Make it! Hallowe'en Costume edition

SO - this year the Big'un decided that he wanted to be a Knight for Hallowe'en. And so far, the littl'un has picked complimentary costume ideas... so HE decided he wanted to be a dragon. "Mama? You can make those costumes right?"


Uh........... right. Of course I can. Mama can make almost anything (see - I put the almost in there... Mama aint a dummy either)... and so.... I give you Hallowe'en 2012 costumes - make it!

What Mama Wears - date night

Do you ever long for "date night"? I'll admit that I do. I loved getting dressed up, waiting to see the bf's (now the hubs) reaction when I walk down the stairs - I want him thinking "Yeah - I get to go out with HER tonight!" But, once you're a Mama, your calendar doesn't exactly lean towards time for 'date night' and your wardrobe tends to lean a lot more towards "is it functional"  or "is it comfortable" than "is it hot"? So... how to make my mama-denim date worthy? and still be comfortable?

Well here it is!

Denim Date-Night

A cute little tank with lots of ruffles (hides the mama-belly - yeehaw!), over my super-comfy yoga style "jeans" a little bolero and some comfy heels  = one hot mama for date night!

Jeans: Reitman's / Tank top: Ricki's / Bolero: Ricki's / Heels: Payless / Ring & Necklace: PLBrowne / Bracelet: My own Mama brought it back from Cuba

Magic Cleaning Solutions!

Kitchen confession time: Our kitchen floor - it's gross. No joke. I mean, we vacuum and we mop it every now and then... but it's a high traffic area, our backdoor is in the kitchen, and there's a lot of wear/tear/slop/spill/traffic/dirt etc that goes through there.

And I hate cleaning the kitchen floor. Seriously - in fact, cleaning anything in the kitchen is hands down my least favourite thing to clean. I could make beds all day! Fold laundry? No problem! But dishes? Ugh. Clean the oven? Let's just burn it off. Wash the floor?.... couldn't we just replace the tile? Blech. Hate it.

And I'm an avid pinner (quick explanation: pinning is what you do on pinterest - like a social media style bulletin board, where you "pin" good ideas and things you find on the internet, can see other people's pins and repin their pins, etc etc etc). and every single time I see a magic-cleaning-solution-type-pin I jump on it.

 

www.pinterest.com

Milk free?

So... while dealing with a few digestive issues, my doc has suggested I go lactose/dairy free for a couple of weeks. At first I thought, okay no big deal, that's a good idea to try and see if it makes a difference... then it struck me.

No. Milk.

No milk... in my TEA.

AGH!

So, I'm kind of a tea-snob. I'm not ashamed, I like what I like the way I like it. And that's tea. Tea with milk in it. Not all teas. Herbal teas require no milk (actually, that's kind of gross - no milk in chamomile, green or peppermint tea). Black teas require no sweetening (unless it's chai, then it's okay to put honey or agave in it, but NOT sugar). And I hate, HATE, the taste of soy. Ugh. What am I going to do!?

What Mama Wears - Thanksgiving Weekend Edition

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all ate way too much turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and pie and all manner of other totally awesome Thanksgiving things. I know I did!

I also wanted to share a quick couple of outfits with you from my Thanksgiving weekend.

The first is a really simple, totally comfy fall look.

Fun & Fab Fall

SO - honesty time: If it were up to me, and I didn't care a whit about fashion or what other people thought of me I'd probably wear pyjamas 6 out of 7 days a week. No lie. So, most of the time when I'm getting dressed, my number 1 concern becomes "is it comfortable?" Because if it's not, I'm not wearing it. When you're a Mama, you need clothes that can move with you. While wearing this outfit I packed up a car, carried toddlers, walked up and down our cottage road, pulled a wagon, took pictures, laid down on top of a random stump at the side of the road, sat in a car for several hours, lounged, ate a full turkey dinner and went on home. It was comfy 100% of the time. I'll admit - I took the sweater off after dinner. 20 ppl and a cooked turkey in my mother's house is a recipe for a Thanksgiving sauna... otherwise, not a single issue with this ensemble all. day. long. Just the way I like it.

This is a simple plaid button down paired with a sweater, skinny jeans and boots. The hubs took this pic while we were walking up and down our cottage road (hence the furbaby) and I took the "awesome" self portrait so you could see my earrings. Cute right? 

 

Mini-cable Sweater by Chaps - Value Village / Plaid Button down - Ricki's / 

Sweetheart Skinny Jeans - Old Navy / Carlos by Carlos Santana books - Famous Footwear / 

Earrings - Claire's

Thankful....

Thanksgiving.

I love thanksgiving. It's one of my favourite holidays in the whole year. Here in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. It's a great time of year - the leaves are starting to turn, pumpkins are ripe, the fall harvest season is at it's absolute peak and the farmer's markets around our town are packed with squash, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, corn and so many other great fall vegetables. Thanksgiving makes me think of life as being warm, and golden. And Thanksgiving weekend is a weekend absolutely packed full of great food and family and laughter. All things that make life feel full and ripe like the earth around us.

Things I'm Thankful for this weekend:

 - My family. I love my large extended family, and am so blessed to have a tight knit, hilarious, loving fam. My in-laws are wonderful, loving and an integral part of my life. But I'm especially thankful for my wonderful Hubs, my two wacky kiddos: big'un and littl'un, and even my silly fur-baby. Only 4 months after losing our latest angel baby I find myself feeling a little twinge of sadness at what might have been, but being surrounded by my little family makes me exceedingly grateful for the blessings I have.

 

Thanksgiving Weekend walk at the cottage

What Mama Wears...

This is the first instalment of What Mama Wears! Yay!

Okay - to be fair, I'm actually kind of excited. And nervous. And excited... Hopefully the photography will get better as time goes on (let's be honest, I'm used to be on the other side of the camera, not in front of it - yuck!) but for now at least hopefully you'll get an idea of what I'm wearing and why!

First up:

Put a bow on it.

I love a good print. Picked up this tee at Forever 21 Outlet in Niagara Falls. Since it's kind of a stand out I went fairly simple with everything else. Black and White cardi, sweet *shh, they're* yoga pants and a pair of super comfy low heels. I like to have a more defined waist in my outfits, since, as a busty woman, sometimes finding a top that fits the girls makes everything else look kind of pregnant and potato-sackish. But I can't wear a belt every single day, so I just button one or two buttons in the middle of the cardi, and voila - instant hourglass.

   

Cardigan: Ricki's / Tee-shirt: Forever 21 Plus / Pants: Joe Fresh Yoga / Shoes: Payless Fioni Night / Necklace: Designs by Patricia