Back in the Saddle

Hello Friends,
It's been a while - I know. I said I was "back" when I posted in July for my 1 year blog-i-versary - and I really really thought I would be... but while this blog is about mom style and personal plus size style and just generally having fun with clothes - there are times when reality takes over.

Who Wears White Shorts?

Okay. Honesty time: white shorts and moms generally do NOT mix.

Vacation Imagination

I had never intended to wear these shorts and this top together. I packed them to wear with separate items and then they ended up together...

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 ;)!

Mud Run Fun Fashion

Today's post is going to be a bit different.

For the 2nd year in a row now I've pulled up my big-girl panties and gone and done Mud Hero: a 6k mud obstacle course fun-run. It is seriously the hardest thing I do all year (and no, it's not nearly as hard as Tough Mudder, or Warrior Dash or a myriad of other mud-runs.... it's kind of like those runs goofy little brother... but hey) and I'm usually really sore and really proud of myself the next day. I'm not the most fit person around, but I manage to complete the run and do all the obstacles, so I love it. And I'm so doing it again next year.

This year, the hubs decided to join me, and our team "Muddy Mayhem" was made up of myself, the hubs, my folks, and my friend (who is way tougher than me and has done Tough Mudder approximately 18000% more times than I ever will) and I decided to share some "mud run fashion" with you.

For mud-runs, the normal fashion rules do not apply. You need to wear clothes that are fairly tight, made of wicking material, and add some wacky costume accessories to make you stand out to the photographers around the course. So here's what we wore!

 

My folks - possibly the coolest parents ever. 

 

My tough mud-run friend - this hero is ready for mud-battle!

 

Here you can see us rocking the neon yellow knee highs and yellow bandanas we chose for our team this year. Also - fluorescent shoelaces. Obviously.

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?

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.

Eyelets and Lace

All last summer I was obsessed with eyelet or lace shorts - but I can tell you that finding them in a size larger than say a 10 or a 12 was like hunting for El-freakin-Dorado. And then, suddenly - magic! These babies were sitting on a sale table in Target for a whopping $12.99. It was meant to be.

I paired these sweet eyelet shorts with a fun lace yoke top that I picked up in Walmart in the states. Again - Faded Glory brand! I just love it, they make such great basics. Navy boat shoes and a fun pop of bright pink nailpolish made this a great outfit for hanging out at home and running a few errands before the hubs and I get a kid-free weekend away! Double yippee!

Well, I think that's enough exclamation marks for one post. Do you ever have a clothing obsession that you couldn't let go of? I don't know if these shorts are still "in" but I don't really care. I love them and I think I'll be wearing them for many years to come.

 

Ice Cream Social

Okay, so I didn't really go to an ice-cream social. I don't think I have the correct type of life to go to things like ice-cream socials (do people still do that? Is it a thing? I think it should be a thing). Which is unfortunate - not really because I particularly like ice-cream (because I kind of don't) - but because it would give me a more honest reason to wear cute outfits.

In this case, however, we went into town (Dorset, Ontario - woot!) on Saturday afternoon to do a little shopping (Mama bought herself a new pair of moccasins - watch for those babies in a future post) and get some ice cream at Northern D'Lites.

I love these bright red shorts that I got from Walmart and I picked up this fun teal top in the states on our way home from Calgary and I think that red and teal is a kind of unexpected but super fun and wearable colour combo. Add my trusty flip-flops (which sadly broke the very next day and were unceremoniously chucked) and it was the perfect, comfy outfit for shopping and cool treats!

 

Standing near some amazing boats.... that are obviously not mine.