Not much

I'm kind of out of things to say today.

 

Cardi and Scarf

Get a bunch of Moms and Mom-types together and you'll see an abundance of these two things: cardigans and scarves.

Colour Comfort

Some things just make you feel like you. And for me, that's wearing bright colours. I love the rich, saturated brights of this top and cardigan.

Fair Isle

One of my favourite things ever is fair isle knits.

Out of Necessity

Sometimes truly great things come out of necessity - okay, this isn't exactly one of those instances.... however, we went out to my husband's family's place over the weekend to celebrate his Aunt's 60th birthday and when we arrived we realized that our dress clothes were still hanging in our front hall. After a rather frantic shopping trip with my sister in law I managed to pick up a few things to wear to the party, one of which being this blouse - which I am totally and completely in love with. It's got a great bird print, an interesting collar and pleat and a nice soft, draped shape.

Boot Season

Fall is boot season for me. I mean, yeah, you can wear closed toe flats, or sneakers or even pumps... but I'll be honest, 6 out of  7 days of the week during the fall, I'm reaching for boots. I don't know why, really, since I know as soon as the weather gets properly  cold I'll be relegated to wearing the same winter boots day in and day out; I still go for them.

Striped.

Back in my fave colour combo again. Seems like my fall wardrobe has a lot of black/red/white in it.

Black and Brown

You know how you have these set ideas in your head about what does or does not "go" together. For some reason I had always thought black OR brown, but never both. Even now, there are times when I look at an outfit and think if only I had these shoes in black/brown rather than whatever they currently are, because it would "go" better.

Fall Colours

I will admit that I don't go outside my colour-comfort-zone very often. Which is funny because my colour comfort zone is made up of pretty much all colours that most other people don't want to wear. Bright, bold, obnoxious even. If you can describe a colour that way, I'll wear it.

Fab-Friday :: Linsee

Welcome to our second Fab-Friday! Today I'm so excited to introduce you to Linsee.

Introducing Linsee!
Linsee is a busy mom of two beautiful girls and she lives in Kamloops, British Columbia. I've known Linsee for many years and I am loving her laid back, comfortable, cool style.

Gingham & Boyfriend jeans

Okay, I admit it. I've worn these jeans like a billion times since I picked them up at the V-V boutique (aka Value Village). They actually come from Old Navy, but I much prefer to pay about $7 for jeans than $30. This gingham shirt has gotten a lot of wear this summer and these scalloped flats add just a bit of punchy colour to this outfit.

Grey Midi Skirt

I recieved this fabric from the hubs' Grandmother some time ago - and I loved it so much that I knew that it needed to be something simple that would allow the fabric to speak for itself. A simple a-line midi length skirt was just the ticket.

Blue print and ball cap

These blue print pants are back in rotation again. The weather is starting to turn colder and once it stops getting up to 15+ degrees in the afternoon, I'll have to give up and put these pants away for the winter.

I finally picked up a "leather" ball cap. I've been wanting one for some time, but I sure didn't have the cash to drop on a real leather ball cap. I picked this one up from Ardene on a 3 for $10 deal - that means this hat cost $3.33! Now that's a steal!

It was pretty cool this morning, so I opted for a black waffle-knit crew neck tee-shirt under my blue cardigan both to keep warm and to pick up on the black in the ball cap. My trusty navy boat shoes and I was set!

Back to School Shopping - a shorts story

Back to School Shopping.

4 little words that make almost any parent shudder.

Oh, the humanity!

The backpacks, the lunchbags, the pencil cases, the stuff stuff stuff... and our kids are only in JK and Grade 1 - and they don't even need any of that stuff (try telling them that).  So thankfully (thankfully?) our Back to School shopping is really only grocery - stocking up on things like juice boxes and lunchmeat and snacks for recesses. Of course - all those individually wrapped, correctly marked 'nut-free' snacks aren't exactly cheap. Thank goodness I'm pushy, handy with a pen and like bulk barn and sandwich bags. But I digress.

We were still at my in-laws this morning, so I was only able to dress from what I packed, but this outfit was comfortable for a day of hanging out, travelling back across the city, and then shopping with the hubs and the kiddos, making dinner and hanging out before wrangling our monsters into bed. You've seen these eyelet shorts and this gingham shirt before, though not together - I quite like it! It's like a very subtle print mixing type of feel.

Red & White

Every now and I then I end up dressing a little patriotically - but I can't help being Canadian and loving how much red and white go together!

These shorts are just so comfy that I've worn them a tonne this summer, and I love this lace yoke top I picked up from Walmart in the states, so this is definitely an outfit made up of pieces you've seen before.

I wore this to hang out at my in-laws, do a little shopping with my sister-in-law for decorating her classroom for this year and celebrating my birthday with my husband's family. A great day all around.

So enjoy my bit of unintentional patriotism and feast your eyes on this simple outfit - and remember - even if you're not Canadian you can still rock red & white and love Canada ;)!

Summer Blues

The end of summer always gives me a slight case of the blues. Summer is so short here in Ontario, and while I do look forward to crisp fall days, and the colours of the leaves on the trees (and all the thing I'm allergic to being dead and not affecting me anymore) I know that it will only be a short time before I'm longing for the hot, lazy days of summer.
Also - it just so happens that my birthday falls in the last week of August, so I have to officially get older every year at the end of summer... so, y'know, there's THAT.

That said, the blues in this outfit do not give me the blues. They're actually quite bright and fun, and I love these printed pants so much that they basically always get worn straight out of the laundry basket.

Runnin! ..... errands.

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel just about run off your feet? Like suddenly every single errand that you've been thinking you need to do needs to happen all in one day?
This was one of those days. Aside from waking up that morning feeling seriously oppressed by the heavy storm clouds that were just hanging out, not doing anything except giving me a headache I suddenly felt the need to go to the farm market store, the grocer, the bank, and the library. And then come home and weed and harvest from the garden. I needed clothes I could "run around" in. Easy shorts, bright plain tee and some comfy sneakers and I'm set! What's your go-to errand outfit?

Fam Jam Casual

Our family takes pretty much any excuse to get together - and we love to hang out and celebrate pretty much everything with lots of food, laughs and yummy cake. Our parents birthdays are only 5 days apart in August and we generally do a family get together somewhere in between the two. I wore some seriously comfy (and very stretchy) jeggings, a great gingham button down and some bright accessories.  A great, comfortable fam-jam casual outfit.

Print Mixing

Print mixing is one of those things that can either be awesome or horribly horribly awful. You know what I'm talking about. For the longest time someone would say "print mixing" to me and I'd immediately have a mental image of a teacher from my grade school, rocking the crazy aztec print blouse with a giant, floral skirt.... not.... awesome.

So, while I've had this t-shirt and these shorts for a while, and I often pull them out to wear together I usually buckle under and change one or the other for a solid instead of wearing them together. But THIS TIME I packed them in my bag to go on my kids-free weekend with the hubs... and I didn't HAVE an option to switch either for a solid piece instead... so I just went for it. And y'know - I think I like it after all! It helps to have the prints be reasonably close in size and the colours to match (and or compliment) well. That's my 2 cents for print mixing - take it for what it's worth people.

Cottage Chic

I may have my faults as a mother... and as a human being in general - but there is one thing that I will not apologise for.... teaching my children the right way and wrong way to dress for certain situations. Examples of clothing related wisdom I have imparted to my boys already:

1) Leggings are not pants. I feel like we've covered this before... and speaking of covered, if you're wearing leggings and your butt is not covered, you in trouble with Mama. Leggings =/= pants. NOT. PANTS.

2) It is either hot enough to wear shorts or cold enough to wear winter-style boots. Girls who wearing shorts and uggs - I'm talking to you. It cannot be both. Pick one. If one of my boys comes home with a girl who does this, she is obviously not intelligent enough to date him. Mama has spoken

3) You do NOT dress up at the cottage. Duh. The cottage is a place, fashion wise, that's kind of in a twilight zone.

Seriously: those jeans you wore when you were a teenager and have huge holes in the knees and you can't actually button up the button, but otherwise they still fit and they feel AWESOME... go for it. A random sweatshirt for a university you did not attend (and can't actually remember who might have attended it or visited it or why this sweatshirt is actually up at the cottage) - perfect. Those sneakers you wore when your Dad made you paint the back deck and have stain splatters all over the top - couldn't think of anything better. Pretty much anything goes at the cottage - I mean - it's the COTTAGE for Pete's sake!

So this "outfit" is your basic jeans that fit and feel good + shirt that is comfortable/hoody that's comfortable + new moccasins (because I just bought them and I wanted to... enough said) = Cottage Chic.

I'm so stylish I can hardly stand myself sometimes. Also - I definitely did not brush my hair this day. All in the interest of honesty here folks.

 

Bonfire time!