Transitional Spring Outfit

Spring time in my area is a carousel ride of fluctuating temperatures and weather which makes getting dressed any given morning like playing the lottery. The best way I have found to adapt to these changeable days is to think layers. As opposed to winter layering that is full of heavy long sleeved tees and bulky sweaters, spring layering is more about lighter layers. Fabrics like cotton or cotton polyester blends are ideal for light layers and still give you mobility while keeping you warm.

Today’s outfit was what I wore on Saturday for our Easter celebration. I wanted something casual and comfortable, but still flexible enough to cook a big dinner and do all the clean up afterwards. I also wanted layers that would be warm, but not so warm I would be peeling them off when the oven was on cooking the turkey.

Transitional dressing usually means you are moving from one season to another and you are in between one wardrobe and another. The move from winter to spring in my area is usually still chilly and even downright cold. Rain, snow showers and wind are common place during the months of March, April and once in a rare while into May. Many people who have a capsule type wardrobe can have all of their clothes in their closet at one time. For those of us who are clothes horses, we need to move out the winter wardrobe and move in the summer wardrobe. I usually don’t do this until the weather is consistently above 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold weather clothes spend much more time in my closet than my warm weather clothes, unfortunately. Ha ha.

In this outfit I am wearing two lightweight cotton long sleeve tees. The striped tee you can see is a.n.a. brand and was a purchase this past fall from JC Penney. They had a good sale on long sleeve tees and I bought a few. Underneath the striped tee is along sleeve thrifted light pink tee which is Old Navy brand.

My pretty floral kimono is David & Young brand and a DSW clearance find. Don’t be afraid to look at the accessory sections at different stores. You never know what you might find. The thing that drew me to this piece was the print, the colors and the tassels.

My jeans are Rock & Republic from Kohl’s. I have several pairs of these and love all of them. These are more stretchy and like jeggings rather than jeans. My other pairs are regular denim.

Once again, my chunky burgundy necklace is making an appearance. I love the way it looks with this outfit and I also love the print mix of this outfit. Stripes and florals are one of the easiest and most popular print mixes.

I thought these Spirit ankle boots were a good choice for this look. They are comfortable and yet stylish with a faux suede finish and low heel.

This Massini saddle bag was purchased from clearance at Meijer a while back. I’ve styled this with an outfit before on the blog. You can see that post here.

I hope you enjoyed this outfit. What do you wear to transition from winter to spring? Are you still wearing layers where you are, or is it warm? I’d love to hear from you, so be sure to leave a comment below.

I hope you all are well and managing to stay healthy and mentally sound, which isn’t easy to do in these times we are in. I have good days and bad days, but we all need to give ourselves grace. These are difficult times, so set small goals and try to get outside.

I’m including a few shopping links. These are affiliate links, but all opinions are my own. Thanks for stopping by the blog.

Seeing Red - Thrifted Thursday - Burgundy Skirt

Today’s column is the first of a new one I am going to feature the first Thursday of the Month. Since I am such an avid thrifter and because I see so many other thrifters featuring their treasures on a regular basis, I thought it would be fun to come up with an outfit once a month that is entirely thrifted. I thought this outfit fit into my February theme of Seeing Red because it features my burgundy faux leather skirt.

This skirt is Worthington brand. I have styled this on the blog before. You can see it styled with a velvet floral top here; a burgundy lace top here; a floral top here; and a gray sweater tunic here. This just goes to show, a faux leather skirt is a versatile option for your wardrobe. It works great as a work wear piece or dressed up for a classy night out.

I love this cognac yellow, cowl neck sweater. It is Charlotte Russe brand. Since it is a wider, more relaxed fit, I decided to do the front tuck. I have seen numerous vloggers, (video bloggers) who use this method to create a waist line on an outfit, with a more bulky or voluminous piece. Since I added a jacket over the top, leaving the back untucked was no big deal, as you can see below.

This olive green jacket could be a shirt dress, a very short one. Ha, ha. However, my days of mini skirts are long gone, so I am using it like a light weight jacket. This is Fashion Bug brand. With its large square pockets, metals snaps and casing belt, it definitely falls into the utility jacket category.

I kept my accessories simple. The fun brass and bead flower pendant I found thrifting a few years ago. The cognac, leather, Fossil cross body bag is perfect for carrying the essentials when shopping. I could have went with some cognac colored ankle boots, but opted for the black ANA loafer heels instead. I thought it made the outfit look a little more professional and office ready. My dark colored hose are the only thing not thrifted in my outfit.

What do you think of this outfit? Do you like this combination of colors? I really liked the way the yellow, burgundy and olive compliment each other.

If you don’t go thrifting, I would strongly recommend you give it a try. It is a great way to help our environment, other people and our own pocket books.

I’ve included a few modestly priced shopping links, if you are more of an online shopper. These are affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull.

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.

Pantone Fall 2017 - The New York Palette - Tawny Port and Golden Lime

This week's color combination is a blend of a dark maroon and a more subtle green. Tawny Port is described on the Pantone site as "Taking the red family to new depths..." I think of it as more of purple than a red, but then purple is made up of red and blue. Golden Lime takes on a more tropical hue, so I though pairing these two colors would make for an interesting outfit. 

These pictures were taken at Wildwood Metropark here in Toledo. This is an amazing park and so close to home. It used to be the estate of Champion Spark Plug magnate Robert Stranahan. The park boasts the original Manor house and outbuildings, as well as acres of trails, a covered bridge and boardwalk. It is used for everything from family picnics to all manner of photo opportunities. In December the Manor house will be decorated for Christmas and thousands of people will come to take a tour. 

For today's pics we just found a piece of trail to take pictures on.

I've had this skirt, which is Jones Wear Brand, for a while. Honestly, I don't even remember where I got it. Ha, ha. However, it is a fun skirt with it's whimsical pattern and colors. It is fully lined and would be considered either midi or tea length, depending on what chart you look at. 

This open waterfall cardi is ANA brand. It probably leans more towards purple than what Tawny Port actually is, but I think It works well. The Tawny Port splotches in the skirt actually are more red. It is amazing how you can pair something with a color that has both red and blue in it's undertones and it will lean toward the color of the piece you have on.

This faux lace top from Croft and Barrow appears more green in person, but you get the idea. I like these types of tops as they give the appearance of lace, but you don't have to wear a cami underneath. This one is a silky, stretchy material, so very easy to wear and wash. 

You can also see I added a gold belt to bring out that color in the skirt as well, plus it adds a point of interest and texture as well as defining my shape. I chose this bluish purple agate necklace as the skirt has just a little bit of this color in it too. 

My bag is thrifted and you can see I've used it before in this post. This dark olive bag from Talbots has two handles. One allows you to use it as a top handle hobo bag and the other as a cross body bag. It is nice to have options. 

I was really stumped when it came to what shoes to wear. My casual side won out in the end and I went for the combat boots. These are thrifted and are Falls Creek brand. Falls Creek is a brand sold at Meijer. 

I thought this was a fun outfit for fall. It is comfy, cozy and for cooler weather could be made wearable by swapping out the short sleeve stretchy tee for a long sleeve top and adding heavier tights under the skirt. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. I've included a few shopping links for Tawny Port and Golden Lime. This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own. 

Have a great week and don't forget to stop back on Thursday for another Fun Fall Look.

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull. Make up Rachel Christensen.

Monday linking up with Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb. Tuesday linking up with Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge and Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish.