Happy 4th Birthday #1: my charming, amiable, excitable, train-enthusiast, athletic and sensitive boy. How time has flown by! I love you!
Today we’re off to Seattle on a train to celebrate his birthday and to attend a conference with my husband!
Monthly Archives: August 2011
Work It Wednesday: White tee
An absolute essential in a woman’s – especially, in my opinion, a Mommy’s wardrobe: the basic white tee. Wearable all year around, easy to wash (or bleach) and perfect day and night. Here are some ways I work the white tee (Asos).
Casual everyday, hanging with the kids: Skirt: Zara, Shoes: Havianas, Necklace: gift, Bangles: Forever21 and Sunnies: F21 (buy here)
Casual work attire: Pants: Anthropologie, Belt: Spank, Shoes: Ebay, Bangles: Swapped & F21, Earrings: Kazana
A night out (sans kids!): Leggins (faux leather): thrifted, shoes: laundry room score!, clutch: swapped (Banana Republic), bangles: F21 and earrings: gift
Get yourself a white tee – I’ll say it again: an absolute essential!
xxo, SSM
PS. don’t forget to enter my giveaway here
Thrifty Deals
I love thrifting! I not only thrift, but welcome hand-me-downs (thank you Mom!), raid our community housing laundry room’s throw-out baskets) and regularly host and attend clothes swaps – this has been ongoing since ’04 so whenever I actually spend money on first-hand clothes I don’t feel so guilty!
Here are some of my latest ‘thrifted’ items:
By the way the pencil skirt is my latest fave item c/o Layerwear Basics. It is super comfortable, durable and can be worn with everything I have. Hail to the neutrals! It retails at $35 and is so stretchy that it would suit all shapes and sizes!
Oh and I can’t forget – my kids are both dressed head to toe in either clothes from consignment stores, thrift stores, swap-meets or laundry room finds. It is VERY unusual to see my kids dressed in something I”d got brand new – if that is the case it is most probably a gift from the Grandparents! Also have been getting my husband into thrifting lately and he’s picked up a few amazing blazers (if only he’d be willing to model them…)
Happy Wednesday faithful readers,
Much love,
SSM
PS. don’t forget to enter my giveaway here
SSM’s top 10 must haves for Fall 2011
1. A colourful fall/winter coat
2. A pleated skirt
3. Prints! eg. bright geometric patterns, flowers and the peppy polka dot.
4. Liquid metallics
5. Nature-inspired items eg. Apache patterns (think Pocahontas!), ponchos, fringing, denim, and snakeskin
6. Coloured trousers
Whatever style whether it be high-waisted, wide leg, tapered or cropped: make sure you have some colourful trousers!
7. Leather skirt
Whatever style that suits you: a simple A-line, a sexy pencil or a pleated piece, this is a good investment!
8. Portfolio bag
Larger clutches and portfolio bags are the hottest handbags for fall.
9. High-heeled loafers
Continuing on with the borrowing-from-the-boys trend – the loafer, however feminisied with a heel!
10. A hat!
Felted hats, fedora, turbans…enjoy covering your hair and keeping your head warm this fall!
pictures courtesy of zara, madewell, club monaco and j crew look books for Fall 2011
Monday musings: can’t beat the classics.
fashionbitches, reposdelanuit, thepursuitaesthetic, etiquetteforagentleman, theyallhateus, matchbookmag
Seattle Inspiration
7 day cleanse: final day + a giveaway!
I woke up on my final day of my cleanse (at 6am) thinking = this time tomorrow, I’ll have a coffee in my hand. Hahaha. Oh well, I drank some water and made a omlette and had half my daily smoothie. The boys, a girlfriend and I went to a local street fair today, so I took a well stocked care package of veggies, crackers, dip and trail mix (above).After coming home I had the other half of my smoothie and cucumber soup. Dinner was delicious and a great way to end this cleanse: mushroom risotto – the kids and my friend loved it too – especially as theirs had melted cheese on it! Dessert was watermelon and I totally felt like a glass of wine to celebrate – but I refrained, opting for water 
But this cleanse has been amaz-ing! The challenges have been all the prep work and the expense of purchasing local, organic produce (where I could) and extra ‘fancy’ ingredients eg. raw apple cider vinegar and almond butter. But I loved how I was encouraged to cook healthier meals for myself – and my kids. I absolutely LOVED Katie’s recipes and am going to keep using them. My favourite was a soup that I will share soon – perfect for the Fall. I loved how the cleanse made me stop and think before putting something in my mouth – too often I grab the boys leftover muffins/granola bars etc and shovel them quickly in my mouth but this week I had to consider a) can i eat this and b) should i eat this?
To sum up, five reasons why I loved this cleanse:
1. I was introduced to new methods of eating and looking after myself inside and out
2. I learnt about new ingredients and the benefits of certain foods
3. My body feels cleaner and healthier than it has in a long time
4. I enjoyed Katie’s recipes and making delicious meals for my boys and I
5. I loved the challenge of doing something I thought I couldn’t do – and succeeding!
I highly recommend doing this for yourself. lucky for you,
rooted wellbeing is giving away one FREE 7-day cleanse to my readers!
rooted wellbeing is giving away one FREE 7-day cleanse to my readers!
Since there can only be one winner, Katie is also offering a major discount on the 7-day Rooted Cleanse (start date options: September 10th or 17th). just follow this private link and enter “SoFreshSoClean” to get over 30% off!!!
This is a fantastic deal and so worth it. if you need a reminder, just read through my cleanse recaps…it’s amazing the benefits i received in just seven days. Katie’s coaching is a gift that will last a lifetime. she will stick with you through all the ups and downs of the cleanse and you’ll learn things that could literally change your life. The SimplyStylishMom discount will end Thursday, September 8th, and only has 15 spots available (last cleanse sold out in 4 days, don’t wait!)
But wait! there’s more!
For a limited time, Katie is offering FREE 20-minute, one-on-one strategy sessions to help you identify your health goals and come up with a plan to reach them. just click here, select a date & time, and Katie will be all yours. (well…for a phone call, at least.)
Here are the giveaway rules:
1. leave a comment below including your e-mail address.
2. You can tweet the giveaway (@RootedWellbeing) for an extra entry
2. You can tweet the giveaway (@RootedWellbeing) for an extra entry
3. “like” rooted wellbeing on facebook for an extra entry
4. winner will be selected randomly on friday, 9/2.
5. Katie will contact you to set up your cleanse (must start cleanse on 9/10 or 9/17)!
SSM’s top Five Fall 2011 Trends
Cooler, shorter days. Back to school. Piles of books. Falling leaves. Boots. Jackets. the odd scarf. Fall is almost here!
Here’s my forecast for what we’re going to see this Fall. But as a weather forecaster can get some right and some wrong – expect the same from me – right, wrong and perhaps a few surprises!
1. 70′s fashion
Seventies fashion is going to be a carry-over trend. We’ll see 70′s boho with
more flares and wide-leg pants and 70′s glamour (thin shimmering dresses and high-waisted pants with elegant blouses)
3. Pleats
Another carry-over trend is that of the pleat. These are going to hang out with us for awhile so get yourself some. You can still wear the sheer, lightweight fabrics, just style them accordingly for the cooler weather, eg. wear a pleated maxi skirt or dress with socks/tights and heels/boots and some layers on top. Contrast your styles eg. wear a thin, sheer skirt with a boho fur (or faux fur!) or a biker jacket
3. Fur
The luxurious, glamorous, warm, practical fur, faux or real, continues to be popular as a fashion trend in Fall 2011.
4. Bell Bottoms and Wide-Leg pants
I think people are concerned that skinny jeans are out. No they’re still in fashion and they’re going nowhere fast. BUT, flared jeans and trousers are back for men and women. While some had to take time warming to skinnies, now we are having to warm to the wide-leg trend.
5. Solid Metal Jewellery
Clean, simple, minimalist, and modernist jewellery is key for Fall 2011. Look out for cold, hard, solid metal shaped into the forms of cuffs and collars.
images courtesy of theyallhateus, googleimages & Jcrewfall2011lookbook
7 day cleanse: day 6
Leaped out of bed at 7.30 today (despite #2 keeping me up from 3-4am singing to himself in his bed) and wasn’t hungry till 9am (usually I’m shovelling breaky down as soon as I get up). I had a lovely apple mix (above) for breakfast and my morning bottle of water. Spent the morning at my favourite coffee place with friends and our kids and while they enjoyed their Americano’s, I sipped on half of my daily smoothie and munched on a banana. By midday, I was STARVED and digged into a HUGE lunch (below) that was sooo filling and gave me a heap of energy to get through the rest of the day.
Took the boys to a waterpark in the afternoon and had the other half of my daily smoothie (sooo good, Katie’s smoothie recipes are THE BEST!). In the evening we went to dinner at a friend’s house and they thoughtfully cooked my fish separate to the others and then we had brown rice and a green salad (again with my own dressing!) Dessert was a fruit platter (all the kids bare-chested tonight!) A bit tired this afternoon and this evening, again not sure if it’s the physical exhaustion of being a single Mom at the moment, the summer heat or the effects of the cleanse, but… one day left!!!
xxo, SSM
