livelovesara - An over 40 Style and Travel Blog

What to Pack for London, England in the Fall

October 12, 2016Sara 2 Comments

Long weekends always throw me for a loop and I have trouble catching up from it so sorry this post is late. I really tried to get it out for morning but I gave up at 11 last night because I was getting a sore throat, my kid wouldn’t stay in bed, and I had the urge to play Candy Crush, and Pet Rescue in peace 😉

This is a last-minute request is for a mid-late October visit to London, England with a potential trip to Tokyo after. Both London and Tokyo will have very close temperature ranges over the next month but there is a 50% chance of rain in London on any given day. That means at least once every two days it will probably rain at some point so be prepared. It’s easy to keep a small umbrella in your bag for those occasions. The temperatures average around 12°C with highs of 16°C and lows of 9°C which is actually a quite comfortable temperature and a mid weight coat and sweaters will be weather appropriate.

I tend to gravitate towards flat heeled shoes in my lists because a) that is where my preference is (my shorter stack heeled booties are about as high as I go comfortably), and b) they are more comfortable to walk in for extended periods of time over the uneven grounds of many European cities as well as for chasing after kids in. If heels are your thing it is very easy to swap out from the list. I included a cute dress for dressier occasions as well as black pants, blouses, a cami, and blazer for instances where you need to dress up but in a more casual atmosphere. I would follow a similar format when selecting what to bring for Tokyo since the climates will be similar. The outfit options are in this post.

Are you a heels person?
There was a period that I wore heels all the time. Even while standing on my feet for 10+ hours a day while working. The thought of that now makes me cringe slightly, although I will wear them on dressy occasions (not super high though).

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

October 10, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to my fellow Canadians. It’s nice to get a holiday weekend before the weather starts to change too drastically, although there is a frost warning for tonight so I have to get my Succulents in the condo for the winter. We didn’t do much today. Just did some visits to a few Value Villages. I was looking for a new belt, some leather gloves (the girls took mine to use as “protection” when the were watering the cacti), checking out if they have any good jeans, and we always scope out the shoe section for Converse for the girls. Every single pair we have bought for them (Roo has like 32 pairs) are from Value Village. Then we came home for dinner.

On my to-do list for tonight (Sunday) is taking the shoulder pads out of Merle’s Beetlejuice suit jacket and then finding a good movie still of it so I can see the proper stripe placement. Since tomorrow is a holiday I will tape off the stripes and use the new fabric marker to colour them in. It’s like a super fat Sharpie with a more chalky consistency and I think it will work really well on the fabric based on the swatch test. We found some good fake teeth at Spirit Halloween on the weekend as well, along with makeup and hair colour spray. I’m excited to do a test run to see how it all pulls together. My kids totally take after Tom with a love for Halloween and all things creepy so they all get a kick out of this time of year. Me not so much. I burst in to tears and ran out the entrance of a haunted house once when a live character jumped out and screamed in my face. I can’t even watch The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, but I’m totally game for a walk through the Catacombs or a Jack-the-Ripper Walking Tour.

While we were in Spirit, Tom bought Merle this totally creepy baby doll in the picture below. She loves it in a Wednesday Adams sort of way. Don’t mind the vampire teeth, she decided it was a really good idea to chew gum while wearing them and they were stuck in her mouth for a bit. I don’t even really know how to react to that expect shrug and sigh. She takes after her dad with her decision-making skills 😉

Do you like Horror/creepy stuff?

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What to Wear in Cambodia

October 7, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

In the last post What to Pack for Cambodia I said that you need to pack based on your itinerary because there are a vast variety of things to do in Cambodia that need very specialized packing lists. Many visitors spend time walking the jungles and depending on the time of year your packing needs would fluctuate. This packing list reflects a city and beach vacation. WHile Cambodia is very hot at any time of the year, certain months are less hot and less wet. The request for this list is for a December vacation which isn’t as hot, nor during the rainy season.

Since it is so hot the best fabrics to include are lightweight, breathable fabrics like linen. Because the sun can be very intense during afternoons I chose to include a long sleeve, light blouse to wear to keep the skin covered. A light night scarf also works well as a cover from the heat and/or for modesty while entering temples and certain buildings. It is easy to keep the shirt tied around your waist or in your purse with the scarf in case you need it. Since Cambodia can be modest I chose a one pieces swimsuit and a nice sarong cover (which doubles as a beach blanket). Most of the items are from Mango as a request because it an easy retailer to have shipped to her location. Each one of these pieces are easily procured in a variety of stores (or from your own closet).

I hope you have a great vacation, thanks for the request 🙂

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What to Pack for Cambodia Packing Light

October 6, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

Cambodia is one of those destinations that can have completely different packing requirements depending on the activities you plan on doing. This list is more for if you are staying in the cities and/or at the beach resorts. If you are going to spend a lot of time in the jungles (because Cambodia has some amazing things to see in the jungles) you will need to pack accordingly.

Pants that can zip off, in a quick dry breathable fabric is a good start, long sleeve shirts with ventilated zips, hiking/jungle footwear, and if it is the rainy season then some leech socks are a good idea, along with mosquito spray, sun/rain protection gear, and anti malarial pills.

For now I am going to focus on more of a beach style vacation. Cambodia is a little more modest than many hot weather destinations in some regards so plan accordingly. It is really hot no matter what time of year you go, but this request is for a December trip which is slightly less hot and not during the rainy season.

Lighter, breathable fabrics is important like linen. Loose, flowy styles will be more comfortable, or long sleeves/pants covering the skin from the mid-day sun . A sun hat and sarong are good beach protection and a sarong can double as a beach blanket as well. Bringing a lightweight scarf to keep in your purse can work as sun protecter, and as a shawl to cover your shoulders when entering temples or buildings that require it. It is easy to keep in your purse and throw over your shoulders if you are wearing a sundress or tank.

You could probably get away with two pairs of shoes, (a trekking sandal, and a dressier espadrille) but I decided to also include a slide because they are an easy beach footwear options. Another good style to bring instead would be a pair of flip-flops, because everyone wears them there and they are easy. I included a cardigan mainly for wearing on the plane where it can get cold. If you don’t feel you will need it just omit it. This list is for 6 days and outfit options will be in the next post.

Have you ever been to Cambodia?

*Most of the items in this list are from Mango. I was asked to include as many as I could because it is the one online store that ships to her location.

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What’s Really in my Bag – Mom Edition

October 4, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

I have meant to do this for a while so I figured I’d might as well dump everything our quickly and get a quick shot. I always see the What’s in My Bag Posts and think, “that’s not in my bag, not even close.” So I thought I would take whatever purse currently has all my stuff in it, and dump it out on my bed so you can see what really, and truly is in my bag. Anyone that is a mom also knows the random shit that you end up carrying because of your kids and this reflects that as well. I should totally do this when I use my large purse, that thing holds everything plus the kitchen sink. I can just imagine what it would hold after a week or so. I also have the tendency to not clean them out very often so I find I probably carry a lot of shit around that I don’t need. This is all from the past weekend.

Here is what is in my bag as noted in the above picture:

My sunglasses
Merle’s sunglasses (yellow)
Scent card from Bath & Body Works
Two packs of gum (because the mint is “too spicy” according to Merle)
Chestnuts from a walk
Crumpled Kleenex
Pink cat ear headband
Old lottery ticket
Rubber Angry Bird (blue thing)
Compact
Lipstick
Wallet
Loose change
Hair pin and elastic
McDonald’s coffee card
Archie comic
Starbucks gift card with barely a balance
A handful of raw sugar packets from Starbucks (apparently I don’t need to grab some the next time I am at Starbucks)

What is the most random think in your purse right now?

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What I Wore This Week

October 3, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

I figured out something that I don’t like about condo living this weekend. Certain circumstances can cause extremely long wait times for elevators. I was taking my daughter to a class which really close by so we left only 20 minutes before the class started. On a normal day we would had arrived within 5-10 minutes depending on how pokey they were walking, but this time the elevator didn’t arrive for 20 minutes before we decided to take the stairs. In which I had to carry Merle for 7 floors because she gave up and moved at a snail’s pace. We were already late so by the time we reached the bottom and speed walked there I was ready for a rest 😉 It turns out that one elevator was booked for someone moving, another someone broke the door (by trying to move without booking the moving elevator), which left two for the entire building which has 32 floors. It was ridiculous and I can’t imagine what would have happened if there was a medical emergency or a person couldn’t physically walk down the stairs. It kind of reminds me of when I lived in Peterborough. The city was really terrible at staying on top of the snow and clearing the walks. It would get so bad in the winter you literally had to climb over huge drifts in some places. It pissed me off because I don’t know how elderly people, or people in wheelchairs managed to get around during the snow season. I am thankful that I don’t have to deal with that in this city.

Aside from that fall is in full force and I actually wore a toque, beanie, knit hat (whatever you call it where you live) for the first time this weekend because it was cold, windy and rainy. I missed wearing one 🙂 I also tried to clean my closet today but success was definitely not in the stars. Maybe tomorrow, but I am predicating no 😉

How is the weather where you are?

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