This spring I am embracing and loving boyfriend jeans. And girlfriend jeans. The looser fit is really catching my eye and I am loving how versatile and easy they are to style . While I am not ready to donate all of my skinny jeans I am ready to embrace a looser fit. Not sure if it is the old age or winter crock pots but the boyfriend fit is happening!
Joggers. So much hype about joggers. If we break it down to the nitty girtty they are essentially a glorified refined version of the classic sweat pant. BUT I would like to argue joggers are bit more sleek and can truly be worn in a fashionable and trendy way. At the end of the day I am embracing the trend and bringing you along with me! Ha. So, here are a few tips for styling your joggers for spring.
I’ve got a color crush. On blush. I am not sure if it because Valentines Day is just around the corner or if it is because I am wearing my rose colored glasses (ha) but I am completely obsessed with blush. There are several things I have already purchased from this round-up and you can expect to see them styled here or on Instagram.
Happy Wednesday- not to be confused with the title of this post.. it is not Sunday. It is still only Wednesday.
In effort to continue to be authentic and organic in this space I wanted to share a little about my life, here in Denver, as the wife of a husband who travels 100% of the time. When I say he travels 100% I mean he leaves on Sunday night and returns either Thursday night or Friday. On a good week Brendan spends three nights sleeping at home. As a consultant his job is dictated by the client… not his family.
Each Sunday I say goodbye to my favorite person. I get asked A LOT how I am handling having Brendan travel all the time and to be honest I am doing okay… but I miss him. Sundays are my least favorite day of the week. This lady lives for Thursday and Friday. While Brendan is gone, I go on about my everyday life—I a mother and toddlers are high demand—but my mind is perpetually on him and what he is doing… but in my heart, I’m okay with our situation. I am blessed and fortunate enough to stay home with Declan, to write a blog and pursue my passions and for those reasons I am thankful for Brendan’s job. In any relationship, each person has to learn to give a little and take a little and luckily we have found that perfect balance. Believe it or not this travel gig is not all bad; Brendan has learned the balance of work and family, I have deepened my love and appreciation for him; I value and cherish our time together; I am more thoughtful in my conversations and intentional with our time. And you know what…??? Declan gets a lot of one on one attention from both of us and I cannot see any downside to that.
Photos: Zoey Grace Photography
So, I love these distressed denim jeans and I love this graphic tank… obviously! I know you have seen these distressed denim in a few other posts <here> and <here> but I love them that much. It is my goal to keep denim under $100 and these babies not only meet that criteria but they also have some really good distressing and I love how easy they are to wear with ANYTHING. This graphic tank was a sweet Target find and for only $12 I swooped it up ASAP. Plus it fit perfectly with the theme of this post and so I felt it was a match made in heaven. I will also pair this graphic tank with a lace bralette and denim shorts as the weather gets warmer. The graphic tee craze is a real thing and I feel like I finally found one I love.
LADIES!!!! Another fabulous statement necklace coming your way!!! This one is, also, a Target find! You know how much I love a good statement necklace and I can’t help but swoon all over this one! This duster length cardigan first appeared <here> in my Easter post but I literally wear it so often that it is only fitting it shows up again. It is currently on sale for $25 and it is a must have for spring and summer-I promise you will get a lot of wear out of it. These slip on mules are getting a lot of wear now that the weather is consistently warmer. I have linked a few pairs in a lower price range.
Declan and I have a routine and in all honesty our weekdays fly by while we wait for Dad to return. In the last two and half months I have learned that I depend on Declan just as much as he depends on me. The weekends have become the most important days and our focus to spend time as a family is of up-most importance. Brendan is an AMAZING father and his travel will never change that. Does it get lonely??? Yes, of course it does. However, at the end of the day I would not give back my personal growth as a mother and a wife for anything and therefore I would not give back his travel; it has taught me as much as it has taught him. I am strong and I can do this. But Sunday… I wish you were Thursday
With Love,
Hoppy Easter!!! (super corny I know!)
Easter is often looked upon as a time of “rebirth”. As a Christian and someone who celebrates Easter I must confess that this year is the first in many where I have taken the time to reflect on the meaning of this holiday. Now, I am not going to preach at you nor will this post be heavily loaded with religion but as you have come to know I try to be honest in my writing. This Easter brings some new and different reflections. As Easter is in spring and spring is a time of regrowth, rebirth and starting anew I could not help but to see a parallel between my life and this Easter season.
Over the last few weeks you may have noticed (or not, which would be great) that I have been a bit off or a bit scatterbrained and even a bit negative. At the beginning I thought it was just because I did not want to leave London but as time has gone on it is has become more apparent there are deeper feelings here. I have felt, for some time, a serious dichotomy between my life here on the blog and social media and my life offline…. they did not seem to mirror each other. I am in control of what I put out into cyberspace and I took great care to showcase myself in the best light possible- to be fair to myself who wouldn’t?!? BUT it is time that I begin to showcase my life as I see it everyday. As a stay at home mother and a wife.
Photos: Zoey Grace Photography
Dressing for Easter is one of my favorite things because it always reminds me of getting dressed up as a little girl. This year we are spending Easter in Chicago with Brendan’s family and I am so very excited to get dressed up. Finding my whole outfit at Old Navy was a pleasant surprise for me as I went in looking for some stuff for Declan. I am loving this duster length cardigan and this pin tuck dress- both easy to wear, trendy and comfortable. Declan’s sport coat was a random find but isn’t it just ADORABLE. I am one who does not like to spend a lot of money on clothes for my three year old boy as they either end up with food, dirt or boogers on them so I was happy to find his Easter outfit for under $25. These skinny chinos and this bicycle polo still allow him to run around yet look put together. Brendan’s classic style suits him so well as he just loves his chambray and polos– it is seriously his dadiform!!!
It is time that I begin to weave my online life with my real life… starting with the fact that I am a mom and wife and a friend. I started this blog as something for myself and worked very hard at keeping it separate from my life as a mother and a wife… but over time that has becoming impossible to keep up. Rightfully so! Do I still love fashion- yes!! Do I still want to inspire you to feel good through fashion- yes!!! Are there are other aspects to me that I want to share with you- YES!!!! I am more than just a fashionable person (and somedays I am not even that) and there are so many pieces that make me whole. My goal to inspire you remains at the core of my journey but I want to inspire you to be real and authentic in your own life- to cherish and foster your passions, to admittedly accept your challenges and to be proud of all the things that make you whole. So, as we approach Easter Sunday and celebrate the rebirth of Christ I am anxious to begin to rebuild, regrow and refine my blog and social media to showcase that I am a mother, a wife, a friend, a lover of Sauvignon Blanc, a passionate lifestyle fashionista, a little girl at heart, an avid recipe experimenter and an entrepreneur.
I hope you continue to travel this path with me- I hope you find inspiration for yourself-
With Love,
Make sure to subscribe so you never miss a post- some exciting things are coming soon!!!
Today I have written 4 separate posts and deleted them all. Here’s to the fifth one being the keeper!! It is colorful in it’s own right and I think you will see the chaos as you read on.
A few snipets of the previous 4 attempts:
I think this post is now about my inability to commit, focus and follow through with much. Honestly friends- I am a complete scatter brain. Anything and everything distracts me, I am constantly changing my mind, my emotions, my clothes, my outlook and my hand lotion. I am always thinking about something other than what I am doing or supposed to be doing. Hence the 4 attempts at a blog post. Now, I do think you see a few of these come to fruition in the next couple months; once I am able to focus and put pen to paper and write- but until then you are left with this mess!!!
Photos: Jenna Sparks Photography
This colorful casual comfortable look kind of feeds into my inability to get focused. I have been obsessing over gray tops but am so distracted by all the colorful chaos of springtime colors. Seriously, loving the bright colorful pops of this outfit but then I am drawn back to the basic neutrals of gray and distressed denim… its like I am chasing squirrels. ALL OVER THE PLACE. So, this top is super easy to wear, comes in a ton of colors and is very reasonably priced. Perfect for spring and cool summer nights. These distressed skinnies are a few seasons old but still a favorite pair of mine, so I have linked the closest pair I could find. I know my days of denim are limited so I am trying to wear as many as I can before the temps are in the 90’s here in Denver and these babies are keepers!!! These mules are the perfect transitional shoe, I know I talked about that in this post but I can’t stress enough how practical, functional and super cute they are. LOVE THEM.
This colorful clutch was a gift from my SIL from her Mexico travels. It is a handmade limited edition colorful clutch so head over to Erica Maree designs to snag one up! She has such beautiful, vibrantly colorful stuff you do not want to miss; especially if you are headed to the beach or sunny location! I have linked several others in similar style <here> and <here> but I would encourage you to check out her website! The necklace was a boutique purchase and I was immediately drawn to the colorful multi-strands… but don’t worry I was quickly running all over the store buying up everything I could find because I could not focus on any one thing. I have linked a few similar colorful necklaces <here> and <here>. I loved how this bag and this necklace were the perfect colorful accessories to jazz up my gray obsession.
*** I have been really loving smaller boutiques and pop-up shops so not everything I wear is linkable. I try my best to find similar items but I also need to stay true to me and wear what I love!!!***
That is my life in a nutshell, friends. I start a task, find something new to do half way through, sit down to drink some coffee, run off to play with Declan, end up talking the dog for a walk and yet… still nothing is getting accomplished over here in my world. Kid you not, this post was started and deleted at least four times and this fifth one was a struggle. I try making to do lists but can never seem to finish them, I try setting reminders in my phone but then silence them…. I write and leave sticky notes around the house and Declan steals them… no hope people!!! Let me clarify and say I know the reality is that I have too much on my mind, too many moving parts and too few “life tools” to deal with it all. This is a self made problem and therefore only myself can come out of it. In all honesty, it isn’t all bad- I feel like each day I am learning something new about my life, or how to parent Declan, or which cosmetics I like, or which Sauviognon Blanc goes best with toddler food, how many times my coffee can be re-heated in the morning. You know LIFE. So, if you need me I’ll be over in my corner of the world indulging in my colorful chaos… come on over and stay a while.
With Love,
Recently I have been having an ongoing conversation about the freedom of choice and the idea of who determines our path in life. There are so many beliefs carried by many different people that is there really one right answer??
The conversation stems from a situation where a dear and cherished friend of mine has been faced with some very challenging life choices. As someone who grew up in a very strict faith and in adulthood committed and chose her faith over anything – she is now bound by the values and morals of her guiding religion. Only now what? And what about people who have been raised with freedom of faith? What binds us and drives us? As I have friends on both sides I am lucky enough to get to engage in close and honest conversations on both sides. How is our life determined? At what point, does love or life take precedent over prescribed beliefs and values? Is there a healthy mix of both??
The reality is there is no roadmap for life- at least not one that I have seen. I believe in the power of choice and I understand that is not the same for everyone. I believe my destiny is not determined but rather I can choose, alter, guide and steer my life towards a destiny. The twists and turns at each corner remind me that I have the freedom to choose and for that I am grateful. Human instinct is such an incredibly strong force and I have learned that when I trust my instinct I come out on the other side happy. Trust me, I do not have it all figure out- in fact I have very little figured out but I am learning to trust my instinct more. I am learning to remember that life is not planned and that sometimes detouring off course can have amazing outcomes. Thinking about my friend who followed her heart – her instinct- I am hopeful that after the hurt and pain is gone she will embrace her choice to follow her instinct.
Photos: Jenna Sparks
Choosing my outfit is like choosing my destiny- I get to decide and I get to mix and match. Enter this open back flowy top which is a little bit off the path for me. Oh, and I choose to wear white denim year-round: talk about veering off course! Ha. I have had my eye on this top for a while but always felt it was a little out of character for me but I decided to just go for it and I am so glad I did!! I L O V E it. I wore it here with a lace bralette and love the free-flowing nature and the openness of the back. It is perfect for spring days as it is still long sleeve to add some warmth but the open back makes it perfect for those warm spring days.
White denim. Let’s not be scared to wear it all year round. Embrace it, wear it, love it. These new skinnies were a part of the “Operation Update my Denim” that you may have read about in this post. I was so excited to get back to the US and start buying up some essential staples and these were first, maybe second, on the list. I will wear them all season- all year!!! I may add a pair of distressed like <these> or <these> to the line-up shorty but for now I am loving these babies.
New location = new booties. Again, really capitalizing on the weather and indulging in all the perforated styles. These were a great purchase and will carry me right on through to flip-flop and sandal weather.
I consider myself to be an open and transparent person and therefore I am willing to write and share my wonderings, to share my values and beliefs. The fact that my heart and instinct would lead me down one path and there are people, whom I consider very dear friends, have been lead down a different path is encouraging as it reminds me about the power of choice. It keeps me on my toes and allows me the opportunity to both expand my knowledge and open my perspective to something different. Furthermore, the fact that conversations don’t turn into judgement is a reminder of the power of humanity and positive intent. Connecting with others and engaging in discussions about real things- including religion and choice- is what I live for. I am not a superficial person. I want to talk about deep things- I want to talk about life. Thanks for allowing me the freedom and space to do so here. Thank you for supporting and being open minded to differences in opinions.
With Love,
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