"Camp Mommy" Casual

Only four days into "Camp Mommy" and the director — moi — is ready to quit.

Dude, now I understand why summer camp costs so much. It's a flippin' lot of work — and that's even before the day officially begins. Every morning I struggle to get dressed.

(Back story: I have three kids, none of whom are old enough to be left unattended for days on end. CPS frowns upon that sort of thing. So, we must pay for summer camps. They cost a ton of money, so much that after running the numbers, I realized it made more sense for me to take unpaid leave and stay home. Hence, Camp Mommy was born.)

How do you look pulled together when you're doing lots of random kid activities? Well, this was one answer: cheap chic. All inexpensive staples from Target to H&M with a spark of color and panache courtesy of killer Stuart Weitzman flats (gifted from my lovely friend Jessica, who owns a walk-in closet I would die for).

This ensemble: Forever XXI newspaper print tee; H&M ruffled vest; Mossimo Supply Co. bermuda shorts and Stu's cherry-red patent, cut-out flats.

On a related note: This Blank Denim dress is so cute, it could be a Camp Mommy uniform, if it weren't too short. It would probably hit about right on me since I'm not 6-feet tall and 100 pounds like Revolveclothing.com's models (actually, I think it's cool that model info is in the fit guide, so you can gauge the clothing better). But just guess what the color is called? Canckles. No joke. Who does that? Picturing the no ankle, calf-to-foot affliction completely turns me off to what is actually a cute dress. An army-type jacket is done in "pickle." That, I get. It's cute. But canckles? Shudder.

And, on an unrelated note: Remember the life-changing manicure post? Well, I actually did that for work. Here's the full scoop. Get all the dirty details and see much, much better photos that I can do one-handed.