My beach essentials

Hello everyone! Are you going to the beach this summer?

In my book, nothing says summer like spending time at the beach. I am thrilled that we get to spend the last ten days of our Italian stay on the Italian Riviera (where we celebrated my birthday two years ago while we were living in Italy). I have to confess that I have not bought any beach item in a long time -- now that I think of it, the last major update to my beach wardrobe was ten years ago (OMG, time does fly) in occasion of my honeymoon in a posh resort in Sardegna. Since then, the time I have spent at the beach in the summer has been so limited (sob) that I never thought it was worth additional investments.

This year I simply cannot fit into any of my beach clothes because I have not yet lost the baby weight. Hope never dies, and I am confident (ya, right) that next year I will have. Thus I kept my purchases to the bare minimum: two pairs of shorts and one one-piece bathing suit (thank goodness that is the one thing designers have deemed big this summer). In case you were wondering, no kaftans -- they are simply not fashionable on the Italian Riviera. I rather plan on relying (once again) on my two Marni shifts as day-to-evening coverups. The advantage of keeping everything to a minimum is that I have space left in my suitcase in case, you know, something would catch my attention here...