I'm sticking to my goal of catching y'all up to things before mid-June! This post continues the second-to-last day of my reunion trip home to South Carolina. That Sunday morning was full of taking pictures in the hot sun with my friends and driving around town reminiscing, with a stop to visit my dad's grave.
If you missed my previous posts from this trip, you can find them below:
- Visited with my sister in Savannah before driving up to see my friends
- Fun at Homecoming
- The Meat N Greet Picnic
- And the actual Reunion Party
- I bought the items in this post. All opinions presented are my own and without influence. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
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Before we get started, I am 5'9", typically wear a 22/24, wear a 40B bra, a size 11 wide shoe, and my measurements are 52/49/58.
First, let's talk about the outfit I wore that night. Once we got back to the hotel in the afternoon, I freshened up and changed clothes, albeit to something similar. Same formula as my day look - soft pants and a cold-shoulder top.
I was late to the soft pants train, thinking they would be too ill-fitting for my body shape and worried the fabric would show every precious dimple in my thighs. But GURL, I was so wrong. Once I tried one pair of soft pants, I had to have them all! They are so comfortable and lightweight, a great alternative to denim, and can be dressed up or down. Soft pants have also been a great go-to travel look for me as well. I tend to love the printed pants the most. Prints tend to add a little camouflage and don't highlight the wrinkles in the fabric.
Soft pants tend to be a rayon/spandex, which is extremely comfortable. I find Torrid's older styles of soft pants to be a bit more loose than their current offers. I still buy a 3 in all of my soft pants, but the newer ones are more fitted than the one you see here. But I like them more fitted, especially because the fabric is just slightly more stretchy, so they fit my body well. I will say, because of the rayon they definitely do wrinkle. They are something you need to iron before wearing. And they do stretch out a bit with wear. I find the older ones that fit looser tend to stretch out more, but I can still get a few wears in before I need to wash them.
Now that all of that is out of the way, I am wearing these navy soft pants (Torrid usually calls them "challis jogger" - challis is another word typically utilized to mean rayon.) in a size 3. These are the older version that fit more loosely. The are also just a smidge longer than the newer versions. I love that soft pants kind of skim over my tummy roll for the most part and don't cling. That allows me to comfortably French tuck and feel laid-back and cool. Seeing as it was beyond humid and pretty hot in the South compared to what I am used to, this outfit was helpful in keeping me cool and feeling light.
The top is an Old Navy find from spring last year. I bought a red version the previous year and, despite the wrinkle-prone rayon, really loved the top for hot summer days. So when they released this magenta shade, I snatched it up fast! I haven't seen them release this design so far this year, but it may be something they carry again as we get closer to summer. I'm wearing a 3X and find this top to be roomy enough for my hips and tummy. I do have to shorten the straps as short as they go to accommodate my smaller bust. I LOVE cold-shoulder/off-the-shoulder tops. They make me feel very feminine and pretty and sexy. As someone who was always told my shoulders were too broad and manly, this is certainly a part of me I never thought I would expose or draw attention to. I know a lot of people are opposed to them, but my collection of this style of top tends to grow larger by the month.
Navy Challis Jogger - Torrid (similar, similar, similar)
Isabella Jelly II Flat - Crocs via Amazon
Chandelier Earrings - H&M circa 2015 (similar, similar, similar)
I wore this look out to my friend Brandon's gig that night. He played at a local restaurant/bar, and since I hadn't seen him perform live since we were teenagers I was thoroughly excited to cheer him on! We met up with him prior to the show to have dinner before he took the stage. Leading up to the trip/show, he kept telling me he wanted to try to do a New Kids song for me, but it just didn't work with his voice. I was fine with it. I just wanted to see him perform and be there to support him. Then at the reunion party the night before, he came up to me and told me that if he said to get my camera ready at the gig I should.
I had no idea what was coming.
Over on my YouTube channel, I uploaded all the videos I took of his performance that night. You can check him out and enjoy the show along with me. (You can also check out more of his music and performances on Facebook, Soundcloud, YouTube, and listen to his original work.) He did tell me to get my camera ready about halfway through the show, so I held my phone as still as I could though I was abuzz with anticipation at what he was going to sing. He began playing the song, but it wasn't until he started singing that I realized what it was.
You will probably laugh when I tell you it was "Nothin' My Love Can't Fix" by Joey Lawrence. But I started tearing up because that song is very special to me. Brandon sang it to me when we were 13. It was always this really sweet, brightly lit memory in a very dark time of my life. And I always think of that exact moment when I hear the song. This whole trip was important and special to me for so many reasons - going back home, seeing people I hadn't seen in a very long time, reconnecting with people, making new memories, taking account of how far I have come as a person, accepting the life I could have had there and never got a chance to, dealing with all the hardships that happened while I lived in this town and went to that school. It was all overwhelming, but a way for me to take these negative memories and look at them in a new and loving way.
Brandon singing this song is a moment that sums up the whole trip for me. It was a full-circle movie moment. It was like being able to see details of your life - where you have come from, what you had to go through, what you had to sacrifice and let go of - that ended up leading you to this perfect moment of love and kindness where everything made sense. I was so moved. Try as I might to keep it together, tears did fall. I was blown away that he would go to such effort to surprise me in such an extraordinary and meaningful way. I felt incredibly loved and valued.
He gave me the guitar pick he used during the show. I made it into a charm for my travel necklace to represent this moment and this trip.
Are you a soft pants fan? How do you feel about cold-shoulder tops? If someone was going to sing a song for you, what would you want it to be?
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