With summer comes sunshine. Mmmm, I love the vitamin D and bright colors and dresses I get to wear. Summer’s my time to go insane with the neons and the pinks and yellows and greens and no one can call me silly. But you know what I don’t like as much? UV rays.. that’s right, summer brings sunshine which brings.. ultra violet radiation. Most of you probably know this, but let me reiterate the damage UV rays can do to your face — wrinkles (that’s what I’m most scared of), freckles (but don’t hate them if you’ve got them! I personally think freckles are adorable), and most horrifying –> skin cancer! But it’s easy to avoid this harm, go out and get yourself a daily moisturizer with a decent amount of SPF (I use SPF 20). If you’re intense you can even opt to put sunscreen on every day.

However, an additional layer of protectant that I’ve found to be both a protectant against the sun and fashionable are hats! I used to hate hats, I thought hats referred solely to baseball caps and they tended to make my face look particularly round, which I was not fond of. But these days, I’ve been ogling my eyes at some hats that just look amazing and even crank up the “chic” in my style. I’m not a chic girl, at least I don’t think I am, I prefer clean-cut preppy styles but once in a while I’ll go outside my comfort zone and try my hand at crop-tops and darkly colored skirts. (I’ve linked some awesome hats on the bottom of this post if you’d like to take a look.)

That’s where today’s outfit comes in. This look is something I’m not used to wearing every day. But the hat makes the outfit, don’t you think? I’d even go as far as to say, I look pretty chic ;) Not to mention the amazing photography. My awesome friend Annie Venable took these photos for me.

Want to know how she’s an amazing photographer? 

1. Her ability to capture effortless poses (that I thought I was incapable of) 
2. She made me feel comfortable (posing is awkward) and even made it fun. Before I knew it, an hour had gone by. 
3. Her guidance. She came ready with suggestions of poses and told me exactly where I should place my hands, feet, arms, head, literally everything. It made posing so much easier. 
4. Her edits. I can’t stop gushing. You would’ve never known the weather was humid and gloomy. And she was able to capture the perfect coloring of my skirt and the surrounding greenery. 
5. She has a talented eye. It’s true. She noticed the style of editing that I had applied to my previous blog pictures and tried her hand at matching that style to provide consistency. This is an awesome characteristic of Annie’s. It’s always a disappointment when the person who has photographed you edits the pictures to their preference, especially because it means you end up disappointed even if the photos are high quality.