Monthly Musings: Essential Spring Fashion Pieces

I'm so glad that Holly at Pink Lady and Patty at Good, Better, Best are so lovely and welcoming for their Monthly Musings because these fashion ones are not my strong suit! However, I love all things SPRING so I'm joining in anyways :)

1) How do you transition your wardrobe?

 

Honestly, I stop wearing socks! Hahaha! I really do try and ditch my socks as soon as possible once the weather warms up at all. I also realized that when I started working as a school secretary a few years ago, I ended up buying a bunch of floral tops. I have decided I need to either wear them or donate them. So maybe this spring, you will see me wearing them -- with a cardigan for some extra warmth.

2) Favourite spring item?

 

I don't know that I have one. I do love wearing my sweat capris with a bunnyhug ("hoodie" for you non-Saskatchewan people) when I get home. My legs don't often get cold so I am pretty happy in that outfit for casual wear.

I thought I was wearing my capris in this picture but it turns out I was wearing yoga pants but notice, comfy bunnyhug and a lack of socks!

3) Favourite spring footwear?

 

 

Even though I got them in the fall, I love my Converse shoes. I have often had a knock off pair to wear but in the fall, I bought the real things. I'd love to get another pair in a really fun colour -- aqua or bright green or something...

4) Favourite colours you wear in the spring?

 

Anything light and bright. I'm done with blacks and greys and browns. Bring on the light blues and the reds and the lighter colours. I feel like this sweater gives me spring vibes. Maybe it just gives me nautical vibes but who wants to be on a boat in winter?!?!?

5) Favourite spring accessory?

 

Ummm... my sunglasses. Although I do have a bracelet stack made by a youth I know which I love to wear with t-shirts. That might be more of a later spring/early summer thing though.

6) Ways to add spring to your outfit even when the weather doesn't cooperate?

 

I don't know. I'll have to check out all your answers for this one :) 

I do love when I can pull out my lighter spring jacket, even if I have to bundle up underneath it. It's just so much nicer than my winter jacket. And if I can, I wear fun shoes too instead of my winter boots.

7) Do you change up your makeup routine in the spring?

 

Since I don't wear make up, ever, then no, I don't change my routine! I continue to not wear make up - HAHAHAHAHA!!!

8) Puff sleeve trend... yes or no?

NO. Puffed sleeves remind me of Anne from Anne of Green Gables. I don't need them in my life!

9) Do you change up your mani/pedi colours in the spring?

 

 Although I haven't worn make up in years, my toes are always painted. I do like going for light blues or greens or pinks in the spring. Winter is for the bright colours and spring is for lighter colours. I really like Essie nail polish.

 

10) Recommend your favourite spring handbag/tote.

Again, I am so boring. I never change my bags. The one I have right now, my best friend, Janice, crocheted me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I carry it all the time and love it.

This is the best picture I have of it. It's got a green strap and I just love all the colours in it. The colours are actually pretty perfect for spring.

I think I've warned you before, I am not a fashion blogger. I don't often get super excited about clothes or fashion and I tend to wear the same things over and over again. So while I do love the Monthly Musings linkups, I fully admit the fashion ones are not my strong suit! However, I do love this blogging community and I look forward to reading all of your blogs and maybe finding some great tips!

Happy Thursday -- only one more day until the weekend. We've got this!

What's Up Wednesday: March 2023

Some months feel so slow but then, before I know it, it's the last Wednesday of the month and time for "What's Up Wednesday." Time is seriously weird the older I get :) This is also hitting me because of "what I'm reminiscing about..." which you can see below.

As always on the last Wednesday of the month, I'm linking up with Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too for this post.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... After a week and a half of road tripping, we are trying to eat more home cooked meals. We had our delayed St Patrick's Day celebrations this past weekend which basically meant I cooked up a batch of Beef & Guinness Stew. This stuff is seriously delicious and I really need to remember to make it at other times of the year.

What I'm reminiscing about... This kid turns fourteen tomorrow. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!?!?! Usually, around this time of year I'm reminiscing about when Sam was a baby, but lately, every once in awhile, he intentionally makes this same face in the mornings when I'm waking him up and it sends me right back to when he was a toddler. I mean, wasn't this just a couple of years ago???

 

See what I mean?!?!? It's the SAME expression!

What I'm loving... Sometimes I'm really good (or lucky!) at Wordle! I don't really love word games but I've been playing Wordle most days (better late than never, right?!?!?) and I enjoy when I do well. Dave does not enjoy when I do well :)

What we've been up to... Well, we were gone for a week and a half so we're trying to get back into routine around here. We've done all the regular things like the kids' activities (badminton, dance, Jr Youth, Hebrew lessons) and puzzles and reading and laundry and working and going to school and...

 

Sometimes I feel a little exhausted by everything that's happening but, this past weekend I was reading my blog posts from Spring 2020 and remembering how stuck we all felt. So I try not to take the busyness for granted or resent it. I want to be grateful for being able to do "all the things" again, even if I feel really tired sometimes.

What I'm dreading... Is it too early to be dreading spring allergies?!? I love almost everything about spring, but the past few years I've been hit hard with allergies and it's been miserable. So I'm trying to soak up everything I love about spring (warmer weather! more light!) before my allergies hit and I'm sneezing and grumpy.

 

What I'm working on... We had a really fun, and full, March Break road trip and I'm trying to get all the blog posts written about it. So far I've documented our day in Philly with Emily (read it here), our road trip days (read it here), and our day at Clearwater Marine Aquarium (read it here). Still to come -- a Blue Jays' spring training game, a mother-daughter-best friend day at Universal Orlando, and heading home, featuring a visit with Erika!

 

What I'm excited about... SPRING!!! Open windows, it's almost laundry hanging season (!!!), and a new doormat. How long until I can buy pansies and plant them in our window boxes?!??! I am just filled with so much joy this time of year (until my allergies hit, that is - hahaha!).

 

Also, TOMORROW IS MLB OPENING DAY!!!! Baseball is back and I am so excited!!! We got a small taste of it over March Break and I can't wait for more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Jays!!!

 

What I'm watching/reading... I've watched a few Spring Training baseball games and it just makes me so excited for the upcoming season.

I am participating (unofficially) in The Decades Reading Challenge hosted by The Book Girls (see more about it here) and March is the 1920s. I'm currently reading a book called The Woman's Hour: The great fight to win the vote and it is blowing my mind. We woman have only been able to vote for about 100 years and it's just shocking to me to think that it was such a fight. This book is so interesting and I'm only about halfway through it.

What I'm listening to... On our road trip we started listening to the Sharon Says So podcast. She has rebranded it as "Here's Where It Gets Interesting" and we listened to her episodes about various states. It was so great to listen to each state as we drove through it and all of us, including the kids, were very engaged with them. We listened to the podcasts for 15 states on our trip.

So when we got back, I wanted to listen to her series, "How Women Won World War II." I have been listening as I fold laundry and it's so interesting to me. I've never been a podcast person but I am hooked. Sam did a project on Japenese interment camps in Canada so I might listen to her podcast, "Resilience," which is about the American interment camps, with him next.

All this is to say, when I'm done writing this post, I have about four baskets of laundry to fold and I'm not even sad about it because I'll get to listen to another podcast episode. Hahaha!

What I'm wearing... Well, I was super happy to ditch my socks on our March Break trip but I've had to pull them out again since we've been home. However, I've been wearing my Converse and spring jacket as I've walked to work for the last week or so. They're calling for about 2cm (about an inch) of snow for today so I might have to pull my boots and winter jacket back out, but mostly, I'm excited to wear a lighter jacket and shoes!

 

 

What I'm doing this weekend...  I don't even know. I should probably figure that out. Hopefully I'll be able to read a few books and do another puzzle. Isn't my life sooooo exciting?!?!?!?

What I'm looking forward to next month... Easter! Passover! Laundry hanging! A four day weekend! There's quite a bit to look forward to in April :)

What I bought on Amazon... We actually bought something on Amazon again this month! As I've mentioned before, we rarely buy things on Amazon but, when we stopped at Erika's she had satin pillowcases for the kids, and they LOVED them! So I ordered some for them when we got home. Rachel's are the purpley ones and Sam got navy. You can find them here. The kids are thrilled!

 

What else is new... Earlier this year, my blog friend, Bekah (find her here), linked to this blog post about spring potpourri. Well, you all know how much I love my Christmas potpourri, so I had to try one of these out. I made the grapefruit/mint/ginger one last night and Rachel commented right away how much she loved it. I had it simmering on the stove all evening. I'll have to let you know what I think of it after a few days but I'm really loving how our house smells right now -- part of that might be the open windows too!

Also, I've enjoyed eating some of the grapefruit as I had to buy a whole bag of them. I guess you could add that to "what we're eating this week..." as well :)

Happy Wednesday to you! Are you fully into spring weather where you live or is winter still hanging on? It feels like spring and winter are fighting it out over here and, while spring is mostly winning, there's still a little too much winter (cold and snow) for my liking. So if spring has clearly won the fight in your area, enjoy it a little extra for me today :)

I Spy 2023: Week 12

I have to admit, I really struggled with the prompts this week. You may be able to tell in the way that I've stretched the definitions of the prompts and their photos :)

 lined

Here are the potatoes for our supper on Sunday "lined" up on the counter. You can definitely tell Sam rinsed them because of all the water! Hahaha!

spiral

I was lamenting that I didn't know what to do for "spiral." Rachel got some new pencil crayons (Skin Tones of the World) and tested them out by drawing these spirals just for me :) And this is only half of the pencil crayon colours she received.

 

spotted

This was Rachel's face of disbelief when she "spotted" the rides we went on at Universal a few weeks ago on a YouTube video she was watching. She was so excited to recognize them from her real life experience!

ordered

Time doing a puzzle was just what the doctor "ordered" this past weekend. I loved working on "Shrooms In Bloom" with Dave.

your choice

Since we're likely experiencing the last of tulip season around here, an extra large bouquet of cheerfully striped ones was "my choice" for this week!

*week 64 of Lysha's challenge prompts. See her post here.

A Lot Of Dolphins And A Lot Of Pie

This was the most "relaxing" day of our entire March Break vacation. We had no set plans and no schedule. We knew we wanted to visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium so that was the big adventure for the day. We started with a slow morning of sleeping in, eating breakfast, and doing some laundry at our hotel.

Since it was March 14 (3/14), we also wanted to eat some pie. So we stopped at a Domino's Pizza for "cheese pie!" Hahaha! This was just in case we didn't get any other pie that day. Then we went to the aquarium.

While I generally don't love animals, and I really don't enjoy zoos, I quite like aquariums. I was happy to see lots of dolphins...

...turtles...

...seahorses and eels...

...and sting rays. Rachel enjoyed petting them and I touched one, once. Did I mention I am not an animal person?!?! :)

We had a quick snack and I got a Key Lime pie cup. It was okay.

 

We had bought tickets for a dolphin watching tour. I loved being on the boat on Clearwater Bay, even though it was a little cold. We were wearing shorts and t-shirts and it was very windy on the boat. We did get to see a few dolphins though, although not very up close.

After the boat tour, Sam and Rachel wanted to see different things so Sam and I went to see the pelicans...

...and Rudy, the saw tooth dolphin. He was playing with a ball and splashed us a few times!

I really enjoyed visiting the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

When we were on our boat tour, we saw a restaurant and the tour guide mentioned it was a good place to eat so we decided to check out The Bait House. It was small place on the water and the food was amazing! Dave and I thought it was the best meal we ate all vacation. On the left are the shrimp in a bourbon sauce and on the right is the Key Lime tart. Sam, Dave, and I shared a couple of entrees and it was all very good.

The Bait House from a pedestrian bridge -- small but very delicious food.

Even though it was very cold, we wanted to spend some more time on the beach so we headed to a small park on the shore. We enjoyed playing with the waves for about half an hour. It was very windy and the wind would break the foam apart and send it rolling down the beach. It was fun to try and dodge it.

I was craving something sweet, and the water at our hotel tasted really awful, so we popped into a grocery store to pick up a bag of cookies and some bottled water. It turned out they were having a pie tasting for Pi Day so we also bought the Key Lime pie pictured below. We devoured it once we got back to our hotel. It was so good.

This was a fun, pie filled day of vacation and it was so nice to have a less busy day in the midst of all our driving and other fun adventures.