May comings and goings

What came in - 12

• Swarovski bracelet from the Stardust collection - love it so much!! I very rarely buy costume jewelry but I LOVE Swarovski pieces and can never resist a dark colored piece.
• 3 pieces from H&M - 2 throw-over dresses in navy and orange; and a orange striped sweatshirt. These 3 purchases are fast becoming a staple in my wardrobe, especially the dresses. I had originally purchased 2 items back in February, but decided to exchange them for something else since they were still sitting in my closet with tags on them. Upon exchange, I immediately went home and changed into one of the dresses for dinner - very telling =)
• 4 skirts and a skinny belt from the Banana Republic outlet - all 5 pieces for around $50, can't go wrong there! The only draw back is that the two ivory skirts I purchased are a tad too short for work when I sit down, but great for dates nights, and evenings out. 
• Dress, sandals, and earrings - they were a gift from my friend for being in her bridal party <3 (do these actually count? hrm...)

The Tano sandal from Aldo - I love the color and details of this!

What went out - 11

• Adidas Missy Elliot sneakers - after several attempts at trying to sell them, and trying to work it back into my wardrobe, I decided to just donate them. This is great because I'm one more pair of shoes down to having only 20 pairs =) still a long way to go....
• T-shirt - just didn't fit me the same anymore.
• Sweater - didn't feel the same way about it anymore.
• Black and white houndstooth jacket - letting this go was a sad moment for me; I love this piece but ruined it by trying to bleach some of the white squares =( I learned after I tried to bleach it, that trying to bleach anything that isn't cotton just turns it yellow.
• Purple denim shorts.
• Gray Tommy Hilfiger skirt with pockets (one of my previous go-to items in the summer but it was looking 'tired') 
• Red and black sweater dress - really loved this piece as I had purchased it on a trip to Malaysia many years ago but it just wasn't working for me any more.
• 2 Hoodies (this makes me incredibly happy as I'm trying very hard to lessen the amount I have)
• Pair of dress shorts - from last year, don't like the fit of it any more. 
• Ralph Lauren cami from their sleep wear - didn't fit any more.

3 piece #ootd

This outfit came about because a number of us that are part of an online community of bag lovers, decided that we would use red bags last weekend. Behold, my Michael Kors red hobo (the factory version - I had the boutique version but sold it as I love this version much more). 

Since I can't seem to get enough of the H&M basic dresses I bought earlier in the month, I paired my bag with my navy dress. I usually play it pretty safe with shoes, going with neutral colors, but I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to wear my red American Eagle cork wedges that I purchased several seasons ago from Payless Shoes, but rarely wear. 

It's a very simple outfit but it's exactly why I love it - it's comfortable and easy to wear. I think the mixture of the navy and the height of the wedges makes it a little bit dressier. I'm happy to have discovered this combination, and would definitely wear it for date nights and casual Fridays at the office. Another plus is that it doesn't even make me feel like it's a lot of effort to put together!

My first #ootd post

This is my first "Outfit of the Day" post!

As I get better at putting together outfits, I hope to share with you some of my favourites. 

I put together this look in my Stylebook App and wore it yesterday to the office. I'm very happy with it, especially with my choice in accessories, something that I am really trying  to incorporate into my outfits to enhance them.

PS - that's not how I normally stand, I just wanted to share the shoes ;)

Top | Banana Republic (~3 years old)
Skirt | Banana Republic (4+ years old)
Shoes | Zara (bought July 2014; worn for the first time yesterrday)
Necklace | bought in a store equivalent to Forever 21 during a trip to Malaysia (10+ years ago; only recently started to use it)
Bag | Coach - "Candace" from the Legacy collection
Bracelets | Birks (my ever day bracelet for the last 10 years), Swarovski Stardust collection (recent purchase)
Watch | Seiko (bought last year; my favourite watch)
Trench coat | Banana Republic (~3 years old)

I love this look for several reasons - I'm getting to mix the current mules trend with my safe and work-appropriate pencil skirt outfit; there's a pop of color; I've been mindful to utilize accessories to complete the look; all the colors in the outfit are part of my current color capsule; I'm actually wearing the fun shoes I have instead of just defaulting to my flats; I'm using old and new items; and best of all, it was super comfy and I felt great in it!

Refining my summer weekend wardrobe

Previous to 2 summers ago, my summer weekend wardrobe was a mess - nothing made sense, I hadn't done any updates to it, but I had a lot of stuff. It wasn't until I couldn't fit into them, did I start to think about what I really wanted. I took it as an opportunity to refine my wardrobe and instead of going crazy and buying every pretty thing in sight, I took my time, let go of almost everything that wasn't working, and spent very little money to test the waters. I bought a little bit of everything that I wanted to try and it helped me realize the following things:

• t-shirts and tank tops - while it's tempting to buy every color under the sun for the super low prices that seem to be popping up every where, quality differs greatly from brand to brand. Nowadays, especially with the paper thin trend, it's hard to find ones that aren't see through and stretch to no end, after a few wears (and putting them in the dryer to shrink them just put them out of proportion.) I rather spend a bit more money on these so that I don't have to layer on tank top underneath.
• shorts - I learned that I prefer a dress short, or khaki short, over denim, and if they are denim, prefer a dark wash and reasonable length. If I buy anything outside of that, I usually get tired of them after one season. I therefore purchased a few better quality dress shorts and a pair of khakis so that I don't have to replace them every season, and I spend very little money on denim shorts - I actually recently donated last year's purple denim shorts and am in no rush to fit into my dark wash denim shorts, which are an ultimate benchmark item.
• throw-over dresses - I LOVE these, and love the price - there are always fun new ones every year and I buy a couple and wear them to the ground. They are always items that get the best cost-per-wear. This year's will be my new H & M basic dresses and I love them so much that I hope these will hold up for a few seasons. If not, I think/hope it's safe to say that I can get them next year (my cousin bought the same one last year; although, I doubt I will be able to get the orange one again =() I don't spend a lot on these for several reasons: I have yet to find one of really good quality that is lightweight and that I think will actually wear well for several seasons to come, they are one of the few items in my wardrobe that may be a staple, but offer me too much variety for me to commit, and I tend to wear them for everything so the likelihood of them getting ruined is quite large (although has yet to happen) and I don't want to fret over something that's meant to be worn easily.
• pants - I don't like to wear them in the summer and seldom need to. If for whatever reason I must, I have my khakis from spring that work perfectly =) Alternatively, I turn towards my weekend skirts, which like the throw-over dresses, are a staple, but another item I try not to spend too much on for the same reasons.

Now, I have a good mix of things I need and every summer or two, can easily anticipate what needs to be replaced. I usually spend less than 10% of my wardrobe budget for my summer weekend items. Also, since we get summer only 4 months of the year, I try to keep my weekend wardrobe to a very minimum number of items. Same goes for the other seasons. It just makes closet real estate sense ;)

New favourite wardrobe staple!

Last week I decided to return a couple of items that I had purchased in February from H&M. After more than 2 months, they still had their tags on them, so staying true to my resolution, I knew they had to go. I took a small hit with their exchange policy - after 30 days, even with receipt, you receive store credit for the current selling price, but felt relieved that they were out of my closet.

I took a stroll through the store and came across their basic dresses (with pockets!) and purchased one in navy and one in orange. I also purchased a orange striped sweatshirt for $10 - I'm currently quite attracted to orange.

One of my best purchases EVER - immediately after I got home, I changed for dinner and I decided to wear the orange one. I love this thing. I didn't get a chance to dress it up too much as I was running late, but I have already worn this item 3 times since I purchased it, in totally different settings - dinner, taking an afternoon stroll, and going to a casual meeting on the weekend. 

an H &M Basic

Here are the 3 outfits I've made with it so far - 

Dinner, casual stroll, weekend

Mini goals achieved!

Wardrobe related, this is a short but very satisfying post.

One of my goals is to own 10 coats/jackets - to make it a more realistic and achievable goal, I aimed to let go of three in 2015. I am pleased to announce that I have achieved this!

Lifestyle goal related, this is a super satisfying post. 

A lifestyle I'm striving for is one that combines being active, strong, and fit, while also living my life - I don't want to confine myself just to the gym, or restrict myself to endless diets. My husband loves being outside and while I enjoy it, it takes a lot of convincing to get me there. I'm working on changing that and spending more time breathing in the fresh air, and spending more quality time with my husband, doing something he loves. It's also great for me to get that 'natural workout.' 

On that note, over the weekend, my husband and I tackled the Grouse Grind. Located in North Vancouver, the summer transforms Grouse Mountain into one of the most popular hikes for tourists and locals. It is a steep trail that climbs 2,800 feet,  with an average grade of 17 degrees. The total number of stairs is 2,830 and the fastest time is about 23 minutes, with an average time of 1.5 hours. For those visiting Vancouver, I highly recommend trying it. If you're visiting in the winter, it is one of our local ski hills. You can find more info here. It was his first time doing the Grind, since he has moved to BC and while most find it grueling, he found it to be 'easier than he had thought' - yes, I married one of those. HAHA. I'm happy he enjoyed it - it felt great to be outside and I got lots of exercise.

Here are some of my pictures - 

The bottom of the Grind, and my husband making a cameo <3

View at the top

View of the gondolas to take you back down - $10 for the ride down 

Designer jeans - a thing of the past for me

Remember several years ago when you couldn't open a magazine without seeing an article about how much we 'had to own' a pair of designer jeans? ... I'm not going to lie, I got caught up in the hype too, and I'm going to confess... I didn't buy them because I personally thought that the quality and cuts were better; a younger and much less wiser me, bought them purely as status symbols and justified them as investment pieces. Looking back, jeans were something I should have saved my money on, and here's why - 

Weight change - this of course is not the jeans' fault, but now I'm left with 6 pairs of designer jeans that don't fit (thank goodness I was able to give 2 to my friend earlier this month). At my age now, I've accepted that my weight will fluctuate for better or for worse, and there's no way that I can confidently say that I will be able to fit into the same size jeans from month-to-month, let alone a solid year. (This is why I love bags). This leads me to my next reason - cost per wear.

Cost per wear - out of 365 days of the year, there are approximately 104 days (weekends) that I can choose to wear jeans; that's about 28% of the year. Throw in some business casual Fridays, stat holidays and vacation days, then counter that with days I wear something else, we may be looking at actually 15%, which is about 55 days. I currently own 10 pairs of designer jeans and at a rough average of $125/pair (bought on sale and regular price), we're possibly looking at a Burberry coat.

(side note: Burberry coats are currently my wardrobe 'exchange rate'). 

Now, only 4 of the 10 pairs fit me and are in rotation, and here's their cost per wear breakdown for one year: ($125 per pair x 4 pairs) / (365 x 0.15) = $9.13/wear. (Interesting fact: if I were to wear the same pair of jeans for an entire year, its cost per wear would be $2.29). As I mentioned before, my goal for cost per wear is $1 - $9 is not going to do!

Less expensive options - In the last 6 months, and most recently, in February, I purchased two pairs for approximately $24 and $15 (yes, at the GAP =P), and they have already paid for themselves! If they wear down or my weight changes, I have no problem letting them go.

Other pant options - I've recently fallen in love with cords for fall/winter and khakis for spring/summer. They're great alternatives to jeans, especially khakis when the weather just gets too hot. Last summer, I spent most of my time out of jeans. Moving forward I expect that I will be wearing these alternatives more often, further preventing my cost per wear from going down

So taking the above into account, designer jeans are no longer an item I'm willing to spend my money on as an 'investment piece.' I'll be sticking to more reasonably priced alternatives, or picking them up at major discount. 

Sparkling Hill Resort & a new Swarovski accessory

Last month I had the pleasure of spending a weekend away with some wonderful ladies, to celebrate the upcoming wedding of my Maid-of-Honor. We went for a quick retreat to Sparking Hill Resort, located in Vernon, British Columbia.

Located 5 hours away from Vancouver, the drive up was beautiful and I couldn't have asked for better weather. I arrived on a beautiful sunny, Saturday, and the Swarovski themed resort was lit up!!! There were crystals EVERY WHERE!!!! Even on the back of the chairs in the restaurant. The rooms all had crystal fireplaces, the hallways were lined in crystals, and the steam rooms were heavenly.

Here's a link for more info: http://www.sparklinghill.com/

Here are some pictures during my stay -

And my favourite one of all!

(Do click to enlarge, it's worth it!)

I recommend this place to everyone, it is absolutely beautiful and calming. The steam rooms are amazing and they even have a cold room. I am looking forward to spending a future romantic weekend here with my husband.

There's also a small gift store that we checked out before leaving and this beauty caught my eye! From the Stardust collection -

 

They didn't have it in my size so I purchased it just yesterday in the boutique near my home. They come in 8 colors and also have matching necklaces that can be used as a double-wrap bracelets. I highly recommend this item - super comfortable, reasonably priced, and just adds a little sparkle to an outfit =)

You can see the other colors here -

http://www.swarovski.com/Web_CA/en/5102552/product/Stardust_Black_Bracelet.html

April color capsule summary and showcase!

Well, April is over now and N and I have stayed true to our pact and goal. We have been sticking to a color capsule of black, white, navy, and gray for our work outfits. Here's a look at our outfits!

Mine

I highlighted some of my favourites - It was a lot of fun and the only hard part was sometimes I found myself reaching for things that weren't in my color capsule. It wasn't because I couldn't find anything to wear, it was because they happened to be there; instead of giving in, I saved those items for the weekend. I found that I used my Michael Kors skinny belt a lot and it made a big difference - prior to this month, I rarely used the belt but it's now quite a staple of mine. I also tried out a scarf that was sitting in my closet and fell in love with it. My white GAP tunic got lots of wear (still so pleased about this purchase!) and take note, of the variety in shoes - yup, I'm getting quite good at changing up my shoes! Next month, since we are entering warmer weather, I will be adding pink to my color capsule.

N's

Loved all of N's outfits, especially her scarves and this awesome white top that she has, shown in the first outfit, and her fantastic blazer. Seeing hers makes me want a longer blazer as mine are quite short and seem to make me look a bit heavier than I am. She also has fantastic accessories!! For next month, she will be injecting peach/beige to her color capsule. (PS - N went on vacation and we also had a 4 day long weekend. We're not slackers lol).