As you already know I’m a big fan of G.H.Bass and have gotten to work with them quite a few times now! I was excited to be a part of their Classics Reimagined campaign to showcase how I would go about styling some of their shoe styles. Click Here to see the feature on their site!
Usually a perfect Friday night for my family and I is a little date night. Nothing too fancy but something that has a little something for everyone…a trip to our local Marshalls. On the surface it might not sound that exciting, but it’s a night that has everything we need after a long work week. We’re able to spend some time together doing something we all love…SHOP! We’re lucky enough to have our favorite pizza place, Home Depot (we’re homeowners, we live here), and liquor store (for after Nate’s asleep) all in the same shopping complex. We usually start our night by getting some pizza and filling our bellies so we don’t have to rush shopping and Nathan’s not cranky. We then head over to Marshalls to do some shopping! It’s a great store to bring our son Nate to because it not only has clothes for him, but we can also bribe him with a toy if he behaves and let’s us shop LOL. Depending on how good he is during the week also determines the size of the toy. Usually we just get him a little toy truck, book or puzzle (we shop at Marshalls way too much to be getting a full-sized jeep every time we go). Sometimes we’ll even grab a little snack from the checkout or home goods area to snack on while we’re walking around. We actually grabbed a bag of Jalapeno chips ($2.99) to take to the park with us, but unfortunately we were too hungry and the chips were too good and never made it to the park to be in our shots. Before we head to the fitting rooms, we always hit up the home goods section – a good portion of our house decor and kitchen utensils are from both Marshalls & Home Goods. We love the hopes of finding that one unique piece! The outfit I picked up had a great variety of brands…which is another thing I love about Marshalls. What other store can you have access to all these top brands at such affordable prices?! I’ve been trying to grow my hat collection but with such a small head I have a hard time finding a hat that fits just right. This plaid ‘Life is Good’ hat ($9.99) is a perfect fall pick up and goes great with the preppy look I was going for. The green in it was really brought out in combination with this Vineyard Vines vest ($59.99). Fall is a good time to break out the vests and a great way to add some color or texture to your outfit. I kept the shirt simple with a classic white button down from Jack Spade ($24.99)…which happens to be one of my favorite menswear brands. I also got a great pair of New Balance sneakers ($39.99) which I wore with no socks. I know some people aren’t a fan of going sockless but it’s comfortable for me and I do it all the time, and most importantly I like the way it looks with most of my outfits. However, you can easily go to the Marshalls sock section and pick up a pair of no-shows to get the same look. While I was shopping in the shoe section I also found and bought Nate the cutest all black Onitsuka Tiger sneakers ($19.99). I own two pairs of sneakers from the brand already and love their retro style. Of course he looked adorable in them! We took our Marshalls finds to one of our local parks to play, explore and shoot. Unfortunately one of our favorite little streams was a little dry, but it didn’t stop us from exploring (Nate loves exploring and hiking). We still got to throw some rocks…just with a lot less splash. Heading over to the playground, Nate was a little too excited and wasn’t watching where he was walking and tripped and fell. Poor little guy got a boo boo on his knee but was excited he didn’t mess up his new sneakers LOL That’s my boy! My family and I pretty much have the same routine at least 2 Friday’s out of the month LOL What can I say…we love pizza and love our Marshalls, in hopes of finding that perfect hidden piece! We also love the fact that you can hit up another Marshalls location and find completely different pieces. Boy do we get excited when we’re away for the weekend and drive past a new Marshalls to scavenger LOL We love the shopping rush of finding that perfect #MarshallsSurprise! Check out my post on the Marshalls site as well!
My son Nathan recently got to work with a super fun company, Minnow + Mars. He got to choose from a few items from their collection so we let him pick his faves. He went with their Not Too Wacky Essential Khakis (good choice Nate) and their No Sleep Til Brooklyn Bridge Tee. I know every parent thinks this of their kids, but he’s super smart for his age and he told us he liked the shirt because “that’s where daddy grew up” (how he knew that is beyond me…he can’t read yet, but somehow he knew that bridge. His Nanny teaches him a lot and his memory is unbelievable! (Ok enough bragging). I wasn’t surprised he chose the joggers, because almost all of Nate’s pants are joggers. They’re just more comfortable for kids to wear while being active, but it still gives them a clean look of a jean, or in this case a chino. With school starting he really wanted a new backpack…and he loved the About Face Fox Backpack! Once his package came he was so excited to get mail with his name on it (he can read his name :p). His favorite item of course was the backpack…he loved his new “little friend”. We took Nate to his school’s playground to take some shots in his new gear and to burn off some of his 4 year old energy (and boy does he have a lot of it!) This kid is such a ham in front of the camera. He knows the drill too well after watching mommy photograph me lol. Definitely check out this new brand, Minnow + Mars, for some cute, affordable kids wear (they have women’s & home goods too!).
When Styling the GH Bass Ranger Moc II Lyndon Hi Bison Boot (in Medium Brown), I wanted to go with a denim rugged look. I wore this mostly denim look, pairing these awesome polo carpenter jeans with this G-Star denim jacket. To try and edge it up I wore an olive turtle neck….which are currently two of my faves: the color olive and turtlenecks! (need more) These boots are different than most because they come right out of the box with that comfortable broken-in feel. The leather is sooooo soft, and the rigid sole adds to the softness that you feel when you’re walking…by far the most comfortable boot I EVER wore! I also love the texture of the leather. I might be in love with these 🙂
I got the opportunity to be part of Suitable’s re-branding to become SENE. It was a pretty cool experience that ended with me getting an amazing suit and some great shots thanks to Kevin Chungg. Besides getting to meet their amazing crew, I also got to try on and pick a suit to add to my collection. I visited their showroom and tried on a few jackets but when I felt the wool and silk material of the 01 Suit in Speckled Desert I knew it was the one. I have to be honest…out of all the suits I didn’t think I would of went with a brown suit, but sometimes the suit picks you LOL. We paired the suit with their Monk Shirt in Oxford White – it’s a perfect way to still have a classic look but with a little edge. It’s always fun to get the opportunity to shoot with a company or another photographer (not that you don’t do an amazing job babe haha). I also got a chance to style one of their blue and black checkered double breasted suit jackets. And by style, I mean throw it over my outfit that I wore to meet the SENE crew LOL. It just so happened to look great with my outfit so we decided to shoot it as well! I cannot wait to get my custom suit from them! Be sure to check out my feature on their blog as well! #MySENE
As much as my family and I would love to go to the Caribbean every weekend LOL, we realize that’s not possible, so we like to take Nate on little road trips, visiting the surrounding states and exploring areas we’ve never been to before. When we got the opportunity to stay at The Revere Hotel in Boston we were super excited! We actually had plans to visit Boston previously, but never actually made the move and went. We have always heard so much about the city and how beautiful and clean it is. It’s definitely different than NYC but great and a little quaint in its own way. We started our trip, as we always try to do when we visit a new city, and headed straight to where Nate can go nuts and have fun – the Boston Children’s Museum. As anyone with a toddler knows sometimes you just have to bribe your kid 🙂 We know that Nate doesn’t always want to shop and eat his way through a city like we want to, (LOL) so letting him have his fun first is always the plan! The Museum is right on the water and across the bay from the very cool looking Boston Tea Party Museum. Right when you enter the museum you’re greeted with a huge 3-story climbing jungle gym. It was pretty cool in the fact that it almost looked like a giant piece of artwork – so the fact that kids could actually climb in it all the way to the top was pretty amazing. Nate could’ve spent all day in there! On one of the floors they had these very cool water tables where kids can learn about the flow of water and play with boats. There are too many stations to list them all, but it’s definitely very interactive and hands-on while incorporating both learning and fun. Nate is still talking about how he wants to go back! After the museum and all that running around and learning, there was really only one place to go and that was Kane’s Donuts. I might be somewhat of a donut junkie because I always Google famous donut shops in the area wherever I’m headed! The Cookies and Cream donut was my family’s favorite! We then finally made our way to The Revere Hotel. It was in a great location and the lobby had some really cool musical artifacts, including a signed B.B. King guitar! Once we got to the room Nate and I did what we always do when we first arrive at a hotel…we jump on the beds and attack mommy with tickles LOL (No mommies were hurt during this) We had a nice balcony with a cool skyline view from our room and could see the rooftop lounge right below. It looked amazing, but unfortunately we had the rainiest of weekends and didn’t get to utilize it. The hotel is actually also going under some renovations and updates so we didnt’ get to see the indoor swimming pool, but doubt we would’ve had time for swimming anyways, as we were constantly on the move all weekend! Aside for all the food and shopping we did, we wanted to make one of the evenings there a little different, so we decided to take Nate to Blue Man Group. I actually took my wife to see this on our very first date together, so it was a little nostalgic for us, now taking Nathan to it for his very first show. He loved it! A week after we got home we caught him trying to throw mini muffins in his mouth, and then realized he had seen it at blue man group with marshmallows LOL Our last day in Boston we enjoyed an amazing chocolate bar & brunch and finally did some of the historic exploring. We walked the Freedom Trail, saw some of the famous burial grounds, and squeezed in a little park time even though it was still drizzling. Surprisingly, Nathan actually enjoyed himself and asked more questions than you would think a 4 year old would about history LOL. Overall Boston was a great little weekend adventure and the The Revere Hotel was a beautiful hotel to stay at. The staff was also very welcoming and gave my son a little stuffed lobster with ‘Boston’ written on it, right when we arrived. He officially named his lobster Boston, just like he named his turtle Cayman (for Grand Cayman)…unique Nate haha. We’re already anxious for the next adventure that comes our way. Stay tuned!
 
I’ve partnered up with JCPenney to show you how I pieced together 2 of their pieces to create this fall look. With so many great affordable brands to choose from I decided to go with these great Arizona Chino Flex Joggers (in Winter Moss Green) and this Arizona Short-Sleeve Baseball Tee. I completed my look with a denim jacket that I already owned. I love how olive and denim go together! The best part about this outfit is that even though it looks great, I was also really comfortable. The baseball shirt is a padded jersey material (I love the little bit of texture) and the joggers are somewhat thin – which gave it that flowy look and a great fit, and made them so comfortable. As an added accessory, we took out my wife’s 79 Corvette to take in some local scenery at a farm not too far from my house. What guy doesn’t like taking photos with a classic car like this! I love the fact that I can hop on a train to the city and still live so close to this beautiful area! My entire look from JCPenney was under $60 and it was #SoWorthIt! (blog post sponsored by @JCPenney #ad)
I partnered up with the classic menswear brand, Perry Ellis, to take part in their #100PiecesofPerry campaign to showcase their fall collection. Perry Ellis decided to re-imagine the traditional runway show and take the concept to the streets with their fall collection. Follow along as the digital runway unfolds at #100PiecesOfPerry! I got to style and show how I would rock an all blue monochromatic look. This Large Plaid Wool Jacket is a perfect way to rock flannel without it being just another flannel shirt. I mean bomber + flannel = 🙂 right? I wore this blue long-sleeve button down and navy dress pant as well. I added a cuff to the bottom of my pants (as I seem to do more often than not) and added a tan/brown belt to add some texture and to break up the colorblocking just a bit! The hint of tan also compliments the navy and matched the details in the white Vans I wore. You know me, I always seem to sporty up my dressier looks!
The Quail Hunter High Lace Boot is my favorite boot from the G.H. Bass collection and is actually a new style they added this year. I really like the rugged work boot style and the fact that they didn’t make the boot too chunky. I’m a sucker for high boots and the rubber lug sole makes it easy to take them off road. These also come in 3 different colors: whiskey (which is what I’m wearing here), black (which you better believe I’ll be wearing before fall begins), and mahogany. I wore a slim fit kaki pant that came to just about the top of the boot and layered a gray H&M turtle neck with a Levis denim and a blue Ralph Lauren jacket. I like trying to dress up a work boot, more than you would normally do, all while still keeping it casual if that makes sense LOL. I kept the outfit fitted and classic to keep the look clean, to contrast the ruggedness of the boots. These boots were perfect for exploring and chasing Nate all around the rocks on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine 🙂