Nice comfy outfit to work from home on Thursday. Had to pop out to the doctors and the post office. Got my flu shot at the doctors, but didn't get the standard lolly afterwards. Bought myself a magnum on the walk home instead ;)
If my Havaianas could meet the dress code at work, I'd be wearing them all the time! They fit my swollen preggo feet well. Switched up a little and wore the aqua ones instead of my usual go-to black ones. My usual black ones do have silver embellishment on them though, do you think that meets the definition of "ladies dress sandals" allowed in our dress code?! I wish!
Casual Friday in the office and I decided to try the maxi dress approach again. Not very original, just doing the same thing I did a few weeks ago with the belted jacket over the top. It was such a lovely combination, I wanted to wear it again. Did try to change it a little by picking a different lightweight jacket this time :) I really like the cut-out detail on this one.
With the autumn weather starting to arrive in Queensland, you will be seeing lots of different levels of layered outfits if you follow me on instagram as the weather is quite varied. One thing it thankfully always is though is cooler in the morning and evenings. That means for two early morning starts to attend church I needed an extra layer over my maxi dresses, and this denim jacket was perfect.
I bought this denim jacket either before or during my uni days - can't remember exactly. I'm sure it's clocked up more than 30 wears but I didn't regularly take outfit pictures before I started the blog. I love a maxi dress and denim jacket outfit when it's cooler.
This was my Easter Sunday church outfit! I usually go to (and volunteer at) Church Online. But for special occasions it's nice to go to an actual physical church building. Currently swimming lessons are stopping us from going regularly but I'll want to take the boys more often when they get bigger.
This is easily one of my favourite maxi dresses - it was a perfect pregnancy dress too, and is a dedicated nursing piece. With the denim jacket it was perfect for a morning at church, watching the boys eat chocolate eggs with lunch and then going out for dinner with the family.
This was another church outfit! Wore this to go to a new church that a family friend had started up. It was their first time in a new building and it's kind of close to where we live so we wanted to go and support them on their first day.
Although this maxi dress is a bold and colourful choice on it's own, I decided to branch out a little and pair the mustard yellow micro Regan bag with it. A very colourful outfit for me, but one I really loved!
You don't have to reserve your maxi dresses for spring and summer! Wear them in autumn or any cooler day with a denim jacket for warmth and an easy, simple outfit. Perfect for the days when you're in a rush trying to get yourself and two toddlers organised and out the door.
While baby has arrived, I've got a few more pregnancy outfits scheduled to share on the blog. Being behind with blogging has worked out well, I still have posts to share while I'm spending the majority of the newborn days in my PJs!
First up, although it's April I won't be doing a budget post wrap up. I didn't buy any new clothes or accessories in March, instead shopping for a few things for baby.
Since I didn't buy anything, I won't be sharing my purchases and just doing a my regular post with what I've been wearing. I tried to schedule as much as possible at the beginning of my maternity leave, so I had a busy couple of days of appointments and running errands. My Louis Vuitton Neverfull was a great bag to just throw everything in, and maxi dresses were easy fuss-free outfits.
I may have been a little over enthusiastic with fitting everything in on this day! I had scheduled 4 appointments and spent the morning rushing around between them. Wanted something easy and simple to wear so a maxi dress was my first choice - instant outfit, no further thought needed. At 38 weeks pregnant I can't help but wonder if the next time I'll be wearing this dress I'll be picking it as it allows for easy breastfeeding.
Unlike the outfit above, this dress wasn't my first choice for this day. I'd planned to wear my maternity denim shorts but rain got to the washing outside before I could and my shorts were too wet to wear that morning. Again I picked a maxi dress for simplicity.
It was nice to be a little dressed up for dinner with my parents at least, and this dress is great to wear, even if not what I had planned. I've used the Louis Vuitton Neverfull as a baby bag before, but this time I tried it out with just the bare essentials and it was much more comfortable.
I'm trying to go out now and then with just a little pouch inside my handbag with everything toddler T needs, instead of carrying the baby bag as well as my handbag. While a newborn will mean I'll definitely need to carry the baby bag around with me, limiting what I carry will be helpful with needing to take things for a newborn and a toddler. I'm terrible at over-packing and carrying more than I need!
Father's day weekend celebrations at the start of September meant the chance to dress up a little with my favourite maxi dresses. Maxi dress and denim jacket is a frequently worn outfit combo for both spring and autumn for me.
Wore this for to celebrate Father's day with the family and then the in-laws in the afternoon. I got lucky and even though we ate out for lunch we had takeaway for dinner. It was nice not to have to cook anything other than breakfast all day!
This dress is so beautiful, always gets a lot of love when I wear it. Pleased to have it in my wardrobe after my bestie tired of it and gave it to me. I liked how well the feather pendant matched the peach of the dress, and the silver mini MAC bag was a good neutral too.
I wore silver ballet flats with this too but they are a little tricky to see as the breeze kept catching the hem of the dress.
I wore this the day before as we had an early Father's Day brunch with my dad and family. We ended up sitting outside at the restaurant and it was such lovely weather I really didn't need my denim jacket on. A good start to spring.
You'll probably already know that this maxi dress is my favourite given how much I wear it! One of those treasured maternity pieces that works perfectly for breastfeeding too and so pretty that I continue to wear it even though those days are behind me. Nothing new here with this wearing! It's been worn many times with this denim jacket, and the colourful Louis Vuitton bandeau scarf as a belt is a favourite go-to outfit combination.
Just like the outfit above I wore the metallic silver mini MAC bag with this, silver was a good neutral with the colourful dress.
The good thing about maxi dresses is that they work for so many occasions - later that afternoon we had to go grocery shopping, no need to change into a different outfit!
Maxi dresses are perfect for summer, but it's so easy to wear them on a warm spring or autumn day by simply adding a denim jacket. A denim jacket is a classic outfit topper which looks good with all styles of dresses, definitely a must have piece for spring.
Dressing a baby bump is fun but can be challenging at times, especially in the third trimester. So when you find an outfit that works for you, you repeat it again quickly! I wore both these maxi dresses one weekend, accessorising with my Louis Vuitton bandeau scarf as a belt and a clutch bag.
You might remember this 'travelling bag' from my previous post. As well as wearing it cross body for a casual day out, I was able to use it on a dinner date with hubby. We went to see Zoolander 2, which was awesome and just as silly and funny as I hoped it would be.
While I was hunting for a belt to wear I saw this rarely worn bandeau scarf and figured I'd better wear it now, as once baby arrives it will be a while before I'll be wearing silk again! I've worn this scarf and dress together a few times, I love the colours with the bright dress.
As I really liked the outfit I'd worn above, I decided to wear the same combination again for a birthday BBQ. I wasn't too sure how the busy printed scarf would look paired with the embellished neckline of the maxi dress, but I really liked the combination.
Also took the chain strap off of my Rebecca Minkoff mini MAC bag to wear as a clutch. Which just made it even easier to slip into the baby bag, as baby T was coming along with us.
While I'm in the hospital with baby, I've set up a few scheduled posts.
As soon as I can I will be back to posting my usual daily outfits. Until then I hope you enjoy the little break and slight change of format.
First up, talking about my pregnancy wardrobe and the maternity pieces I wore through my pregnancy.
I had a total of 14 maternity pieces to supplement my existing wardrobe. I've included links below so you can see when I wore them, and how often I wore them. My goal was to buy as little maternity pieces as possible.
You can hear my thoughts and opinions by watching the video, but in summary:
I was lucky to have a lot of pieces in my existing wardrobe that worked well in pregnancy. Lots of flowy, loose, oversized and stretchy pieces meant I didn't need much maternity wear. I'll do a follow up post about the non-maternity items I found most helpful.
Maternity tops I found tricky to wear as the extra length swamped my petite frame.
Dresses were the easiest, most comfortable maternity wear option for me. Great go-to pieces!
The Asos maternity pencil skirts I bought were fantastic for work and I'd recommend them to anyone who has to dress for pregnancy in the office.
Jeanswest maternity denim is the only brand of maternity jeans I tried - perfect first time so I didn't try to look elsewhere.
I hope that you found this post useful, and that you can pass it along to anyone who might benefit from it :) Different from my usual posts, but I thought that laying out what I wore and how I wore it during my pregnancy might come in helpful for someone.
Just like Friday's post, today I'm wearing more summer pieces in winter. This time around it's my maxi dresses. I like to wear my maxi dresses and skirts year-round. Helped by Brisbane's snow-less winter and a few cosy layers.
Wore this for my first girls night out in a very, very long time! A friend was celebrating her birthday at a rooftop bar so I went for a few hours to celebrate with her. It was nice getting all dressed up again - this dress has been rarely worn since I got it while pregnant as it's not breastfeeding friendly at all. It was my first choice for a night out, as it's so pretty and definitely under-worn!
I was going to wear ankle boots with this but there were a lot of dress code restrictions at the bar...so I wore flats to be on the safe side. Ankle boots would have been warmer though, especially when it rained a little. I really liked the black printed leather jacket with the printed maxi dress, the print on the jacket is subtle enough that it doesn't clash with the dress.
I nearly wore my black vintage Chanel bag, but as I was completely kid-free for the evening I wanted to wear the least kid-friendly bag I own, which would be this handheld Balenciaga envelope clutch. I'd usually get to enjoy my clutches over Christmas but as baby boy was in hospital I spent all the time by his bedside instead of going to the usual parties and events. It was nice to give this a wear again. It was crazy how few things I needed for the night out, and how light the clutch was to hold. Such a difference from the overstuffed baby bag I often have in addition to my handbags each day. I don't think the yellow really goes so well with the print on the dress, but it's such a pretty clutch I wanted to wear it as who knows when my next chance will be! 😂
More pink and purple! I've worn this dress and belt together so many times, it's a frequent go-to for me. I really like pink and purple together too, although it's the first time I've worn the cardigan and dress together.
This is what I wore for Toddler T's third birthday party - no shoes as I stayed home all day and sent hubby out for the last minute things that morning. Picked this dress to wear as I love wearing a maxi dress for a birthday party - easy and quick to throw on while setting up last minute things, and stylish and simple for spending the day running around with two toddlers. Even wore this a couple of months ago for Baby Boy's first birthday! Just crazy to realise Toddler T is 3 now!
I was pretty tired after staying up until 1.30am putting the finishing touches to Toddler T's train cake, but it was worth it in the end seeing his excitement! Next year I might just stick with a simple round cake though...
You don't need to give up your maxi dresses when summer ends! Have a look at the winter layers you have in your wardrobe - a cosy cardigan or a leather jacket can be a simple addition to a dress and make it warm enough for a mild winter day. Leather jackets can be expensive, but if you buy at the end of season sales or take advantage of the opposite seasons when shopping internationally, you can find one that fits your budget. If you have colder winter weather, wear ankle boots and even leggings underneath your dress, with a nice cosy blanket scarf too. When spring arrives you can continue to wear your dress with a light layer like a cardigan. You really can wear most dresses year-round!
Despite my love for bright bags, I have very few bright clothes. Blue and grey are the main colours in my wardrobe. Over the past few years I've been trying to be more adventurous with colour thanks to reading lots of great blogs and looking up to people like Sheila who wear colour so easily. Now I have a couple of bright maxi dresses. I like maxi dresses as they are fuss-free instant outfits, and colourful dresses are a great way to ease into a more colourful wardrobe.
Last time I wore this dress I shared that I bought it after seeing it on Instagram. Quite a few of the #everydaystyle ladies have it, and I always smile when I see it pop up in my feed. It also makes me smile every time I wear it, such a cheerful colour. Perfect for a hot day and I love how the aquamarine Rebecca Minkoff mini MAC bag matches with the print on the dress. We had a fun morning attending rhyme time for some singing and the dancing with the boys, a quiet day.
I don't always go matchy matchy with accessories, but the necklace and bag worked so wonderfully with this print I was glad I did it this time. I'll probably wear this similarly again, I liked it so much. It's only March but this is easily my favourite outfit of the year. Wouldn't change a single thing.
Unlike the outfit above, I wore this for a much busier day. We had Baby Boy's weekly weigh and then a trip into the city for another specialist appointment, and family visiting in the afternoon. I really like this bright maxi dress as it's a nursing dress, perfect for a busy day and breastfeeding on the go.
I kept thinking of this bag after sharing it (and all my other bags) in my wardrobe inventory post, as it's really only worn in the office. Thought this tote would be a good carry all for the folder of documents I bring along to appointments for Baby Boy. Unlike my neverfull, it's quite a stiff bag and not very flexible or easy to use when you have a baby on your hip. You can't just use one hand to dig around inside when it's on your shoulder due to the inflexible sides. It spent most of the time hooked onto the stroller which I actually didn't mind.
Pink and blue is one of those colour combinations I really enjoy, but this bag just isn't practical for stay at home mum life. I was annoyed by this bag most of the day. It's going back to sit in the wardrobe awaiting my return to work in a few months.
