Hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with family, food, and all the gifts you wished for!
No regular blog post today, but I'll be back on the blog as usual on Wednesday the 27th with some boxing day sales for you.
We will be driving between family this Christmas so I'll try update my Insta stories while we are on the move if hubbys driving.
8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”
As I recently got two new foil print tees, I took the chance to wear it with them for a little bit of print mixing: floral with stripes and polka dots. It helped me hit 30 wears of the kimono too!
I've worn this floral kimono with stripes before - stripes are my go-to for print mixing as they really go with everything! When I got this striped tee in the Jeanswest sale I knew I'd wear it with this kimono, i think the grey of the kimono and the silver foil stripes go together nicely. With the busy print mixing on top, I stuck with a neutral pair of shorts on the bottom - another Jeanswest sale purchase! I continued on the grey and silver theme with the grey Rebecca Minkoff love bag with silver hardware. I really liked how this outfit came together, perfect for a quiet Saturday running a few errands.
Once again I'm realising I've worn this tee to my Australian Breastfeeding Association group - it gets worn there quite a lot, haha! I wore this to a topic I'd really been looking forward to - we had a first aid presentation from St John's ambulance. When Toddler T was little, I'd gone to a first aid course for babies and felt quite confident with everything baby first aid related. A few months ago, when Baby Boy fell ill, everything went out the window and I panicked. I barely remembered what to do and had to ask the 000 operator to tell me each step to do as my mind was blank. Instinct kicked in and I did a few things but couldn't remember what to do next, it was scary. It wasn't until we were out of the ambulance and in the hospital when we were asked if we had done a first aid course that it all came flooding back to me, and I started remembering what we'd been taught.
I asked the presenter to cover the topic again for me and it was nice to know I'd done the right thing calling the ambulance. I picked up some other useful tips and advice from her too, that I hope I'll never have to put into practice!
Outfit-wise, I thought the polka dots and floral print was something very different for me. I don't have a lot of polka dot pieces in my wardrobe. Really liked this combo though - I think the gold foil polka dots on the tee work just as well with the floral kimono as the silver stripes on the tee above. And the mustard yellow micro Regan bag is a nice combination with the yellow on the kimono as well as the navy tee. I've worn this tee and bag together before.
I usually do a purchase review after wearing everything I buy twice. The goal is to learn what works and doesn't in my wardrobe, so I make wiser purchasing decisions in the future.
I love these shorts (even if this is the fourth wear, I forgot to do the review earlier). I already had a couple pairs of black shorts, but I got rid of them as I was worried they were too short. These are still short shorts, but slightly longer than the ones I had before, and still just as comfortable (perhaps even more so!). A classic pair of black shorts is essential for Brisbane summers, I'm really pleased I bought these, and thankful for the Christmas gift card I used to buy them!
You don't have to stick with neutral basic pieces when wearing colourful printed kimonos. Stripes and polka dots are fun to try print mixing with. If you're unsure, picking similarly coloured pieces like the silver stripes and grey kimono is a good way to go, and keeping it simple with just two prints and having the rest of your outfit plain makes it easy. The benefit of having one of your pieces being a printed kimono is that if you are unsure when leaving the house and later change your mind, you can easily take that layer off! Linking up with Fabulous Friday, Fab Favourites, Trend Spin.
I hope that you have a very merry Christmas and enjoy spending time with your friends and family on Monday as we reflect on the greatest gift of all, God sending Jesus.
It's no secret that I love maxi skirts and dresses. While I recently bought a lot of shorts for summer, you can't beat a classic maxi dress in December for all the Christmas related events. I almost always wear a maxi dress on Christmas day too, it's such a good choice. Comfortable for opening presents, running around with toddlers and nice and loose so you can indulge in all that yummy food!
The two jersey maxi dresses below are some of my fave wardrobe oldies. There's still plenty of time to order a maxi dress now and have it arrive before Christmas so you can wear it on Christmas day too!
What I wore:
Necklace: Uniquely Made with Love Sea Change necklace
I wore this a little while ago! We had our family Christmas photo, and as usual I went with the easy maxi dress option. I picked this one specifically as I'd bought the boys little blue poloshirts for the photo, and with hubby in a blue shirt too we were all perfectly themed but not too matchy matchy!
I had a bit of a giggle when we got to the photo area though - it was a blue background! We really coordinated! We usually go to Westfield for our photo, Chermside do pet Santa photos. Unfortunately they had cut their pet santa photos down to just 2 hours over the month and they were of course almost immediately booked out as a result. We ended up booking in with the RSPCA Santa Paws photos for the first time and while it was more expensive, the resulting photo was much better quality. Santa was very understanding too and they took the time to help and suggest things so we managed to get a good photo of us all despite our terrified toddler, who never got anywhere near as close to any other Santas we saw! I recommend them if you're looking for a photo with the whole family, we can't imagine our annual photo without Cooper!
Last Christmas delivery order date varies depending on your state but can be as late as early morning on the 22nd for same day delivery, or mid-morning on 21st December for next day delivery.
Another Christmas event, another maxi dress! It seemed the most obvious choice for a Christmas party with the boys. I like grey and yellow together, so when I saw one of the style challenges in Instagram for the day was 'bold hue', I knew I'd pick yellow accessories with this dress. I've worn the dress and bag together before, it's a nice combination. The little Christmas bow on my wrist was a fun addition for the party, and met yet another Instagram style challenge for 'tied'.
This was such a fun party for me to attend. Last year, we had been looking forward to it. I was in hospital with Baby Boy but we had been confident that we wouldn't be in there long, just a few days at most, which would mean we would be out for the party. Instead, we stayed there much longer than expected and the party marked day 6 in hospital as I continued to room in with Baby Boy. Toddler T's grandparents took him to the party solo instead. It was just a kid's party, but was quite emotional for me reflecting back on where we were last year. I didn't have time to dwell on it for long though, there was a lot to do and see and then we had to dash to swim lessons, and celebrate putting the Christmas tree up in the afternoon.
For me a maxi dress will always be a go-to over December. It's the perfect mum outfit as it's quick and easy to wear with minimal accessorising required, although you can add bright accessories if you want a bit of a pop. Maxi dresses are comfortable and casual enough for running around with toddlers but dressed up enough for parties and family Christmas photoshoots. There is still enough time to order a special dress in for Christmas too, with great options under $50 at ASOS, Amazon or The Iconic linked above. I love next day shipping at the Iconic for last minute gifts too.