An Unlikely Pair: Animal Print and Floral

Whew!  What a busy week it has been.  We've been busy with family at the cabin and all the cousins and all the heat!  No complaints and although we are so happy, we are all also feeling a little tuckered out from all the fun.  I am looking forward to having a few days with just our little family and reconnecting with them.  

Speaking of reconnecting.  Mr. and I have been enjoying our own date nights at home through COVID.  We still have yet to go out on a patio or for dinner at a restaurant and honestly have no plans to do so anytime soon.  We've found a new groove, involving getting all dressed up, strolling the streets of our city, grabbing an ice cream cone and enjoying our own patio.  Just a couple of weeks ago, I went home from the lake and we had a mini-date night and took these photos.  It was perfect and CHEAP!  

What are you doing for date nights these days?  

I absolutely love this little leopard dress and have featured it many times on the blog, see here and here.  Abby from Belong Lifestyle paired their floral blazer with a leopard top a while back and as soon as I saw it, I was inspired to try the combination as well.  Unfortunately they don't have the cute blazer anymore in stock but they have an awesome leopard print slip dress that I've linked up below.  My dress is tucks into high-waisted jeans well, so I often wear it as a top in the fall/winter months.  I love when clothes can serve many purposes.  Side note, my cute little pup chewed my favorite pumps.  I need a comfortable, low heel , pair to replace them with.  What are your suggestions for a replacement?

Shop This Post:

Floral Blazer (sold out; similar)

Leopard Dress (old: similar from Belong Lifestyle)

Geo Stone Pendant Earrings 

Maybelline Red For Me Lipstick (also Mauve for Me)

Bright Fun in the Sun!

Summertime is my favorite.  It’s a time for me to be completely relaxed.  I actually switch gears from being consumed by work/school, to being with family and friends rather quickly, although if you are a teacher in Canada you know that August tends to be like one long Sunday night, LOL.  I have always loved summer, but I haven’t always loved bathing suits or bathing suit shopping.  I think this is pretty similar to most women’s experience, especially after our bodies begin to change either with age or after having children. 

The best news about aging is that it truly seems to come with more wisdom and more forgiveness (at least I hope so).  I still wear bikinis and I don’t know when I’ll stop.  Do I always feel confident in them all the time?  Nope.  Some days I reach for my one-piece, other days I fell good and put on my bikini, unpolegatically.  I mostly just do what feels good to me.  Each year I try to find one bathing suit that I absolutely love, see last years here.  Honestly this process is usually not fun for me.  This year with COVID I decided to try an Amazon prime bathing suits and LOVE IT!!!!  At first I was going to play it safe with a fun flamingo print in navy, but when I saw all this one I just decided to take a chance because I am the only person that gets to decided what is age/body appropriate for me.  It’s bright.  It’s bold.  It a flirty top with the tassles.  And SO much color!  I also I like to stick with high-waisted bottoms I feel most comfortable with them.  At $30 and free returns I thought it was worth a try.  I love it so much, I may just order the flamingo one too.  For reference I am wearing a small at 5’4” and 128lbs (but I think I could do a medium too especially on the bottom). 
 

Some of my BEACH MUST HAVES are:

•        Cute towel

•        Book

•      Hat

•      Sunscreen and I am especially loving the Vichy face sunscreen this year.  It’s not too      thick or greasy.  It blends in.  No breakouts.  Success!

•     Water bottle.

•        Cute cover up or beach dress.

 

What do you wear to the beach?  What is your bathing suit shopping go to?

 

Shop This Post:
Two Piece Bikini (Amazon.ca @ $30!)
Vichy Face Sunscreen

Biking Around Town One Shoulder Exposed

As I mentioned last week, most of my summer plans include time at our lake.  Beach.  Boat.  Deck.  Family time.  Lake friends.  It's a completely different pace of life than my real life in the city, and I covet this time and have come to appreciate the change of pace more than I can express to you.  We are a 2.5 km out of the town so we often bike in to get fresh bread, ice cream or grab a coffee.  We have a lovely, treed path right into town.  Freshly baked goods are my favorite and this is the only time of year where we eat white bread consistently without another thought.  

Even though my days at the lake are usually pretty casual dress, I do like to switch it up and utilize something other than my denim shorts and tank top.  I adore these high-waisted, paper bag, gingham shorts that I snagged at Winners a couple of summers ago.  They are adorable with light pinks, polka dots, body suit or just a tank top.  The possibilities are endless!  Paper bag waist pants, shorts, skirts are all the rage and I never want them to go out of style.  I love the tucked in look which really helps me define my waistline.  This time I decided to pair it up with this asymmetrical, one shoulder top, for a little bit of fun.  Just exposing some extra skin, makes this top super cute and also gives it a little bit of a sexy look without going over the top.  I love this top paired with jeans and statement earrings when going out for casual patio drinks (not this summer though).  

Are you shopping your closet this summer or purchasing new items?  This summer I am mostly just shopping my closet and saving my money for some new additions to my work wardrobe and shoes in the fall.  I am linking up similar options to this outfit below so check those out if you are looking for new additions to your closet.

Shop This Post:
Banana Republic One-Shoulder Top (similar)
Shein Gingham Paperbag Shorts (similar)

A Book, Glass of Wine, Friends and Polka Dots

I am back with my Fashion Friday posts!  I know it's been a little bit of a break but I am back and I have content planned for the next few weeks.  I am not sure where you in the pandemic fight in the world but here we are doing well and things have re-opened.  Although things are reopening we are still trying to stay vigilant and cautious as best as we can.  Lucky for us we are spending most of our time at the lake this summer, surrounded by our lake neighbor bubble and going to the beach where we can keep social distancing.  I continue to shop once a week and we haven't even gone out for dinner yet!  That all leads me to say, that there is really minimal to no need for me to shop.  Sad but true.  Anyone else?  

So in the spirit of shopping my closet, I wore this outfit twice in the past two months.  Any occasion to get even a little dressed up I jump on it.  After months of not getting together monthly with my book club we were able to come together for an evening outdoors where we could still keep some social distance and keep it outdoors.  I tried to keep the snacks individualized with little bags of chips and individually wrapped chocolates.  We discussed Kristin Hannah's book, The Great Alone.  It's a MUST read!  Set in Alaska, in the middle of nowhere, we get to know characters that are plagued by PTSD, depression, love, devotion, and loyalty.  In the depths of great alone, friendship and bravery can also be discovered.  READ IT! 

I also wore this outfit for my birthday, read more about it here!  I love this tiered, ruffle, polka -a -dot skirt.  It has everything to make it a staple in my summer closet, while also being functional and easily transitioned into fall (no I am not thinking about fall fashion; don't rush my summer).  I paired it up with a longer, mauve tunic that is lightweight and also adds softness to the black of the skirt.  These pink slides are my favorites because they are so adorable with their pearls and ruffles!  My big birthday gift from everyone this year was investing in a new 35mm lens for photography.  But I did also get a cute little pair of Hillberg and Berk earrings.  Moment of TRUTH!  I bought two pairs as gifts but when I received them, I loved them so much I decided to keep a pair for me.  LOL.  Have you ever done that?

It's my BIRTHDAY and I'll twirl if I want to.  

Shop This Post:
Shein Polka Dot Skirt (similar)
Michael Kors slides (similar)
Hillberg & Berk jewelry 

Tell me where you are at with the pandemic?  What is your summer looking like?

Simply Perfect 38th Birthday

Hello blogging world.  Its been a minute or maybe a little bit longer.  I don't want to get into my pause, it's not very interesting, but I want to reassure all that my family is well and I am well.  I just lost my voice, my words, my desire, and I needed time to just engage in deep conversation, learning, reflection in my own home and with my children.  Sometimes I feel that the best way for us to impact change is by focusing on our own growth and being role models for our children. 

Putting that aside, I turned 38 yesterday!!!!!  I feel fantastic and when my husband asked what I wanted to do my answer was to keep it simple.  I wanted to see my family and I didn't want to go all out with decorations, or a special photo shoot, or try to round everyone up.   Sometimes there is so much hype and pressure to make this day glamorous and "insta" worthy, but I didn't want it to feel like work.  I wanted it to be a slower pace, or at least one that I choose, with a balance of getting chores accomplished and feeling like I acknowledged the day and myself in some small way.  So here is a real and honest look of my PERFECTLY SIMPLE birthday.

7:00 am Wake up time.

7:15 a.m. 5 km run with Oreo!

8:00 a.m. Shower & get ready for the day. Listened to Brene Brown and Glennon Doyle at the same time. Check this podcast out!!!  If you haven't read the book Untamed by Glennon Doyle, I highly recommend it.   Also, Planned my outfit for dinner, check it out on Fashion Friday on the blog!

8:45 a.m. Coffee and lake laundry begins. We arrived home Sunday night after 10 days at the lake, sooooooo much laundry.

9:30 a.m. Coffee on the deck, answering birthday texts and meal/grocery planning.

10:15a.m. Costco. Yikes it was busy.

12:30 p.m. More laundry.

1:00 pm cleaning.  Halie has asked to learn how  to do a deep clean in the bathroom in order to make some money.  I pay a cleaner usually 2x/month and she would like to try to take one of those time slots for herself, so we are starting off with how to deep clean a bathroom.  She did awesome!!!!  While she was doing that I was off/on bouncing between helping her and vacuuming and washing the floors.

2:15 p.m. Lunch time.

2:40 p.m. Reading on the deck.

3:00 p.m. Nap. Quick naps are my favorite.

3:30 p.m. Sweet birthday surprise by my little Anya. She made me a special birthday treat, marshmallows, melted chocolate and Reese's peanut butter cups, topped with strawberries. Delicious!

4:00 p.m. Caught up on a few more texts and FB messages. More laundry.

4:50 p.m. Started prepping dinner.

5:00 p.m. Freshened up and got dressed for dinner. Followed by some blog pictures in the backyard, details to come on Friday.

6:00 pm Dinner with my parents, grandma and my little family.  It was absolutely delicious and we ate on the deck.

7:00 p.m. My aunt and uncle were able to join us for birthday cake and drinks.  It was exactly what I wished for.  To be surrounded by family.  This was the first time I saw all of these people together since probably February for Logan's birthday.  I've seen them at a social distance here and there but not all together.  I was grateful that we could be together outdoors with some distance.  

My grandma gave me the best card ever.  She kept saying, it's not a birthday card but I didn't want to go to the store to get one (COVID).  I can't imagine wanting to have a better friend than my grandma.

Also, my husband and the girls surprised me with this awesome mug from https://gossby.com/ and I love it!

Most of my family gave me money to help me buy a new lens for my camera and I love it!

9:00 p.m. Ended the evening off with a glass of wine and chatting with my sister and brother -in-law.  Really missing my sister and wishing that we had actual plans in the near future, but I am also thankful for technology.

10:00 p.m. Watched an episode of the Office with my husband.  

A perfectly simple day.  Thank you to everyone that sent messages on social media, texts, voice mails, snaps.  I felt so loved and so acknowledged.  Love everyone in my life, near and far.

Come back on Friday for my regular Fashion Friday post.