What I Wore This Week

July 17, 2017Sara 2 Comments

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This Saturday was busy. We don’t usually cram that much stuff into one day but because Tom had to work on Sunday we had to fit our usual Sunday errands in to Saturday. Plus, there was a small carnival down the street that we promised to take the girls to and ended up there until past 11. To say they were bouncing off the walls is an understatement. The rides at those places are soooo expensive too. I think it worked out to $6 a ride per person which makes it really easy to spend a lot of money if you want to go on every ride even though there were only 10 rides (plus a games).

I also realized that while I once was super, crazy adventurous ride rider in my youth, as an adult they give me anxiety. I was even getting anxiety on the Ferris wheel (I’ve never had fear of height issues) which is something I would have thought was great a million years ago. Is this something that happens to us as adults?

I posted yesterday that I was able to go do a walk through Nordstrom to check out all the sale items (which I posted about). We have two in the city and we went to the one in Yorkdale which is a more upscale mall. I always feel like I am not rich enough to shop at that mall which is a reason we don’t hit it up often but I like it and I have become an expert window shopper there. Tom and Roo managed to find a great deal at the Disney store though and were able to add to their Star Wars collections.

I am getting stressed out trying to figure out what to get for Roo for us homeschooling her grade 8 this year. I can’t believe she is one year from highschool. I’m know that I am outsourcing for French to an online program, and I am thinking of doing The Big History Project for history to get a complete run through before highschool starts. I’ve heard great things about it and of course we would add a lot of books that tie in to it and documentaries. I also want to get a subscription to The Great Courses Plus (the online version of The Great Courses). It’s only $19.99 a month for access to thousands of lecture videos from great professors across the world. I think if you just watched these you will have a great education. I Beta tested the site a couple of years ago and I know I would get a lot of use out of it too. I’d honestly rather watch these than tv shows (geek alert). Aside from those ideas I am feeling stumped. Merle is really easy to plan for, except she wants an astronomy course and I’m not too sure where I will find a good, age appropriate one. Maybe a telescope and a star chart? 😉

Have you watched any good historical documentaries lately that I can add to our watch list?

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The Best of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale (well, according to me)

July 16, 2017Sara 6 Comments

I don’t usually post on Sunday’s but we had a really full day yesterday and Tom had to work today so I really didn’t feel like leaving the house. For part of our outing yesterday I made Tom take us to the “expensive” mall so I could go through Nordstrom and check out the sale pieces in person. I’m not going to lie, I was hoping I would see the Topshop cardigan that I wanted but they didn’t have it and since it is now sold out online (it might get restocked, fingers crossed) and we only have two Nordstroms here (only 5 in Canada total) I am admitting defeat and I am probably SOL on this pick.

I am going to round-up some of my favourites by category based partly on my personal tastes and partly on seeing most of them in person yesterday. But before I do that I am going to talk about how easy it is to get sidetracked there. And how easy it is to fall in love with pieces that are completely and utterly out of my price range. First was an Acne leather jacket. This jacket has officially become my dream jacket in which I will add to my fantasy wish list. The other one is Golden Goose sneakers which I tried on and didn’t want to take off. I hate trying stuff on with no intent to buy but in reality these two pieces combined equal to more than my whole wardrobe so they are going to have to remain in my “wishful thinking” spot for a while longer;)

Now on to my best of Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 2017 picks:

Boots and Shoes

Purses and Bags

Jackets

Dresses and Jumpsuits

Fall Tops and Bottoms

Accessories

Have you shopped the #Nsale either online or in store yet?

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What I Wore This Week

July 10, 2017Sara 4 Comments

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Omg you guys, the fighting. I feel like I am a referee in a cage match today :/ They are so in tune with one another that they know exactly what to do to get the most dramatic results.

I am trying to spend the day catching up on things that I have fallen behind in and all I am doing is running in to the room and yelling. Bah. Weird quirk but Merle hates chips to the point of freaking out if anyone eats them near her and what does Roo do?

Eat chips and then proceed to touch all of Merle’s belongings with her chip residue fingers. I wish it was dinner time and I just I could skip it and send everyone to bed.

I mentioned last post the I was dancing around buying a shirt from Zara that was on sale. I ended up not getting it (at the moment) and went in and actually tried on a few other things.

These were pieces that I had my eye on online but wanted to see in person and was mildly disappointed, so I ended up with nothing (which I guess is good for my debit card).

I did go into Brandy Melville and found an awesome Pink Floyd vintage looking t-shirt and decided that would be a good purchase for me. I must say though; I spent almost 4 hours in the mall Saturday (wasting time while Roo was in a class) and only bought lunch and a shirt.

I was impressed with my self-restraint. Oh wait a second. I’m lying. I also bought the girls a bin/hamper from Simon’s. It is llama print (Roo loves llamas) in both of their favourite colours (yellow and Tiffany blue) so it seemed like a no brainer since it’s purpose is to help keep the room clean.

But that was all I got.

Sunday was our 13th wedding anniversary. It so doesn’t feel like 13 years. We just went to the antique flea market for the day with the girls.

Both of us couldn’t remember our wedding date and had to google “July 2004 calendars” at the same time trying to answer first. It’s been a long time when you can’t remember your wedding date 😉

The blood curdling screams have begun again. I’m sure it’s just because she accidentally made eye contact with her. After I mediate this I am spending the rest of the evening working on my genealogy family tree. Or a least trying to since I hit a wall with it. Any tips for someone who has a parent who was adopted?

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What to Pack for a Road Trip – Plus Size

July 5, 2017Sara 7 Comments

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I just walked in the door from a really long outing with the family today (Tuesday). We were out for longer than we have been out in one day in a long while and I was totally hoping it would knock the kids out but it seems to have energized them. I’m ready to sleep though. We hit up the museum where we each had our favourite parts; Merle was in geode heaven, I am all about the Middle Ages, Roo thrives on Greece, and while Tom isn’t a huge museum fan I think he secretly liked some parts because I caught him reading lots of information plaques and taking pictures. Maybe I will win him over 😉 Then we hit up the big Value Village where we found some books, and then we went out to dinner. Now I am writing this blog post while eating my leftovers and trying to stay awake. Maybe I’ll rewatch Friends in the background to keep me alert.

This week I have a packing list for a 2 week road trip in summer than starts in California and goes to Arizona. Arizona is pretty bloody hot right now so I didn’t bother adding any type of light jacket. The thought behind this list is comfort, and I may or may not have included an extra shirt or two in case the heat is so intense you sweat through them all before laundry time 🙂 The breakdown is as follows:

A t-shirt, graphic tee, tunic, peasant top, black “dressy” shirt, and a chambray shirt for layering (or by itself).
One cardigan, and one pullover which will work for air conditioning, and cooler days/evenings.
For bottoms I included one pair of shorts, jeans, wide leg (loose fit) pants, and a midi skirt.
A cute, knee length style, and a flowy summer maxi/midi dress.
a bathing suit for any beaches, pools, or water parks you may hit along the way.
Accessories which include a woven summer hat, sunglasses, and a lightweight scarf.
Three pairs of footwear which should include a casual sneaker, sandals, and then something fun like and espadrille, mule, or flat in a good colour/print.
Finally a big tote to easily throw all the car crap in quickly when needed, and a regular shoulder bag.

I made this quite a casual list because car travel needs comfort. If will have any situations that require something more dressy than black pants, and a black shirt then you will have to adjust the options accordingly. I will put together the outfit options from this list for the next post.

What are your go-to’s for a long road trip? I get car sick easily (it sucks) so since I can’t read then music is the next best thing. I would say a good playlist is a top rank for me, along with books and an iPad for the non driving parts.

If you like this post you can find more packing lists and outfit options in my:
Packing Light Series
What to Wear Options

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What I Wore This Week

July 3, 2017Sara Leave a Comment

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The weekend is over and I can now speak from personal experience that Ikea can in fact almost cause you to get a divorce. Man oh man it was a doozy. On the way back I was ready to jump out of the moving car and then hitchhike home. Now we have to build the furniture which should be fun :/ We did get a new light fixture for the main room which is really cool. It replaces the monstrosity that Tom always banged his head on.

We are heading to the zoo on Tuesday because we haven’t been to the ROM in such a long time that Merle barely remembers it (I don’t know why it’s been so long because museums are literally my favourite place to be). Last time we were there she was still so young that she ran right in to a plate-glass window and fell on her ass because she didn’t know it surrounded the exhibit. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing how freaked she gets by the bug section. Is that mean? First time around she was literally in love with the hissing cockroaches, now she freaks out the she sees a dust ball blow across the floor.

I ordered a pretty cool pair of flats from Zara two weeks ago but when they came one was noticeably lighter in colour like it was in a window display and bleached by the sun. I was disappointed but returned them then re-ordered them (not available in my store) so I am hoping that they work better this time. Of course they get stuck in the mail for the long weekend so they weren’t delivered on Friday. I was kind of hoping to break them in this weekend but I don’t think I want to risk wearing them for a full day at the museum.

So all in all aside from the Ikea battle our place is kind of coming together here. I’d still really like to freshen it up with some white paint though because whoever painted this place beforehand thought it was a good idea to paint the vent surround (that hangs lower on the ceiling) a much darker shade. It should be white so it kind of blends with the ceiling. We didn’t have time or money to repaint before we moved in and now it’s a pain in the ass to do it since there is no place to move the furniture out of the way.

Have you ever had the whole Ikea fight experience? It shouldn’t be missed 😉

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What I Wore This Week

June 26, 2017Sara 2 Comments

Apparently I love these distressed jeans since I wore them 3 out of 4 days 😉

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Holy Value Village scores batman! This Sunday was their summer clean out pre sale for their savers club members. Monday is the actual sale date for everyone. It’s 50% off clothes, shoes, and accessories and we hauled really well.

There were a few non sale items we got that were also great finds like the Harry Potter Monster Book of Monsters licences plush which has been on our Wishlist for a long time. I honestly can’t believe we found that there, and the bonus is that when you pull his tongue he growls. I have a thing for old product advertising posters and I found a replica alcohol advertisement from 1922 (on a large, wooden wall plaque). But my biggest score of the day was a Botkier Trigger Satchel that is $300 new but I got for $4.50 (50% off $9.00). I just happened to walk by and thought, “hey, that looks like a moto bag that I would carry.” Then I recognized the name and did a quick google search and saw the price. I was like, “yep, sold.” I also found another purse which is a vintage, hand tooled leather purse similar my other one I use frequently but a darker leather and a slightly different shape, a pair of culottes (actually capris but are culottes on me) and a cute dress from H&M.

As per usual Roo found some fun t-shirts, and a pair of Little House on the Prairie style boots she wanted. They are Steve Madden and are in great condition. Merle got an Ikea wooden artist dummy to replace one that she had before that broke, a board game, and some Mexican marionettes that are creepy as shit. She has a thing for marionettes and animatronics which she definitely doesn’t get from me.

Tom found some work clothes and shoes. He usually has more success there than I do but today I seemed to score well which surprised me since they clear out fast during sales. So we spent the day traveling to various Value Villages, hit up the grocery store for the week, and then took the girls swimming. I am tired now so I am signing off. I have a packing list for 10 days in Paris and Prague coming up this week that I kind of love. It emulates my style perfectly. I hope you like it as much as me.

Have you found any good deals thrifting or store bought recently?

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