Getting ready for summer

The weather is starting to warm up here in the land of Oz and it is time to start thinking about preparing your wardrobe for the long hot summer ahead of you. I thought I would share some of my tips with you about how you can have a new summer wardrobe all on a budget of course.

Get in Shape

First thing you can do is start exercising. When summer time comes around I dig out last years clothes and start complaining that I look horrible, nothing fits and that I need new clothes when in actual fact I probably just need to get rid of my winter weight so that everything fits and I feel better about myself.
So now is a great time to start working on your arms, belly, bum and thighs and then you will feel great and look great in your shorts, skirts and dresses. Join a gym, attend some exercise classes, start walking, running, swimming or even start an exercise routine at home. Just get moving and trust me you will start to look and feel great.

Sort out your wardrobe

Have a clean out of your wardrobe. Pull out all those items that you no longer wear and give them to a friend or donate them to charity. Another good idea is that you can alter the clothes you no longer wear and give them a new lease on life. For example you could cut up an old pair of jeans and make them into shorts or if you have a dress you no longer wear you can cut the top off and start wearing it as a skirt.

Work out what is hot this season

Another thing I like to do is before I start buying new clothes is do a little research and find out what is going to be in style for the new season. I look in my favorite stores in the shops or go online. Once I have found out what is in style and what looks I would like to try out I then hit up the op shops to see if I can recreate the looks with second hand clothes. It is a a much cheaper option to buying all new clothes and in my opinion a lot more fun.

Remix your clothes to get more looks with fewer items.

Untitled by Meek 1980 featuring white tops

If you are going to buy new clothes make sure they are pieces that you can remix with other items you already have in your wardrobe. This way you can have twice as many looks.

Swap and borrow

 If you have sisters or friends that are a similar size to you then you could try doing a clothes swap. Gather up all the things you no longer want and swap them for some other goodies. Or if you have an event to go to, instead or buying something new borrow something from a friend.

Accessorize

Update last seasons clothes with this seasons accessories. It could be a new pair of earrings, handbag or shoes. I like to go to my favorite cheap shop, the 2 3 5dollar shop where they have a great range of jewelery and hair accessories that are all $3.



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Sunday night = church night

The sun is shinning and it is a beautiful day, but I have spent most of the day on the couch coughing and blowing my nose, yuck! I got myself to the chemist so I could get my hands on some cold and flu tablets and they have made all the difference. I feel human again. I got myself prettied up and went to church. I even managed to belt out a song with the band.

We have 5 weeks until we leave for Canada, eeek! I have so much packing to do over the next couple of weeks but I am a pro when it comes to packing. I consider myself a pro because we have moved 14 times in the past 10 years!!!!

An outing to York

I picked up this darling vintage dress from one of my favorite op shops. She needed a little TLC when I bought her but isn't she lovely. I am still on the look out for the perfect belt to wear with it. 

 It was the perfect thing to wear today as we took a drive up to York to visit some markets and to have lunch. The weather is still warm and I ended up shedding the cardigan. 

I was hoping to come home from the markets with some handmade treasures and homegrown fruit and veges, but to be honest the market was very disappointing and we didn't buy anything :(

Friday night fun

We had a little family outing on Friday night. We went down to the Mandurah foreshore William had a play on the playground, we went for a short walk along the water and then had dinner at Hans cafe. Dinner was a very short affair as William just wouldn't sit still. So we ate and ran, that's what life is like with a two year old in tow!

Couldn't resist this cute little swallow necklace from my favorite jewelery store Diva. And I have noticed that Divas prices have gone down, can you believe it? Check them out people (well those people who live in Australia can check it out)

It was my first day of school holidays today and both of my boys are sick again, they have the flu and an awful cough. It was nice to get out of the house for a little bit but they were both in bed at 8 o'clock. So it looks like I will be playing nurse this weekend.

Spring is here....

It was a beautiful Spring day today and we enjoyed some time outside. We ate lunch in the sunshine and spent time feeding the ducks at Williams Nanny and Poppy's house. We also spent the afternoon lazing around in their living room watching TV, drinking tea and eating the best brownies in the whole world. A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Sad Farewells...

I attended my third funeral in 12 months today, another sad farewell. We said goodbye to a wonderful man, my brother in laws father. He will live on in the hearts of those who loved him. These past 12 months have taught me that life is precious and we should live every moment to the full and not take anybody for granted. I love my family and friends and I don't want anybody to go anywhere for the moment...

I love the colour blue

  
I have been teaching Kindergarten for the past couple of weeks and I have been loving it, the only thing I am not enjoying is being away from my little boy. While I am at work he is either at his Poppy's house or at daycare and I miss him a lot during the day. A little boy in my kindy class told me today that I was very pretty, I said to him I though he was handsome and he giggled and turned bright red, so cute!

Chic on the Cheap

Happy 2nd Birthday to LyddieGal's blog Chic on the Cheap. If you haven't visited her blog yet, I recommend that you pop on over and have a read. She posts lots of great chic outfits, all on a budget of course.

After reading LyddieGals birthday post I was inspired to go back into my photo archives and have a look for some chic cheap outfits. Here are a few that I found...

The total cost for this outfit is $72.  Apart from the boots everything else was either from the op shop or was purchased on sale for under $10.

This outfit cost $58. Again the clothes were from the op shop and the accessories (which cost $3 each)  were from a cheap little shop at my local shopping center.

And the total cost of this outfit is $76.

The key to making op shop clothes work is to mix them in with some current fashion pieces. These skirts and dress are probably three years old but when mixed with this seasons tights, shoes and accessories they become fashionable again. And if you can sew the op shop is a great place to find clothes that you can alter and breath new life into.

So if you live in my local area and want to know some great op shops to visit, here is the run down...

1. Salvation Army - on the corner of Kent Street and Patterson Road is a good op shop to visit. It has a fairly large womens section
2. Salvation Army - On Charthouse Road (at the Stargate Shopping Center) is probably my favorite op shop in the area
3. The Good Sammy - 8 Livingstone Road, Rockingham. This op shop has a big selection of shoes and handbags
4. And if you are looking for furniture and bric a brac my favorite op shop to go to is the St Vinnies on Hurrell Way

counting down...

There is only 7 and a half weeks until we leave the country, and my excitement is growing everyday. Because we leave so soon there is not much point in buying any new clothes which is killing me. There are lots of beautiful spring outfits out in the shop now but I have no use for them. I am trying to make the clothes I do have last until I go. So last night I had the sewing kit out and had my hubby (because he is much better at sewing than me!) mending all my clothes. This wrap dress needed a little TLC, hopefully it lasts another 7 weeks.

We bought a new camera for our trip yesterday. It is a Lumix camera so it is shock proof, drop proof, water proof the works. I haven't had a chance to play around with it too much yet but Greg and William have been playing with it and Greg has even taught William how to use it. When I stepped out of the shower the other day wrapped in just a towel I heard William saying 'cheese' and he snapped a picture of me!! 

No one wants to see that picture but here is a picture of the boys having fun :)

William is trying to do the thumbs up, cant quite do it yet :)

Check out my new face!

 

I have a new face!
Not really just new glasses. I have had these glasses for ages now but I haven't worn them yet because I just couldn't let go of my old ones, they were Prada, purple and I loved them. But sadly they were to scratched up and I couldn't see out of them properly
(they always looked like they were dirty)
so it was time to start wearing my new ones. I like my new ones enough but I liked my old ones more. What do you think?

They are very much like my other pair except that they have white trim instead of purple trim. I am still getting used to how they look on my face but it is definitely nice to be able to see properly again!

Fathers Day

Today is Fathers day here in Australia, which is a sad day for me. I saw my father alive for the last time last year on Fathers day (he passed away a few weeks after that of a massive heart attack). I love and miss him so much.

But I am lucky enough to have lots of other fathers in my life, Greg, his dad Rob and my step Dad Pete and I was able to celebrate with them today. This morning Greg, Will and I took a drive out to Serpentine to visit the county markets. We headed down to the beach with Greg's family for lunch and we spent the afternoon at my sisters house. Busy busy, now I am shattered and ready to go to bed early for some much needed beauty sleep 

Thank you for all the lovely comments yesterday (and Emma I loved your dress too, you are so lucky to have a Mummy to sew beautiful clothes for you). I was quite stressed about the party simply because I had been feeling so sad about my Dad and sometimes I find it hard to put on a brave face when I am feeling that way.

 

Baby Monsoon

Today was Chelsea, my sister in law Baby Monsoon (ie Baby shower, except she had so many people attend that it was more of a monsoon then a shower!) It was a fabulous morning, with lots of yummy food, wonderful friends and of course lots and lots of beautiful presents. Her baby girl is going to one well dressed little princes after all the cute little clothes she received today.

Chelsea still has another 5 and half weeks to go before the baby is due to arrive and I just cant wait. I am so excited to see her become a mother, she is going to be fantastic. We are all praying that the baby arrives 2 weeks early so that we can have some more time with her before we leave for Canada.

Spring sunshine

My boys are on the mend, finally. Will is rash free and Greg's spots are slowly fading. And as for me, I am rash free and lets hope it stays that way. It has been a supremely busy week this week and the weekend is going to be the same.

For the next three weeks I am going to be working full time as the Kindy teacher, eeeek! The teaching is a no brain er for me, the hard bit will be keeping up with the house work and missing my little boy while I am at work.

It is finally spring here in the land of Oz and the weather has been beautiful, lots of sunshine and I even got a slight tan this week from being out in the school yard. I have been working super hard in the gym this week and as result I now have a sore knee so I am going to give my body a rest this weekend.

Today I was a year 6 and a year 3 teacher - aren't I talented!

I gladly went to work today so that I could escape from looking after my 2 sick boys! 
William is pretty much over his rash now but Greg came home from work the other day with a rash as well, aaarrrhhh will it ever end?? 

I am rash free (at the moment) and lets hope it stays that way.