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!

 

Blue Blazer & Print Dress

I recently picked up this blue blazer from Suzy Shier. It's purely for looks as it has no buttons, no lining and is actually quite stretchy, but I loved the colour and I think it's good to have a few "not quite" blazers in the wardrobe to throw overtop of a sleeveless dress or shirt when the occasion calls for 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.

Black & Blue

This skirt is possibly the most comfortable skirt I've ever owned. I threw this on with some leggings, a comfy knit shell top and a cardigan. The weather these days has been cool in the morning and evening and warming up to summer temperatures in the middle of the day - layers are a must lately.

Graphic Shift dress

Sometimes when you're thrifting something just practically jumps off the rack and says "Me! Me!" - this shift dress did just that. To be honest, on the hangar it's basically shapeless and I was sure I'd have to do some tailoring to make it decent, but once I put it on I was pleasantly surprised! It does need something to nip in the waist, but a woven belt did just the trick and a pair of leggings underneath helps both with warding off any chill in the air, as well as with keeping my legs from rubbing together, lol!

Lace & Plaid

I know it's really starting to feel like fall when I need to put tights on under my skirts... of course, the morning I got dressed in this is was cool and pouring rain and by halfway through the day it had gone up about 10 degrees and was sunny. End of summer weather just can't make up it's mind!

In any case - I love this brown plaid skirt. I thrifted it last year and had never gotten around to wearing it. It's a really classic shape, a mild kind of a-line, and I actually love that the plaid doesn't quite meet up at each panel, it's ever so slightly "off"... kind of like me.
I wore it with my lace yoke top that you've already seen several times this summer, but I tucked it in to take advantage of the belly hiding high waist of this skirt. Purple tights give this outfit a bit of fun and it slightly less school-marm-ish. My flat knee high boots and some funky peacock style earrings and necklace.

 

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!

Apple Pickin'

It's become a bit of a fall tradition over the past few years for my sisters and I to go apple picking and hang out at the fun farm with our kids. Last year on our apple picking trip my middle sister told our baby-sister that she was pregnant, this year her little one joined us - next year he'll be running along the orchard paths with my boys. :)

 

Shifty

I bought this colourblock shift dress from Target last year - and admittedly I have only ever worn it the way it was styled in store. Which was... not. Literally I wore it with the belt it came with and plain shoes, or even occasionally orange shoes (which my boys gave me for Mother's day last year). But since it was only 7 degrees out this morning when I was getting dressed for church I knew I needed sleeves. I went through several iterations of outfit ideas before I finally settled on this bubble hem blazer I picked up off varage sale back in the spring. But since the blazer was black I decided to switch out the belt that came with the shift dress for a black belt, added some black bow pumps and silver jewellery. Voila!

I wore this to church to worship, lead in the music and sing a solo. I felt dressed but also very comfortable. I feel like I would have worn this outfit back when I was working at an office as well.

Outfit of Secrets

I felt super mysterious writing that title out... unfortunately this outfit is not nearly as exciting as that title might make it seem. Right now I am all about unexpected details and being able to wear a piece of clothing in more ways than might have been intended when it was made. At first glance this seems like a basic black dress pant and sweater outfit, however, this sweater has a great gold zipper detail down the back which I love. These pants look like simple wide leg dress pants - however, they are actually yoga pants that I purchased almost ten years ago from Joe Fresh, which have such great stretch and staying power that I actually have worn them countless times, even wearing them through both of my pregnancies. And last, these smoking slipper style flats are actually less slipper-style than they are just... well... slippers. But they have a rubber sole, and they're so so so comfortable that I don't feel badly about wearing them outside.

Red & Teal

I love a good slightly unexpected colour combination. Wearing red & teal together is probably not for everyone, however, today it was really feeling brisk and fall-ish. These red "denim look" jeggings are so ridiculously comfortable and stretchy and I love the collar on this long teal sweat-shirt. Throw on some moccs and this is a great mama-worthy outfit!

 

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.

Rompin' Around

Is it weird to say that I've wanted a romper for years? Maybe. But since they came back into fashion this year rompers, jumpsuits, onesies, whatever you want to call them - are a great boon to mamas who want to be fashionable but are looking for something easy to wear.

This was actually a birthday gift from my younger (and much more fashionable) sister and I was totally excited when it fit like a dream. It's got a great funky print, a flattering v-neckline and nice wide shoulders so that I can wear a proper bra but don't need to wear a cardigan or jacket to cover up bra-straps.

I wore this to a baby shower for one of my life-long friends who is having her first baby in November and it was perfect for hanging out, watching her open gifts, drinking tea and eating treats!

Ladies - if you don't have a romper or a jumpsuit - I recommend you pick one up. I can wear this like this for now, but I'm looking forward to wearing it with a blazer and some heels or even tall boots for the winter.

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.

Church Picnic

The first Sunday in September is Rally Sunday for our church. It's the Sunday that all our programming starts back up, the Sunday School program gets started and everyone is getting back into the swing of things. We had our church picnic following the service and because I'm on the Social Committee I was wearing a few different hats this day. I sing in our praise band, so I needed to be dressy enough to stand up front and help lead worship but comfortable enough to run around and take care of stuff for the lunch and run games. Cropped pants and an easy swing style top were a perfect outfit for this day.

Maxi dress 2 ways

What on earth is going on with this weather?!
I mean, honestly, it's supposed to be like 40 degrees (with the humidity) tomorrow. Where was this weather in July when we could all just laze around and enjoy it. It's gross when I have to get kids up and dressed and lunches made and to school on time when you walk outside and the sweat just basically beads up on your skin. Ugh.

Anywho - weather like this (in July or in September) requires dressing so that air can flow around my body as much as possible. I picked up this awesome dress in the states at Walmart, it's from one of my favourite US Walmart "brands" Faded Glory and it was cool and breezy enough to wear all day, but when I went over to our church that evening for our band practise I threw on a t-shirt for a little extra coverage and it makes this cute dress look like a super-fun bandana print skirt!

Consider dressing your maxi dresses with a solid t-shirt over top and get double duty out of your wardrobe!

  

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!

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 ;)!

Cowboy hat & Aztec print

So sometimes an outfit just kind of comes together of it's own accord. This was one of those days. We were heading across the city to stay at my in-laws for a couple of days, so I knew I wanted to wear something comfortable for riding in the car and lounging around at a friend's pool, plus the hubs had made some crack about me not wearing enough skirts or something, so I grabbed this aztec print skirt out of the closet and threw it on with a classic black v-neck t-shirt.

Then we did actually go to a friend's house to swim and lounge and I knew I needed to wear a hat (so I didn't look like Bob the Tomato for the rest of the weekend) and I put on my straw cowboy hat that I picked up when we visited the Calgary stampede earlier this summer. And then I did swim and my hair was all kind of beachy and such and I thought - hey - I look pretty good right now - Hubs! Take my picture.

And that's all there is to it. Voila.