Ugh, why does it have to be the end of summer. I mean, I love fall and all that comes with it but I already know I am going to be missing pool days like woah. Especially when I’m forced to figure out activities to keep my kids from destroying my house entertain my kids from Friday to Sunday for the rest of the year.

It’s especially hard to say good-bye since this has been one of my best summers in a long time (I’m talking since I was Drew & Reese’s age buying every treat available at the pool snack bar). It kicked off with leaving my job to start a new business. With that came the time to take a little break, hang out with my kids, do some fun stuff and work more on the blog (July was great, August I was clearly slacking). It’s been one of the most rewarding periods in my life and I’m said to say goodbye to it. That being said, there’s so much excitement ahead that it’s hard to wallow in that feeling for too long.

I will say I didn’t check off as many of my 25 Summer Goals as I wish but I did crush ice cream at Dairy Kastle, won a cake at the St. Joe’s picnic, tried yoga (just snuck it in this week) and played a ton of tennis. Maybe I’ll try to bake a pie this weekend and knock that one off the list too. I’ll just push the rest til next summer. That’s okay right? Well everything except cleaning out my basement but that’s more of a boring winter chore anyways. What was I thinking adding it to a summer list.

TJ Maxx Paisley Pom-Pom Kimono | Gap Denim Shorts (seen before here) 
Caslon White Tee from Nordstrom  – Such a Good White Tee! 
Frye Ruth Ankle Sandals c/o | Frye Ilana Saddle Bag c/o

Closing out the season with this outfit that I meant to share at least a month ago. It was intended to be in conjunction with Forecastle but I obviously dropped the ball on making that happen. Sometimes there’s just too many balls to juggle. Either way, this kimono was the best TJ Maxx find. My friend Caitlin is the ultimate Maxxinista (and no, this post isn’t sponsored although Caitlin probably wishes it was) and on another rainy summer day, we substituted a mom’s only pool morning for some shopping. I found this for $12 and went home a happy camper despite my best judgement. Because in all honesty, I was SUPER JUDGEY about the kimono trend especially when it comes to the pool cover-up variety. I’m not proud to say I’ve made my share of snarky comments about the style but now, I take it all back. I will say I’ve worn it like this over shorts a few times but have gotten much more use out of it as a pool cover-up. I mean, it’s perfect. It covers your butt and mid-section imperfections without hiding your bathing suit or making you hotter than hell. So yeah, I shouldn’t have knocked it until I tried it.

In case you live somewhere where you can pool it up for few more weeks/months, I’ve linked to some similar options below.

Photos by Tabitha Booth