A Good Find

I love getting new clothes as much as the next girl, but clothes are expensive. I will freely admit to "window shopping" (or windows shopping, lol) through Torrid's website or a variety of other online retailers that cater to the plus-size figure.

Kinky!

This past weekend my sisters and I went to see Kinky Boots in Toronto. Let me just say - it was an utterly fantastic show!

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.

Give it a little pep!

It's every girls dream to wear something comfortable that still looks put together. For me this homemade peplum top fits that bill exactly. It's comfy, it's a nice bright floral and it just plain makes me happy!

Memory

So, this may seem like an odd thing for a personal style blog post - but my Gran passed away last Sunday and her funeral was this past Saturday. This is what I wore.

Gone Dotty

Oh My Goodness. I would absolutely lose my head if it weren't attached these days!

Free Comic Book Day

Do you have comic fans in your household?

 

Dress like a Diva

This past Friday I had the honour of singing during our Good Friday service.

Black & Burgundy

Every single time I wear these pants I love them more. They are just so comfortable!

Houndstooth Peplum -- Retro Inspired

Something about the shape and styling of this houndstooth peplum has always felt very Mad-Men to me.

Holiday Glam

I wore this outfit on Christmas Eve to church. Christmas is past, but I feel that the same ideas for simple glam can be applied to New Year's Eve as easily as Christmas.

Pleather Weather

Remember I told you that I *had* to buy a skirt the other weekend to wear? (I had to, I swear!). Well here it is! I've worn it a couple of times now and I actually seriously love it. Shout-out to my awesome Mom-in-law who chipped in to top up my clothes budget so I could get this beauty and to my sis-in-law who convinced me to buy it!

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?

Houndstooth Peplum

Don't you love it when you pull out your storage box of fall and winter clothes and there's an item in there that you immediately grab to wear! It's like getting a whole box of new clothes again - and they're all just waiting to be worn!

Okay, maybe it's not like that for everyone.... but for me when I saw this houndstooth peplum I thought - yay! I missed this shirt!

 

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!

Mom-Date

You guys, you guys! I got to go on a date! A MOM-DATE!

What's a Mom date, you ask? Well, I'll tell you!

It's when you go out with some other Moms for dinner and drinks and you don't take your husband or your kids.

That's right, ladies. Moms. Only.

Awesome.

So since I was going on a Mom date, and I was super excited to go somewhere without having to hold anyone's hand, or bring wipes with me (I mean, for reals) I decided I would get a little teensy bit dressed up! *Because I didn't want them to think I was trying too hard ifyouknowhwatimean...... lol

I wore jeans, because well...jeans. And I put on a totally simple peplum top that's really easy to wear and makes me look so much more fashionable than I really am. So comfy wedge heels and some makeup (I know, right?!), which of course had to include my favourite mascara EVER, and I even brushed my hair. Okay - maybe I was trying too hard, but keep in mind these are ladies who have had to be subjected to me in yoga-pant-early-morning-mom-mode all school year.

We went to Marca in Whitby (which is amazingly good, so go if you're ever in Whitby. I mean, it, go.) and had really good pasta, pizza, bruschetta and wine. And we talked, and we laughed, and we didn't have to yell at anyone, and no one said "I don't like this" and pushed their plate away and it was so so nice.

So thanks, ladies! I had a fab time!
And for everyone else who didn't get to go on a Mom-date - here's what I wore.