livelovesara - An over 40 Style and Travel Blog

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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What to Wear on a 4 Day Fall Getaway

September 30, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

This post gives the outfit options for the What to Pack on a 4 Day Fall Getaway from last post. The list was by request for some ideas on what to wear on a 4 day fall getaway that includes a birthday and an outdoor wedding. I put together 9 regular mix and match outfits from the 8 pieces of clothing and one dressy wedding outfit. At this time of the year, wearing sweaters and a light jacket will be warm and comfortable enough for everyday wear. Two bottoms, two tops, two sweaters, two shoes, and one jacket are the pieces I picked for the main wardrobe. With the bottoms I chose one denim and one pair of waxed black pants. The wax coating gives them a leather look without the heat or expense of leather pants. You may prefer two pairs of jeans or a skirt and pants as your bottom options instead, I just find that black is easy to dress up in a pinch. Whatever works best with your style is what you should bring.

Since this wedding they will be attending is an outdoor wedding in the fall, then planning an outfit that will be warm as well as fashionable and wedding appropriate took some thought. I figured that a black dress is always acceptable and versatile, and instead of wearing a jacket, a nice wool wrap will be both chic and comfortable. I chose the leopard print flats because they accent the wrap and add a nice touch to the outfit and the colours reflect autumn. While the trip is only for 4 days you can easily go for longer with the above options.

I hope I was able to ease some of your packing woes with these suggestions. I hope you have a great time 🙂

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What to Pack for a 4 Day Fall Getaway

September 28, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

I tend to stick to a 10 day packing list on here but once in a while I get requests for shorter durations. Anywhere from a weekend getaway to a month have been the norm for me and this week it is for a 4 day getaway that includes a birthday and a fall outdoor wedding. I needed to come up with a list that included several days of seasonably fashionable outfits and one wedding outfit that will be suitable for fall weather.

Two Sweaters, a white blouse, striped long sleeve, a pair of jeans, and black pants, flats and sneakers cover the outfits. A black dress with a camel coloured wrap and leopard print shoes are for the wedding. The outerwear is the wrap and a trench, with one scarf, a regular purse, and a clutch or the wedding.

Any jewellery is easy to pack and won’t take much room. The wrap is warm, dressy and the perfect fall colour, but any kind of cape, shawl/wrap, or pashmina will work as long as it isn’t too casual looking. There is enough clothes to get at least 10 days worth of outfits so there should be plenty of options for 4 days.

I will put together a 10 outfit options list for this Friday’s post.

What do you like to wear for a fall wedding?

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What I Wore This Week

September 26, 2016Sara 2 Comments

Every year at this time the moms in my Facebook groups get on to the topic of “what are you buying your kids for Christmas”. Sometimes it’s hard not to get sucked in with the comparison and ideas from others so you feel like need to buy your kids more because others are buying their kids a lot or “better” things. So bear with me. This post has all of my Christmas present thoughts and ideas as I am trying to avoid the Facebook discussions. I have some notes but If I don’t get them down in a more coherent way I will probably forget them.

It’s Saturday night (as I am typing this) and I have one kid in the bath and one cleaning her room and I am trying to covertly browse/shop for Christmas presents. It’s really hard to buy anything in secret when we go out because there is at least one child always with me. I remember last year we were at the mall in the Disney Store and somehow I was able to smuggle a Cheshire Cat stuffy into the view of the cashier. He saw what I was trying to do and gestured for me to throw it to him when Merle wasn’t looking and stuffed it in a bag for me. It was pretty funny and helped me out that day. My oldest will stay home with Tom, but Merle has a stroke if I leave without her. She has been that way since she was a baby and it is very exhausting. Anyway, because of this I buy 99% of the gifts online now but even that is hard since I can literally see in to each bedroom while I am sitting at my computer and whoever is in them can see me and what I have pulled up on the screen. I have become the master of minimizing windows and having 9 million tabs open. I have also been staying up extra late just so I can shop in peace.

I am glad that I started way back in June and I actually think that I am really close to being done with. The girl birthdays are November 24th, and December 14th so this time of year is quite expensive (hence the super early shopping). This year I have had an easier time buying for Roo than for Merle though. She has a lot of very specific hobbies, likes, and passions now so it’s easy to stick with those and find a lot of cool things. A couple of my favourite gifts I bought her are a Coraline collectible doll by NECA, and a replica Potions textbook from magicworldHP on Etsy. It has 10 reproduction pages with hand written notes from Snape in the margins to make it seem realistic. She is going to love it. I’m stumped for Merle though. She wanted a Kitty Surprise but for some reason they aren’t easy to find in Canada and buying from the U.S. is so expensive. Plus, she doesn’t like the pink one which makes it even harder since that is the easiest one to find. I have been buying her random things like a fake fur blanket, a cat matryoshka doll, a snow globe, weeping angel string lights, an Avada Kedavra shirt (her favourite spell) a Voldermort wand, and a beautiful Wizard of Oz pop up book. This probably seems like enough and it most likely is and she will be happy as shit but I am a good bargain hunter and dollar wise I have spent about $115 (the pop up book cost me $0.01 on Amazon used even though it looked brand new. Everything else I bought when on sale or had discount codes for) and I like to keep them fairly even in dollar value. I think a pair of pyjamas, a few books, and a board game may round us out if I can’t find the kitty surprise.

I’m not sure what I am getting for Tom. I saw a collection of Kiss records for a great price that I know he would appreciate and would love for his collection. My next problem to figure out is to find a spot to put our Christmas tree because there is a bookshelf in the spot we put it last year and there really isn’t many other options. I may actually have to move the entire room around to find a spot.

Where do you hide your Christmas presents?

Previous years it has been easy but as they get older they get sneakier. I have them all in random different areas since there is not much storage space. I literally have a little hand sketched map and notes of where I put each one so I don’t forget.

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What to Wear on a trip to the Pacific Northwest

September 23, 2016Sara 3 Comments

Fall, the favourite season of most people as well as a favourite time of year to travel. You get to avoid the summer tourists, the weather is usually perfect to spend all day walking around in without freezing or baking, there is still an ample amount of daylight, and you get to wear all the best pieces in your wardrobe 😉 (kidding about the last one, or maybe not). Although it is transitional weather it is still easy to pack light because you don’t need to pack bulky winter items. A light jacket and sweater will usually suffice in this weather with a scarf or two and a hat in case it is rainy/colder.

These outfit options go with the What To Pack for the Pacific Northwest Packing light list from yesterday. The list is for a fall trip for 7 days, neutral colours, and a casual style. I made 20 options from the pieces that can be seen at the top and bottom of this post.

What are your favourite places to visit in the Pacific Northwest?

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What to Pack for The Pacific Northwest

September 22, 2016Sara 6 Comments

Every morning I try to answer emails and messages that I get from people. Sometimes it takes me a couple of days to get caught up (Sometimes a little longer if your message didn’t forward to me properly). I want you to know that I read each one and am really trying to respond to everything but sometimes I may miss a few. If you have sent me a message via email, my blog contact page, Instagram comment or DM, Twitter, or via a blog comment and I have not responded yet I may have missed it or I may not have received it. I am sorry if that is the case and if you contact me again I will get back to you in 1-2 days. Thank you for all the compliments, suggestions, and requests. It really does help to keep me motivated and lets me see that my hobby benefits some of you.

This packing list comes via blog comment. The request is for 7 days in Oregon in the fall. I broadened to the Pacific Northwest since temperatures and weather won’t fluctuate too much through those states and in to the Southern part of British Columbia. Pick several items from this list for your travel outfit and you are left with 3 shirts, a sweater, a dress, 2 pairs of pants, a purse and two pairs of shoes to pack. You could easily just travel with two pairs of shoes instead of three but I added the flats and dress in case there was an opportunity to dress up. The rest of the choices are casual neutrals, that mix and match together very well.

The outfit options for this list can be found in this post.

Happy First Day of fall to my readers in the Northern Hemisphere 🙂

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