a preppy skirt for summer | fridays with oscar

friday is here again, and so are we for fridays with oscar. this week closes with a smart skirt ensemble; a colorful print perfect for summer. this week we talked all things skirts and this one definitely appeals to my preppy aesthetic. our appetizer today is light and easy. and our cocktail is a blackberry bourbon smash, full of refreshing flavor – which makes it an easy convert to a mocktail. 

a preppy skirt for summer

for all of my regular readers, you know i love to mix patterns and stripes. a fine blue striped sleeveless button up blouse pairs perfectly with my tropical fruit and floral print skirt. i love the colors in this skirt! bright orange and pink mixes so well with contrasting blues and minty green. nothing like bright pops of color to lighten everything up! all of today’s items are from Talbots.

the woven strap slide sandals really bring the contrasting colors to a perfect point, as they mix orange and pink with blue. 

my white belt adds another touch of contrasting pattern with its raffia triangle trim.

light summer rolls with tahini dipping sauce

Vietnamese summer rolls are a refreshing and light summer appetizer or light meal. they are simple to make and you can put what you like in them, to riff on it in your own way. 

these have shrimp, purple cabbage, cilantro, arugula, carrots, mung bean sprouts and cucumber. the rice paper wrappers are pretty easy to use provided you don’t overstuff the roll. it definitely gets easier and better as you make a few of them. 

there isn’t much of a recipe. you simply prep your veggies and soak one rice sheet at a time in water until it’s soft. then you lay it flat on a surface, smoothing out any wrinkles. layer in your veggies and protein.

then take the side closest to you and fold it over the veggies. then take one end and fold it over, take the other end and fold it over so you have something like an envelope. then, take the side closest to you, wrap your hands around the top of the roll and gently pull it toward you to help with the cylindrical shape. begin to roll it away from you. 

tahini dipping sauce

usually summer rolls come with peanut dipping sauce but i wanted something different so i chose to do a simple tahini dipping sauce. 

a refreshing blackberry mint bourbon smash

this cocktail is great mocktail, just omit the bourbon and replace it with two ounces of plain water. the mint makes this so refreshing. if you don’t care for bourbon, you could try vodka or a herbaceous gin, like Hendricks.

fridays with oscar

well gang, we’re at the end of another week, and another fridays with oscar. i hope you have enjoyed this closeup look at skirts on the blog. a preppy skirt for summer is the perfect way to close the week. in case you need to catch up on skirt week, you can find a gorgeous sequin pencil skirt styled with a casual linen top. or a white safari-chic button up pencil skirt. and don’t miss my latest fashion flash video – devoted to all the skirts this week! oscar, ollie and i wish all of you a wonderful weekend! 

Kelly Djalali

is our 40s+ fashion & food contributor. She posts a Daily Look on Tuesdays, writes about Fashion on Thursdays, joins Beth for Fridays with Oscar and shares a new recipe Sunday evenings.

She’s 47, 5’0, and a petite 0/XS.

Kelly also has a food blog called Djalali Cooks, which you can find by clicking the world icon below.

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