Monochromatic Brown Office Outfit

Brown has been going strong since fall and today I showcasing how to play with shades of brown to create a monochrome outfit for a business casual outfit.  I love this light brown, "desert brown", with black spots, blouse.  It's sleeves are cute and flirty, and the fabric is so lovely and blowy that it's perfect for tucking into pants or skirts for a polished business casual look.  These pants were in my teens donation pile and I snagged them and added them to my closet, thank you very much.  I also love my cinnamon brown purse that I received as a gift from Annborsa last year and it's the best quality leather ever.  Add gold jewelry and a lovely white wool coat to polish off the look.  What do you think?

This past weekend, Mr. and I went for a quick getaway just the two of us to our cabin.  It was a much ne4eded weekend for just the two of us and I am so grateful that the girls were able to hang with my parents and their friends.  If you follow along on IG, you know that we read, slept, got outdoors for walks, a long run, and just enjoyed each others company.  I didn't even know we needed it until we were there.  It was BLISS.

What's your favorite monochromatic look to create?

Shop This Look:

Shein Top

Pants (similar on Shein)

Hillberg & Berk gold earrings &herringbone necklace

Aritiza coat (similar)

Ageless Style: Birthday Party Attire

Welcome back to our monthly Ageless Style!  After taking last month off from blogging, I am back with the ladies of Ageless Style and this months prompt is brought to you by our October baby, Marsha Banks of Marsha in the Middle.  Happy birthday to Marsha!  I don't know about you but for the most part we and our friends keep birthdays pretty low key nowadays unless its a milestone birthday.  We usually get together for a dinner/appies and drinks, which for most of us in the parenting years is a night out with the adults!  Woot, woot!  

A night out with adult friends is a treat and I always like to put a little extra effort into looking and feeling good.  I wore this outfit this past weekend when we went out.  Full disclosure, I've wanted to wear it since last winter but feel self-conscious.  Am I too old?  Should I be showing my midriff?  Does it seem like I am trying too hard?  Is it appropriate?  And on and on go the questions.  My 16 year old was like, yes it's cute.  I don't understand why you are so unsure.  She honestly had no idea what was going through my head.  Isn't that AWESOME?!?  I love that she confident!  That she is sure of her clothing choices.  Something I didn't have at her age and am still working on at 41.  Regardless I took the chance and went for it and the longer I wore it, the more it felt like me.  Sometimes we have to go through the uncomfortable for it to feel more comfortable.  

Anyways you can see this crop top paired with it's matching knitted skirt  here, which I had not doubts about and absolutely LOVE!!!  I paired it up with pleather pants from my teens closet, and decided to throw on my vegan leather shacket over top to play with the browns and textures.  Top it off with bold red lips and you look confident and I am of the mind 'fake it, 'till you make it" and by the end of the night, I made it.  😉

Shop This Post:

Tinsley Fuzzy Tank (sale)

Leather Pants (sold out; Shein similar)

Vegan Leather Shacket (sold out; Dex similar)

Maybelline Red for Me Lipstick

                                 Now off you go to check out what other ladies are wearing!

Joanna ~ My Slice of Life

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Jodie ~ Jodie’s Touch of Style

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Amy ~ Amy’s Creative Pursuits
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Marsha~ Marsha in the Middle
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Bo ~ Bo's Bodacious Blog

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Rosemary ~ Distinctly Southern Style

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Leslie ~ Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

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Mireille ~ Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Mom

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You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Ageless Style: Midnight Lace

Welcome to  the Ageless Style link-up, which happens every third Thursday or the month.  This months prompt is "scrumptious fabrics"  created by Leslie of  Once Upon A Time & Happily Ever After. Next month, on Thursday, Feb. 16th we will be showcasing our version and sentiments of what it means to be kind, as February is Kindness month.  

I love a lot of scrumptious fabrics from velvet, tulle, shimmery and shiny fabrics, to lace.  I stumbled upon this gorgeous midnight black top right before Christmas and I was instantly drawn to the lacey fabric.  I absolutely fell in love with two of the features in this top, the neckline that's not all the way square but has a fairly blunt neckline.  The second and my favorite is the lacey back.  It's so sexy without ever actually revealing anything.  Don't you just love how some clothing has a sense of mystery and sexiness without actually revealing anything at all.  Now, when I wear this top to work, I wear a black cami underneath but other than work I just sport my black bra underneath and feel completely confident with that decision.  I decided to style this top for three different occasions including date night, office and casual street style.  

Date Night:  Talk about a full outfit of scrumptious fabric.  This shimmery, pleated skirt elevates any outfit all on its own, don't you agree?

Office Style:  Black on black on black is just classic.   Adding gold jewelry is the perfect way to accessories and keep it classic.

Casual Style:  This is exactly why I still keep my skinny jeans around.  They create a beautiful, curvy silhouette  and I am here for celebrating and accepting my curves.  

Now it's time to link-up your own posts and check out all the other ladies of Ageless Style.  

Leslie ~ Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

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Marsha~ Marsha in the Middle
Blog /Instagram

Bo ~ Bo's Bodacious Blog

Blog / Instagram /Pinterest / Bloglovin

Amy ~ Amy’s Creative Pursuits
Blog | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook |

Joanna ~ My Slice of Life

Blog

Mireille ~ Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Mom

Blog | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook |

Rosemary ~ Distinctly Southern Style

Blog / Instagram / Pinterest / Facebook

Jodie ~ Jodie’s Touch of Style

Blog | Instagram | Facebook | 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Holiday Outfit: Tinsel, Shimmer & Shine

Hello, hello!  Thanks for stopping by for the first blog post of 2023! Welcome and I hope you feel as festive and rested as I am feeling after taking a couple of weeks off from social media just to be fully immersed in the season with friends and family.  Our holiday festivities were all wonderful.  We enjoyed two Christmas's with family, visiting and catching up with numerous friends from out of town and in town, and ringing in the New Year with some of our closest friends at the lake.  Overall it's been a fantastic couple of weeks and I am ready to slowly return to routine, although I have a few more days before returning to school/work on Monday.  Speaking of Mondays, I will continue to post regularly on Mondays and every third Thursday of the month will the the Ageless Style Link-Up party that you are invited to join. Speaking of which, this post is coming to you on a Friday, instead of Monday, because my friend and fellow blogger Mireille from Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Blog asked me to join her for a holiday outfit round-up so make sure to check her post out for some inspiration.

I am one of those girls that looks for any opportunity to dress up.  We don't go to fancy galas or events, so I usually do dress up for any special occasion because it makes me feel pretty.  This little matching outfit is ADORBS and although I am not one to wear a crop top much, this was just too cute and my BFF was so convinced that I should have it, so I did.  Even my teen was impressed that I was going to show a little mid-riff saying, "my mom in a crop top.  That's cool."  This is such a warm and fuzzy outfit with the tinsel thread, shimmering and throwing off a light glow especially under the glowing lights of a Christmas Tree.  I wore it on several occasions through the holiday season including for our staff party, Christmas dinner, drinks out, and I plan to wear the skirt to work paired with sweaters and a new lace top that I got.  I am not sure if I'll get much use of the top on its own but sometimes you treat yourself to something knowing that it's not going to be worn as much as other pieces in your closet but it makes you feel so good when you do put it on, and that's enough.  Not that this outfit needs any more sparkle and shine, but I did pair it up with some rose gold jewelry because can you really have to much sparkle during the holiday season.  

Thanks for stopping by, following along and always supporting me.  Happy New Year to you all and know that I wish you health, happiness and new adventures.  

Shop This Post:

Guess Skirt & Top

Jewelry by Hillberg & Berk

When Life Gives You More Winter, You Wear a Cozy Sweater

Will I never learn?!?  Honestly (insert sigh).  Just as I was getting excited at the end of February and ready to pack up some of those favorite winter pieces, what happens?!?  We get a HUGE dump of snow.  HUGE!  This is the most snow we've had all winter.  The good news!  It's the beautiful, fluffy, sparkly, white stuff that people dream of at Christmas time, but not so much in March.  Haha.  Anyway, the good news is it's warmed up and I love being outdoors.  We took the opportunity to shoot these pictures early Saturday morning before mom/dad life took over, and I was excited to pair this statement sweater, also worn here,  I received for Christmas with my suede skirt.  My mom had to fix up my skirt seam so I haven't had a chance to wear it for a while but I love the texture and the color goes with everything.  My suede skirt is like a good jean skirt for fall/winter.  

This weekend our plan is to get outside in the warm weather and do some tobogganing with the kids and friends before it all melts away.  Also it was International Women's Day yesterday, so I am taking my mom out for a lunch and shopping date on Saturday.   What are your plans?

Shop This Post:
Chickwish Suede Skirt (similar)
Expressions Booties (similar)
Urmiss Crossbody Bag (similar)

Guess Embroidered Sweater (similar on sale for only $39, mine is sold out)

Fashion Friday: Make a Statement with a Winter Sweater

This sweater had me at the big statement sleeves.  I set my sights on it way back in November and it immediately made it to the top of my Xmas wishlist.  Santa didn't let me down and it was nicely wrapped underneath the tree.  I want to pair it up with my suede skirt for the office but last weekend I went the  casual route as we took the girls to tour  the University.  The beauty of this sweater is that it has so much going on, with the bold, floral embroidery and the puffy sleeves that you don't need to add  accessories.  Eyes will just be naturally drawn to the sweater so you can keep everything else basic. I have three different pairs of Expression booties from the Bay and love them all.  These gray ones were a December purchase and I only paid $50!


This little tour that we did with the girls was the best.  Have you ever toured university grounds with your kiddos?  I value education but I didn't always give much thought to how incredibly important it was for them to have experiences going o a big place like the university.  Why is it important for kids as young as 7 to go there you ask?  Well I feel that they need to hear and see  us, their parents,  talking about post-secondary options in a way that opens their mind to many avenues in life.  I am not stuck on my children going to university, but I do want them to see their future full of opportunities, options and potential.  Currently Anya is exploring dinosaurs at school, excavation and geology, and we are so lucky to have numerous displays that are open to the public right in our city so we took a little tour.  As a result we also toured through the agricultural building and we saw the veterinary college which caught Halie's attention.  As we walked to the car, Halie confidently said, "I want to come here.  I want to go to university."  Music to my ears.  It might change but in her 11 year old mind she sees that as a valid option for her future and I couldn't be happier. 

What are you up to this weekend?  

Shop This Post:
Guess Embroidered Sweater (similar, mine is sold out)
Expression Booties (price drop at $ 29.99)