Outfits from a Short Trip

As I said last week, I wanted to show you this week how my outfits turned out that I packed for the trip to my mom’s. Most of the days I showered, got dressed and put on my make up, but Friday I spend cleaning my mother’s house: a job that needed to be done for some time now. Wearing all pink enabled me to not even think about how my pieces were going to go together. I already had it figured out ahead of time. That is the reason I like to have a theme or color(s) when packing for a trip.

Day 1: The Drive

I chose a comfortable pair of jeans with a good amount of stretch. My short sleeve tee is thrifted and I opted for the Christopher and Banks chambray shirt as a light weight extra layer. It was cooler and with the windows down this shirt was the perfect topper. I added my fun blue Converse sneakers which are comfortable and light weight.

Style Tip: Use a long sleeve button down as a light weight jacket. Rolling up the sleeves gives a little extra freedom and coolness. Add shoes that match your pants for a more elongated effect.

Day 2: Thrifting with My Bestie

I love the simplicity of the this outfit and the vibrant touch of color. No matter what is trending, florals are always in season, just like animal prints. Spring, summer, winter and fall, you can’t go wrong with a floral print. Everything I had on this day was a thrifting find, making it even more appropriate to wear when going thrifting with your best friend.

Style Tip: When deciding on accessories for an outfit with a busy print like florals, choose a statement piece that will stand out against the background using an accent color that appears in the print. For my outfit I chose a green pendant necklace with a bold silver chain and border around the stone. Also, don’t be afraid to wear fun shoes. I found these bright purple Sperry sneakers at the thrift shop around the corner from my house. They are a party for my feet!

Day 3: Birthday Picnic at the Park

Obviously I have a thing for florals. Ha, ha. I really needed to iron this blouse before wearing it, but who wants to iron? Once again, I chose my necklace according to a color in the print. I decided to keep to a shorter, layered piece to allow the beauty of the flowers and soft colors to show off fully.

Style Tip: When wearing a lower cut v-neck add a tank top with some sort of neckline embellishment that just peeks out the top for added interest and coverage. This also adds warmth in the cooler fall temps.

Day 4: Cleaning Day

This was my outfit after I spent about almost eight hours cleaning my mom’s house, then took a shower. Seeing as she just turned 96 and has become quite frail and unsteady, it has been a while since a thorough cleaning happened. My niece has been doing occasional cleaning, but she also has her own family, so is very busy.

I started at the top of the house with vacuum in hand and sucked down every cob web, and spider I could find. I did bedrooms, closets, the hall, down the steps, the back entry way, the laundry room, kitchen and living room. I also mopped and cleaned the bathroom and kitchen. I finished by vacuuming the living room carpet. My mom was very appreciative and now she can have a little piece of mind.

Style Tip: Wear comfortable clothes while you clean and after. Ha, ha

Day 5: Company

This look was great for playing with the grand baby, and visiting with, not only my daughter and son-in-law, but another niece and her daughter and their pup, who stopped by to wis my mom a happy birthday.

Style Tip: You can be comfortable in jeans and tees, but still look neat and classy. Try choosing jewelry with a bit of sparkle and bling or a metallic toned belt to bring the look up a notch.

This outfit is another fave. It is comfy and classic. The floral tee is not bold and bright like Day 2, but is more delicate and whimsical in its print. Plus the message is so appropriate. I was also impressed that this necklace matched almost perfectly with the green and pink tones in the tee.

Day 6: The Drive Home

Once again, a comfy outfit for the ride home. Thrifted tee, and jeans, and back to my Converse. The pale pink sweater was just the right coverage for the last half of the drive as the temps went down.

Style Tip: If you like to wear tee shirts like I do in the summer be sure to choose ones that portray messages, graphics and movies or music groups that you identify with. I love tees that give messages of encouragement and hope.

So those were my outfits for my time away including my travel days. I hope you enjoyed this post, and I hope you are having a great week.

Packing for a Short Trip

I thought I would do something a little different and take you through my thought process when I am packing for a short trip away. I am not really into capsule wardrobes, because I really love my clothes, and I also love having variety and choices. I think capsule wardrobes are great and maybe some day I’ll give it a try, but for now I am trying to use the many clothes that I have. However, that does make it harder when I am packing for a trip to decide what to bring with. I try not to get into a rut and wear the same things over and over as far as my tops, so when I pack for a trip I usually pick a theme, an accessory like a scarf or bag or a color to work around to limit my choices.

For this little trip I am taking to my moms for her birthday, I decided to go with the color pink. Usually I pick two or three colors to focus on, but this time I chose a dark pink and a light pink. I have two lighter weight sweaters that I thought would be perfect for a late summer trip where the temps will still be warm during the day, but possibly cooler at night and also thinking about air conditioning in stores and restaurants.

Once I chose the two sweaters, then I started to pull out tops that would coordinate with those and this is what I came up with.

After I chose my sweaters and tops, I decided to add a necklace for each outfit, even if I decide to not wear one, at least I have the options with. I also swapped out the coral tank top under the floral button down for a more neutral light beige one.

I knew I was going to be ultra casual as is my normal style so I chose simple shoes and jeans to complete my looks.

Using things like colors, a special accessory or a theme can help you narrow your selections for a trip whether short or long. Next week I’ll show you all the outfits as I wore them.

How do you decide what to wear for a trip? Do you have a capsule wardrobe or a large wardrobe like I have with many choices? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave me a comment or two.

I hope you are having a great week.

A Bit of Travel. A Bit of Fashion.

This past weekend was the start of my husband's spring break. I decided to take the week off of work as well, so for the first weekend we spent three nights at Mohican State Park in central Ohio. It is a beautiful area and the state park boasts not only a meandering river which is filled with tubers, kayakers and canoers in the summer, and a beautiful lodge set on a hill overlooking the picturesque river valley, but twenty five lovely little cabins with all the comforts of home. It was in one of these Mark and I stayed. 

It was a much needed time of rest, relaxation and refreshment. We slept, ate, hiked together and then while Mark went out and enjoyed his hobby of metal detecting I stayed in a read a good book. 

Here are some pics of the beautiful scenery.

The scenery is even better in the spring, summer and fall, but we considered ourselves fortunate that we were able to take walks on the trails and that the sun was shining. 

I know this is normally a fashion post, so I couldn't go the entire weekend without taking a few pics for today's post. On our way down to Mohican we go right past Mansfield, Ohio which is a moderate sized town. It is big enough to have a mall, a number of restaurants and other stores like Kohls, Barnes and Noble and Target. We stopped for lunch then did a lap around the mall where I found a fun bomber jacket on clearance at J.C.Penney. 

This is the second bomber jacket I bought. The first one, which will probably come up in a post somewhere down the road is light weight and doesn't have the fun patches. I got an extra large in this version from Penney's. While a large fit perfectly, I wanted a little more flex room. Plus they only had the large size in olive and both my husband and I liked the look of the black better.

When I packed I had no idea I would be purchasing this jacket. I happened to pack a red cardigan which goes perfectly underneath and added my retro beaded fringe necklace. Yes, I do pack jewelry, even when I am going to be in a rustic cabin in the woods! I wouldn't be Stylin' Granny Mama if I didn't. Ha, ha. And yes, I did bring my curling iron as well! My husband will tell you I can go rustic with the best of them: we did camp in a tent on an island in Canada's Algonquin Provincial Park, on our honey moon after all, but, when I have electricity, I will make all efforts to look my best.

You can see some of the patches here. I think they really give the jacket that WWII bomber vibe. This Arizona brand jacket is made from 100 percent polyester. It is fully lined and has soft knit bands around the neck, cuffs and bottom. It also has roomy pockets with snap flaps and a sleeve zipper on the one arm.

I can already think of many ways to style this jacket. It would be fun with a skirt and tennies, dress pants and heels or boot cut jeans and oxfords. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing some pics from our weekend away and liked the new jacket I got. I included a few links to various styles of bomber jackets. I really like the floral ones, especially for spring. 

Have a great Tuesday.

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Monday linking up with Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb. Tuesday linking up with Shelbee in the Spread the Kindness Link up, Jennie in the Ageless Style Link Up, and Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish. Wednesday linking up with Hannah and Sara of The Perfect Storm.