Sweater Weather

For the  most part I don't buy into the whole "basic b*tch" ness of fall-love. I don't like Pumpkin Spice Lattes (sorry, but if it's gonna have the spices, it has to have the pumpkin - and also, preferably, actually be a baked good), I don't wear ugg boots and yoga pants out in public (I don't even OWN ugg boots) and if I wear a flannel shirt I'm more likely to look like I misplaced my axe than anything that can be described as "cute".

Fall in

 

Pep & Velvet

I love it each season changeover when I get to unpack the clothes I've stored away. I think I say this every time that it's like going shopping in my own storage.

Bright Tights

Confession time: Generally speaking, I hate tights. Pantyhose, tights, nylons, whatever you want to call 'em, largely I find them seriously uncomfortable and I hate every single second of wearing them.

Wardrobe Transition

You may remember that I received this jumper as a gift from my sister for my birthday - I said then that I would continue to wear it through the fall and winter by adding a blazer and some boots - and I'm living up to that.

Family Photos

Every year I torture my little family terribly. I am mean, and cruel and bossy. I make them uncomfortable and make them hide it for extremely long periods of time. I am a harsh master. Every year we take a picture for our Christmas card.

At least, that's how it seems with my little fam.

Floral, Cobalt & Leopard - Oh My!

Sometimes an item will just jump out at me when I'm thrifting.
Sometimes, it's meant to be.
Sometimes I notice a super cute pair of leopard print flats on varagesale and then I notice that they're only $2.00.... how can it get any better than that, you ask?
Well I'll tell you.

Pepluv it.

Okay.
I admit it.
I am officially in love with peplums.
I know, I know, you're thinking "Tea, this is not new news". But I didn't realize until I started going through my fall wardrobe this week and trying to decide if there was anything that needed to leave and go start new life elsewhere that every. single. peplum. I owned went immediately into the keep pile. I just love this silhouette.

This red hi/lo peplum has the added bonus of being a DIY so I can feel extra proud when someone compliments me on it. It was once a skater style dress, which was obscenely short on me (hi, plus sizes, short waist and long legs do not make for a good skater dress body. Oy). So I gave it the chop and turned it into a cute, ballet back, hi/lo peplum top instead. Yay!

How do you feel about peplums? Pepluv it? Or Pepleave it?

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.

Accessorize me

I love fall because it's the part of the year when layering is always in, and you can pack on the fun accessories and no one thinks you look like a walking horder. Plus, I have a serious love for hats, however I find that in the summer I always end up way too hot with a hat on my head and in the winter it's pretty much always a toque or something similar. So fall is for accessories!

I thought I'd share some of my favourite picks for the fall from some of my go-to retailers.

Feeling like Fall

I love the warm weather lately but occasionally in the morning it's starting to feel like fall. So even though I had to change the top of this outfit later in the day I wanted to put these two solids together because they have the richness I love in fall colours, but the light fabrics that work well for this time of year. I put on my super-comfy moccasins to walk the kids to school and hang out in my house and do laundry. Ah the exciting life of being a mom.

Considering fall trends

I've been thinking a lot about fall.

Now, don't get me wrong - I get as irritated as the rest of you every time somebody pins a pumpkin-frickin-spice-latte on pinterest, or something about "can't wait for cable sweaters and coloured leaves" and blah blah blah... yeah, everybody loves those things about fall. But here in Canada, and specifically in Ontario, those aspects of fall (the coloured leaves, the bright sunny but still nicely cool/crisp days) last like a couple of weeks, 3 tops. The rest of "fall" is either late summer weather where people have put away their shorts and tee-shirts and then suddenly we have like 4 days of 25+ weather and by day 3 everyone is finally unpacking some of their summer stuff only for it to go back down to 10 two days later. And rain. That's pretty much fall in Ontario.

HOWEVER - I am kind of excited about fall fashion. The nice thing about fall in Ontario is that even after all the leaves have fallen off the trees and it has stopped raining and is cool, bordering on cold and mostly the sky is grey-ish, because clearly winter is coming it's still "warm" enough (warm being a relative word in Canada) to wear our outfits with a few layers, but without the winter necessity of scarf, toque, boots, mitts and down-filled coat. It's a nice in-between season.


And speaking of fall fashion - there's quite a few trends out there that are hitting the flyers and websites... but not all of them are mom friendly, or plus-sized friend, or (IMHO) real-life friendly. So I've picked out a few that I think are classic enough to be worth spending a little cash on, but trendy enough to not make you look like you haven't updated your wardrobe for like 10 years. Cool? Cool!
Onwards.


Mama's Picks for Fall Fashion 2014!