Shopping Our Closets: Fall Florals

I don’t know about you, but I love the rich, vibrant colors of fall. Unlike spring and summer when we focus more on white, navy and all manner of pastels, fall allows us to indulge in dark maroons and earthy browns; golden yellows and rusty oranges. I love floral pieces in any season, but I especially love the dark florals of fall and winter. I am hoping you have a few fall florals in your closets and you will join me in putting together an outfit with those pieces as a focal point. Whether it is a top, a scarf, a bag or a skirt, fall florals make for outfits that are fun, whimsical and stylish.

For my fall floral I chose a thrifted Croft & Barrow tee. The rusty background, pinky reds in the flowers and the black leaves are a perfect choice for this fall look.

This top is just a basic Croft & Barrow tee. It fits well, and is perfectly comfy. It is a great piece for these early fall days where the temps are starting to get cooler, but it isn’t yet full on sweater weather yet.

I also chose simple beaded jewelry in similar fall tones.

I was going for a casual look, so chose jeans as my bottoms, but you could easily dress this up with a pair of black dress pants, or a rust or white colored skirt. These thrifted, boot-cut jeans are Apt. 9 brand.

My fun duster was a purchase from Cracker Barrel General Stores a few years ago. They always have beautiful holiday displays of their products and fun seasonal clothing. I would buy many more pieces there, but I just have a hard time paying full retail prices for anything I don’t really need. This is a brand called Linda Anderson.

My accessories really completed this casual look. I chose my thrifted Converse sneakers, my burgundy saddle bag purse, and an oversized, light weight, thrifted scarf. I like how the scarf has a similar color vibe to the tee, yet it is completely different. It also makes for a fun print mix.

What do you think of this outfit? Do you have any fall florals in your closet? If so, what sort of pieces do you have? I think it would be fun to style a fall outfit around a floral bag, scarf, skirt or dress. Let me know you thoughts.

I hope you enjoyed this post and that it provided a bit of inspiration for you in shopping your closet to build a fall outfit around a fall floral piece.

I’m including a few fall florals, bags and scarves below. These are affiliate links brought to you at no extra cost. If you purchase an item through one of my links, I get a few cents. I appreciate all you do to support the blog.

I hope you are having a great week!

Pantone - Autumn/Winter - 2021 - New York Palette: Pale Rosette, Root Beer and Olive Branch

I want to start off with an apology for my lack of consistency with the blog lately. It has been a rough couple of months and I just haven’t had the motivation to post as regularly. It seems every time I want to make more of an effort at getting more disciplined or being more consistent, I get blindsided by something. At the beginning of the summer it was a broken wrist. Mid summer, I came down with this stuff, that still has me coughing. I just have no idea if I will ever be back to “normal”, whatever that was.

There have been some good bits along the way as well. Early summer we were able to take my in-laws on a nice trip up through the Upper Peninsula, down through Michigan and back to our place where they enjoyed visiting family for a few days. I also got to see my mom, two different weeks and spend time with her. That also afforded me the opportunity to see my best girlfriend, and do some thrifting. On September 19th, our second grandson arrived. He is a doll and I am enjoying opportunities here and there to see him, even if I do have to wear a mask. He’s been born into a world of half blue faces, but that is okay, if we can give him a healthier start. He, my daughter and son-in-law are doing well.

Today’s outfit revolve around three colors on the Pantone New York Palette that I thought combined well into a work wear ready fall outfit.

I am still trying to get used to seeing pastels during the fall season. This year, they were quite popular and besides this pale pink, also included a pretty lavender. I guess, we like what we like right, so pastels for me might be more of a spring and summer color scheme, while rusts, browns and burgundies are the colors I reach for in the fall. While we still live in a free country, you are in control of what colors you wear when. Ha, ha.

The Pale Rosette, 3/4 length tee is a thrifted piece, and a brand called Suzanne Betro. It is actually a longer tunic, but I just tucked it in for this outfit. I love the detailing at the bodice.

You’ve seen my Olive Branch utility vest on the blog before when I did my series on olive pieces. This vest isn’t quite the right shade. Who would have thought there are so many shades of olive? Another clearance find from Kohl’s, I don’t have a ton of Mudd pieces as it typically has more of a junior’s fit, but the few that I have, I really like.

You’ve also seen these brown trousers when I talked about wide leg pants back in the spring. I am not a big fan. I have enough bulk on my bottom. However, I will hang on to this pair, as I like the color, and occasionally it is nice to have a different option when it comes to pants. These were thrifted and are St. John’s Bay brand.

I added the multi-print scarf to add an extra dimension of color and interest to the outfit. I like how it ties the whole look together.

You can also see the fun necklace I scored while thrifting at the local shop around the corner. I have found some great jewelry there. I goes perfectly with the pants.

Even though this little thrifted, Rosetti bag screams summer, I thought it was a great way to keep this outfit looking modern and updated, yet still in tune with the fall vibes.

My SO snakeskin print boots were a clearance purchase from Kohl’s last season. I haven’t really had the opportunity to wear them very much, so hopefully this season they will be out and about.

What do you think of these colors? Do you like them combined? Do you like them each separately?

I’d love to hear your thought, so leave me some love in the comments.

As I usually do, I am adding a few shopping links in things similar to these colors. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Thanks for following along on the blog. I hope you are having a great week.

Photo credit Jessica Trumbull with Rebecca Trumbull.

Spring/Summer - 2021 - Spark Joy

This trend is a bit different and I think really open to each individual’s own interpretation. The idea of Spark Joy is color and print combinations that make you feel like you are wearing a party. I actually enjoyed putting this together. You know I love print mixing and this pushed me even further outside of my color and print mixing box. Let’s take a closer look.

I got this Universal Threads, sun print top at Target at the same time I got my pastel colored eyelet shirt (seen last week on the blog). Once again, you can see the puffed sleeves. Usually, I am not a ruffle girl, but once in a while, I find something that doesn’t make me look like a clown and this top was one of those times. I think the gathering around the neck helps and that the ruffles are vertical rather than horizontal. Horizontal patterns on us larger ladies are harder to pull off, and that goes for ruffles as well. In fact, when placed as they are on this top, I think it balances out my wider bottom.

This is another LuLaRoe skirt that I found at a local thrift store. The thing I like about these maxi skirts is that I don’t have to worry about wearing a slip. They are comfortable and easy to wear. The fun patterns are great for print mixing as in this outfit, or you can pick any color in the pattern and match up to it. I know not everyone can wear a maxi skirt and I will include a few shopping links at the end for shorter printed skirts for those of you who prefer a midi or knee length style.

My floral, Erin London, bomber jacket you’ve seen before. It was a purchase from Shop National from their mark down section a few years ago. You can see it here with a floral top.

My accessories were simple since there was already plenty going on in this outfit. I chose another long pendant necklace, this time with some bling and fringe. I also opted for a wide black belt to make more of a definition between my top and the skirt. I added a few bracelets, my thrifted, black, a.n.a. loafer heels and my thrifted bucket bag. My daughter does not like this bag. What do you think? She doesn’t like the shape of it. I told her I would ask for your opinion, so be sure to comment below.

So what do you think of this crazy print mixing outfit? I do not really expect you to go out and wear something like this, but it is truly fun to experiment and push ourselves outside of our normal outfit ideas. Would I wear something like this? Probably not exactly as I have it here. I might swap out the skirt for a solid black skirt or pair of pants, or I might change the top for a solid tee. I might even wear the top and skirt together, but switch out the floral bomber for a solid cardi or light weight jacket. You can still have joy with bright colors and print mixing, but you can also look polished and classy.

I’m including a few shopping links for fun prints. Be sure to check those out. These are affiliate links. When you click on a link, I get a few cents. I appreciate every click. All opinions are my own.

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull.

I hope you are having a great week.

A Dickens' Christmas - The Ghost of Christmas Present

If you have seen any of the more recent versions of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Present is the one that exudes the festive, living presence of the holiday season. In both the George C. Scott version and the Muppet Christmas Carol version the being known as the Ghost of Christmas present is a jovial, boisterous giant of a character who escorts Scrooge on a tour of Christmas day. The day is filled with food, singing, gift giving and game playing. The joyful Ghost, shows Ebenezer a day made even more beautiful by the love of family and the generosity of his fellow man.

When I began thinking about how i wanted this outfit to look, I knew I wanted it to be bright and colorful. I wanted to present Christmas as a joyful celebration full of life and beauty.

Once again, the Toledo Botanical Gardens provided the back drop for our pictures. They have the entryway into the park so festive and pretty.

Everything in this outfit is thrifted, except for the necklace and boots.

My skirt is another LuLaRoe piece that I found at a thrift store just around the corner from me. It really is a little too long and a tad too big (I rarely have that problem…ha, ha), but I love the floral pattern and it seemed perfect for representing the spirit of Christmas.

My daughter was playing around when she was editing the picture and added a smattering of festive green bubbles.

I found this fabulous Tommy Hilfiger red corduroy jacket at one of our local Goodwills. I haven’t really had a chance to show it off, until I thought about this outfit. I definitely wanted to stick with the more traditional Christmas colors of red and green, so this jacket and the lighter green Sonoma v-neck were a good combination.

I found this long, sparkly, fringe pendant necklace at a thrift store as well. You can’t see it real well in this picture, but the beads have a sparkly, iridescent quality. The picture below, shows you a closer look at the textures of the necklace, sweater and jacket.

You’ve seen this faithful leather, Fossil bag on the blog numerous times. I need to find a smaller wallet to use with this purse, as my current one is too big.

I wanted comfortable boots with this festive outfit, so I chose my suede Massini boots that I found on clearance at Meijer a few seasons ago.

What do you think of this outfit? Do you think it represents the Ghost of Christmas Present and all the symbolism that goes with it? I thought it exemplified the idea of life, celebrations and festiveness; all the things that the Ghost of Christmas Present is fond of.

I hope you enjoyed this post and are enjoying my movie inspired outfits this month. It has been fun to see what sort of outfits I could come up with.

I am including a few shopping links to look over. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Have a wonderful day!

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull.

Pantone Spring/Summer - 2020 - Classic Blue, Chive and Navy Blazer

As usual, the names for the Pantone colors always amuse me. Classic Blue is pretty normal. Obviously, Chive makes me think of green onions and as you will see, the color is a pretty dark green. Navy Blazer is one of the classic colors and is your typical navy staple, which many of us have a piece or two in our closets. Since Classic Blue is the color of the year, I decided to start with it. The idea to combine it with Chive was a natural progression when I pulled out this thrifted summer midi dress.

This outfit centers around this thrifted OliviaRose dress that I got numerous years ago. Its pretty floral print combines blue, white and green a black background. I didn’t even have to think when I pulled this out of my closet. Classic Blue and Chive were the perfect pairing. An outfit like this really can be worn year round.

This bright blue scarf was gifted to me for Christmas and I used it to introduce the Pantone Color of the Year back in January. You can see that post here.

My faux suede blazer has a little more of a blue undertone than the Chive color, but I thought it was pretty close. This thrifted ISB Inc. blazer is meant to have a double breasted appearance when buttoned, but my figure right now will not allow for that. However, I think it looks just as nice left open since there are buttons on both sides.

You can see in the next picture how nicely the blazer fits through the back. I like that it is more fitted, rather than boxy. I was also trying something different with my hair.

This thrifted Simply Vera/Vera Wang bag has made multiple appearances on the blog as has my thrifted Relativity loafer heels.

I also added my sparkly Classic Blue bracelet, which was also a Christmas gift.

If you are not into wearing bold, bright colors, then these colors would be the perfect choice for you. You could easily make this pairing more summery by adding a white skirt or crop pants instead of the darker print dress. You could also wear head to toe white with a Chive colored blazer or sweater and just a few pops of Classic Blue jewelry. There are so many options, so never say never to any color.

Do you like these colors? How would you wear them? Is this the sort of outfit you would wear? If not, what kind of outfit would you put together? I would love to hear back from you. Things are a little lonely around here. Ha, ha. I am sure you all can relate. We really need the world to get back to something more normal, even if it is not perfect.

I hope you enjoyed this post everyone. Until next time. Stay safe and healthy.

Graphic by Rebecca Trumbull.

I’ve included a few shopping links just for something to look at. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Transitional Spring Outfit

I thought it would be fun to show off a new purchase I made at a local retailer I have mentioned on the blog before. I made this purchase back in January, so well before the shelter-in-place went into effect. Today’s focal piece is a floral maxi dress that I purchased from Eden Fashion Boutique. I did a feature post on this local retailer back in 2018. You can see the original post here.

A maxi dress can be perfect for transitional dressing. It is long, so still offers coverage for those cool days before summer comes or when fall is on the way. They also are easy to layer with. Just throw on a jean jacket, a sweater or even a sweatshirt and you feel cozy, but still look stylish.

This MikaRose dress is so comfortable I could wear it to bed. It is made out of a soft, medium weight jersey knit. It just slips on over your head with no buttons, snaps, or zippers to get in the way. It has an empire waist, so there is absolutely no pinching or binding. I like that the sleeves are closer to elbow length and that it has a scoop neckline. Of course, the selling point for me was not only the feel, but the floral pattern, and in this case it is an olive background rather than white, blue or black. I think that gives it an all season look.

My Say What? brand vest is from a few years ago. I thought the colors went well with the flowers in the dress for a little print mixing. The hand crafted look and the fringe gives the outfit a boho vibe. You can see where I styled this vest on the blog before with a short sleeve tee and a pair of checked trousers, here.

I chose this necklace for its fringe-like appearance and the light pink cording.

You’ve seen this dark olive hobo bag on the blog many times before. Most recently I carried it with my new red plaid jacket from Maurices, which you can see here. The pink flower pins are perfect with the dress. At some other point in time, I’d like to focus on the yellowy color in the dress as a way to pick out complimentary accessories.

I opted for my SO faux suede ankle boots, because it is still too cold for sandals. Boo, on this crazy weather. Ha, ha.

What do you think of this outfit? Do you like to wear maxi dresses? How do you style yours? I’d love to hear you opinions, so leave a note or two in the comments. I appreciate your following and interacting with me on the blog.

I’ve included a few shopping links. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own. Have a great weekend and stay safe

Color Play - Inspiration from Art

One of my monthly columns is going to be this one called Color Play. You know how much I love color and enjoy finding different combinations that are new and unique. Color is all around us in nature, in our homes and in many places we don’t really think about. For this month’s outfit, I was inspired by a painting and table arrangement in my daughter’s house.

This is a watercolor painting by my son-in-law’s grandfather, John Trumbull (not to be confused with the American Revolutionary painter by the same name). While he is not famous, he has done some teaching and won a few awards and ribbons for his work. I was gifted one of this paintings last year for Christmas and just love it.

The table arrangement was put together by my daughter and I really like how the painting and arrangement compliment each other. This is when I was inspired to come up with an outfit using a similar arrangement of colors. This is what I did.

I just obtained this plaid ANA jacket from the JC Penney clearance rack. It was still a little more than I wanted to pay, but I had a coupon. I almost put it back, but I just have this thing for plaid. I kept looking at it thinking, I love it. I can come up with fun blog outfits with it and I’ll actually wear it. It came home with me and I don’t regret it. I could also justify the purchase because I was using birthday money to buy it. Ha, ha.

The piece is not lined, but has deep, welt pockets a notched lapel and button front. The color is a very light bluish gray and it made me think of the two tall, slender vases in the picture.

The two under layers consisted of a thrifted Chaps, floral button up, and a thrifted Sonoma, v-neck sweater. I felt the green sweater went with the lighter greens in the painting and the floral top picks up the sublte purples. I get into these moods when I am thrifting where I buy similar type items, usually patterns. For a while it was gingham, then it was stripes, now it is florals and plaid. That is part of the reason I have so many clothes. It’s that time of year where I will need to do some thinning out of my wardrobe.

My light colored Croft and Barrow jeans are also thrifted. I was looking for something in a lighter color that wasn’t white and these seemed to fit the bill.

Accessories included a simply handmade bead necklace, purple bangle bracelets. and a Nicole tote bag. I love the purply gray color of this purse. The gold accents make it look high class.

Since we are still in the cold weather season I decided to include my Sonoma shearling ankle boots. These are warm, comfy and stylish for this chilly time of year.

What do you think of this color combination? Do you like to wear plaid? What’s your favorite pattern to wear? Leave me some love in the comments. It always gives me a boost to hear from you.

I’m including a few shopping links. These are affiliate links, which means I get a few cents if you click on a link. I get a little more if you purchase something through my website. All opinions are my own.

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull.

Fall Trends - 2019 - Part 3

Here we are looking at two more fall trends for 2019. Depending on who you look to for the latest info on the trends, there is some overlap. However, not all trends are the same according to all the fashion gurus. Who What Wear has a different list from Marie Claire who has a different list from Vogue and so on. When I put together my list of trends, I am taking from a few different sources and presenting you the ones I like and find interesting and plausible for us real women. Remember most trends that you see on the runways are geared toward younger women who have the stature of a fashion model, so very tall and thin. That does not mean that we cannot wear a particular trend, but pick the ones that are right for you.

Trend 5 - Head to Toe Prints

This is not a particularly new trend, but it presents itself in a bolder more, out there way. Pattern mixing has become quite common, but now the patterns are brighter and bigger. Here are some examples from a Pinterest page I discovered. I decided to go more conservative, because I was grooving on the earth tones of browns and blues. This is what I came up with.

Obviously the old time suiting that women, and men, used to wear would fall easily into this trend category. A matching plaid blazer and pants along with a bold print top and you would be stylin’ with the best of them. The thing I like about this trend is the challenge of creating a printed outfit that I would actually wear and that looks palatable to the eye, not obnoxious. Some of the outfits on that Pinterest page I would classify as obnoxious, but that is only my opinion.

I found these paisley corduroys while thrifting last spring and unfortunately won’t be able to wear them, until I get back to my lighter spring weight. Ugg. However, I loved the pattern and the heavier weight for fall and winter. They are a brand called Havana Jack’s Cafe. Do you ever wonder where they come up with the names for things?

The blue in the pants made me reach for my Chaps knit vest and my thrifted polka dot SO button up. I found the fun necklace at a second hand store and thought it would be a good addition to the outfit.

Blue seemed to be my color of choice for bag and shoes. Everything in this outfit came from my closet and has been used on the blog before. You can see the vest here and here. The pants have not. but I already explained that problem. Ha, ha.

Trend 6 - Dark Florals

I have really taken a liking to floral prints. I like the bright bold colors of spring, the soft pastel prints of summer and especially the dark floras of fall and winter. It would seem that florals are here to stay and I am glad.

I found this dark floral Jeans by Buffalo top while thrifting. I love the colors and when I went to put this flat lay together, I realized this erin london bomber jacket from Shop National would be the perfect over piece. It goes well with the green in the top and has its own floral print.

These distressed, embellished skinny jeans are Rock & Republic from Kohl’s, and I’ve had them for a while. Once again, I have grown out of them, but I refuse to get rid of them. Ha, ha.

Since the top contains some red, I chose red for my accessories, including my tall, black, studded boots that have red detailing along the zipper on the back.

This is definitely an outfit I would wear on a regular basis. The pretty florals, the layers and the skinny jeans with boots will be a regular rotation as the weather cools.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Next Tuesday I will bring you one more post on fall trends and then I hope to start my Pantone Fall 2019 - New York series.

Thanks for following and please join me next time.