This post was brought to you in collaboration with Nordstrom. I love partnering with brands that I love and trust. Post ideas and opinions are my own.
Happy Wednesday, my friends! I hope your week is off to a great start! A little background on how this post came about. I was driving home from Dallas with my sweet friend, Megan and we were chatting about routines and I mentioned cocktail hour and how Mr. Fancy and I try to sit and have a cocktail together on the nights that he’s in town. She was fascinated by it and said I should share this fun Cocktail Hour routine with you all. It’s such a part of our routine that I never really thought twice about it and I know not everyone does it, but I grew up with parents that did this every night at 5pm, as did my grandparents up until close to the days that they passed away. I have such fond memories of us all sitting around a plate of brie and crackers at my grandparents house and listening and chatting. It was something that we started early on in our dating days and it’s a nice little routine to add in and a great way to catch up and check in about each other’s days. And truthfully between jobs, kids, travel, dogs and all the other responsibilities, it’s tough to make time for each other these days. I’m sure you can relate to this. This helps us have a meeting place each evening that we can make it work and it’s become a favorite routine over the past 12 years that we’ve been together. Lots of nights, we will sit with our cocktails (chardonnay for me, vodka tonic for him), have cheese and nuts and just chat about things while dinner cooks. Some nights, we are cooking while having cocktail hour, but regardless, we are still doing it together!
When Nordstrom reached and asked me to chat about men’s and women’s spring into summer fashion, I was thrilled to partner with them on this post topic. As you know, Nordstrom is truly one of my favorite stores and where I’ve shopped there literally my whole life. It’s my one-stop shop for all the things and all different price points and for pretty much all occasions! Mr. Fancy and I both love that our looks in today’s post are so versatile. Our main pieces can be worn a few different ways, which is ideal. My SWEATER could easily be dressed up with WHITE JEANS or SLACKS and WEDGES, as opposed to the casual way I am wearing it in this post. It would be perfect to wear to work or on a date night out/in or for a fun girls night, too! This SWEATER is so flattering and comes in a NAVY and YELLOW stripe as well. I just love it and my favorite way to wear it is with JEANS like I am doing in these photos. Mr. Fancy’s look could easily be dressed up for a night out, by adding a BLAZER. But, this casual look is perfect for a night in. He could go for an even more casual look by wearing this SHIRT with basic pair of SHORTS. He lives in these LOAFERS and has them in a few colors. They are perfect with jeans, slacks and even shorts. I’m a big fan of them and much prefer them over flip flops (I hope you hear that Mr. Fancy!). You could also pair this SHIRT with slacks, tucked in call it a perfect casual work look. Versatility is really the key thing I consider when I’m shopping for myself and my family. I want to be sure we have versatile pieces in our closets that we can wear numerous ways. Another great thing about shopping online at Nordstrom is the curbside pickup option. If an item is available in my store, I will select the “buy & pick up” option and within a short amount of time, I can swing by my local Nordstrom, send a text and my items are delivered right out to my car! I love this option, especially when I don’t have time to wait for an order to arrive for an event, or if I just want my items immediately. Ha!
WHAT TO WEAR FOR YOUR SPRING COCKTAIL HOUR:
Ashley: SWEATER // JEANS // EARRINGS // LIPSTICK (color: #49)
Mr. Fancy: SHIRT // JEANS // LOAFERS // WATCH
WHAT TO WEAR FOR YOUR SPRING COCKTAIL HOUR:
Ashley: SWEATER // JEANS // EARRINGS // LIPSTICK (color: #49)
Mr. Fancy: SHIRT // JEANS // LOAFERS // WATCH
WHAT TO WEAR FOR YOUR SPRING COCKTAIL HOUR:
Ashley: SWEATER // JEANS // EARRINGS // LIPSTICK (color: #49)
Mr. Fancy: SHIRT // JEANS // LOAFERS // WATCH
WHAT TO WEAR FOR YOUR SPRING COCKTAIL HOUR:
Ashley: SWEATER // JEANS // EARRINGS // LIPSTICK (color: #49)
Mr. Fancy: SHIRT // JEANS // LOAFERS // WATCH
WHAT TO WEAR FOR YOUR SPRING COCKTAIL HOUR:
Ashley: SWEATER // JEANS // EARRINGS // LIPSTICK (color: #49)
Mr. Fancy: SHIRT // JEANS // LOAFERS // WATCH
WHAT TO WEAR FOR YOUR SPRING COCKTAIL HOUR:
Ashley: SWEATER // JEANS // EARRINGS // LIPSTICK (color: #49)
Mr. Fancy: SHIRT // JEANS // LOAFERS // WATCH
Now, you might wonder what we chat about during our cocktail hour. And truthfully, a lot of nights, it’s about the kids or dogs or work. We do chat about work a lot, but we also make a conscious effort to chat about non work, kids, dogs topics too. Sometimes I think it’s tough as couples to remember there was a life before all of that stuff. What did we talk about before kids and dogs and responsibilities? We try to come up with topics for date nights and cocktail hours ahead of time and I think this is a healthy thing to do. I’m no marriage expert, but I think it helps to discuss other topics besides the everyday life stuff. Here are a few of our favorite topics to chat about whether we are having cocktail hour or on a date night, these are great topics ideas to steer clear of only discussing the everyday things…
20 Date Night Questions
- Vacation Spots- Where do we want to go? Whether it’s now or sometime in the future. Even after all these years, you may find out things about your partner that you never knew.
- If you could have a home in 2 places (besides where you live now), where would it be? This is a fun one and again, it’s neat to hear the reasoning for why you both want houses in certain places. They might be different or the same.
- If you could live anywhere, is that where you are now? Where would it be? What’s the reason?
- Describe your ideal day. This might change over the years and it’s a fun one!
- What do you feel the most grateful for in your life?
- What is a new hobby you’d like to try color or as a couple?
- What’s the happiest you’ve ever felt?
- What is your dream career? Is that what you’re doing now? Do you want to be doing that?
- Where do you see your business in 5 years? 10 years?
- Where do you see us in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
- What movie reminds you of us?
- Which kid is mostly like me? You? What’s the reason?
- What is your favorite book? Reason?
- What is your favorite song? Reason?
- What’s the accomplishment that you’re most proud of?
- What would you do if you won the lottery?
- Which would you like most: a summer house, a year-long vacation, or a boat?
- What’s your greatest talent?
- What is the best thing about our relationship?
- What’s your favorite quality about each other?
Do you and your significant other have a similar routine? Something you always do together? I’d love to hear your ideas and how you keep things fun in your relationship! Have a fabulous day, friends! XO!
photos by melissa parsons
My husband and I have Happy Hour every night around 5:00. One of our favorite topics is upcoming travel, our home and current events. Even if we have to be somewhere around that time we still do it when we come home. It’s a great way to reconnect after the day.
My parents always had a cocktail before dinner. They would sit at the kitchen table and talk about their day. My mom stayed home with us and it was their way to catch up. We are really big “cocktail hour” people in our family still. A small snack with a cocktail is a great way to roll into the dinner hour. I love the top also. So cute.
Happy to see others with the cocktail hour tradition.
I love this idea so much! And you two are the cutest!
Where are your kids during cocktail hour? My husband and I try to catch up while we cook dinner together, but even then our kids are always interrupting us for something. Our kids are older than yours (8, 12, and 14) but do yours actually leave you alone?
Sometimes they are hanging with us, sometimes they’re outside playing! Sometimes, we are all in he kitchen and someone is cooking, someone is doing homework, etc.
I love the idea of this but would have to figure out how to adapt it. How often are you both in-town/home at that time? It sounds like my ideal goal for once a week, or when everyone is potty trained. With 2 kids under 4 years old and 2 adults working outside of the home it feels hard to picture. We’re obsessive about family dinner- even if it means most meal prep is at 6am and one parent might be holding a baby. We’re pretty good at breakfast being a together meal too. Our ritual is Friday nights are not family dinners and we, the parents, treat ourselves to takeout, hangout time, and DVR catch up. No chores, no packing lunches, etc. Maybe that’s what we can do at this stage knowing it is the season we’re in right now.
I definitely think it depends on schedules and such! When we are both in town, we both work from home, so we can swing it. That being said, during certain sports seasons, etc, it’s harder to do and with weekly travel and kids’ schedules its not always a nightly occurrence. We squeeze it in when we can. 🙂