The really long post you've been waiting for

First of all, thank you so much to all of you who entered my giveaway and shared either memories from past posts or ideas for future ones. Many of you asked me to share more about my personal sense of "style" and what's in my closet. Since I was without internet for the past week and didn't get to do my "What is JGIWC wearing today?" posts on Twitter, I decided to do a hybrid and show you all what I wore while I was away.



I wore this outfit on the first night of our trip. The dress is Lilly Pulitzer, the cardigan is J. Crew, and the shoes are Jack Rogers. I own somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty Lilly dresses, and this is one of my favorites. I find it both flattering and comfortable. I wish they still made this style.




I wore this dress on the formal night, which also happened to be my dad's birthday. The dress is Sue Wong, the clutch is J. Crew, and the shoes are Marc Jacobs. This was my senior prom dress. I hadn't originally intended on wearing this, but decided to pack it at the last minute. It's a beautiful dress but very unflattering. These shoes are gorgeous - suede and snake skin - but hurt like hell. I only wear them once or twice a year. I did my hair in a french twist with a braid on each side. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it came out surprisingly pretty.




This is my "I'm on a boat" outfit. The dress is Lilly Pulitzer, the clutch is Coach, the shoes are Jack Rogers, and the earrings are Kate Spade. This is another one of my favorite Lilly dresses. I borrowed the clutch from my sister. (She has the matching shoes as well. We're big fans of Coach match sets in my house.) The starfish and pearl earrings were a gift from dear friend Preppy in the City.





Here I am in Cozumel, Mexico. The dress is Roxy, the bag is Longchamp, and the shoes are Jack Rogers. I fell in love with the rope detail. Laugh all you want, but Roxy can still crank out a good, well-priced dress in my humble opinion. It's a brand that I've been wearing since high school.




I changed into this for dinner. The dress is H&M, the cardigan is J. Crew, the shoes are Jack Rogers, and the pearls are freshwater that I tied into a knot. This frock is a lot of fun - I love the ruffled layers.




Last night of our trip! The dress is Vineyard Vines, the cardigan is Lilly Pulitzer, and the shoes are Jack Rogers. This photo doesn't do the dress justice. It ties into knots at the shoulders and in a bow at the back. I should've taken off the cardigan. Oh, well. This particular pair of Jacks are falling apart and really ratty, but I wore them the entire trip, much to my parents' disgust. I have seven other pairs/colors, but these are just beyond comfortable and go with everything! As soon as we were back on dry land and near a mall, my father marched me into Nordstrom and bought me a new pair. I'm kind of sad and hesitant to switch over... they're so wonderfully worn in!


Highlight of the trip?


Finding this diamond in the rough in Mexico.

I kid, I kid! While drinking Starbucks in a foreign country is never less than thrilling for me, the best part of my vacation was laughing with my family. We have the best time together. It was great to go and it was great to come home.

One of my favorite parts of the cruise was dinner. Aside from the good food, we were seated at a table with another family and we loved getting to see them every evening. On our previous cruise, the five of us (Mom, Dad, Sister, Me, and Nana) were seated at a table for five. When my dad told me that we were sitting at a ten top, I thought for sure that we'd get stuck with some honky tonk bunch. (Hey, let's be honest. It is a cruise, after all.) I couldn't have been more wrong! These mothers and daughters were simply darling. When we all hugged goodbye on the last night, one of the ladies said to my dad, "I'm so glad we met you. We got lucky." Which was funny, because that's exactly what my dad said to me after meeting them on the first night.



All in all, the trip was a success. Growing up, we never took cruise vacations. I think it's a different way of traveling and not for everyone. Now, it's really the only way we can vacation with my grandmother anymore. It's very easy and she doesn't have to do a whole lot of moving around. My dad turned 55 last week and this was her birthday gift to him. (I got him this and it was the perfect present!) It's not my favorite way of traveling, but we had a great time and I'm so glad we went. I really missed blogging and am very happy to be home!