Summer 2018 Capsule Wardrobe

I have developed my Summer 2018 Capsule Wardrobe.  I did make a few purchases in order to have clothes that fit me.  I am unable to do my beloved HITT workouts, as I am still working on recovering from my diastasis recti (abdominal separation) so I am not back to my pre-pregnancy size.  I am happy and comfortable in all these clothes and think that this will be a good capsule to work with.

2 shorts (olive and black), 2 cropped pants (olive and black), olive joggers, black leggings, jeans

black cardigan, red sleeveless top, teal sleeveless tops. blue sleeveless top, floral off the shoulder tops, 2 sweatshirts in grey and black

pink rain jacket, turquoise fleece, olive vest, blue jean vest, blue jean jacket, trench coat 

Hawaiian print dress, black jumpsuit, black maxi dress, striped dress

black sandals, tan heels, brown sandals, black flats, floral running shoes

This capsule has 29 items.  I will add a black sheer sleeveless top if I can find one.  The one I owned got a really bad snag in it so I won't be wearing it anymore.  I am also on the lookout for a nursing friendly dress to wear to a wedding this summer.  

Happy Wednesday!

Summer 2018

With summer finally here, I decided to make a list of things that we want to do or accomplish this summer.  Hubby's work is busy again, so there will be a lot of time at home this summer.  This actually suits me just fine.  I am a bit of a homebody and it will be nice to enjoy our yard.

1.)  Have 'pool' days when it is hot out.  We live 2 blocks from the local swimming pool and we bought a small 'kiddie' pool this year.  I plan to utilize both on hot days.  Miss. E and Miss. Em love the water so this plan will be a hit.

2.)  Go to the cabin.  We have already gone this year and we plan to go more.  The first weekend had it's rough points (weird weather, forgotten items, cranky kid), but we learned what we could and hope to be better prepared next time.  Packing for 2 kids is another curve but we are slowly getting it. 

3.)  Work on our garden.  We have already planted our garden and we have been tending to it.  Miss. E is really excited to see our plants coming up.  She can help me water and hopefully she will want to eat everything that we have grown.

4.)  Work on Miss. E's letters.  Playschool was wonderful and really helped Miss. E along with writing here name.  I hope to continue that work over the summer.

5.)  Play. All. The Games.  This one would make my family shake their heads.  When I was younger they had to force me to play cards and board games with them.  I wasn't that interested in games and would have rather spent my time reading.  Looking back, I am happy that they made me participate.  Those are some of my fondest childhood memories.  We bought a board game at a garage sale a few weeks ago and Miss. E loves it!  I will be on the lookout as we continue to garage sale over the summer.

6.)  Hit up garage sales.  I am really trying hard to buy used items.  It is better for the environment and cheaper.  I really want to do this with things like games and outdoor toys, so we will be hitting up garage sales to see if we can find the items on our list.

7.)  Find a splash park.  We don't have a splash park in our town, but my daughter loved playing at a splash park last year on our holiday.  I know of a few parks nearby and I think that we should check them out.

8.)  Go on our family's camping weekends.  We camp with each side of the family every year so we plan to participate again.  It is always fun to spend time in the great outdoors with family.

9.)  Paint the swing set.  Our swing set came from my Grandma's yard when she moved into the nursing home.  It is in great shape, but needs a little paint. 

10.)  Hit up a fair.  Mini doughnuts... need I say more?

What are you planning to do this summer?  What is on your list?

Simple Birthday

For my daughter's 4th birthday, I decided to make a few changes.  When looking back on her birthdays, she is always enamored with her cakes and little else.  With this in mind, I decided to focus my energy on her birthday cake and to keep everything else super simple.  In the past, I have made the whole meal myself, baked and decorated the cake and decorated my home in whatever theme that we had chosen.  It was a lot of work and it also cost money.  It was all very nice but I wasn't really enjoying her birthday parties because I was running around so much.  We have little Miss. Em this year who is 4 months old and I knew that I wouldn't be able to do all the things that I had done in the past.

I decided that I would order the supper for the family party (2 for 1 pizzas), not worry about the decorations and focus solely on the cakes.  We did a party in the early morning for her friends and friend's parents and then we hosted family in the evening.  My amazing Mom baked sugar cookie mermaid tails for me to help me decorate my daughter's cakes.  I did cupcakes for the kid party and cake for the family party.

I had looked into buying a fruit tray for the kid's party but it was far too expensive for my tastes.  I just bought a watermelon, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and prepped them myself.  This took minimal time.  I made cupcakes for the party and that was all there was for food.  Cake and fruit.  I had a cooler stocked with water and juice boxes for the kids and parents to drink.  I put a table cloth that I already owned on the table along with some borrowed seashells and called the decor good.  I had planned a few easy games for the kids in case they were bored, but we didn't end up using them because they were playing so well!

I worked on the cakes throughout the week during my youngest daughter's naps.  4 days before the parties I baked and froze the cakes.  3 days before the parties I iced the cookies and froze them. 2 days before the party I made the icing.  The day before the party I iced and decorated the cakes and then stuck them back in the freezer.  We don't have air conditioning and I was afraid that all the icing would melt off!

The sugar cookies were added at the very last minute so that they didn't fall apart before the party.

The only 'crafty' (I use this word loosely here) thing that I did for the birthday party was create a mermaid photo booth for the kids.  It took me all of 15 minutes to create and it cost $2 for the bristol board.  It was super easy and the kids liked 'becoming' mermaids.

The family party was kept super simple, as well.  I ordered pizza for our main meal.  I set out chips and watermelon and had the cooler stocked with juice boxes, water and pop.  

My daughter was thrilled with her parties.  She got to run and play with her friends, eat cake and become a mermaid.  She had so much fun.  It was a good lesson for me that I don't have to throw "Pinterest-worthy" parties in order for my daughter to have a good day.  Going forth, I will definitely focus my efforts where they count and not worry so much about the rest.  I will be sticking to simple birthdays from now on.

My Spring Uniform

Spring has been a strange season in the past few years.  We seem to jump from winter to summer.  There is very little in the way of 'warm' temperatures.  It just seems to go straight to hot.  This will be my last 'Spring' wardrobe post for that reason.  I will put up my Summer Capsule next week.  My Spring wardrobe features far too many transitional items and I have been wearing all the summer things lately.

I wore a version of the same outfit over and over again this Spring.  I wore my cropped pants with a tank top so much that it really became my uniform.  I layered one of my flowy tank tops over a super stretchy tank in the same colour to create breastfeeding friendly look out of 'regular' tops.  I lived in breastfeeding tank tops with my first daughter, but four years later they just aren't doing the trick for me.  I far prefer having a supportive breastfeeding bra under a stretchy tank that can be manipulated for discreet feeding.  When it is time to feed my daughter, I simply lift the top shirt and pull the other tank down.  My stomach and back are never exposed and my top layer does a great job covering the upper part of my chest.  I have been really happy with this system.

Happy Wednesday!

Instant Outfits

Dresses and my jumpsuit are the easiest things to wear in my closet.  You literally pull them and you have an instant outfit.  Add shoes and you are out the door!  I also love how they help me beat the heat.  I am not a fan of wearing shorts.  It has been hot here lately so my dresses have been in heavy rotation.  

P.S.  I found my supportive flats!  I purchased these flats last week and I LOVE them.  They are from Skechers and are super comfortable.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

5 Minute Project- Miss. Em's Closet

I quickly sorted through and organized my youngest daughter's closet the other day.  We were fortunate to receive several gifts and hand-me-down's for our daughter.  I have been basically shoving them in the closet to deal with later.  The other day I decided that enough was enough so I went through all of the items and put them away neatly.

Before:

After:

I hung all the clothes up and stored the bags of clothes that we had been given on the shelves.  I folded all of the blankets and stacked them neatly.  I arranged the toys on the larger shelf so that they will be readily accessible when she is ready for them.

Another quick project done and dusted.

Eliminating Items from my Spring Capsule

I have made the decision to eliminate some items from my capsule wardrobe.  After living in my capsule for just over a week, I have decided that certain items in my wardrobe are not working.  I included a pair of skinny jeans that "fit", but honestly they are so uncomfortable.  None of my button up shirts actually close over my bust and the t-shirts do nothing to hide the remnants of my "baby bump'.  I chose to dive back into capsule wardrobes to minimize the punches to my self-esteem and these items just were not flattering.  At all.

The beauty of a capsule is that it helps you discover what you love and what you dislike.  Right now, a lot of my former loves are not fitting well.  That is okay.  I will remove them from my capsule and hang them up.  I am sure that when I start trimming down more, the items will fit again and hopefully even flatter my figure.

The removal of these items take me down to 28 items.  I think that I can find plenty of outfits within that number.  I don't have any outfit pictures for you this week because I was trying to find a way to make the above items work.  My outfits did not fit well so I am going to keep those to myself.  Onward and upward!