Casual Spring Outfit

Lately I have been thinking a lot more about how I dress and what style clothes I want to be wearing. Style is a funny old thing, and I find that unlike some people, I'm not attracted to any one particular style of dressing, but rather like to adapt my style to my mood, the weather and where I'll be going that day. As is begins to warm up here in Australia, I'm finding myself particularly attracted to clean, crisp colours, small details on colour blocked outfits and chiffon. The other direction I find myself dressing in is a floaty, bohemian style which very much suits the leisurely lifestyle in my beachy hometown, and then of course there is my perpetual love of vintage silhouettes and florals.

This outfit very much fits in with the clean, crisp look that I've been adopting lately, aside from the crystal around my neck, which I bought using a $50 voucher I recently won in Christina Lowry Designs' Facebook competition. These white shorts are probably my most worn piece of clothing at the moment, as I am willing the summer weather to really set in. I had my first beach day on the last day of September, and you may notice in these photos, I'm a little bit sunburnt on the front, and bright red (and in tonnes of pain) on the back of my legs. It makes a great (albeit unwanted) contrast with the white shorts, but hopefully it will turn to tan soon. 

Details:

Top: Temt

Shorts: Valleygirl

Shoes: Big W

Bag: Custom made leather in Bali (thanks mum)

Necklace: Christina Lowry Designs Nature's Play Pendant

All Other Jewellery: My regular, every day stuff, gifted

I've been wanting to share outfit photos on here for as long as I've been blogging, and I'm incredibly glad I've finally done it, even if I've just used iPhone photos and it's only a casual outfit. As my style (or styles) develop, I want to document that on the blog, become more confident in the way I dress, and share comfortable, everyday outfits that are easy and cheap to recreate, because as much as I love fashion blogs, there is nothing more depressing than not being able to afford the clothes that the people who write them are wearing. I wore this outfit today to meet a friend for coffee in my hometown and I felt incredibly put together despite only being in casual clothes. We had a great chat, talking wedding stuff (hers is coming up in April) and planning ways to convince Jake to move to Evans Head with me and join the rugby club with her fiancé. Our partners have been good friends since before we met and I am really keen for him to get more involved socially in things in Evans Head, because as much as I love Lennox it's just way too out of our price range and Evans Head will always be home. What do you think of this casual style? Are you a one style kinda gal, or like me, do you match your style to your mood? 

Spring

Spring is right around the corner here in Australia, and it’s already starting to warm up, so inspired by Kate from Clear The Way’s Write It Out series, I decided to share this piece of writing I did last year in my creative writing class at University. It’s a little story about “Spring” returning from a holiday and setting about her work once more. It might be a little corny, but it was a fun little exercise to do to get me into a creative mindset. I hope you enjoy it.

Light filtering through the curtains woke me, and birds seemed to call from a distance as I pulled myself out of bed. It was my first day back at work after a long vacation, and the bitter cold of the morning did not sit comfortably on my skin. I dressed in layers, knowing that the day would get warmer as it went on, and set out for work. Eira had been the last person to work my post while I was away, so I was nervous to see what mountain of work was waiting for me as I made my way into town. Traffic was slow, and the coffee I bought on the way not quite warm enough to fight the cold of early morning. Sure enough, when I arrived at work and finally seated myself at my desk, I found myself overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do. Eira always left me snowed under when he covered for me on my time off.

The morning went quickly, as I buried myself in my work. Lunchtime was just around the bend when I decided it was time to take a break and wended my way through the rabbit warren to the tearoom. Sipping icy cold spring water, I unbuttoned my cardigan and watched as the office birds flew in, eager to hear where I’d been. Conversation carried on politely through my entire lunch hour.

“I hate to rain on your parade, ladies, but I really must get back to work now.” A sunny smile, and off I went back to my desk, still not quite caught up on the work that Eira had left me. As the afternoon came to a close, I stepped out of the office glad to be going home and completely satisfied with what I had achieved for the day.

Warm sunlight mingled with a slight breeze on my cheek, and loose strands of hair danced around my face as I walked to the car. A feeling of contentment spread through my body, and I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment. I’m back, I thought. I’m back at work; doing what I love and I could already see the sparkle in the eye of those around me that came with spring. The sun glowed pink on the horizon as I pulled back into my driveway, and cicadas greeted me like old friends as I made my way to the front door. “Goodnight, sun!” I called out into the evening, as it disappeared over the horizon. “We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow.” It’s a tough job awakening the world after winter, and on the first day of Spring, I knew the both of us would need all the rest we could get.

BEDM: Spring is here?

I had a really great idea for this post today. I was going to go for a nice, long walk and take pictures of pretty, blooming flowers and sunshine and other spring-ish things and then (because I'm from Australia) talk all about how great Autumn is. You know, just to be confusing and what-not since I had no bloody idea what to write about Spring in the middle of Autumn in a country which doesn't really actually have proper seasons other than "flood" and "drought".

Unfortunately, it started pouring with rain just as I stepped outside and so I had to rethink my options. Cue polyvore and a wish list which would work well for Spring up the top of the world, or Autumn down here at the bottom:

Uni Casual #4 by sunae-reilly featuring pamela mann tights
cardigan / top / skirt / tights / shoes
jewellery is real gold, modelled after what I wear every day.

I basically live in skater skirts these days, especially for a day at uni. Only problem is I only have two and so basically look the same every day. I need more tops like this polka dot one and fun, coloured cardigans to mix them up with to create some different looks. These je t' aime tights are basically the cutest thing I have ever seen, as well! I first saw a pair like them on Annika's blog, but I'm not sure if they were the exact same ones. Tights are a must at uni for me lately - the air con is always freezing in the lecture rooms and I always feel warmer with even that little bit of light cover on my legs. 

What do you think? 

Does my "Autumn" outfit work for Spring as well? 

If you're doing BEDM as well, leave me a comment below so I can check your posts out!

Race Day Recap

Hi Everyone!

So, Friday was the Ballina Cup - our local horse racing day, and as promised here are some photos of the outfit I wore, including the fascinator I made especially for the occassion:

Please excuse the awkward lack of back-drop for these photos but I got my lovely boyfriend, Jake, to take them while I was at his house and this is the best we could do right then (he is definitely not that keen on taking 376925345 shots of me until I am content I have a nice one, nor is he keen to scout a "nice backdrop" when we are about to leave for dinner and he's hungry!)

and some of my hair, which my lovely sister, Shoni, did for me in the car out the front of the shopping centre where she was about to see a movie:

It was super windy on Friday, and I knew I'd be spending all day holding down my dress, so I opted for an up-do to keep my hair out of my eyes. 

All in all it was a good day which could have been made even better if a) I was able to drink an alcoholic beverage or six, b) it wasn't so windy and c) I could find a bloody booky and place a bet! Oh well, I think the fascinator looked lovely and went with my outfit quite well and next time I know to make sure there are no family affairs I have to drive to afterwards and to wear a tight-fitting dress and bring a cardi! 

Spring Races!

Hi everyone!
For those of us in the southern hemisphere, spring is finally here, and that means racing season! I don't know what it is about horses, but they absolutely enthrall me and that is why I am super  excited to be going to the Ballina Cup on Friday! It will be my first ever race day experience and I am super keen to frock up and sip champagne by the track! (or at least pretend to sip champagne, I am  definitely not the biggest fan!)

It was sort of a last minute decision for me to be going on Friday, so I am just wearing a dress I already had (black, vintage inspired with pink roses and tulle underlay - perfect race day dress, no?) but I did knock up a quick home made fascinator to tizzy it up a little bit :)

Want to see?

Of course you do!

 

The big flower is black nylon lace gathered with a running stitch and the small flower is black cotton eyelet trim gathered with a running stitch. The cotton trim is quite stiff, and I think that helps it to keep the petal-like shape it has taken on. The button in the middle is a vintage one i stole out of mum's sewing box. It looks as though it has been hand beaded! The beads are glass and faux pearl. I added in the organza ribbon "petals" for extra dimension, although they aren't all that easy to see.

 

I originally was going to hand sew the whole thing together, but the weird shapes formed by all the different elements made that kind of hard - in the end I just hot-glued it all together, including the (upside down) alligator clip on the back.

 

 

 

 

 

This last picture is just to give you the idea of how big it ended up. Please excuse my lovely spewed on work shirt and messy hair! I'll do another post on Saturday to show you the complete outfit and tell you all about the races! :)

 

If you're also from the southern hemispere, do you plan on going to the races this spring? If you're not, tell me about race experiences you've had in the past or any fascinators you might have worn or made :)