Black, Grey & Teal

Did you do any Boxing Day (week?) shopping? I didn't really do much, but I did happen to stop by Ricki's with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and picked up a few great items for a song and had some fun girl time while we were at it.

Guest Post: Andrea - Mommy makeup

Hi friends - it's your lucky day! A double post day!

I'm so excited to be sharing this guest post from my friend Andrea about Mommy makeup. She has some great tips and I'm linking to the most honest mommy make-up video I have ever ever watched. I laughed out loud, but I learned some tips as well, so I hope you find the time to give it a watch. Without any further intro, and just in time for New Year's Eve - Mommy Makeup by Andrea!
_________________________________________________________________________

Christmas Comfort

As much as Christmastime is about dressing up, wearing new clothes and things and going to parties - it's also about eating WAY too much food and lounging about with family and friends. Sometimes you need a seriously comfortable, yet still chic outfit for the Christmas and Holiday season.

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.

Red and Black and Pleather

I knew when I purchased this skirt that it would end up on regular rotation. I just love how it seems to incorporate a nice leather/pleather/coated look while still being totally comfortable and wearable due to the coating only being on the front.

Family Gathering Chic

Tis the season for family gatherings. Which usually involve a lot of eating and laughing. Evenings like this require a definite standard of comfort in an outfit and this red sweater is one of the best pieces I've ever owned for a family get-together.

Feeling Festive

I think it's no secret that the colour red and I have a long, serious and dedicated relationship with each other... but it's funny how suddenly a colour I wear all year long feels instantly "festive" the closer we get to Christmas. I love this red boyfriend cardigan that I picked up at Walmart almost 2 years ago. I don't know if they were really in style then, and I don't even care if they're not in style now - it's bright red and comfortable and I love it.

Effortless style on Repeat

Generally I wouldn't post two outfits so close together that are so similar, but after I wore this flowy blouse to my Mom-date with jeggings and black boots, I just didn't want to wear anything else to an annual family Christmas party this past weekend.

Plaid Love

There's something about plaid in the winter. Even more so for me as Christmas approaches. Give me plaid anything - plaid shirts, plaid coats, plaid pajama pants, plaid blankets and scarves, plaid pillows even! I just love it. And this plaid shirt just says relaxing at Christmastime with friends. It's the red and green and white I think.

I Like this Recipe

I've said this before - when something works for you, it just works for you. Lately the leggings, long sweater, boots recipe has been really working for me. I mean that in the way that it's functional, comfortable, and easy to wear. I have a varied amount of leggings/jeggings/skinny pants and a varied amount of sweaters, tunics, sweater dresses, and a varied amount of boots. Mix, match, repeat.

Mom's Night Out

I think pretty much any woman will admit - from day to day, women dress more for each other than we do to attract someone. So when going for my Mom's night out, I definitely wanted to look dressy without being too dressed up.

Gone Dotty

 

 Have to admit - when I first pulled this blouse out of the hand-me-downs from my dear friend Heather I was thinking it was a little, well... dotty for me. I love polka dots, but it was too stripey, too dotty, too blousey.... then I actually put it on - and well - I've gone dotty!

Creature of Comfort

I am a creature of comfort - when I'm feeling kind of down, or a little bit out of sorts, or the edge of a cold coming on, I just want certain things: tea, a comfy spot on my couch, and a nice sweater. This sweater was knit by (probably) my Grandmother and is more than likely older than I am. In fact, I'm certain that when I was a teenager I stole this from my mother's closet.

Relaxed

I'm starting to feel like my everyday wear is more about my down coat and various toques than anything else. Today was a busy day for me so it was a jeans, t-shirt, vest kind of day. I wore it with my snowboots, which were obviously too wet/snowy to take pictures in inside - hence the socks.

Outfit Round-up

Okay - so here's the deal - I was totally going to do a new outfit post today, but I changed my clothes like 5 times and every single time I hated what I was wearing even more, but I haven't put any laundry away in like a week because, Advent. So yeah.

Instead, I thought I'd do a Fashion Rewind post and show you a few examples of how things have been worn a multitude of different ways. Mkay?

Go with the Flow

What is it about a flowy blouse? Maybe other women don't feel the same way about them as I do, but I have a serious love for flowy hemlines, empire waists and bell sleeves. Maybe I should've been born a couple of decades earlier, but at least there's a few tops out there that can satisfy my love for all things flowing.

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.

Layered

While layers are a definite necessity for warmth this time of year - especially when we've had gusting winds of up to 90km an hour - I often find that I look more like the Stay-puft marshmallow man than a woman with a figure when I layer up. I think the trick for this is to pick layers that are thin but warm.

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!

A Vested Interest

Puffer vests are everywhere right now - and I've got to admit - I'm so on that train. The... uh...puffer-vest train... yeah, that's the one.

Fair Isle

One of my favourite things ever is fair isle knits.

Velvet

Is there any fabric you associate more with winter, snow, richness, etc than velvet? It's that lush, smooth, soft feel that I just love.

Poppy

The colour of this blazer is illusive. Some days I look at it and think, "Yup - that's my orange blazer!" and other days I think "I wonder if my red blazer would go with this?"

Blazer Week: Cobalt with Stripes

This is my second outfit for Blazer week which is being hosted by Andi from Just Another Smith. Wearing a blazer this often is a little weird for me since I usually gravitate to a cardigan or sweater if I need to add a layer.

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.

Layered

Lately the days have been sort of irregular. They start off seriously cold and windy, a nip in the air, as the day moves on it gets warmer, sometimes the wind dies down, and then by evening it tends to be cool again, and often wet - this kind of weather obviously requires layers. Lots of layers.

Holiday Outfit Planning

I don't know if you're anything like me, but I compulsively list and plan, well.... everything. I'm a lister - I admit it. As soon as I wake up in the morning until the time I'm going to sleep, somewhere in my mind there's always a running list of what I want/need/must do next and then and then and then.... and now that Remembrance Day has passed, it seems like my calendar has just exploded in the last 24 hours - so, naturally, I'm planning holiday party outfits. As y'do....

Dance, Mama, Dance

You've probably seen me mention before that I dance with the liturgical dance group at my church. We practice and fellowship together once a week and I really look forward to our practices, both for the exercise and for the group dynamic. It's a really fun and wonderful way to worship. But, of course, it begs the question - what does Mama wear for dance practice?

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.

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.

Fab-Friday :: Andrea

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Fab-Friday!
This week I'm totally psyched to introduce you to my friend Andrea. She's not a Mom... however, she does teach up to 8 (Yeah, that's right EIGHT) different Kindergarten classes in the course of a week. She may not have her own kiddos yet, but she is practically super-woman when it comes to dealing with kids.

Also - my littl'un may or may not have decided that he wants to marry her. Just sayin'

Introducing Andrea!

About me:

I teach elementary school and am a rotary teacher. This means I am on my feet most of the day, moving from class to class. I teach kindergarten-grade 3 phys ed, health, music, drama and dance, and also grade 6-8 core French. Comfort is a key component of my clothing choice for work (no heels!), but at the same time, I need to look put together and professional.

Grey, but not dreary

Grey is one of those colours that I never used to wear. I'd always see grey things and think "Ugh. SO boring." But now I look at it as a nice, calm neutral.

Striped.

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

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.

Black and Red

I think black and red is one of my favourite colour combinations. Whenever I look back at photos of myself and outfits I particularly love - black and red is definitely a recurring theme. There's just something about it.

Hallowe'en Edition

 

Believe it or not - this is actually me- I was a ghost for this haunt...

So friends, what does a Mama wear on Hallowe'en? Well - a costume of course! This year's costume is not quite camera ready, so I thought I'd share some pics of what I've worn for Hallowe'en over the past few years.

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.

OTK Boots

So where do you stand on over the knee boots? I'll admit, there are times when I put them on that I think they're a little bit.... um... "Pretty Woman" shall we say? I never, EVER wear them with just nylons underneath and a skirt. Tights, maybe. Leggings, yes. Jeans, most often. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE these boots. I have them in black and brown and they get a lot of wear... but it does make me feel a little questionable when I wear them up over the knee rather than folded down.

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.

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.

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.