Fashion Friday: 5 Everyday Work Outfits

Just before the holiday season I found myself feeling unmotivated and lacking creativity with my outfits.  I was sick a lot of the time, which I have finally sorted out, and tired most days after work; this is very unlike me. This was probably the first Christmas season that I entered  feeling somewhat overwhelmed and exhausted by the idea of the  holidays.   In an attempt to pull myself out of the funk  I decided to join Allison's Get Your Pretty On Winter Style Challenge.   I wanted/needed to have someone tell me what to wear and when to wear it.  The group of women that participate in the challenge also have a special FB group that they post their daily outfits in and seek advice from one another.  These women make you feel like a million $$$ and are extremely supportive.  It's a rarity in this day and age,  sad to say but true, to see women encouraging, supporting and championing one another, making it worth the expense of joining the challenge.  The prompts provided are mostly casual, stay at home moms or casual work environment,  but you can add your own flair to them as I do to make them work for me and my work environment.  Honestly much of the time the prompt is just a starting point and I  often end up with a completely different look.  I highly recommend joining if you have never done something like this before or  are looking for a fun way to revamp  your wardrobe.  Currently there isn't a style challenge  happening but you can sign up for the annual membership at discounted rate using this link (a year membership gives you one challenge for free).  Anyway this week for Fashion Friday, I am choosing  five of my favorite work/casual versions of the outfits that I styled during the 2 weeks that I was a part of the style challenge. 

 

#1 Tunic, Printed Scarf, Leggings and Boots:  I love how this outfit added color to my wardrobe especially in the dead of winter.

 

#2 Sweater Dress, Fur Vest, OTKB and Long Necklace:  Wore it twice!  Once to work and once for date night. 

 

#3 Cable Knit Sweater, Leather leggings, Ankle Boots and a Blanket Scarf:  I finally have a  blanket scarf!!!! Actually I have two now and the one I am featuring here was a gift from a fellow Canadian who was also in the style challenge.  They organized a gift exchange among the ladies in the group and it was so much fun!  

 

#4  Black Leather Leggings, Black Top, Black Ankle Boots and a Printed Scarf:  I love this monochromatic look so much!!!!!  I did add the fuzzy sweater because it was  -30C outside. 

#5  Grey Dress, Pink Blazer, Ankle Boots: This outfit was inspired by the prompts with pink sweater and gray jeans but that doesn't fly in my work environment but I loved the color scheme so much that I dug out this little outfit from my spring/summer bucket and added some booties to it. 

 

 The kiddos and I are having a GIRLS ONLY WEEKEND!!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Valentine's Day: "You Make My Heart Bounce" Treat Bags

It's that time of year again when the kiddos get all wrapped up in the excitement of Valentine's Day.  They think about what cards they are going to give their friends and what they will receive in return.  Each year the girls and I search Pinterest for an idea that inspires us create a gift for each of their school friends.  I am a firm believer that the ideas we choose must be child friendly, age appropriate and cost effective.  Generally, I  do not believe in making the gifts perfect or doing all the work for my girls.  I would rather have them put the effort and creativity into the gift so that they can truly say they made it (obviously I help if needed).  Last year we had an abundance of full sized chocolate bars in our pantry so  utilized them to create our own Valentine's Day chocolate bars, check it out here.  

 This year we manufactured our own "You Make My Heart Bounce" treat bags. 

 

Materials:

• Bouncy balls (Dollarama) 

• Ziplock Valentine's Day themed bags (Dollarama)

• Chocolate Hearts (Walmart)

• You Make My Heart Bounce labels (download below)

• Stapler

 



 

 

Anya wrote out her friends names and her own on the little treat bags, and then assembled them by placing four chocolates and a bouncy ball in each bag.  She randomly put the balls in, while Halie right away noticed that some would be more appropriate for "boys" or for "girls" depending on their color (insert eye roll from me).   She hasn't made hers bags yet, hence no pictures of her.  

 

This year for Valentine's Day I plan to give each girl a little something special along with some chocolates.   Anya is getting a Jojo bow from Claire's and Halie loves Justin Bieber so she is getting a JB signature charm bracelet from Amazon.ca.  

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

 

Anya is getting a new Jojo bow from Claire's.

Halie loves Justin Bieber and so we are ordering this charm bracelet for her from Amazon.ca








 

 



Double Digits: Happy Birthday Halie

Double digits already?  Tween?  No more baby girl?  No more little girl?  I am treading lightly into this unknown territory.  I feel more unprepared for this next phase of parenting then I did being a first time mom,  I  honestly do.  I always imagined having kids under the age of five.  I always imagined up happily playing in grassy fields, under a warm sunlight, with our faces plastered with smiles.  Most of these things materialized but as you can imagine the picture painted above is not reality or a resemblance of  a real day to day life.  LOL. Regardless of the fact that my life is not a movie and we aren't the Brady Bunch, we do have a great life, ups and downs for sure, but a great family life.  Now my little baby girl is 10 and I find it both thrilling and terrifying at the same time because never have I imagined this phase of my life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I look at Halie and even though there are days that it's clear that she is about to moving into the double digits she is still very much our little girl.  She still dances, twirls, leaps and cartwheels all around the house like nobody is watching. She still asks to be read to, loves cuddling up on the couch,  comes into our bed on the weekend to visit, asks to be tucked in,  and sleeps with her "medo" (bear).    She is imaginative and creative through her art and dance and now her YouTube channel, yep she is on YouTube(check out the video below).  She is compassionate and determined to accomplish whatever she sets her mind to.  Even though she exhibits some behaviors of a tween, mood swings, eye roll, the "OKAY!" that is delivered in an far from okay tone of voice, etc, she still exhibits the innocence of a little girl in many so many ways.   Some days when I look at her I get chocked up especially when I think of how my life changed at the age of 10; it's when my family fled a war torn country and my life changed drastically (sidenote: I thought I was going to share a bit of that with you today but it just doesn't feel quite right).   I look at her and I am thankful that she has this opportunity to toe the line between innocence of childhood and young adult for a few more years.  I want to preserve and protect her childhood while also providing her with space and time to grew up in the most natural way. 

Halie learning to snowboard last weekend at Table Mountain!  We were so proud of the fact that she stuck to the bunny hill to practice her leafing while the rest of us had fun on the big hill.  By the end of the day she was able to turn both ways and get down the big hill slowly.  Her determination, dedication and perseverance made us truly proud.

 

I want Halie to grow up to be an empathetic, generous, open-minded, smart, realistic,  and a hard working individual but NOT yet.   I still wish for her to hold on to the innocence and to look onto  her life with  hopes and dreams and without boundaries. 

 

 

For her birthday party we will be going swimming, having pizza supper, movie night and a sleepover with 8-10 little girls.  HELP ME!  😅😊 

Fashion Friday: Dressing Up the Sweater Dress

TGIF!  Looking back on everything that happen this week, I am even more thankful Logan and I sized the opportunity last weekend to have a little time together.  The girls had a yoga class to attend  and we had a whole hour to ourselves, JACKPOT!  😊  Since the temperatures were mild, we decided to go for a stroll and a coffee date.  Just as we were heading  out, and after I was all dressed up, the white, fluffy stuff started coming down from above.  I 💓 watching snowflakes trickle down and covering our mostly dirty streets with it's white blanket. 

 

Usually I would wear my lulu lemon pants out for a walk but since we haven't had time lately to go out on dates and I spent all of Saturday cooking and cleaning, I decided to get all dressed up and have Logan snap some pictures. I fell in love with this sweater dress from the Gap for three reasons:

#1 The sparkles all over it are so fun and made it a perfect addition to my closet during the holiday season.

#2 I love the neckline and how it sorts of dips in the back, making it a little sexier and also how it casually slides off the one shoulder if you let it.

#3 Completely versitile, which is super important to me.  I want to have a dress that I can wear to work, out for dinner/coffee/lunch date, or for doing some shopping.  

 

 

 

The dress it self isn't overly fancy but throw on a faux fur coat, or vest, and immediately you are looking more glamorous.  I added my H & B jewellery,  for some extra sparkle and a little belt to cinch the dress in, and you've got fancier.  

 

Shop this post:

Gap Sweater Dress 

Chickwish Faux Fur Coat (similar) 

Aldo OTKB (similar) 

H & B Rose Gold Earrings, Bracelet (similar),  Necklace (sold out) 

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 

Fashion Friday: One Dress Two Ways

Welcome to Fashion Fridays.  In an effort to be consistent and to keep things manageable, I will feature a look every Friday.  To follow what I am wearing daily please feel free to connect with me on INSTAGRAM.  I will post personal/family happening on various days of the week depending on our life stories. 

Today I am showing you how a favorite summer dress can easily be styled in the winter by adding some tights, a cable knit sweater and booties.  By a wave of a magic wand, voila, this cute summer dress is transformed into an adorable winter outfit.   It's feminine, pretty and a ray of sunshine on a cloudy, winter day.  Click  here to see how I've styled this dress in the spring and fall of last year. Here you can also see how I've styled this sweater with a pair of jeans and puffer vest. 

 

 

 

If  you know me, you know that I like to wear my clothes for more than one season and in many different contexts.   You'll often see repeats on the blog because I am a real woman, who has a real day job and a family to support.  Sure there are times that I indulge/splurge on items that I am eyeing up but more often I   I buy things that are affordable and trendy.  For the month of January I've made a commitment to myself not to purchase anything new but to use the items in my closet to recreate old favorites or new looks altogether like the one featured here today. 

What piece of clothing  do you style all year long? Happy weekend everyone!

Bell Sleeve Bliss

Sometimes in life you just stumble upon a top at the most unexpected times.  I went to help a friend shop for some professional pieces and when I laid my eyes upon this top I couldn't even pretend to resist, especially at 50% off!!!!!  I honestly had absolutely no intention of buying anything for myself but you know,  ❤ at first sight. 

 

Over the holidays we finally got snow.  The kind that you wake up to in the morning and makes your yard look like a picture postcard.  The ground was covered in a soft, fluffy, blanket of white powder.  I love looking at the freshly covered ground before any dirty little tracks are made by excited, little feet of children and paw prints.  I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures in this winter wonderland to showcase one of my favorite outfit combos of 2017!

 

This outfit is an easy combination for anyone to follow: colored pants, neutral long sleeved top/tunic, faux fur vest, long/tassel necklace and leopard/other booties.  I have to say that my faux fur vest has been on repeat a lot already, check  here and here for other examples.   Happy Monday all!

 

Shop This Look:

 

Design Lab Bell Sleeve Top (The Bay)

Pants (old) - Similar (Loft)

Faux Fur Vest (Old Navy)

Booties (old)- Similar (The Bay)

 

Linking up with:  Michelle Paige (Monday), GYPO  &  The Blended Blog (Wednesday), Elegance and Mommyhood (Thursday), Threads for Thomas (Friday)

 

What Stories Will You Create Today? (Teacher Talk)

Today on the blog I am featuring something completely different than my outfits, style or family news.  As some of your know I am currently working as an Early Years and Literacy K-3 consultant.  I've always known that I wanted to be a teacher, in fact when I was 10 I told my parents that my goal in life was to be a "part-time Kindergarten teacher"!  Several years later I did become a Kindergarten teacher and my passion and desire to learn about how children develop their language skills have led me to the job I currently hold.  Below I am sharing some of my learning regarding oral language and how to connect it to literacy growth for children Prek - Grade 3.  Hope you enjoy this segment called Teacher Talk.  😍

 



 

Why is oral language critical to young children's development? 

 

Research would indicate that children who have a well developed vocabulary and oral language skills tend to:

1.  Understand complex language structures.

2.  Develop enhanced vocabulary to refer to while reading and understand how to differentiate between multiple meanings.

3.  Establish rules for speaking for a variety of purposes. 

4.  Have a strong foundation for learning to read (predict sentence structures and connect to   words that make sense from prior knowledge).

5.  Oral language builds a strong foundation for reading comprehension. 

 

Story stones provide children with an opportunity to engage in hands on literacy learning, through play and exploration, while also connecting the reading, writing, listening, and speaking strands together.  For younger children who are  gaining 2500 words per/year (Roskos, Tabors & Lenhart), retelling stories in their own words is a powerful way to encourage new language and sentences structures to be practiced and explored.  As children gain a better understanding of story structures (characters, setting, problem, solution, and ending) creating storytelling  invitations encourages children to explore their  own imaginations and to create stories.  If introducing this concept to children, encourage them to  practice telling their stories orally several times before you extend it to writing.  During the writing process have students use storyboards with pictures or pictures and text.  As a celebration of their learning, in older grades,  you might invite students to invite  family members for a story time in the classroom, building storytelling videos or sharing their stories with care partners. 

 

 Possible theme kits to create or books to retell:

 

1.  The Mitten by Jan Brett (story retelling)

2.  Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson (story retelling kit)

3.  Honouring the Buffalo : A Plains Cree Legend by Ray Lavallee (story retelling kit)

4.  Farm Creative Storytelling Kit

5.  Castel/Kingdom Creative Storytelling Kit

6.  Winter Animals & Forest Creative Storytelling Kit

Please feel free to leave your comments and ideas so that we can collaborate!!!

 

REFERENCES:

Flynn, E. E. (2016). Language-Rich Early Childhood Classroom: Simple but Powerful Beginnings. The Reading Teacher, 70(2), 159-166.

 

Jamison, L. (2011). Read, write, play, learn: Literacy instruction in today's kindergarten. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 

 

Roskos, Tabors & Lenhart (2004).  Oral Language and Early Literacy in Preschool: Talking, Reading, and Writing.  International Reading Association.

 

The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2016