It all starts with two pairs of shorts.
What you see right here is my color Valhalla, my sweet spot, my happy place, my everything. Dusty sage green, dusty slate blue? Yes, thanks. I'll just wear combinations of those colors for the rest of my life and never complain again.
But wait! Make that three pairs of shorts:
I haven't worn yellow in years, but I think it could work nicely as a trouser color. It goes with blue, green, pink, soft grape . . . basically all my best colors, even though yellow itself is not a great color for me. I bought these butter-yellow shorts the other day at the Good Neighbor Shop down the street from my house: high waist, nice fit, goes with stuff I have, cost two dollars . . . so there they are.
To these pairs of shorts, add some shirts (the butter yellow shows up a little more truly in this shot):
Substitute a pair of trousers for the shorts:
As you can see, they'll mix decently with everything else. I might well wear this outfit to Sunday Mass on the island. Meanwhile, I do also like to wear dresses at the beach:
In case you can't tell, pictured above are my J.Jill faded-indigo shapeless jersey dress, last worn on Friday in the Octave of Pentecost; my indigo swing-tee dress, pictured on Tuesday of the same week, and occasioning Many Thoughts About Modesty; and my bleach-dyed gauze empire-waist dress, last worn sometime in my May 30x30, and included in my favorite outfits from that month's challenge. The colors look very grayed in this shot, but trust me, it's all blue.
Meanwhile, there's air conditioning, especially in restaurants and churches, and there's sun beating down on the beach. I'll need some third-layer options, but not heavy ones. Here are the button shirts I'm packing:
These are bathing dresses. I'm not into uber-modesty à la the purity movement, but I like wearing a dress that I can get wet in, then throw a big shirt over to go into the grocery store. These are both new this year (got them on Amazon; I'm not always an ethical shopper, and sometimes I don't even try) and have the advantage of having boy shorts under the skirts for extra – how can I say this nicely – crotch coverage? Anyway, they do have that, and I like it a lot.
The straw sunhat I've had for years – I think I got it at the beach where we're going, maybe as long as ten years ago now. The pink hat I just bought. It's one of those ponytail hats with an opening in the back, which I thought would come in handy with my long hair.
I'll go barefoot a lot, but not all the time. I can wear the Crocs thongs to church. Those will be my dressy shoes. Everything else will just be literally what I want to put my feet into, when they're not in sand.
Underwear, sleepwear, sunblock, hair products, glasses case, Kindle . . . and I'm there.
Thrifted items in this capsule:
*all shorts
*bone-white Lee boyfriend jeans
*crew-neck washed-indigo swing-tee dress
*all shirts but the navy embroidered scoop-neck tee
*Birkenstock Floridas
*royal-blue pucker shirt
Bought-new items in this capsule:
*J. Jill light indigo dress (2018)
*navy embroidered scoop-neck tee (2011-ish)
*both bathing suits (spring 2021)
*both hats (straw hat 2011-ish; pink sun hat May 2021)
*Crocs thongs (2019)
*EVA Birkenstocks (2018)
CONSIDERED PACKING LIST
Dresses:
blue swing tee dress
blue J.Jill shapeless dress
blue bleach-dyed dress
Bottoms:
sage-green shorts
slate-blue shorts
butter-yellow shorts
navy gauze culottes
off-white Lee wide-leg jeans
Tops:
white gauze sleeveless top (with cotton camisole underneath)
plain white tank
navy geometric-patterned tank
navy scoop-neck embroidered tee
blue J.Jill tie-dyed swing tee
Third layers/button shirts:
long blue cardigan
addition: light-blue swing cardigan (shown top right in the top collage photo), because it's going to be cooler at the beach than I had initially thought, and also because I thought I might want a slightly dressier short top-layer option for Mass
collarless denim shirt
light chambray shirt
pucker-fabric royal-blue shirt
collarless pintucked blue shirt
collarless teal shirtdress (doubles as dress or duster)
Bathing suits;
two floral blue swim dresses
Hats:
straw sun hat
pink sun hat
Underwear + nightwear:
as needed, obviously, in supplies for 7 days
Shoes:
Birkenstock Floridas
EVA Birks
Crocs thongs
Belts:
pink
tan
silver
Toiletries/Hair:
shampoo
conditioner
styling foam
bag of scrunchies and clips
deodorant
razor
earrings
***All of this seems like a lot for one week. Oh, well. I'm not constrained as to packing space, or the need to wear the same thing day after day because I'm on the move. It will be nice to have choices, within a range of things that all go together, and changes of clothing as the occasion might demand. I can pack tiny – my spring travel capsule taught me that. But it's nice not to have to. For a week at the beach, I want less challenge, more relaxation. I don't want to spend it thinking about what I wish I'd brought but didn't. I think what my packing list represents is an antidote to that regret, without being my-entire-closet-because-I-couldn't-decide. There will be plenty of clean clothing to wear, that I'm not tired of, when I get home. But there will be plenty to wear at the beach, plenty that I know I'll look and feel good in, so that anything I put on will be fine. That's a good feeling.
UPDATE: How I pack for car trips.
Yes, those are Aldi bags. One is clothes; one is shoes and hats. I'll have a smaller one for toiletries and hair supplies, and another for books. I love not flying.
UPDATE: RAIN PREDICTED
I hope it's not going to rain the whole time, but I did add a rain slicker and my jean jacket to the mix. Highs will be in the 70s and 80s, but if it's wet and windy, the air will feel chillier than it is.