What to Wear to a Barbecue & Your Own Twist Link Up #9

This is not a sponsored post.
Overalls: Torrid

Monica and I are bringing you some style inspiration for Summer Barbecues in this month’s Your Own Twist Link Up. Your Own Twist is a monthly series hosted by Monica of Jersey Girl, Texan Heart and myself where we showcase our own interpretations of a chosen style theme. We share the theme with you ahead of time in case you are interested in joining us. Feel free to link your own Summer Barbecue outfit ideas below. Or add any outfit, style, or fashion post that you’d like!

Tee shirt: Charlotte Russe
Plaid shirt: Old Navy
Shoes: Charlotte Russe

We publish this post on the third Thursday of every month. But apparently we had some confusion with the dates! That is what happens when we both have way too much going on. Yesterday was the second Thursday of June and I was planning on posting this on June 20 (next Thursday). So I shared an Inspired By post yesterday instead (which includes this week’s Link Up On the Edge, in case you are looking for that party). Imagine my surprise when I clicked on Monica’s blog yesterday morning and saw this post! Not gonna lie, a few choice expletives escaped my mouth! How in the world did I eff that up? It clearly stated June 13 even on my own page outlining the upcoming post dates. Doy!

Thankfully, Monica is a lot like me and she just sort of goes with the flow and doesn’t get too upset about a mistake in a posting schedule. I mean, we do take our blogs seriously and all, but they are for our own entertainment and there really is no need to get upset about such a small little mishap. But…I was still super upset with myself for messing up! And I quickly sent an email to Monica at 5:30 in the morning apologizing for my recent air headedness which seems to have completely taken control of my life these past few days. Just ask Nancy…I completely messed up photo collages for The Good Buy/Good-Bye Book coming on Saturday. But again, thankfully, Nancy is a lot like me and Monica and doesn’t get too upset about these sorts of things. Instead, she laughs at me and tells me to drink more wine! And Monica, of course, told me not to worry about it at all. Then we launched into an email bitch session complaining about how overwhelmed we both are, but please let us do more blogging things together! Good friends, I tell you, they get me. And I am so blessed and grateful for that.

Don’t I look all calm, cool, and collected in these photos? Just chilling out on some broke down wooden deck at an abandoned building like I don’t have a care in the world. Well, you know how they say we should never compare our lives to those we see on social media because none of it’s real? Yeah, that’s all true. None of this is real! We zipped over to this abandoned place the day we had a Memorial Day party at our house to quickly shoot some photos before we had to get back home and prepare food for like 40 guests. I was not calm, cool, or collected. I was not chilling at all. I was frenzied and screaming at my kids to get out of the background! We snapped about 150 photos in less than 15 minutes. And then I weeded through them all to find the best of them to share with you.

Earrings: Good Life Gift Shop
Evil eye necklace: Michal Golan

Then only thing “real” about this photo shoot is that I did actually wear this outfit to a barbecue! It is exactly what I wore all day (except I swapped out the heeled booties for my slippers)…cooking, entertaining, hanging out on my front porch with good friends, drinking, eating, laughing, and then cleaning it all up. Nope. That last part is not real. I didn’t clean up a damn thing. The husband did. All of it. Gosh, I am a lucky woman. I just ate and got a little drunk and by the time I came back into the house, everything was put away, all the dishes were in the dishwasher running, the kids were in jammies and ready for bed, and the husband was relaxing on the couch watching sports. All satisfied with himself. As he should be. Because he rocks!

All I did was show up at an abandoned building and try to look pretty for the camera. As if I am calm, cool, and collected without a care in the world. And now with my husband having been gone for 2 1/2 weeks, I am the furthest thing from calm. I am a downright hot mess! Seriously, I am so exhausted. How does he do everything he does and not drop over dead?! I seriously can barely function at this point! I am just putting one foot in front of the other and relying on the kindness of my amazing friends who help me out!

I think my next barbecue will need to be a celebration of my amazing husband and my wonderful friends. While I may not be calm, cool, and collected right now, I am definitely grateful, blessed, and humbled by my tribe! So many thanks to all of you. To Danielle who gets my kids from school every day. To Carlos and Lisa who have played photographer for me. To Denise who listens to me complain about how tired I am…all day long. To James who is always on the ready to give me moral and emotional support when I have reached my breaking point. To Jane who makes me feel like I am superwoman when I feel like I am falling short. To Leti who heals my energy when she sees me faltering. To Julie who greets me every day with the most uplifting smile. And to my husband, my dear wonderful, amazing husband, who even at 1,500 miles away holds me up and keeps me together in every single way. I appreciate all of you. More than you even know.

There are so many more people I want to thank, but this post has gotten wicked long already. And I am crazy amounts of tired and probably forgetting some. There are some who do not need to be mentioned and some who may not want to be mentioned. If any of them are reading this, you know who you are. I thank you, too, for all that you do that inspires me, uplifts me, encourages me, and makes me feel ever so loved. Especially when I feel completely unworthy of it all. The next celebration will be for all of you! And honestly, it doesn’t matter a lick what I am wearing or what you are wearing…what matters is the celebration itself…of friendship and love.

Who and what will you be celebrating at your barbecues and parties this summer? Why not make these parties mean something special!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

There is still plenty of time to enter the $500 giveaway from Country Outfitter, too. Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to Find Your Country! Entries will be accepted through July 7, 2019. Tell your friends!

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.

I am a 40 something Army wife and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats named Dave and Frankie. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

22 Comments

  • Nancy

    No no no love, I told you to stop drinking wine! Hahaha, oh gosh!
    I have to say to you that you look so cool in this outfit! Not only cool but very sexy too. Because it looks like you are really comfortable in your life now, your figure is perfect and I have said it before, but the longer hair looks so darn good on you! Jeff must be a very lucky man! Right Jeff? Haha, have a great weekend!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      Nancy, you are too kind to me! Thank yo so much for your friendship and sharing your wit with me. You always make me laugh! Now I need to get myself together and get my post ready for tomorrow! Have a fabulous weekend, my friend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • jodie filogomo

    Yep…you do look calm and collected. All this blogging has given you actor’s talents!! And that kind of mess up is small beans. And isn’t everything small beans??
    These online blogging friendships are the best. You certainly get to know people so well this way!!
    OXOX
    Jodie

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      Aw, thanks so much, Jodie! Now if I could only cash in big on these so-called actor’s talents! Wouldn’t that be fabulous?! And for sure, it is all small beans. Which is why I didn’t stress too much over it all. But I can definitely be too hard on myself some days. It’s all good, though. I don’t want to get lazy or lackadaisical…that doesn’t lead to any kind of success if we allow that to happen! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend, my friend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Chrissy

    These overalls are so cute on you Shelbee. And you always look fabulous, but have you lost some weight?? And Monica is such a fun gal to pair up with. You guys have that similar edgy vibe going on!

  • Marilee J. Gramith

    I absolutely love these shots of you Shelbee! You have the soul of a country girl my dear! I also love the backdrop you selected. Great photos!! You’re the CUTEST!!
    I’m not sure why but I have LOVED overalls since the 60’s when I wore them the first time. In my lifetime they have been “on trend” at least 4 times. In between, I wear them for gardening! 🙂 Those farmers are smart people! Virtually no waist in these babies makes for endless comfort. I guess they pose the problem of having to take time them down to Lee but…who cares!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      Jude, thank you so very much for your kind words! I am really happy with these photos, too. My husband found the location and it really was perfection! Some of the best things come out of practical necessity, don’t they? Farmers are very smart, indeed. Without them, we wouldn’t have food!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Laura Bambrick

    My overalls ripped this spring and you are reminding me that I need to get them replaced! They are so much fun to wear, I’m glad they are trending again! Yours look fabulous on you!

  • Susan

    Hiya, Shelbee!
    I love your shoes so much! My love has grown exponentially with my inability to find a pair with a lower heel, so that I could look good AND walk without injury to myself and/or innocent bystanders. Happy to say, I was finally successful. Yesterday, while returning a misrepresented online order at Target, I strolled thru the shoe section, and they had one pair. The pair was my size! My color (nude)! The heel was only an inch! And the insole was cushioned! And they were $12!!!!!
    Truly, the Goddess has smiled upon me, and the odds were ever in my favor.
    Actually, if they were ever in my favor, I would look like you in overalls, instead of a coal mining dwarf, but I am happy with my shoes.

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      Susan! I love that the shoe shopping Goddess has smiled down upon you and delivered you exactly what you needed/wanted and for a mere $12! And I have to be honest, I had to play some styling trickery to make the overalls look cute! I bought them 2 sizes too big so that they would be slouchy and adorable, but the result was that from the back it looked like I was wearing a poop loaded adult diaper underneath. The shirt tied around the waist covered the appearance of said poopie diaper. Worn on top and tied at the waist created the illusion of some shape from the front, but notice there are no pictures of my back side! I hope you are having a wonderful summer break, my friend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

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Shelbee on the Edge