Sara, Author at livelovesara

What to Pack for Christmas in Europe

September 14, 2016Sara 8 Comments

Today I am fast forwarding to Christmas. I am talking about a requested packing list for spending Christmas in Europe. We as a family were supposed to spend Christmas in Europe this year but the show Tom is working on currently did not leave much room for a vacation and trying to save for it this summer was an uphill battle that we lost so we postponed.

Shortly after admitting defeat I received an email asking for help for how to pack light for this trip. She is unaccustomed to cold weather so I included lots of warm sweaters and layerable pieces which will help while acclimatizing. The trip is covering Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Prague, Salzburg, and several of the Mountain Villages which are amazing at Christmas.

They also will be skiing and snowboarding, but to cut down on packing decided that they will be renting everything that they needed once they get there. This is actually quite smart since all the pieces you would need would end up taking a whole suitcase of their own.

I included a versatile black dress for more formal occasions and a casual dress, several pairs of pants, and leggings that can be used to layer under dresses, for exercise, bed, and as a base layer under snow pants when skiing. A knit hat, scarf, and gloves along with a wool coat are the winter weather pieces to keep you comfortable while sightseeing and travelling. Packing light is possible even during the winter season with a little planning. Outfit options will be in Friday’s post.

What are your favourite things to pack on a winter vacation?

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What I Wore This Week

September 12, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

This past week was pretty low-key since we started our back to school with two kids this year instead of one and my toe is still effed up so my mobility is slightly limited. Well, not limited so much as I am super slow 😉 While we did some school work with Merle last year it was only for about 15 minute intervals on most subjects unless she asked to go longer. This year has amped up for her so juggling between two kids is taking some time to find a good groove for us.

I try not to set a time schedule because it just gets frustrating when that doesn’t go as planned so I just use my weekly planner to give a basic outline of what I would like accomplished each day. This one is perfect for what I need and I have it in hot pink, although it took forever to find it. I am still a stickler for pen and paper. Whatever doesn’t get done gets bumped forward. Some days you get everything plus more done and other days you find you have gone off on rabbit trails for subjects that they have shown interest in and that is okay too. I’m still trying to get their bedtime going at a more reasonable hour which isn’t going well. Both have always been night hawks who were nightmares to put to bed as babies, but once they fell asleep they were out for the entire night until late morning. That has stuck and it makes for a slow start each day. Here is to finding our groove this week.

Sunday we went to Value Village so I could try to find pieces for the girls Halloween costumes. Merle wants to be Beetlejuice and Roo wants to be Coraline. We managed to find a yellow jacket for Roo, and a burgundy cross body. We found the blue wig last week and she already has rain boots, so aside from a star sweater and striped tights she is good to go. Merle’s I am having issues with. I gave up trying got find a striped blazer so I opted for a white one instead that I could paint some stripes on. I thought I would easily find one but the white blazer is becoming extremely elusive. I saw a few on ebay from China that are inexpensive but I can’t guarantee they will arrive on time 🙁 If you have seen a child size white blazer or a woman’s xxs (I don’t mind a little oversize) that doesn’t cost a fortune can you send me a link? I would be grateful.

If you have kids have they picked their Halloween costumes yet?

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What to Wear in Germany and Austria

September 9, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

What to Wear in Germany and Austria is part 2 to last post’s packing list What to Pack for Germany and Austria. I made this list for a woman who is taking a Christmas Market Cruise on the Danube River in November (Something like this by Tauck River Cruises. It looks amazing doesn’t it?). The weather will be changing from late fall to early winter at that point and will feel colder while on the water so clothing that layers easily is key. Sweaters over blouses and t-shirts, dresses with leggings, a coat, scarf, gloves, and a hat. I chose a pair of tall boots, ankle boots, and flats in a fun print because I thought these would give a lot of versatility. An actual winter boot won’t be necessary at this time of year.

In the collage above and below are 20 outfit options to show you how many ideas you can get out of a small wardrobe. Simple changes of accessories and shoes can give your outfit a day-to-night look which is key when you want to pack light. I added some colour to the mostly neutral pieces by adding a colourful cardigan, and printed scarf and animal print shoes.

Every time I make one of these I get a weird excitement like “what would I bring if I was going right now?” Then I plan that out in my head and switch out some pieces based on the tastes of the person who requested the list. It’s impossible to put something together without your own personal tastes coming through but if you find that you aren’t feeling my choices it is very easy to swap out things that are more suited to your style.

I hope you have a fantastic time on your trip and that I was able to give you some packing ideas 🙂

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What to Pack for Germany and Austria

September 7, 2016Sara 4 Comments

I’m going to start this off with saying that I think I broke my toe last night on our ottoman. I’m prone to stubbing my toe but man did it ever hurt. My baby toe immediately swelled up like a little grape and within 30 minutes the top of my foot running towards the toes was purple. Even the blanket lying on it last night was painful. Today I have hobbled around the house with the girls Gandalf wizard stick. I’m sure I will look cute walking down the street with it 😉

Back to business. Every so often I like to go back to an old packing list and update it with new suggestions. With how fast retail changes over seasons and stock, so many items get sold out and people will often message me asking if I know where they can find anything like the sold out item.

I got an email about my Vienna, Austria packing list from last April. It was from a woman in her 50’s who is going on a Danube River Christmas Market Cruise in November and wanted to know if I had an updated list. I told her that I would try to pull as many updated items as I could and email her. I decided it would be better to put together a whole new post for her so she can have the visual guidance as well. I tried to follow a similar colour theme and style as the original.

A Danube River Cruise to see all the Christmas Markets is on my bucket list. Christmas is my favourite time of year and to experience the markets that have been there for centuries would be amazing. While November isn’t in the middle of winter the weather can be quite chilly, especially being on the water so a nice weather appropriate jacket and layers are important.

Several sweaters, pants, leggings/tights to wear under dresses, and a scarf or two. I decided to include a wool hat in this list because it can be more dressy but I would probably bring a knit hat as well, it wouldn’t take up much room. Jeans in a darker wash are very versatile, and any pair of black pants in a cut and fabric that works best on your body and is your style. I tend to lean towards a very straight or skinny cut because I like the ease of tucking them into boots. Don’t forget your gloves or mittens. Outfit Options will be in the next post.

Have you ever been on a Christmas Market Cruise? What was it like?

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What I Wore This Week

September 5, 2016Sara 2 Comments

Outfit 1 – T-shirt/dress • Asos (similar) | Jeans • Gap | Converse |
Purse • Urban Outfitters
Outfit 2 – Blouse • H&M (similar) | Jeans • Gap | Jean Jacket • Le Chateau (similar) |
Purse • Urban Outfitters |
Outfit 3 – Sweater • Zara | Jeans • H&M |
Outfit 4 – Military Jacket • Second-hand (similar)*
Outfit 5 – Striped Top • Zara | Jeans • Gap | Shoes • Vans | Purse • Urban Outfitters
*Tom works in film/tv and after the end of a season pr shoot they often have set sales to get rid of clothing and furniture. He picked this military jacket up for me from the Rookie Blue Set sale. So the fun story is that the star from Rookie Blue wore this on tv… even though I have never watched it 😉

Labour Day Weekend, the official last hurrah of summer. At least it is in this neck of the woods. I know that many kids have started back to school weeks ago, but as long as I can remember the official first day of school has always been the day after Labor Day. So what did we do? We went to FanExpo (like Comicon). This years guest list was insane (one being Stan Lee’s last Canadian show) so there were 900 million people there. I’m an introvert and bouncing off people all day long takes a lot out on me so I am kind of quietly trying to recoup from that. Tom also took a Benadryl for his allergies and accidentally took the night-time version so he was walking around in a daze as well.

My favourite part of these events are finding those one of a kind handcrafted items that are just so awesome you must buy it. Every time we go we seem to hit up the Modulicious table because they sell incredible character Buddha’s. We can now add Yoda Buddha to our Storm Trooper and C3po. You can’t have too many Buddha’s right?

The girls picked out some signed cat art prints, one Harry Potter, and one Darth Vader Cat. I was rooting for the Wednesday Adams cat but got outvoted. The last things we picked up were a weird handmade furry cat-snake, and some fox ears on a headband. For some reason my kids really like cats, and/or dressing like animals. I’m not too sure where they got that from.

When we walked out the front doors I realized we had missed a whole entire section of the FanExpo that was located in a different wing. It was the really cool section with the horror tables and now I am a little disappointed, but we spent hours walking the other vendors and I really didn’t feel like spending anymore money. So we didn’t go back in, especially just after waiting 30 minutes in line for a slice of $10 pizza then another 20 minutes for the escalator queue to move. It pays to eat beforehand.

It’s always a super fun way to spend the day. The girls get to dress up and be around people of all ages who are also dressed up enjoying the same things they do. FanExpo, bringing people closer together 😉

She wiped half her makeup off before we even arrived just from fidgeting, her dress is too short, shoelaces untied, the wings needed to be adjusted and the cat ripped off some feathers, but all in all it turned out not too bad 😉 #dontblink

Have you ever been to a Fanexpo or ComiCon?

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What to Wear in Italy and on a Mediterranean Cruise

September 2, 2016Sara 1 Comment

This post gives you the outfit options to the last post What to Pack for Italy and a Mediterranean Cruise. The 30 options give a variety of suggested outfits for many scenarios.

To pack the most versatile wardrobe possible it is important to think of all the different types of outfits you are going to need and how each piece you bring can be changed for each outing.

There are outfits that are casual, for the beach/poolside, dinner/formal.

When I plan out outfits I take one key piece and then try to figure out how many different combinations I can make with that item using as many of the pieces in the packing list as possible.

For example, the black slip dress can be casual with the cardigan, grey sweater, chambray shirt, or even the white t-shirt dress left unbuttoned. Make it dressy with the trench, blazer or shawl.

You can also make a formal outfit casual by switching shoes and accessories.

For example: A day look of the black slip dress, blazer, and sneakers can quickly be made formal by changing the shoes, adding some jewellery, an up-do, and some lipstick, but keeping the blazer.

It literally takes less than 10 minutes. This is a simple thing that you can also apply to most of your looks with a few easy swaps. Even just a quick cuffing of your jeans can change the entire look of an outfit.

Creativity and versatility are key.

* Clothing details for all 30 outfits are located under the first collage.

Have a great trip!

What to Wear in Italy and on a Mediterranean Cruise Outfit Options 11-20

What to Wear in Italy and on a Mediterranean Cruise Outfit Options 21-30

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