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 to Pack for Greece Outfit Options

July 13, 2017Sara 2 Comments

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It’s cold and miserable today which is my favourite weather. On days like this I wish that our patio was a bit bigger so we could put one of those self standing hammocks and a Papasan Chair with a colourful cushion (this is a cute stool that would also make a great outdoor side table). Kind of like bohemian decor to sit out in and enjoy the rain. There is also Ribfest going on across the street until Sunday night so for the next few days I will be eating ribs like a boss. Yay for living smack dab in the middle of a city, you get access to all the cool stuff.

Tis the season for great sales and the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale started today (for card holders) and you can check out yesterday’s post if you want to see my early access picks. If only I had a never-ending supply of money 😉

This post has the outfit options to the What to Pack for Greece packing light list from Wednesday. The list is for a 14 day trip so I was going to put together 20 outfits, but ended up with 30. There are just so many ways to piece these selections together that I could have easily made more but it is 8 pm (as I write this) and I want to get to bed at a decent time.

The original post has all the pieces laid out in list formation but for those that don’t feeling like looking at that post the breakdown is as follows:

5 tops (a graphic tee, striped shirt, printed short sleeve, a plain t-shirt, and a chambray that you can wear buttoned up or over tanks, t-shirts, and the sleeveless dress left open. It also looks cut knotted at the waist).
Two different style and colours of sweaters for cooler evenings and travel, one cardigan, and one oversized pullover.
4 bottoms which include, one pair of shorts (you might want to bring two depending if you are a short wearer), jeans (for cooler times and travel), some black, slouchy, casual pants (here is a white choice if you prefer a lighter colour), and a midi skirt.
Two dresses, one black, slip dress style (which is great for layering t-shirts under and sweaters over), and one shirt dress that can be left open over shorts or pants as a kimono style.
A bathing suit or two for variety and in case one is wet when you want to go swimming.
A small and big lightweight scarf that can be worn around hair, as a shawl, and for a swimsuit cover.
Accessories for the sun like a hat and sunglasses
3 pairs of shoes; sandals, slides, and espadrilles.
Two purses are a good option, a regular size purse, and a crossbody

I used to have a fantastic pair of espadrilles years ago but I wore them basically until the sole fell off. They were the only shoes I wore when we went to Barbados even though I brought several pairs. If I would have known they would be back in style I probably would have tried to find a way to salvage them.

Have you ever had any regrets about getting rid of items from your closet? I still regret getting rid of a top from 1995…..

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Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 2017 Early Access Picks

July 13, 2017Sara 2 Comments

We are literally entering into my favourite shopping season. It has been my favourite since I was younger, when I would get my back to school issue of Seventeen Magazine in the summer and plan my yearly wardrobe (other catalogues were used in this process as well like Sears). I was never one to do a large back to school shop like a lot of people (I worked in retail and have seen people spends thousands and thousands on their kids back to school wardrobes). I wore a uniform to school and instead of buying everything all at once I would get pieces through the year. That didn’t change that those fall back to school issues provided the basis to my style for the upcoming school year.

While I don’t get Seventeen Magazine anymore I do subscribe to a million websites and stores so I am preparing for the influx of sale and style emails that will be rolling out any day now. And speaking of sales the huge Nordstrom Anniversary sale 2017 is starting early access for card holders on the 13th (today).

What does this mean? It means that if you have a Nordstrom card you get access to the sale one full week +1 day ahead of the public so you get first dibs on everything, and by everything I mean across all categories like clothing, shoes and accessories for women, men and kids; along with beauty and stuff for the home. And if you are like me you can get a huge head start on Christmas shopping (totally not kidding. This is the perfect opportunity to squirrel away some gifts you found for a great deal). The Nordstrom card also gives you points for everything that you spend to put towards future purchases. I love points cards.

Details: The sale runs for 3 weeks until August 6th (which is my birthday btw) and things sell out fast. They restock continuously throughout the sale but some many pieces end up on “last chance” which means almost sold out.

Go with a game plan: They released the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale catalogue so you could get a sneak peek of some of the items that will be on the sale which is good for pre-planning. You can also get a sneak peek on the website even if you are not a card member, you just can’t add things to your cart (which totally sucks if you are a competitive shopper like me). If I am going to be honest shopping sales in store scare me, so if I plan on going to a brick and mortar store vs shopping online I like to go with a plan. Browsing the catalogue (women’s and men’s) and online is vital if you want to get in and get out. Browse the site, find your picks, and go in with a list. That way you know exactly what you want and can get it without getting sidetracked and forgetting the pieces that you went for specifically.

Things to look for: I’m all about the staples so my lists usually consist of pieces like bras and bralettes (love the Hanky Panky bralettes), coats, shoes, purses, and denim. After the main pieces are chosen I usually browse looking for things that may fill wardrobe holes or seasonal pieces like sweaters, scarves, and hats.

Nordstrom has free shipping and an excellent return policy so don’t feel bad ordering multiple sizes if you are online shopping and uncertain of what size you may need.

Are you planning on getting anything at the #NSale? I really want that Topshop striped cardigan. Like, really, really. You can check out all of my early access picks at the top. I’ll gather more selections for kids, beauty, and home goods later.

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What to Pack for Greece – Packing Light

July 11, 2017Sara 4 Comments

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I just want to start by saying ugh. My contact form apparently isn’t sending me everything when it is submitted. I just received 6 messages that were dated from the beginning to middle of June that never went through until now. If one of those messages were yours than I am so sorry I missed them. I wasn’t ignoring you. I try to respond back to every single message and I am feeling really bad right now. I think I am going to just remove the contact form and leave my email address there instead to avoid this problem. Once again I am sorry 🙁

Every once and awhile I like to revisit some old packing lists to update them or see what I chose, and how my choices would be different this time around. This time I went back to one of my most popular lists from a couple of years ago, Santorini, Greece. What I like about my choices from that list was the addition of colour. I guess I was feeling more vibrant then. It’s a fun, warm weather list, but in hindsight I included too many shoes and bags and would change that this time.

For this list my choices parallel nicely in some areas and differ a lot in others. Greece can be really, really hot depending on the time of year so slight adjustments might need to be taken into consideration if you are travelling during the peak hot season. Maybe an extra pair of shorts, and a couple of sleeveless tanks would round it out nicely.

My selections are broken down as follows:

I included 5 tops (a graphic tee, striped shirt, printed short sleeve, a plain t-shirt, and a chambray which can be worn buttoned up or over tanks and sleeveless dresses unbuttoned).
Two sweaters for cooler evenings and travel, one cardigan, and one oversized pullover.
4 bottoms, one pair of shorts, jeans (for cooler times and travel), some black, slouchy, casual pants (here is a nice pair of white ones too), and a skirt.
Two dresses, one black, slip dress style (which is great for layering), and one shirt dress.
A bathing suit or two.
Some lightweight scarves in small and big that can be doubled for tying around hair, shawls, and swimsuit covers.
Sunshine accessories like a hat and sunglasses
3 pairs of shoes; sandals, slides, and espadrilles.
Two purses, a regular size purse, and a crossbody

I hope you like the updated version and I will put together 20-30 outfits from these pieces for next post.

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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 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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