a boot-skootingly fun week

I am not starting this post with yikes. I just read my last couple of posts and they both started 'yikes'. And it's not even like it's a cool or trendy word. But I have completed another style dare. Andrea at Fox in Flats put the challenge out there to wear boots for a week. And I knew that this was a challenge I could do without even trying. You didn't even have to wear a different pair of boots everyday. You just had to wear them differently.

But what's the fun in doing a challenge without the challenge. I had a look in my wardrobe and yes! I had enough boots to wear a different pair everyday. But that still wasn't enough of a challenge. I'd had a look on the Fox in Flats Pinterest Boot Pinboard. This got me thinking about all the boot outfits that I've pinned in my Clothes I Love Pinboard. Could I do a week of wearing boot outfits inspired by Pinterest?

(where possible I have given credit and linked to the original image. Please let me know if I have made a mistake and mis-credited)

Day 1
I was packing orders at work on day 1 and I had the bubble wrap going everywhere. Every time I stood up and accidentally trod on the bubble wrap I was secretly loving it.

Inspiration on the left from Les Composantes This blog is in French, so I have no idea what the words say, but the pictures are beautiful. On the right is my version.

Day 2
I remembered an outfit that I had pinned a while ago. Looking at the inspiration and my version it is clear that my memory of the outfit was a little different. But that didn't matter. I felt comfy and stylish and received some really nice compliments on Instagram when I posted my proof photo.

The inspiration...

Untitled by mommychic featuring a mandarin shirt

My interpretation...

Clearly I remembered this outfit differently (ie the original was ballet flats NOT boots!)

Day 3

For ANZAC Day I chose a very loose interpretation of this outfit from totokaelo.com, but, well, fashion isn't meant to be prescriptive, it's all about taking a look and making it your own. Or at least thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

I liked the snuggly feel of this outfit and the grey top with black leggings and boots. I had already done both my brown boots on day one and two, so I had to substitute black boots instead. If there had been any chance of rain, my wellies would have got the guernsey they have been desperately waiting for.

We were up early for the dawn service, where my sister and I congratulated ourselves on putting together such stylish outfits at such a ridiculous hour of the morning. After refuelling with coffee I continued the ANZAC theme by making ANZAC cookies. (And yes, sugar free ones. I subbed natvia for sugar and brown rice malt syrup for golden syrup)

I then popped my ugh boots on, plonked myself on the sofa and spent the rest of the day in front of the fire watching the top 100 ANZAC Day BBQ songs and embracing my inner bogan.

Day 4

My photographer was getting bored of taking my photo, so I tried pointing out that it had to be of the boots, and things got a bit silly after that. You can see the inspiration for day 4's outfit at rosa.p. the essence was a print dress with a plain cardy, tights, and black boots. And a nice excuse to wear one of my favourite outfits.

Day 5

I broke my own rule on day 5, but I did have a good reason. Firstly, I repeated an already worn boot in the morning. But, I was in a massive hurry to get to school on time to work in the uniform shop (aren't I good!!) Secondly, and sadly I then had a funeral to go to. I rushed home to change out of my jeans and put on something a little nicer. I didn't really have time to worry about pinterest inspiration. I didn't even have time to wash my hair, so the scarf stayed in. Wearing these boots made me think of a comment someone made (maybe on the Fox in Flats blog) about square toe early 2000's boots. And here I am still wearing them. I think they're okay still?

Day 6

Again I had been hoping for a wellie boot weather for Saturday morning soccer. But as it turned out the girl didn't play anyway. I really took inspiration from the colour and pattern of this outfit. Then I took a deep breath and pulled my cowboy boots out from the back of the cupboard. Then felt quietly horrified as I realised that I bought them in Canada nearly 20 years ago. [that can't be possible, I still thought I was in my mid twenties!!] One of my lovely instagram friends made me feel much better by suggesting I call them vintage. 

JCrew Jeans by lakenokomis featuring silk shirts

My 'Vintage' cowboy boots all the way from Edmonton, Canada

Day 7

For a quick trip to the shops I took inspiration from the image on the left from black-and-silver.tumblr.com I had been planning on wearing my elasticised work boots, but they are not RM's, just cheap boys Kmart ones and they just weren't doing it for me. I had gotten to the last day of the dare and it looked like I'd have to do a double up. My sub-conscious must have been on fashion over drive, because I remembered these boots, tucked up on the top of the wardrobe. If day 6's boots were vintage then these are positively antique (well not quite) But I did buy them in 1989 when I was on exchange in Chile. And have held onto them for all these years. 

It turns out that being a chronic hoarder is a good thing. It means I can go thrifting in my own house and discover old treasures full of history for free. How about you? Do you hold onto old clothes or do you get rid of things as soon as the fashion moment passes? And are you loving the cooler weather to be wearing boots again?

partying my arms off to battle the post-holiday blues

Yikes! I really am getting quite behind, Andrea over at Fox in Flats has already issued a new style dare and I haven't even shared the proof from the last one!! I was on holidays (in Paris, one of the fashion capitals of the world as my daughter precociously informed me) when I saw that Andrea had raised the gauntlet yet again, daring us to break out of our sartorial comfort zones and add some excitement to our arms with an arm party dare. My first thought was 'I am so doing this one, how cool are my proof of dare photos going to be when I am in Paris', but on the second day I realised that I only had enough bling for one day. *sad face* So I bought a new bracelet! *happy face* But I then couldn't justify blowing what was left of our spending money on bracelets, so I sadly backed out.

We arrived home and it was time to go back to work all foggy headed and jet-lagged, and I thought to myself, what better way to delay the post-holiday blues than by having an arm party for a week?! Who cares if I was doing it a week late. I didn't care, Fox in Flats even says on her blog that you can do a dare whenever you like, what's important is that you do it for seven days. And here is my proof...

Day 1: Black, silver and neutrals, to ease myself back to the real world.

Day 2: My fun Paris purchase.

Day 3: I don't work Fridays, so Thursday nights are my Fridays and it was time to toast the start of my weekend. Not quite sure what I was complaining about when I was coming back to a three day week.

Day 4: Having a silvery arm birthday party. Thank you for the beautiful flowers Mr G. (I did not want a present after going way over budget on our holiday!)

Day 5: A red arm party to sit in the sun and watch the soccer with my lovely sister in law. I wish our husbands still played for the same club, so we could do this more often.

Day 6: It started as a simple arm party, but then my sister rocked up and suddenly things were looking a little more exciting with some extra green bracelets. And my head was a little foggy the next morning after a glass of bubbles (or two or three) too many. But it had been nearly a month since we had last seen each other, so there was lots to celebrate!

Day 7: Back to work on Monday and it was a bronzed arm party for the final day. I thought the colours looked too lovely with our beautiful mug packaging to not include a gratuitous Intrinsic product shot!

Whew! What a week after all the partying I needed to lie down with an ice pack and two panadol!!
But seriously, this one was both easy and fun. Although at times slightly annoying, I don't actually like having stuff on my wrists when I am working, it rattles on the table and bugs me. Quite often I take my bracelets and watch off when I get to work and put them back on at home time! But for the arm party dare I just dealt with it.

I did make an new discovery, that a couple of my necklaces are the right length to wrap around my wrist. I love finding things that can do double duty!

This is the third style dare I've taken part in and what is interesting is how it has changed my thinking. I am still looking at adding an extra couple of bracelets when I get dressed. And months after the black out dare, I still find myself looking to the simplicity of the black in my wardrobe. AND as much as I complained about the sparkle dare, I actually bought a sequinned racer back singlet when we were in London, which I have thrashed. So it seems like, in the fashion world at least, seven days is long enough to form a new habit. I wonder what other areas of life that could work in??

Any ideas... have you formed any new habits lately? And are you going to have a go at Fox in Flats latest boot dare?

my week as a disco ball

Andrea at Fox in Flats has done it again... she dared her readers to sparkle from morning to night for seven days straight and like a crazy lady I agreed. Then I realised that I only actually own one top with sequins and only two tops that really sparkly. With an overseas holiday coming up soon (tomorrow!!) there was no chance I could justify buying anything. So I went through my jewellery and then my shoes and phew, it looked like I could do a week of it. So here I am sparkling my little heart out...

It was only day 1 and already I felt like a cheater, the closest I could get to sparkling on my Sunday morning run followed by a cheeky coffee at the most lovely Taylor Blend with my sister was to add an necklace and earrings. It did turn out to be comment worthy. Both my daughter and sister wanted to know what the deal was with the running decorations!

For day 2 I wore a top with silver sparkly thread. I normally only wear this out at night. I had to wear a singlet underneath, it felt a bit too cleavagey for work. But I wasn't so comfortable with the way it looked. I did get a compliment at work though. So thats a win!

I was already feeling stuck and it was only day 3! I added a brooch to my head scarf and popped on my sparkly sandals and was super happy. I suspect that my hair flopped over the brooch, because I didn't get any comments on it, or it just looked crap!

 Out came the big guns on day 4, I bought these earrings about a year ago, and I have only worn them once or twice and only at night. They were just cheapys and I always felt that they looked a bit cheap in daylight! I was definitely not comfortable. But they were certainly showstoppers and everyone at work commented on them. (I'm still not sure that they will get another daylight guernsey)

I wore my only actual sequinned top on day 5. I love this t-shirt, I love the illustration. And the sequins are really quite subtle. I was well within my comfort zone and very happy.

You can't actually tell from this pic, but my top for day 6 has gold thread running through it. I love this top and I added some extra sparkle on my ears and neck, just because I wanted to! This top was also perfect for Fat Mum Slim's March photo a day challenge theme of green. 

I have to admit to being relieved to reach the end of this challenge, for day 7 I was repeating day 3's sandals with some arm sparkles and my favourite love heart necklace. But compared to my daughter I had nothing! 

What I learnt from my week as a human disco ball:

1. I should have thought first before I agreed to this dare
2. But sometimes its fun to be impulsive and let everything sort it's self out.
3. If I could fit into children's size 10 clothes I would have smashed this challenge!

Do you ever jump in with out thinking? What happens when you do? 

PS I'm off on holidays tomorrow, if I can I'll try and post while I'm away, otherwise I'll see you back after Easter xx

my week in black

The very stylish Andrea over at Fox in Flats has been running a series of style dares to get Mums out of the Mum uniform rut. Her first dare was to wear red lipstick from morning til bedtime, Andrea describes her inspiration here:

Am totally stealing the idea from a cool book I’ve just started to read called Anonymumsabout a few mothers who, bored with the perceived monotony of their lives, give each other dares to spice things up a little.

Made me think about how it is easy to fall into a fashion rut once we become mums, and we acquiesce into the sartorial monotony of our ‘mummy uniforms‘.

So, at Fox in Flats we’re instigating a ‘Dare of the Week‘ where each week we’ll challenge ourselves to trying something that might just be out of our style comfort-zone, but might just spice things up a little too.

I have been a long time lurker in the bloggy world and have only just started getting my confidence to participate in this beautiful community, so this is my first go at one of the Fox in Flats style dares. Those of you who know me will know that I am an absolute colour girl, so this was a massive challenge for me to do...

Day 1 - In a favourite outfit, I'm well within my comfort zone. 

Day 2 - Realised that I would have to be strategic for the week to manage my washing timing with having a suitable outfit for the day's activities. It was 35º+ today and I rode my bike to work. A fitted lined dress was not the greatest choice, but there were multiple moments when I gave myself mental high fives for the modesty leggings as my dress rode up to my upper thigh. Especially when I was riding through the construction site that used to be Victoria Park!! Another negative for this outfit was the ballet flats have a very slippery leather sole that is most unpredictable for cycling in. The MASSIVE plus was all the lovely compliments I received!

Day 3 - Today's outfit rocked! The girls at work noticed that I'd been doing something a little different, so I filled them in on the style dare. But more excitingly, I'd actually forgotten that I owned these shorts! I'm looking forward to more warm days to get more use out of them this Summer (now that I know they exist again!!) And the heels and shorts combo was so much easier to ride in than the flats and LBD from day 2!

Day 4 - I love this outfit. It was completely perfect for my day. Comfy ride to work. Stylish enough for work (I am in a creative industry, so no need for corporate attire), then perfect for helping out at basketball training after school. And suited the 30º+ temperature perfectly. All in all an excellent outfit.

Day 5 - I love this top! It is my most awesome always feel happy and confident wearing it top. I love it with this necklace. I saved it for Friday because it was the first P&F meeting of the year and I am president, so had to chair the meeting. That might make me sound like a person who is full of confidence and who knows what she is doing. But I am not. I needed a little superficial something to help me out and this outfit was it. I felt good and we had a pretty good meeting. I always feel nervous that no one will turn up. It feels like I am 15 again. I feel so relieved as I see the room starting to fill. We had lots of positive people and lots of new mums, so it is great to know that the P&F will have the strength to continue.

Day 5 (part 2) - I had planned on adding heels and extra make-up for Friday night dinner with the girls, but after getting stuck into my declutter inspired by Sarah at A Beach Cottage I was way too festy to not get changed. After taking the old clothes to the Salvos and our bottles to the recycling depot (where I also discovered that the Magill Recycling Depot take old clothes that aren't good enough for the Salvos) I had 45min to kill before school pick up. So I took myself off to Kmart and invested $29 in this cute new dress. I styled it up with my favourite brooch and beads plus a belt and was rewarded with lots of compliments from the girls. (My girl told me that she loved my outfit and thought I looked like a fashion coach, I just needed to be wearing converse high tops. I love her so much and don't want her to turn into a teenager who hates me!!) I had the most awesome dinner with a group of girls who I love and adore and who are an absolute inspiration to me.

Day 6 - I had to organise a babysitter for Friday night because Mr G had a pre-season soccer game (argh!!!!) Mr G's brother and sister-in-law stepped up and Miss M had a great night with her cousins. We had little sleep in, then picked her up from her cousin's tennis. We got to see our nephew play a terrific game of tennis. (Proud Aunty moment!) I was possibly a little hot in long pants, but was pleased that the scarf both hid my bed head, and made it look like I had made an effort! I felt super stylish doing the Saturday chores (Note all the black on the clothes line!)

Day 7 - There was a potential point of weakness on today, the final day. My sister and I run on a Sunday morning, then follow it up with a lovely coffee and a chat at Taylor Blend. I do not own a summer black running top. I could have worn a regular black singlet. But I think when you are getting close to 40 and are wearing Skins on the bottom, it's important to wear something baggy on top! Plus when you plan to run for an hour, there is no room for taking chances on clothes that could chafe.

My Skins are black and I borrowed Mr G's black Man Utd cap and decided that was close enough. I think I made it up tonight though with my black top and shorts combo with yellow accessories for dinner at the Italian Club with our cycling group.

Five lessons from my week in black:
1. A theme makes it fast and easy to get dressed in the morning (maybe the minimalists are on to something!)
2. Wearing black is like being a human vacuum cleaner (a clothes brush is your friend)
3. Having a theme makes you search your wardrobe and find things you forgot you owned.
4. There are lots of different ways you can incorporate colour into simple outfits and restyle old clothes.
5. I love leggings.