July Stitch Fix {southern maryland lifestyle photographer}

Another episode of Stitchmas is here.

To start, let’s cover what Stitch Fix is, in case you aren’t quite aware!
However frequently you desire (monthly, quarterly, annually, as needed, etc), you schedule a FIX by visiting Stitch Fix, answering some questions to determine your “style profile” and then selecting the date for your fix to ship. When your box arrives, it will contain five hand selected items from your personal stylist. In the comfort of your own home, you try on the five items. Keep what you want. The $20 you are charged to have your Fix ship is a credit to anything you keep. Send the rest back in your pre-paid envelope. So easy peasy!

So I attempted to do another unboxing video, because it felt really fun last month, but mid-filming my husband decided to holler down the hallway at the dogs or something and then came into the bedroom making all sorts of racket, and, well, it pissed me off and I stopped halfway through and it was ruined. Maybe next month!

This month I told Holly (my very own personal stylist), that July is my birth month and that I was particularly interested in one top I’ve seen floating around the blogs. Not much guidance from my end (I try to not make my requests too super specific – seems like I can find specific items if I just Google them) and here’s what I got:

stack

BC Footwear Society D’Orsay Flats
shoes
At first glance, I found these to be pretty Meh. And after trying them on, I’ve determined that D’Orsays are cute on feet that aren’t attached to my legs. Sadly, these have to be returned.

Holly suggested that I style them with the Renee C Zalia Knit Dress “for my night out”. Which is cute. She thinks I get a night out for my birthday. *insert laughing emojis here*
zalia
I love this dress. I’ll grant her that the shoes do go with the dress, I just hate the way they feel on me. The dress is another story. It’s lightweight enough to wear on days when it’s 95F with a heat index of 105 (such as Sunday when I took these photos) but still professional enough to wear to the office. Dressed down with flats like this, it’s casual enough to wear to a weekend function like a cookout or whatever. Super cute and keeping this for sure.

Karen Kane Blair Printed Aline Skirt drew my attention next.
blair
Unfortunately, this skirt was not made for this body. I have a really weird shape where my stomach is somehow disproportionately small as compared to my rear — a point of contention for clothes for just about my entire life. Since there was no ‘give’ in this fabric, I couldn’t even zip this closed. After seeing the prices, I was okay with that decision!

I then tried on the Collective Conceps Pamela V-Neck Blouse and I’m torn.
pamela
This was straight from my Pinterest board. But I’m not sure I love the way it fits me. What do you think?

I saved the polka dots for last. Anyone that knows my fashion taste knows that I have a crush on polka dots. This Daniel Rainn Poppins Crochet Trim Blouse did not disappoint. So super cute. And check out the details on the sleeves! Holly knows how to talk to me with clothes!
poppins close up
She suggested I pair it with the white shorts from last fix – but I definitely wouldn’t ever wear this outfit. You see, the dots on this blouse are off white and the starch whiteness of the shorts against the off white dots drives me bonkers. Everything.must.match (thanks, Mom!).
poppins
Again, I’m torn, however, after putting the blouse onto my body. I can’t decide if I love it or don’t. Thoughts?

So that’s this month, and for the first time in a long time, it’s not a grand slam. I TOTALLY LOVE the dress. Definitely ‘no’ to the shoes and the too-small skirt (that I would’ve kept if the inevitable up-sizing wouldn’t be too large in the waist…), and two that I just don’t know! HELP, HELP!!!

cards
price

Snore and Roar

Since we are members of FONZ, we get some pretty sweet perks.  The annual membership, to me, is worth the ‘free’ parking when we go to the zoo.  So Saturday night, we camped at the zoo.  You read that right.  Tent, us, zoo, all at once.

small t cheetah
It’s not like there are more reasons needed to want to camp at the zoo besides, you know, camping at the freakin’ zoo. But somehow it does get better. We selected the Cheetah Conservation option and it did not disappoint. We got to meet the Cheetahs. Not super up close, like we haven’t touched cheetah, but we were verrrrrrrrrrrry close. Of particular interest was Bacari. He was so obsessed with Thurston that he followed us around. This made for an extra incredible experience.

We saw other animals during our tour, including the Grevy’s zebras, damas, gazelles, and some super cool vultures — at feeding time, no less, so we got to watch a vulture pull the innards of a rat, well, out.

small dama

Other things we did:

small shark
We got to walk through whale invertebrate. Unfortunately this is a sculpture made entirely of trash recovered from one beach in Oregon (there were 17 or 18 assorted sculptures throughout the zoo). It’s cool what she did; just sad how she got her materials.

small tiger
We got to see the tiger clean his paws at night.

small lion
A lion was our alarm clock.

small T
Cutey boy catching the big cats.

small gorilla
The gorillas are quite active at 8am. This one was picking his nose and then seeing what came out.

panda small
And we got to watch the pandas tussle.  They were so dang adorable.

So happy to have the chance to celebrate Thurston’s 6th birthday with such a memorable gift.