The packing list for this week is a honeymoon in April trip to Paris, France. It’s actually 5 days in Paris and 7 days on a cruise on the Rhone River but that’s too long for a title, so Paris it is 😉
Keeping in mind that the wearer is 40+ and her chosen colours being shades of grey (hehe) and blue this was the idea I put together.
I’m going to admit, this past week hasn’t been very productive in the grand scheme of things but that’s how life works I guess. I’m working on it. We are still trying to get the Halloween costumes complete (apparently we are big procrastinators). Tom is working on it now but I think we need to buy another marker. It’s running out of paint and the stores are closed since it is Sunday night which is a consequence of procrastination.
On late Thursday night, or early Friday morning actually since it was 4am Tom came home from work and he had hurt his knee. He uses a cube van while working and while he was loading it he slipped on the stairs that go up into the back because they were wet from the rain. His knee hit the metal stairs and got cut up pretty badly as well as was now swollen so he had to take Friday off work. He spends 14-18 hours on his feet a day so they thought it was best to let him have Friday and the weekend to heal. When he came home at 4am I woke up with a start and went out to the living room, as he was telling me the knee story I started seeing spots and got clammy but went in to the kitchen to get him some acetaminophen and Ibuprofen for the pain. As I was reaching them down I also got seriously nauseated and thought I was going to pass out, so I immediately sat on the floor to put my head between my knees. I’m sitting there, Tom is panicking asking me 9 millions questions and yelling out if he should call 911 waking the house. Then the bloody cat climbs up and sits right on my back as I am hunched over. I’m thinking, “even when I could be dying people won’t leave me alone.” Needless to say I recovered and it was probably from jumping out of bed too quick right from a dead sleep. But man, I can’t even suffer in peace 😉 Here is to a more productive and less eventful week.
How was your weekend?
This week I am working on a Paris in April packing light list for a readers honeymoon.
Based on the pieces from last post Fall/Winter Workwear Capsule Wardrobe Business Casual I put together 30 outfit ideas. There is definitely a lot more different combinations that can be made, 30 is just a good start. These options are based on a work business casual environment that has casual jean Fridays. Under the dresses I would wear some black tights to still keep a professional look while remaining weather appropriate.
I suggested that you start right from the bottom of your wardrobe all the way to the top to see how many items you already own that would work in your professional wardrobe. It is surprising how many pieces you can transition over to look completely different paired with the right pieces. I give a quick breakdown on how you can do this in 5 steps in this post.
While many people have a completely separate work wardrobe from weekend wardrobe I like to integrate them together as much as you can because it can save you money and give you a lot more outfit options. Along with your work capsule you still need your accessories and seasonal pieces like scarves, winter hats, gloves, and winter boots. These are necessary items if you live in an area that experiences a colder winter season.
Is your work wardrobe and weekend wardrobe separate or integrated?
I was asked if I could put together some fall/winter business casual workwear outfits to give some inspiration, so this weeks list is a fall/winter workwear capsule wardrobe. I thought it would be a better idea to break it down into what pieces I would include and then make outfits based on those pieces like with the packing lists. That way it’s easy to see what pieces you have that are similar or that you already own and what type of things you might want to add. If you refer to my A Simple Teacher Capsule Wardrobe in 5 StepsI give you a quick way to go through your clothes to see what you have that will be suitable for work and what you may need to add/substitute/or buy. It’s the easiest and most inexpensive way to build a work wardrobe.
I didn’t include bright colours because that is a preference of mine and I find it easier to make everything match if I follow a basic colour palette. But it would be very easy to build a more colourful wardrobe or add some colour with scarves, accessories, shoes. Even a bright blouse, sweater or blazer will add a nice burst of colour. This list is for fall so I obviously picked heavier knit sweaters, wool pants, and a wool jacket. Not included in this list is the rest of your winter gear like hats, scarves, gloves, and boots. When I was working in a professional environment I still walked and used public transport to work. This meant that I had to wear my winter boots and pack my heels/dress boots in my bag and switch over at work. It is a pain and doesn’t usually look very cute, but it is a common practice because a) It stops you from falling on your ass in winter and b) saves your work shoes from being destroyed by slush and snow.
I’m going to pair these in to outfits for the next post. I hope it gives some inspiration.
I had my first seasonal crafting fail this week. I guess not as much as a complete fail as a slight miscalculation and setback. When I was on Instagram I saw a photo of a lion hat that someone made for their Luna Lovegood Funko from a lion Beanie Boo. Luna wears a Gryffindor lion hat in the movie and since she is my daughters favourite Character (Roo’s not Merle’s. Merle is completely in love with Ron Weasely for some reason). I thought she would love it and it wouldn’t be too hard to make for Christmas. I searched online for the lion which I found at Chapters Indigo. They listed them as small medium and large. Based on the measurements I ordered the medium because I thought the small was the really tiny pocket-sized one. Nope, I needed the small because the medium is like a regular sized stuffed animal and the Funko literally can fit in the head entirely which totally doesn’t work. It looks like Merle inherited a lion stuffy by default and I have to order the small. I have this twinge of guilt thinking about taking the stuffies head off to make the hat, almost enough to abort the mission. I get worked up upset over weird shit though so it might be just me.
Have you had any crafting fails lately?
I’m working on some fall/winter business casual outfit ideas for work this week. If you have anything you’d like to see on here let me know.
At the end of a week that seemed to fly by these are the outfit options that go with the items in the What to Pack for London England in Fall list. The trip is for around a two-week duration and I put together 20 outfit options with definite room to make more. I love this time of year because you can so many looks out of a few pieces by simply layering. It’s easy to take a look from day to night by a switch of the footwear, change of accessories, and a refresher of hair and makeup.
One of my favourite things to do when I get bored or uninspired with my wardrobe is to try to pair some pieces that I have never worn all together before to get a completely different look (this includes accessories because we all know accessories can totally change a look). This same general idea can be applied to what you bring on vacation. It’s easy to plan enough outfits for the duration of your trip but sometimes your trip gets extended or situations come up that call for a different level of dressiness and if you haven’t planned it that detailed then you might panic and go out and buy something. Rule of thumb is to always pack something that is easily dressed up, be it a dress or separates. Sometimes all it takes is to throw on a blazer and heels. I always like to include several pieces in black because black is a very easy colour to dress up with minimal effort in a pinch.
I hope this post was able to give you some inspiration. Have a great trip 🙂
Have a great weekend! (If you aren’t working. Working on the weekend generally sucks.)
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Outfit 1 – 
