What I Wore This Week

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

 

What I Wore This Week #ootd

Outfit 1 – Tank • H&M | Blazer • H&M (similar) | Jeans • H&M | Booties • DSW (similar) |
Purse • Urban Outfitters (similar) |
Outfit 2 – Kimono • H&M (similar) | Black Pants • Zara |
Outfit 3 – T-shirt • Madewell | Shorts • H&M (similar) | Sandals • Etsy | Hat • Thrifted (similar) |
Outfit 4 – Maxi Dress • Zara (similar) | Shoes • Vans | Crossbody • Urban Outfitters

I am writing this while sitting in front of the window and watching the rain. It hasn’t rained for more than 5 minutes the entire summer and I am soaking it all in. I hope this brings some relief to the farmers because this has been a hard summer for crops.

While the humidity is maxing out the thermometer it has brought my thoughts to fall, so I went through some of my sweaters and long sleeve shirts to take an inventory. My favourite grey sweater from the last 3 years has a huge snag in the front of it. It was folded neatly on my shelf but it was on top, so I can only assume that the cat was walking through my clothes and got a nail caught (he has extra toes with extra nails and I have to keep them clipped because he gets them stuck on everything). I usually just weave the snag back in and smooth it out to make it not noticeable but it is smack dab in the middle of the front and it’s really obvious 🙁 this prompted some online shopping Friday night (so exciting I know, but wine and the last dregs of birthday cake were involved, Tom was still at work, and the kids were in bed so it was awesomely quiet to me).

I first hit up Zara where there was some amazing jeans that I quickly put into my basket to come back to later. Then when I came back they were gone, like totally disappeared off the website. I can only assume that they were listed before they should have been so they pulled them, because when they sellout of sizes they keep the page up where you can get an email notification when your size comes in. I’ll be stalking the site to see if they put the pants back up because they were fantastic.

On my perusal of the Mango site I found a great replacement grey sweater. I ordered a small and am questioning if I should have sized up to get a roomier fit. I hope it looks as good as the photo because I have actually been wanting a grey sweater in a style like this for a long time and never found one that prompted an instant buy.

I can’t wait to wear sweaters again. Are you over summer too?

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What I Wore This Week

What I Wore #ootd

What I Wore #ootd

What I Wore #ootd

What I Wore #ootd

Tank • H&M | Jeans (top pic) • H&M | Hat • Value Village (similar) |
Scarf/shawl • Value Village (similar) | Purse • Urban Outfitters (similar) | Striped Tank • Express (similar) |
Blazer • H&M (similar) | Jeans (2nd pic) • Gap | Slip-ons • Vans | Maxi Dress • Zara (similar) |
Leather Jacket • Zara | Converse | Crossbody • Urban Outfitters | Blouse • H&M |
Jean Shorts • H&M (similar) | Sandals • Etsy

I caved and wore shorts. I never wear shorts and these almost went out with the last purge, but I decided to hold on to them for summer and see how often I wore them. There have been a few bloody hot days so I said screw it. Since we walk so much it is a lot more comfortable in the heat to wear shorts while towing my grocery cart (yes we have one of those wheeled carts to tote groceries/packages home). I don’t know how often I will wear them but I think I will hold on to them for now.

Today (Sunday) was release day for the new Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book. It’s been a countdown for this day since Roo (my oldest) heard about it so it was an early start to walk over there. It was kind of cool since the book store decorated Harry Potter themed for this day, even the attached Starbucks renamed itself The Leaky Cauldron. I love how much Harry Potter is part of her life and how much joy it brings her. I will encourage this obsession as long as she will let me.

#harrypotterandthecursedchild  #bookworm #booknerd #goodreads #readthemagic #bibliophile #newbook #read #book #harrypotter #harrypotterfan #happykid #harrypotterkid #jkrowling #lifeiscomplete #hpscriptbook #thecursedchild #harrypotterfandom #harrypottercollection

My 37th birthday is this Saturday. It’s funny how excited you get for your birthday when you are a kid and how much you dread it when you are an adult (and how sometimes you can’t even remember how old you are turning and you have to search one of those “how old am I” counters online). I am thinking of buying myself a beautiful Russian Shawl to celebrate because they have become my new fixation. I have searched online and came across a few sites that sell them, but am having a hard time making a decision. I am one of those people that over think it and end up buying one and then wanting the other one when I do. I do every single time. The most I can narrow down my decision is that I want a black background with bright floral but then I also like the red, but there is still like 9 million to choose from and. Maybe I’ll make a post asking for opinions later 😉

Have you ever forgot how old you were turning?

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What I Wore This Week

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

T-shirt Dress • ASOS (similar) | Blazer • H&M (similar) | Open Toe Booties • Aldo (similar) |
Flora Kimono • H&M (similar) | Distressed Jeans • H&M | Flats • Zara (similar) |
Black Blouse • Express | Black Jeans • Zara | Tan Booties • Winners (same) |
Purse • Urban Outfitters | Black T-shirt • Madewell | Slip-ons • Vans

I bought my first Christmas present this week. I know. Frightening thought eh? I start buying things early as I find them because that ensures that I don’t wait too long and then have to spend a bunch of money at once. This also makes sure that I don’t have to panic if we haven’t bought anything and don’t have the money to do it. Tom’s job site essentially shuts down over Christmas from anywhere from 2-5 weeks. This makes money really tight, hence buying presents in June.

I was searching on Etsy for cute ideas and came across a whole set of Harry Potter pins from the Etsy shop Black Umbrella Industries so I bought them. I should have checked their whole stock before I bought them because they also have a set of Doctor Who pins that I want to get too and could have saved on shipping. My kids incorporate these pins into their wardrobe and leave the house with a minimum of 5 pins on every outfit and/or bag so the purchase is a winner. I also got an email from Amazon letting me know that Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets illustrated story book comes out in October so that is another gift done once I preorder it.

I am kind of stumped for other ideas since both the kids birthdays are also in November and December. It’s a super expensive time of year and stretches my creativity level 😉 I’m also the only one who thinks this far ahead. If I left it up to Tom he would wake up Christmas Eve Day and say, “oh shit. I forgot”.

When do you start Christmas shopping?

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What I Wore This Week

What I Wore this week #ootd

What I Wore this week #ootd

What I Wore this week #ootd

What I Wore this week #ootd

Black Midi Dress • H&M (similar) | Jean Jacket • Le Chateau super old (similar) |
Black Booties • DSW (similar) | Black Blouse • Express | Maxi Skirt • old (similar) |
Black Purse • Urban Outfitters | Kimono • Madewell (similar) | Jeans (3rd photo) • H&M |
Tan Purse • Urban Outfitters | Blazer • H&M (similar) | Grey T-shirt • Zara | Black Jeans • Zara

First I want to say that if anyone has sent me an email and I have not responded I didn’t receive it because I have officially replied to everyone that I have received. I noticed that several messages sent through my contact form got stuck in the server and never went through so I want to sincerely apologize to anyone this may have happened to and if you want to resend me the message then send it directly to me at hello@livelovesara.com this email goes directly to my phone.

It was Ribfest this week in town and it was conveniently located across the street, so this weekend was filled with award-winning ribs and funnel cakes. Back to your regularly schedules program of eating okayish and exercising this week. Our library which is also located across the street is on strike. So unfortunately I haven’t been able to take my kids to any of the summer programs they have running. This is leading to trying to find a way to cut down on the amount of screen time they have right now. I admit that they have a lot but my oldest has Minecraft classes where she builds in groups with other kids around the world. She spends a lot of time on these servers which is okay with me since I love Minecraft and team work 😉 It’s also too hot hang outside for very long in the concrete jungle, so I am thankful we have an indoor pool to get some exercise. Oh, and of course Pokemon Go because who isn’t doing it?

As mentioned on many occasions my kids are massive Harry Potter fans. There probably isn’t a day goes by that there isn’t a HP movie running in the background somewhere. It’s our nightly reading book with my youngest. I read them with Roo at this age and she has read the series I ongoing since. She just keeps re-reading and re-reading and listening to audio books. I’ve had to replace her Prisoner of Azkaban three times due to her wearing it out. I credit the series with taking her love of reading to a whole new level. So to say we have a lot of Harry Potter stuff is an understatement. I bought them quite a few of the HP lego sets a few years ago. They have been in a storage bin since we moved in to this place because there wasn’t room to display them, but we finally figured out a spot and opened the bin this weekend to see than many of them have fallen to pieces. I swear I almost cried when I saw that because I spent a solid 10-12 hours building all the sets for them on Christmas eve so they woke up to a Harry Potter Village. It involved many tears and massive amounts of wine to complete so to see it in a state was upsetting. We have started to slowly rebuild the sets, this time it involves not only wine, but crazy glue as well. Never again 😉

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What I Wore This Week

What I Wore #ootd

What I Wore #ootd

What I Wore #ootd

What I Wore #ootd

What I Wore #ootd

Dress • Asos | Crossbody • Urban Outfitters | Sandals • Etsy | Blouse • H&M (similar) |
Black Pants • H&M | Shoes • Zara (similar) | Hat • H&M (similar) |
Shirt • Asos (above dress worn as t-shirt) | Jeans (3rd picture) • H&M |
Black Tank • H&M | Cardigan • Mango (similar) | Jeans (4th picture) • Gap |
Oversized Blazer • H&M (similar) | Black Purse • Urban Outfitters | Booties • Winners (same)

This Saturday was my 12th wedding anniversary. It feels like we just celebrated our 11th. I always thought it was a cliché when I was younger, but time really does go by fast as you get older. I think we both almost forgot about it too, though neither has admitted it. I had to go back and check my Facebook posts from last year so I could remember the date. For some reason I always think it is the 10th when it is the 9th. Then I think my anniversary Facebook post prompted Tom to remember (he was at work and posted after I did). We aren’t huge celebration people but I got dressed up for a bit which I will probably post on Instagram this week because I forgot to on Saturday.

I was able to show some versatility of my Asos dress above by wearing it as a shirt on one of the days. It easily knots and can be worn as an oversize tee. Someone on Instagram left a comment about how she bought it but it was too short so be warned if you do. I am 5’3″ and it fits well on me but perhaps I have a short torso and it falls longer. It’s really hard to tell sometimes until you try something on which is a risk your take when shopping online. That’s why I always try to buy from places with excellent returns for shipping (although I hate returning things).

Our car lease was up soon and this past Friday we traded it in for a new car. This time we got a SUV and man is it different. Our old car was a very basic bottom of the line model, because we were broke and needed and inexpensive vehicle. It did the job for 5 years (a few hiccups along the way like a break-in and vandalism that led to needing a new motor but all in all it did the job). With all my excitement you would think we got a luxury vehicle, but it’s just Hyundai Tucson although it feels like a dream after the last one (it even has a panoramic sunroof).

We have had a few good Value Village hauls the last couple of weekends. I think I am going to put together a thrifting haul post sometime this week because I love finding a good deal and fun little treasures. I am also working on a 7 days in Stockholm packing list that will be coming up soon.

If you thrift how often do you hit the thrift stores?
We try to go weekly because of the constant changeover, we don’t want to miss anything. Now that we have a car with a big trunk space we can actually donate all the huge shit that has been hanging around and cluttering the condo. Good-bye giant coffee table and Tom’s hideous frat boy style chair.

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What I Wore This Week

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

What I Wore This Week #ootd

White T-shirt • H&M (similar) | Leather Jacket • Zara | Boyfriend Jeans • Gap | Converse Hi-tops
Grey T-shirt • Zara | Vans Slip-ons | Striped Tank • Express (similar)Distressed Jeans • H&M |
Wool Hat • H&M (similar) | Brown Flats • Zara (similar) | Black T-shirt • Madewell | Black Jeans • Zara |
Crossybody • Urban Outfitters

Somehow or another I fell back a week in the what I wore posts. This week is actually more like a week and a half ago when there were some brutally hot days mixed in there. Mostly t-shirts and jeans, nothing fancy as usual 😉

For the past few weeks I have noticed some hair breakage around the crown of my head. At first I thought it was from harsh over the counter hair dyes, but as I was getting ready for bed a few nights ago I clued in that it was from my frequent messy buns. I have routinely coiled my hair up into a bun every single night for years. It is my go-to lazy hairdo, especially in summer. It never even crossed my mind that, that was the cause of it, so now I have to find a new bed time hair-do that will keep my hair off my face that doesn’t involve an elastic around my crown.

Is it just me or is it really f*ing difficult to save for a vacation? We are trying to save for a Christmas in Europe vacation for this year and it’s like $100 into savings and $300 out sort of deal. There seems like there are so many expenses that keep creeping up. Our car lease is up really soon and we have to get another which will be an increase in monthly payments, and we have to pay the mileage overage on our current car because we drove the shit out of it when Tom had to travel for work a couple of years ago. We always seem like we are playing catch up with the bills and there never seems like there is anything left over for savings. It doesn’t help that we live in one of the most expensive cities in the country either because this increases rent/mortgages, food (which is super expensive in this country to begin with), and pretty much every other expense you can think of.  Such is life. I guess it will make us appreciate it more when we get there.

Disclaimer: This is my self-pitying post of the month 😉

Do you have any tips on how to successfully save for holidays?

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