Summer Dressing

What have I been wearing?!?  Well if I am being honest not a whole lot, LOL.  Since most of my summer is spent at the lake my clothing consists of my bathing suit, shorts and a tee-shirt, lululemon gear, bunny hug, messy hair and no make-up.  Seriously, I wear the same few things over and over and I love it.
 

This is what I actually look like people.  Messy hair.  No make-up.  Exhausted mama, nursing herself with a glass of red.

That being said, the odd time there happens to be a reason to pull out my hair straightener, put on some make up and grab a dress, I am totally psyched!  There really has only been a couple of times that we’ve done something other then the beach, hike, or fire, and I wore the same dress for both occasions because it’s quick, easy and vibrant.  Now that summer coming to an end it’s the perfect time to stock up a few key items for your winter beach getaway, like a fun, bold and patterned dress.  I love all the colors in this little number and more importantly I like how it flows and nothing sticks to you.  There is noting worse in the heat then close that cling to you as you sweat and or eat/drink.
 

A dress with a great pattern really doesn’t need anything else to make a statement, but some simple accessories like stacked bracelets, I wear them ALL the time, and of course the tassel earrings will never let you down.  I added this lovely, duster cardigan to keep me warm as the evening air sets in.
 

Family dinner night out at the Candle Lake Golf Course.  I say we all cleaned up pretty nice.

Local artists had an outdoor concert up at our lake and we were able to go on a double date with our friends.

It’s back to city life in a couple of days, meaning that I’ll be back to dressing up daily 😊 Another great summer is coming to an end and it’s always hard to move on, even though I am always excited for another school year to kick off.
 

How do you feel about summers end?

Birds, Flowers & a Boho Top

 

 

Flowers and birds.  They are like peanut butter and jam of nature, don’t you think?  This whimsical, floral, boho inspired top is another Winners purchase, much like my gingham, high-waisted shorts featured last week.  I like pieces that can take me from work, to mom life, to out for drinks with friends.  Realistically my wardrobe budget is modest for the most part, $100/month for make-up & clothes, and I love getting pieces that I can see myself wearing repeatedly and then balancing that with fun, novel and more trendy pieces without a high price tag because it probably won’t be in my closet for years to come.  Winners is a great place to find trendy, cute pieces without breaking the bank.  Anytime I find myself in there, I seem to end-up coming out with something I like but it wasn’t always like that.  I used to walk away with NOTHING 99% of the time and I’d envy everyone who had success there.   A few things I’ve learned about shopping in Winners:

• Go without kids.  I know this is difficult when you have little ones, but shopping for myself with kids just doesn’t work for me.  There is no time to just look in the mirror, to browse, to ponder. 

•  Go when you have time.  An hour at least!  I used to do the, “I’ll just zip in for a few minutes” and that store is WAAAAAY too big for a few minutes.

• Don’t go with an agenda.  This is completely opposite of how I shop in general.  I have a list and I tackle it.  The thing is Winners has random stock and though my list is in the back of my head, to avoid silly impulse buys, I go to look and see what I can find.  If you NEED a specific item for an event and you need it now, hit the mall or a department store.   There is an expectation to this rule, if I need/want a purse I may just go look at the purses.  If I need some items for the kids, I just look in the kids section.  If I am looking for decor, I go there to look at decor for the most part.  

•  It’s okay to walk away with 1 or 2 things, or NOTHING.  Sometimes we are sad to have spent our precious time and walk away with nothing.  BUT don’t buy stuff just because it’s on sale or you have time.  So many people have items that they “kind of like” or they “kind of fit”.  I must really like something to pick it up, or I’ll take it home and ponder it there, but if it’s not me I ALWAYS TAKE IT BACK because that $50 can be spent later something that I absolutely love.

 

I wore this outfit in early spring to work and then came home to help Anya with our newest project, learning and exploring about birds in our neighborhood.  We made our own bird feeder using a milk carton, paint, and string but we were also lucky enough to be gifted a couple of bird feeders by a community member.  We love watching birds come into our back yard each day and we try to figure out what birds they are.  My mom and dad had a blue jays bird nest under their deck and A. spent a lot of time observing them each day.  I love taking time to learn new things alongside my children.

 

 

I can’t believe August is literally just a few days away.  Don’t forget to link-up with the Continental Drift on Aug. 1^st.  We are talking about books we’ve been digging into but you can link any post including fashion, crafts, travel, life, etc.  Have a great weekend everyone!

 

2018 Summer Adventures & Continental Drift Link-Up #3

 

I am pumped to kick off summer 2018 in four weeks.  We are doing something completely different this year to kick the summer off.  The girls are flying to Victoria, BC to visit my sister and her family, while Logan and I are driving and doing some adult only touring, and then we are all driving back to SK while exploring Kelowna and Calgary along the way .    The highlight for me is going to be :

a) spending a few days alone with my hubby

b) spending some much needed quality time with my sister

c) seeing two girlfriends and their families while on this trip

d) experiencing new adventures as a family

 

Okay here is what we have loosely planned!

 

Logan and I are going to venture out to Banff to do a moderate/challenging hike, if you've been to this area I would love to hear your recommendations.   I am so pumped to work up a sweat in the mountains without any whining from the kids.  Of course I want to take a light picnic lunch to enjoy on the hike, as well as take time to hopefully stroll a little bit in the town of Banff (time permitting).

 

Kelowna wineries.  I've never  been and am a huge fan of wine.  Top of my list is visiting Mission Hill Winery, Quails' Gate and Cedar Creek Winery.  I already have my outfit planned for the day 😄

Once we arrive in Victoria, I am all about spending time with my sister, brother in-law and my nephew who is sadly only going to be around for a couple of days before he takes off to Quebec to do some road bike racing.  (side note, I do get to see him for a whole week in August when he comes to Sk.).  I have nothing really on the agenda for Victoria because my sister and brother in-law are always amazing hosts and tour us all around.  One request I did make is that my sis and I get a teeny tiny bit of alone time so we are hiking at Bear Mountain, getting facials at their amazingly posh spa, and hopefully soaking up the rays by the pool. 

My sister and I many years ago loving Vegas life. 

 

 

As a family we are going to spend a day and a half in Kelowna, BC and my friend who I met in grade 9 is hosting us.  I am so beyond excited to hang out with her little family, especially her little girls Nova  & Sage.  Babies and toddlers, bring it on.  We hope to take the kids to the either Wibit Water Park or Kangaroo Park and maybe some cherry picking.  Anyone experienced either of those two?  Recommendations? 

My friends from left to right (Kristi, Carling, Jill & I) in grade 9 at our first outdoor concert!

As we head from Kelowna back to Calgary, we plan to stop in Revelstoke to tour the Enchanted Forest and their adventure park with the kids.  This park came highly recommended to us on FB by various friends and it's totally a thing my girls would enjoy.  I am all about taking a self guided boat tour through the forest, and possibly the Tree Adventure Park. 

In Calgary we get to see some more friends!  My friend Lindsay and I met in a first year class University English class when I try to cheat off of her on the first day!  LOL!  She was my dancing and bar bestie pretty much the entire time I was in University and she is loads of fun.  My kids absolutely love her energy and easy going nature.  Last time we visited her we hit up Callaway park and she was such a trooper even though it was freezing cold.  This time we are hoping for better weather and to finally experience the Calgary Zoo.  We've never been and every time we try to go something happens, the flood, too cold, raining, so fingers crossed one of the two days that we are in Calgary it works out.  Like in Kelowna we are pumped to catch up with friends and just go with the flow. 

 

Back home in Saskatchewan brings our favorite part of the summer LAKE LIFE.   Beaching. Boating.  Reading.  Family games.  Friends.  Roasts by the fire. Relaxation.

 

Time to link-up your post!

Welcome to our Continental Drift linkup! The reason we are  dabbling at a link up was that we wanted to connect and learn from bloggers from all across the world about their passions and lifestyle.  We will host the  Continental Drift link-up the first of every month.  The concept for myself and my fellow hosts (Mutton Style & Sydney Shop Girl ) is that we, the hosts, will write a post about our life on our continent/Country/state over the past month (hence the name).  Starting June 1st we will have a prompt that we are writing about.  You are welcome to join us using the prompt  or link-up with  any family friendly topic that you like,  be it DIY, cooking, sewing, crafts, lifestyle, de-cluttering, traveling, moving homes, fashion, style, beauty, make up, etc. Your hosts to this linkup come from UK, Canada and Australia.  Enjoy getting to know each other! 

Now please follow each of your hosts Bojana of Bodaciousblog, Sydney Shop Girl and Mutton Style  on at least one platform (Instagram, Twitter or blog) and comment on their blogs.  It would be great if you could read and comment on the blog above yours in the link up.  You might make a new friend. Please also do add a link back to our blogs on your posts to help the linkup grow.  Thanks for stopping by, we look forward to learning more about everyone!

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up