BY TARA & CAILIN BURKE

After our cafe stop (see last post) we cut through Washington Square Park on our way to the PATH station. Tons of people were out enjoying the nice weather and the fountain. We also ran into this adorable, tiny community garden right next to the sidewalk. I love how in NYC little things like this always surprise you, and we couldn’t help but go in! It was filled with benches, a stone pathway and of course, tons of flowers! We found out it is called the LaGuardia Corner Gardens and my favorite part about it was the funny things the gardeners named their flowers. I remember one bush was named “Senior Prom!”

Since we were in a beautiful garden we took the opportunity to snap a few outfit pics. I wore a simple navy gingham tank top and my favorite high-waisted Levi shorts. Gingham is the perfect summer fabric because it is so light and boxy. I made my Levi shorts from a pair of Mom jeans from the thrift store. All you have to do is find a pair of Levis that fit you in the waist and hips and cut them! The key is to cut them on a diagonal. Here is a good Pinterest post that shows the diagonal cut. I like to cuff my shorts so I do this diagonal cut a few inches down from where my ideal shorts length is. This also helps you from cutting them too short by accident! These jeans also came in that typical dark denim color and I wanted them to be light denim, so I placed them in a bucket of bleach and water. I diluted the bleach so I they didn’t turn completely white and so the denim wouldn’t get too damaged.

To complete the outfit I wore my yellow turtle earrings! I love turtles and for awhile whenever I saw any turtle jewelry I immediately bought it. These earrings are so unique and really make a statement.

Cailin wore a subtle paisley patterned maroon skirt and a collar embellished top. It’s always fun to experiment with patterns. At first she didn’t think the stripes on her shirt would match the paisley in her skirt, but since everything was in a similar color family it worked!

Experiment with your wardrobe this summer and maybe try a few DIY shorts projects. It’s super fun to put patches on them, distress them, or do bleach spots. Just have fun with it!