livelovesara - An over 40 Style and Travel Blog

What to Pack for Greece and Belgium

May 4, 2016Sara 2 Comments

It probably seems that all I am posting are packing lists lately, but I recently got flooded with requests and I am trying to get them all posted in time for each individual’s vacation. It’s keeping me busy 🙂 I am trying to get through all my June requests asap since we are now into May, because I hate being a last-minute packer and it’s always good to too a packing dry run in advance.

This request is for a 14 day vacation that will cover both Greece and Belgium in June. These two cities have very different weather and temperatures so she was having some difficulty trying to figure out what to pack when you have temperatures ranging from 13°C to +30°C. I call this my mom list because this is what I would pack on this type of vacation with kids. The clothing options are casual cool, easy to wear, and comfortable.

I kept everything fairly neutral so they would all go together more easily. Aim for cotton, linen or other materials that are cool and will breathe in the heat. The long sleeve cotton blouse can easily be left open over tanks and tees, or with the sleeves rolled up and knotted at the waist over dresses and swimsuits. The options are limitless even when you don’t bring your whole closet to choose from.

I decided on 6 tops, 2 pullovers, one cardigan, a t-shirt dress, a maxi dress, one pair of jeans and black pants, one loose cropped pant (I thoroughly enjoy these pants and want them), a swimsuit, and a pair of shorts. A light jacket is recommended and for me I would bring my leather jacket because that is my go-to staple (other options may include a jean jacket, a blazer, or even a trench).

I decided only one pair of sandals were needed along with a canvas running shoe, and a pair of ultra short booties. The accessories are basic and include a foldable hat, a bright coloured scarf/swimsuit wrap, sunglasses, a tote, and cross body.

She asked that I use my Alaskan Cruise packing list as inspiration because it reflected her style best, so I tried to stay within the same style and inspiration. She also will be travelling with her children and won’t have need to any evening wear, so these pieces are going to lean more towards casual.

I will be supplying the outfit options for this list in next post. I hope it can give you some ideas. Thanks for the request!

Have you ever packed for different climates in one trip?

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What I Wore this Week

May 2, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

I have had seemingly good luck with find things at Winners lately especially in the shoe department. I first found my Fryes which are my holy grail of shoes, and last week I found these tan booties for about $35. I mentioned that I needed to add some colour variety to my shoe selection because everything is black so I though a nice tan pair would be a good start. Next I am aiming for something leopard and something red. The heel on theses boots is quite low, and they are very easy to walk in. I have issues walking in heels. I think it is more of a self-conscious people are watching me so watch me trip sort of thing, but issues nevertheless.

Apparently I only took three pictures this week of what I was wearing. Whoops. Sometimes the days all blend and I miss a day here and there thinking I took one when I obviously didn’t. I also walked out of stores twice this week without taking my bag of merchandise with me. Memory issues. I did manage to get a couple of shots of the new girlfriend jeans this week (top two photos). I also received my new striped boxy tee from Everlane which I am going to try on to see how many things I can wear it with over the next few days.

I told my husband that the weather this week was looking like it would be nice because he was/is working outside a lot. He got up at 2:30 am today to go to work (he is in film and sometimes they start filming waaaay early) before you could tell what the weather was going to be like. I woke up to cool, overcast, and rain many hours later. He just texted me to let me know how miserable it was and he was basically working in a cold mud hole today. I feel bad that I forgot to mention there was a 70% chance of rain.

This weekend we did one of my favourite things, going to the flea markets and antique shopping. It’s not always successful but I found a few things this time like an old ABBA record that has all the good songs, and a vintage leather, weighted jump rope that is in awesome shape and will last forever. My regular run of the mill jump rope doesn’t even compare unsurprisingly. They definitely don’t make things like they used to. I decided that this week I was really going to kick my ass in gear to get it ready for summer. When we went grocery shopping today I loaded up on only good things to cut out the temptation. That decision proved to be wise because I was already pilfering through the cupboards looking for some kind of snack foods tonight. Ugh. I m my own worst enemy and have zero will power. I am trying the early to bed early to rise thing as well to see how that plays out with fitting exercise in better because I am truly running out of excuses. I am remaining hopeful.

Anyone else on the getting fit for summer train?

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What to Wear in London England

April 29, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

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What to Pack for London England – Packing Light

April 28, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

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What I Wore this Week

April 26, 2016Sara 5 Comments

My what I wore this week posts are actually a round-up of what I wore over the course of last week but I think you get the gist 🙂 It was quite nice this week so we did a lot of walking around the area. Even though my 5-year-old can take what should be a 20 minute walk and turn it in to 1.5 hours to get to the destination. I miss the days when she sat in a stroller and I could walk anywhere as fast or as slow as I want, stop where I want, look at what I want. Now I have to watch the light change 3 times before I can wrangle her up to cross the street, pull her out from under racks, and watch her like a hawk because she will be gone in the blink of an eye. My oldest was so easy compared to her, I guess you don’t get that lucky twice? (kind of kidding, I love her dearly and wouldn’t want to change her or crush her spirit. I am learning to embrace her obstinateness) I know we should bask in the joy of discovery and wonder in our kids, but I’m not a super patient person at all so I end up taking a deep breathe and internally chanting “they are only a kid once….”. We went to Ikea on Sunday which is one of my most favourite places, I made Merle sit in a cart because I spend more time chasing her and telling her to walk beside me than actually being able to look around and enjoy myself. You would have thought that I committed a serious crime by the way she carried on through the store because she was in a cart. Her butt hurt, she couldn’t see, she was bored. I was tempted to check her into the kid play centre but knew they would be calling me on the PA to come get her within minutes. Then we bought her a hot dog and all was right in the world again. She is only a kid once….

Do any of you have a child that keeps you on your toes 27/7?

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Links and Things

April 25, 2016Sara 7 Comments

I realized that I never reported back with the two pieces that I bought from ASOS that I included in my year-long capsule. I included them without actually having tried them on yet but I had faith in their worthiness 😉 They arrived in the mail about a week and a half ago and I tried them and took a couple of quick pictures. The T-shirt dress is the perfect length for me since I am short. I was worried that it was going to be to big and baggy on my frame but it works out nice. The kimono top is light, breezy and drapes well. They are good purchases that will get a lot of use so I am happy. They both look good with my leather jacket as well which is a necessary criteria for me.

I am looking for an online Astronomy course that I can take with my 11-year-old. I am more interested in the classical astronomy of the study of stars because I think it will be more interesting for her at this time since she likes ancient Greeks. I am also looking for a decent but not super expensive telescope as well so if you have any suggestions for either I would greatly appreciate to hear it.
I am also looking for a smoking slipper possibly in a leopard print. I am open to other cool prints/colours, but I am having no luck with something that doesn’t cost $500+ that I actually like. I am looking for a pair like this, this, or this minus the hefty price tag (they remind me of 18th century Marie Antoinette fashion which I kind of love). I actually like these ones too since I am a sucker for yellow and the price isn’t super atrocious although I would rather not have to pay it 😉
I have stayed up way too late lately reading every night. I drag my ass during the day but night-time seems to give me a second wind. I wish that I could switch this around though because I need to amplify my day-to-day productivity. This means I need to go to bed earlier which means that it will cut in to my quiet reading time which gives me the sads. The book that has kept me up for the last week chronicles the history of hygiene and is called The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg . I’ve actually read it before but it was a long time ago so it is like reading it for the first time. I am all over the place in my book tastes but I really like being immersed in another time (preferably medieval) either fiction or no fiction where you can almost smell what it would have been like. Gross but I enjoy that much descriptive detail.
When I posted My Year Long Capsule Wardrobe list, it was for as it stands at the moment. I admitted that there were some holes that need filling and would be filled as I found the pieces. One of those holes was for a striped long sleeve. I wanted one that was looser fit than the usual ones that I see and came across this boxy one at Everlane. I ordered it last week and it should arrive some time this week (if the customs people cooperate). I plan on updating my capsule collage as I get new pieces.
I don’t know if you have paid attention to the issues I have had with finding a pair of boyfriend jeans. I posted my issues on Instagram and the responses I got made me realize that a lot of us are having these same issues. “The struggle is REAL” is a common response that I got. I found a pair (and they are currently on sale for $47) from Gap that actually worked that I will be taking some pictures of today or tomorrow. They are a slimmer girlfriend style but that seems to work better on my body than the baggier boyfriend cut. I will make a post about them soon.

Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with boyfriend jeans?

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