After some storms blew in on Tuesday it was really cool on Wednesday, so I ended up adding a cardigan to keep warm. And as a colleague pointed out, made a very purple outfit when paired with my bag! :)
Orange and black today as it was Halloween, haha! I wore orange last year too. We don't really dress up here in Australia, although I did see someone wearing devil horn headband on the bus and my bestie saw a man in lederhosen!
Getting back into most of my regular wardrobe post baby means a lot of options for what to wear each day. I participated in the #WinterStyleFile style challenge for a few days to help give me some direction for what to wear. Style challenges can be great at helping you to wear more of your wardrobe, but they are also useful when you feel overwhelmed and aren't sure what to wear.
The style challenge for the day was 'sparkle and sass' and I felt these Sass and Bide metallic jeans met the prompt perfectly. I was just doing a little shopping with the boys, picking up a few things for toddler T's upcoming birthday. These jeans seem dressier than my normal denim so they aren't worn as often, it was good to have an excuse to wear them even if I did feel a little overdressed for chasing toddler T around Big W! At least baby boy was on his best behaviour and napped quietly in his stroller...
The style challenge for this day was 'denim diva' which meant another excuse to wear my jeans. With the blue wrap top and skinny jeans together, I thought the purple scarf and cardi were nice accessories. I loved the colour combination of this outfit, but this cardigan is a bit thin and the playgroup we went to was really cold, I wished I'd worn a different layer. This wrap top, while great for breastfeeding, is thin and short-sleeved so I was chilly most of the morning. A bit of an outfit fail. Not because I didn't like any part of my outfit, but because it needed to be warmer!
As it's the second time I've worn this scarf and I'm reviewing everything I buy after wearing it twice to see if I'm making smart purchases, my purchase review:
I really like this scarf. I know I have too many scarves but I've been wanting to add some more plain ones to my collection. While this has a print, it's subtle enough that it isn't the main focus and makes it really wearable. I'm pleased I bought this.
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.
Can't believe it's almost the end of August already, this month has really flown by! Already Brisbane is starting to warm up, I'm excited for spring. As it's almost the end of the month, time for another budgeting bloggers monthly purchase update.
After doing #noBuyJuly15, I thought I might go a little crazy shopping this month, but I only bought one thing! It was a bit of a splurge.....
Now, what I've been wearing. Sharing some different denim outfits. First, skinny jeans (pre-knee injury) and second; flares and flats. I can thankfully squeeze the knee bandage underneath my flares without too much difficulty. It gives me another option so it's not just maxi skirts all the time!
This is one of my favourite outfits! I would happily wear this over and over again, I had no issues with any part of this through the day. Such a good outfit. I loved how well the colours worked together and how easy it was to wear and to come up with that morning.
I've been looking at all the tanks I have in my wardrobe lately. I always say I'll try wear them year-round but never do, so now it's starting to warm up a little as we come to the end of winter I'm trying to get a bit of wear out of them earlier than I usually would.
Wore this out for lunch at Ikea and a little bit of shopping (because I always end up shopping at Ikea!) with the family. Baby T got to taste his first Ikea meatballs too.
This was a few days after my knee injury. I really wanted to just stay home and rest it for a little longer, but we had more open houses to see. As I can't wear my skinny jeans with the thick knee bandage I'm wearing, I was looking for a maxi skirt to wear when I saw my flares and thought I'd give them a go. Was so happy to find out I could wear them over the knee brace.
Added the blazer to look a little more polished as we went around viewing all the houses. I think Beth summed it up nicely on my last post about house hunting, when you are walking around a stranger's house you want to look pulled-together and give off the impression "I can totes afford this house"!
First wearing of my new Balenciaga bag! As expected, I love it just as much as my blue one. Also my first attempts at wearing some too-short dresses.
Choies gave me the chance to order this striped dress for free, and they also threw in another dress as a gift. I was between sizes so went with my usual 'order a size larger to be safe', and also because I thought the extra length would be good. Being petite, I find that sometimes things that look short on the models are actually an okay length on me, but there is no harm in having an extra centimetre or two.
Both dresses arrived, and are lovely, but as I shared on instagram, they are much too short! So I've had to come up with other ways to wear them. Thought this post might be helpful for others who have received too-short dresses they can't return or that aren't worth the cost of returning. It's also a good reminder to check the length measurements before ordering something and not just the bust and waist!
I thought I'd try wear tights with this to make myself a little more comfortable with the short length, but I really wasn't comfortable in this at all! I think I should have picked a longer cardigan, that had the length in the back I felt the dress was missing whenever I bent down to pick up toddler T.
I've also mentioned in the past that I can't wear tights with the compression bandage I have for my injured knee. It's designed to keep the muscles warm, so I have to wear it under clothing so it's right next to my skin and it gets a bit warm through the day. When I add tights, it's just much too hot. I thought this day would be okay though as it was cold and rainy....nope. My knee got so hot so quickly. I couldn't wait to take this off! A bit of an outfit fail all round.
How would you wear this dress differently? I was thinking maybe as a bikini cover up for the beach...
After the outfit fail the day before, I knew I'd need a bit more coverage with this dress! While it does have the right length in the back and even in the front, it has curved hems so it comes up short on the hips. I belted it like a tunic over jeans. It would look better with skinny jeans, but I can't squeeze the knee bandage under them.
I really liked this outfit though! I felt happy and comfortable all day. I really like the way the dress looks belted, and I wasn't worrying about what it looked like from behind every time I bent down as I had jeans on underneath. It's a really comfortable cotton, which helps as it feels good to wear. I'm thinking this would look nice worn as a top and tucked under a skirt too...I can see lots of other ways to wear this dress. Definitely a winner, even if I don't wear it as a dress as it was intended!
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!
Here's what I wore to run errands and have dinner at a friend's on Saturday:
Cardi: Jeanswest Dana drape knit cardi in Boysenberry Tee: AWLQ Shelter Dog grey tee Jeans: Jeanswest blue skinny jeans Shoes: Asos Cleo leather boots in tan Bracelets: the usual plus silver charm bracelet Bag: Chloe Paddington in 2007 Brun It was a little chilly near the end of the day so I wore a purple cardi over my jeans and tee outfit. Of course it covers up the print on the tee, haha. It says "a shelter dog changed my life...". Had a really nice evening catching up with friends and playing poker. Cooper even 'played'.
Had a really nice day today - went to church with the family (where my sister kindly took a blog photo) and then had lunch and a day out with my mum and sister. Came home to work at Church Online in the evening. Had planned to wear jeans but my sister convinced me otherwise, and we both ended up wearing a dress and leggings. Was quite warm in the sun after church, so I was glad I'd chosen the dress!
First, #noSpenderSeptember results! After achieving #noBuyJuly16 and only buying two things in August, I decided to tackle a #noSpenderSeptember challenge, inspired by Beth from Almost Posh. I'm pleased to report that even with a trip to the outlets, I didn't buy any clothes or accessories. October is Buy Nothing New month and while I've considered doing another no-buy month I'm not going to commit just yet.
This year I tallied up my spend in June for the year and said it would be nice to spend less than that in the last 6 months of the year - so far I'm managing to do so! I think the change in weather bringing up new outfit options within my wardrobe has helped me feel more content with the clothes I already own.
When Brisbane started to hit proper spring temperatures I got all excited and declared it kimono season! I was quickly looking out my cardigans again not too long after though as we got some really wet weather.
There is not a single thing I'd change about this outfit, I loved every part of it. I wanted to try purple with this kimono, really liked the navy with the v-neck tee.
Took the boys to DFO (outlet stores) to pick out some cute outfits for an upcoming photoshoot. I got lucky when I visited the baby expo a few months ago and won a competition! The prize was a photoshoot and gift voucher. I'm looking forward to having some updated family photos, and wanted to try and get a little matching outfit for the boys.
Although there was a ton of sales and extra discounts and even a Jeanswest store, I stuck to my #noSpenderSeptember challenge and only bought lunch, I didn't buy anything else. I had no luck tracking down an outfit for the boys sadly.
The style challenge for the day was 'old faithful' so I figured these jeans that are over 10 years old would be a good thing to wear. I needed a cardigan to keep cosy as it was a really rainy day. You can't see that in the photos though. When a toddler distracts you as you are adjusting the exposure and you can't double-check the photos right away, you end up looking really washed out. ;)
This tee is leaving my wardrobe. I bought it in 2012 for $5 and it's been worn 7 times since then. I'm constantly looking at it in my wardrobe thinking I should wear it again. It's nice but it's a bit of a pain to wear (the back is completely sheer so I have to layer) and I have other tops I enjoy wearing more. Looking at it and thinking 'I should really wear this again' without actually wearing it was getting annoying too. Time for it to go.