviously you need somewhere to put all this stuff as you haul it to the beach/pool.

Revlon Lip Butters. I can't tell you how much I love these. I'm a huuuge chapstick/lip balm addict and will 98% choose that over lipstick/lip gloss. But this stuff goes on like lip balm and yet has a fun pop of color so it looks like you put some effort into getting ready. The color is really sheer so you don't feel like you're a kid playing with your mom's makeup (or is that just me?).

Fun sunglasses like this Cliff style from Warby Parker. Ok, I need to tell you about my love for Warby Parker. My husband actually introduced me to them a few years ago when I came home from work and saw a box of 5 different pairs of glasses sitting on the table. I freaked out thinking he went crazy and bought all these glasses until he explained the whole at home try-on concept with me. If you're not familiar, you pick out 5 pairs of glasses or sunglasses on their website and they ship try-on pairs to you for free. You keep them for 5 days, figure out which ones look best, and then ship them all back (also for free). Then you just go on their website and order prescription versions of whichever style you liked. It's pretty awesome. I've never tried their sunglasses, but I love my regular glasses from them and they have some seriously cute new sunglass styles this year. I may have to try out the ones pictured above...