Showing once again that this Luna blue Rebecca Minkoff Edie bag goes with everything for today's Weekday Wear Link Up. Sharing some striped tee and skinny jeans outfits I wore recently with black Converse and colourful cardigans.
Sneaking another weekend outfit into the Weekday Wear Link Up! Wore this for a very relaxed weekend - a trip to the library with the kids in the morning, and then a BBQ at our friend's house in the afternoon to check out their renovations. It was such a nice day for it, this light cardigan was all I needed. I didn't want to overdress for a backyard BBQ but thought the bright purple cardigan and the silver foil stripes elevated this jeans and tee outfit just enough to look a little more special for the occasion.
One of our friends brought their dogs too so with us having Cooper along also there were dogs and kids everywhere - everyone had a great time, even if we had to leave a little early to get the kids home.
It's not the first time I've worn this mustard cardigan with the olive jeans, I really like the combination so it's on frequent repeat in the colder weather. Initially I was just going to have this outfit without a scarf, like the one above, but it was a super cold morning so I was hunting around at the last minute for a scarf to wear. This infinity scarf was perfect! The shades of green were a little coordinated with the olive jeans, and I love print mixing with florals and stripes.
Again I wore the Rebecca Minkoff Edie bag, roomy enough for all my essentials with and a lot more, and it worked well as my son had a few things for me to take home after my session helping out in his classroom. It was a special celebration day for the class so they didn't do any of the usual work I help them out with, which was a nice change for us parent volunteers, and the kids! After that it was just working from home until it was time for school pick up again in the afternoon, when thankfully it was a bit warmer!
Striped tees are a classic wardrobe staple, and are often worn with jeans. To try make your outfit stand out a little more, you could add a bright and colourful cardigan. perfect for colder winter days.
Weekday Wear Linkup #182
Welcome to the Weekday Wear linkup! A linkup for you to share your weekday outfits - whether that is office wear or stay at home mum wear - if you wore it on a weekday, you can link it up!
Guidelines: 1. Please link to a specific outfit post, not your blog homepage. 2. Link back to this post so others can find the link up. 3. Follow your host Away From The Blue on Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. 4. Add up to two posts and be sure to visit and comment on as many other posts as possible to get some weekday outfit inspiration! Optional: tweet the post you linked up with the hashtag #weekdayWearLinkUp so I can retweet!
Layering up some printed jeans for winter and adding a little colour with tonal tee and cardigan pairings. With all that colour I wore my latest neutral handbag purchase, the Chloe small Ethel in light khaki. Comfortable and colourful for some vet visits for Cooper. He's really been a frequent patient this year unfortunately!
I wasn't sure at first if this pink tee would work with this purple cardigan but I thought if it did work it would be a nice tonal combo, and I'm so glad I gave this a wear! I'd planned the outfit the week before but it turned out to be the perfect thing to wear for another day in lockdown. Instead of the school run and some time at the playground as planned, it was taking Cooper to the vets for an operation and a brief visit to the doctors. The cheerful colours really helped boost my mood! Thankfully Cooper is home recovering well from his operation. I'm so glad the vets were still able to see him even in lockdown.
This bright and colourful outfit was again planned in advance. I felt it had been a while since I had gotten these pink leopard print jeans out, and a quiet Friday before the lockdown with not much planned other than the school run seemed like a good time to give them another wear. With the bright pink I thought the neutral navy cardigan and pastel blue tee would be another good tonal combo. Like the pink and purple above, pink and blue is another combination I really enjoy wearing. The Converse were another way to add even more blue to this outfit. And again, a good neutral bag with all that colour, the small Chloe Ethel.
After snoozing my alarm a couple time I finally got up and ready for the day and came downstairs to find the wrapper for a bar of chocolate on the floor, all torn open. Not the best start to the day when I picked it up confused and noticed the bite marks on it - Cooper had at some point in the night helped himself to a bar of dark chocolate. One panicked call to the emergency vet later, and a few tears when she ran the calculations for a tiny Shih Tzu of his weight and the amount of (toxic to dogs) dark chocolate he consumed, we rushed him off so they could remove it from his stomach.
Thankfully he lived to tell the tale, and oddly enjoyed his charcoal medicated food for a few days. And all chocolate is now out of his reach! It seems like an bizarrely upbeat and cheerful outfit for such a stressful day, but I had no idea what I was going to stumble across that morning. Thank goodness he did leave the wrapper in such an obvious place and this had a happy ending!
Printed jeans look great with basic block colour pieces like tees and cardigans. An ideal way to layer up in winter is to pick tonal colours from the same family for a monochromatic outfit that works with any print!
Wore this to go to a special Under 8s celebration day at my son's school. Under 8s Week is a week of fun events and activities for the little ones, and while my son missed out last year because of the 6 week lockdown we had with no school, the school went all out this year for the event. Younger siblings welcome meant I got to spend a busy morning running around with both kids as they drew, did crafts, got their face and hair painted, had a dance party, played in the sand pit and with some construction toys. So much fun for them!
It was a colder morning but I was hopeful it would warm up, so I layered up this old ASOS grey skater dress with this purple cocoon cardigan and bright mixed print scarf. I thought the print and colours would go nicely with the plain two tone grey dress, and the bright neon pink looked great with the purple cardigan. Ended up keeping both the scarf and cardigan on most of the day though - it didn't warm up as much as I'd hoped! Was an easy outfit for the fun day at school still, and a trip to the library before school pickup.
This was a really chilly morning and I regretted my decision to wear this striped tee dress with bare legs for the school run! I had a busy day ahead though of last minute errands for my son's upcoming birthday party that weekend, and I figured we'd be rushing around between shops and the car so I wouldn't need anything too warm. It warmed up later too, and although I took the cardigan off I kept the scarf on all day.
This leopard print scarf is a fun one I got from my mum for Christmas. I do love leopard print scarves with stripes, and I liked it with the dress! The pink spots are a close (but not exact) match for the magenta-ish purple cardigan too! This is the first cardigan I hit 30 wears with, it's so colourful and cosy for winter!
A simple summer dress can be easily layered up for cooler weather. By picking a neutral dress like the grey skater one or the black and white striped tee dress, you can use scarves and cardigans (and even your bag) to add more colour to your outfit.
It's been a very hot spring so far in Brisbane but the mornings and evenings started out a little cooler, so I decided to add some cardigans to my shorts and tee outfits to keep me warm. Even if I did end up taking both cardigans off by lunchtime 😂
I really like pink and purple together and I like how this purpley-magenta cardigan works so nicely with the neon pink Rebecca Minkoff mini MAC bag. They were fun accessories with the monochromatic grey tee and black printed shirt too. The cardigan became much too hot halfway round the trail the kids were biking and scooting around so I quickly took it off. Had been perfect in the colder start to the day though.
Nice quiet day with the kids, shorts and tee and Converse was a great outfit, even if the cardigan didn't stay on long.
This navy cardigan didn't stay on long at all! It had seemed like a nice idea in the morning but I quickly realised during swimming lessons that it was far too hot for it, and left it in the car!
I did like the way the navy cardigan worked so well with the navy printed shorts and the bright mustard tee, just was a much warmer day than I anticipated! I like mustard and navy together, and although the yellow in the print on the shorts is lemon I think the mustard tee paired nice with it and was a fun pop of colour with the navy. I went a little matchy-matchy with my accessories, wearing my metallic silver mini MAC bag and also my glittery silver sneakers.
How You Can Wear It: In spring and autumn, cardigans are great layers to add for the cooler mornings and evenings and aren't too bulky to pop in a bag if you take them off during the day. You can try wearing your cardigans with printed shorts when you know the day is going to heat up, using the cardigan to add more colour like I did in the first outfit, or matching the print in the shorts like I did in the second outfit. Linking up with Fancy Friday, Fabulous Friday, Lizzie In Lace, Weekend Wear.
I love tank tops, they are essentials for our Brisbane weather. As the two outfit photos below show, they can be layered up for a cooler day, and worn on their own when it heats up. Perfect for spring with the fluctuating temperatures!
As I shared on instagram, this is the 30th wear of this cardigan. I bought it pre-blog so I know it's been worn more times than that, but I didn't have regular outfit photos then. I've been wearing it a lot lately as I was so eager to hit that 30 wear mark before proper spring weather arrived and it got too warm for this to be worn. It's the reason why I packed it to take to Sydney!
I've worn this tank and cardigan together before too. Since I loved this outfit pairing of the printed tank with purple skinny jeans, I've been recreating that with the purple cardigan! To try and make it a little different I picked grey jeans this time instead of the black jeans I wore last time. I had a much nicer day than I did last time I wore the tank and cardigan together!
We spent the day at my parents, decorating biscuits before lunch, which the boys loved as always! While all the purples are slightly different shades in this outfit, I loved wearing this and think it turned it really well. Comfortable for a day visiting my parents too.
A quick stop at the post office in the morning, then we headed to my local ABA mother's group. The discussion topic was 'managing a newborn and toddler'. While those days are behind me now and I have two toddlers (time flies so fast!) it was great to share the things that helped me and smile at the stories of things happening now and in the past that were so similar to my own experiences.
Unlike the rainy and cool spring day above, this was a much warmer day that allowed me to wear the sleeveless tank without any extra layers. I haven't worn this tank for a while, it's been sitting near the front of my wardrobe to remind me to wear it. The colour is incredible and it's one of those pieces it's so tempting to just 'save' for special occasions! I'm trying to get more wear from pieces in my wardrobe and enjoy what I own, so this top was definitely due another wear.
As I love pink and purple together, the purple accessories seemed like a good choice with this tank. I thought that the printed jeans would be a nice pairing with the pink tank too, to add a little more interest to my outfit.
How You Can Wear It:
A button up tank is a great stay at home mum staple! It can feel a little more pulled-together than a regular tank, but is just as easy to wear. Button up tanks are perfect for breastfeeding, without the need to buy anything special just for feeding and that have the added bonus of being able to be worn afterwards too! Linking up with Fashion Frenzy, Fashion Files, Fun Fashion, On The Edge, Friday Faves, Passion for Fashion.
In October we took the boys on their first flight down to Sydney for a few days. I'm sharing what we did and things to see in Sydney if you're travelling with toddlers. If you want to skip that, I've included my regular outfits too.
Toddler T is 3, and Baby Boy is 19 months. Both are good walkers. We took a travel stroller and I had my Ergobaby carrier. The stroller was great for carrying the baby bag, layers to wear and food and snacks for the boys but we didn't think Sydney was very stroller friendly. Sydney had daylight savings time but it was only an hour different from Brisbane so we stuck to Brisbane time as normal.
I was looking forward to this day the most! I didn't have a lot of space as we packed light, mostly taking extra clothes for the boys. I still prioritised so while I wore the same Converse every day, I had room for a change of bag and instead of my Louis Vuitton speedy bandouliere I swapped out to this magenta Balenciaga day bag for our morning at the aquarium and spending the afternoon with my bestie. She has a magenta Balenciaga bag too so I had to wear this for the occasion!
Did wish I'd packed another jacket, as it was an overcast and colder day and this purple cardigan was the warmest piece I'd packed.
We landed in Sydney in the afternoon, and it was off to where we were staying for nap time. I will not be sharing the name of the place we stayed as it was the worst place I have ever stayed and if there had been other options available I would have demanded a refund and moved out.
After failed nap time for Toddler T, I took him with me on my bloggy date with Rachel from a Nesting Nomad. It was great to catch up with her again, after meeting her in Brisbane a while back. I followed Google Maps but failed to realise the route resulted in walking up a very long hill to get to the meeting point. Only slightly late. Sorry again Rachel!
We walked through Hyde Park to let Toddler T run around a bit, then met up with Hubby and Baby Boy once he'd woken up. We went for a walk around Paddy's markets and through Chinatown before going to Darling Harbour.
Tip: Darling Harbour playground is perfect for toddlers.
The boys had the chance to run around and play to expend some energy after sitting still on the flight. Lots of lovely restaurants nearby for dinner options too, although we went back to where we were staying and ordered takeout!
Day Two
A cold and dull day, it was supposed to rain so we headed to the aquarium as we suspected we might. We hadn't bought our tickets in advance, not wanting to tie ourselves down to anything much with two toddlers.
Tip: Buy your aquarium ticket in advance. The line to purchase was extremely slow.
The aquarium was worth the wait though, the boys loved it. Despite it being perfect indoors weather and a weekend, there was plenty of space for the boys to run around from exhibit to exhibit as it wasn't too crowded. There were roving staff members in a few rooms presenting and talking about things to see, as well as lots of helpful educational information near each tank. Made it easy to explain to the boys what they were seeing, even though they were a little young to read for themselves.
Tip: Take toddlers to the bathroom before you enter. The bathrooms are at the end of the aquarium which is not what you want to discover halfway round.
After the aquarium, we attempted to head over the Pyrmont bridge to get to the shopping centre for lunch. I have fond memories of walking along the bridge on holiday as a kid, back when the monorail was still there! So difficult to do with a stroller though. We'd walked past the lift a few times before we found it, and then getting the lift down into the shopping centre on the other side of the harbour involved getting out on the top floor, walking through the shopping centre, getting another lift down then walking back to go to where we wanted to eat for lunch. On our way back we just walked around the harbour in the cold rather than attempt the silly lift system again.
As the boys napped, my bestie arrived and I snuck out leaving hubby and the boys to rest as we went to the Lindt Cafe for some chocolate and a catch up. It might have just been the company, but it was easily one of my favourite meals in Sydney, as we shared the 'dome of decadence' between 3 of us.
Tip: Lindt Cafe might be a little too chocolate filled to be a good option with a toddler, but they do takeaway!
After an amazing afternoon catching up, it was dinner time and we just headed to the nearest McDonalds for a fuss-free meal, perfect for toddlers!
Day Three
The day Toddler T was looking forward to most - a trip to the zoo and a ride on a Sydney Ferry!
After a slight detour into the Rocks, we eventually made our way to Circular Quay and had the chance to take photos with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
Tip: The Rocks is NOT stroller friendly, don't even try it. Or you'll end up stuck looking down on the harbour realising the only way down is a very long flight of stairs with a stroller. Thanks again Google Maps!
I expected some excitement from the toddlers about the landmarks we'd been pointing out in books for weeks, but it was of course all about the boats! There was a big cruise liner docked while we were there which was exciting to see.
After buying our tickets we hopped on the ferry to go to Taronga Zoo. It's a short trip, just enough time for the toddlers to enjoy being on a boat and you to point out and take photos of all the landmarks before you arrive at the zoo.
Tip: You don't need to travel round all of Circular Quay to get landmark photos with toddlers - just hop on the Manly ferry and take photos from the boat!
When we arrived at the zoo, as we had bought our tickets in advance we were able to take the gondola up over the animals to the very top, with amazing views of the harbour. Of course it was the animals you fly over that the boys enjoyed more than the view! Tip: buy your zoo ticket in advance, even if just at the ferry terminal. It gives you the ability to take a gondola up to the top of the hill and work your way down.
Starting at the top of the zoo made getting around with the stroller very easy, no need to push up any hills. While we didn't see all the animals (we skipped the aquatic section after the aquarium the day before, and the line for the tiger experience was too long for a toddler's attention span) the boys had a great time running around and getting up close with the animals we did see.
We had lunch at 'The Fish Stop' which does have non-seafood options, and was less busy than the central 'Food Market' although it does have less choices. It was so easy to get food and then sit in one of the many picnic areas right next to it, with incredible views of the Sydney city and the harbour.
Tip: Grab a bite to eat at 'The Fish Stop' or bring a picnic and sit back on the lawns for an amazing view out over the harbour!
While the monkeys were the favourite animal of the day (and it was incredible watching one of them mesmerised by my teething necklace!) there were so many to choose from. There was a lovely playground in the farm animal section. Although it was geared towards older kids the boys really enjoyed playing there for a break from animal-watching.
The walk back to the ferry was a really nice downhill stretch, and while you do have to go through a gift shop as you exit the big shark tank and presentation that was on around the sharks meant the boys were nicely distracted as we left, souvenir free. If only that had been the case at the aquarium, ha!
Once we got back to Sydney, we headed to Helm Bar for dinner. I'd looked up a few places online for food and Helm bar was highly recommended, but seemed like a noisy party bar every time we passed it before. Having no luck finding anywhere else open on a Sunday night in our price range, we went there as it was listed as wheelchair accessible. While there's no easy way to get a stroller up the stairs to the bar, there is a lovely beer garden you can sit in and order food and drinks. It was perfect for families.
Food was so well priced, especially for Sydney, and the boys loved their kids meal. I'm still sad we tried it on the last night so I couldn't go back for another schnitzel burger - definitely will be next time I'm in Sydney!
Day Four
This was our travel day, we didn't do much other than pack up, prepare another lunchbox full of snacks for the plane trip home, and make our way to the airport.
Top Tips for Travelling With Toddlers
Have transport options
The toddlers can walk, and we had the stroller and Ergo Baby carrier for babywearing so there were options when the boys didn't want to walk any more.
Be flexible
We had a general list of the sights we wanted to see but didn't buy any tickets in advance so that our days could change if necessary, and we weren't feeling rushed as we didn't try to do too much each day. One activity or outing is fine, and just wing it for the rest of the day.
Pack snacks
This works for the plane flight too, but when you're in a new place you might not know how far away the next kid-friendly place to eat is, so having snacks with you for the toddlers and yourself comes in helpful.
Take lots of photos
The only regret I had in Sydney was that I didn't take a lot of photos (a few hundred over the 4 days instead of my usual couple of hundred I take a day when something exciting is going on!).
Would we do it again?
Not until the boys are bigger and the stroller isn't needed - it was a real pain trying to fit the stroller in places - even though we packed a small umbrella travel stroller instead of our usual big one. Sydney definitely felt a lot more cramped and less stroller friendly than Brisbane.
Unlike the outfit above, I actually found it too warm to wear the cardigan on this day and wished I hadn't brought it! We took the boys to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House at last (our third day in Sydney...) and hopped on the Manly Ferry over to Taronga Zoo.
The benefit of wearing the Ergo Baby carrier in the back carry position (you can just see Baby Boy's little foot peeking out in the pic!) is that it's easy to wear a cross body bag, and my Louis Vuitton speedy bandouliere was perfect for keeping my camera close by for walking around the zoo.
