The what i wore project -- week 17

Gee it feels good to be bringing a colourful snapshot of this week's looks.  

I am going to get straight into it, cause i have had a busy week, so there is no time for small talk.

Monday and i was in need of a total colour burst, and i think i hit the mark with this one.  It was starting to feel a little chilly, so bought out long sleeves for the first time since last year.  These 2 pieces have been in my wardrobe for such a long time and i can't believe i never thought to wear them together before.  What a der, cause it was a wonderful combo.

Today was also the day I made good on a promise to myself earlier in the year following a major life change.  I decided to purchase myself a new piece of significant jewellery.  I had been eyeing this piece off every time i walked past the jeweller in west end.  Like every freakin time!  I would stop, look, admire and walk on. This was the day i went in, tried it on and said yes please. However i didn't pick it up till Tuesday as they wanted to polish it, so of course i cant show it right now

I wore pink satin pants with elasticised bottom,  made by me.  Beaded top from Roma 4 in Sri Lanka (shopping tip), shoes from jo mercer and earrings from Fiji.

Tuesday - oh my god - look at me back in black!  It was chilly today, so i needed to find another long sleeve top.  In the storm last November, most of my winter clothes got trashed - some salvageable, some not. Lots of damage from water, which then caused dye to run across various items.  Heartbreaking at the time, but this was just a moment in time and is insignificant, compared to other tragedies that have happened.

Today, i picked up the ring.  When i saw it in the shop it was actually really tarnished looking and wasn't expecting it to come up as gorgeous as it did.  As i said, i was instantly drawn to it. When i showed the person who suggested that i make a purchase, she said it looked like a bird and it does. And birds have freedom to fly anywhere they want to, so it suits me just fine.

I wore daggy black top from valley girl that is yonks old, brilliant sequined skirt from Odel Sri Lanka (another shopping tip) shoes from Jo Mercer, and diamonte name belt from NYC and some silver hoop earrings, but i wasn't yet wearing the ring, as the shop wasn't even open when i took my OOTD pic.

Wednesday was even chillier than tuesday and i had to get out the big guns.  Boots and a jacket. As it queensland, once the sun is in full swing in autumn it is way to hot for a jacket, so it didn't stay on too long.

I got something a little bit exciting at work today - a stand up desk.  Sitting is the new smoking apparently and i can't tell you how great it feels to not have to sit at a desk all day, but still be able to work to capacity.

I also went to dinner with my son and he really threw out all the stops to put on an amazing dinner.  It was one of those dinners that could be smelt when you opened the car door and it was pretty fantastic.

I wore tree tube skirt from huudaverti, yonks old top, denim jacket from best and less, beautiful handmade necklaces from Bec Jobson and my jo mercer boots, which were also trashed in the november storm, but i have done my best to ensure they still are wearable.

The vegetarian ate - home made goats cheese tarts with pesto and fresh picked marigolds, air dried rosemary and garlic potatoes and salad and the carnivores ate all that plus home made crumbed chicken accompanied by a tempus two pinot grigio, home made indian halva and an episode of ramsay's kitchen nightmares.  Very proud of my son and his ability to work magic in the kitchen.

Thursday seemed to see the nip in the air disappear for a while and i went all summery again.  I took my ootd photo up at annerley again, cause it is such a quaint place.  I went photo crazy.

i took photos everywhere i could and ensured i left the quaint little gate exactly how it was - open!

i wore top from huudaverti, skirt made by me, shoes from mollini and gold hoops from lovisa and gold sequin belt made by me, which just happened to fall off at some point through the day and was never to be seen again.

 

Friday was Fashion Revolution day and the day that commemorates the tragic anniversary of the Rana plaza collapse in Bangladesh and the day to ask "who made your clothes?"

Today we also held an afternoon tea for our sewers in Fiji, as it was important for us to acknowledge the work they do for our label huudaverti.

I wore tartan pants and top made by me, men's suede shoes from stone, my mismatched love heart earrings and necklaces that are yonks old.

hello weekend, and it was cool enough to sport some jeans and a longer sleeve top. I recently went bra shopping - what an ordeal that is, and i have to say, after being given three different bra sizes, at three different shops, i was confused and in the end, went with what felt comfortable and that was triumph. They offer me comfort, a little bit of sexy, a lot of uplift and with 25% off there was three coming home in the bag. i don't know when i last had a bra that felt not frumpy and just for function, but this was the one and i was going to let it peak through my shirt.

i wore jeans from target, shoes from jo mercer, top from tree of life, silver hoops and awesome bra from triumph.

Sunday was kaftan day and massage day. and i loooooove them both.  it has hearts and frills and hearts and frills.  love love love love love.  literally! it was bloody windy today and i did quick poses to ensure that my tripod didn't blow over in the wind. it was nutz.

at the boundary street markets, there is now a bagel store.  not bakery bagels, but boiled bagels. the real deal and this is now my sunday staple. thank you bagel boys.

i wore kaftan from huudaverti, shoes from nine west and earrings from odel sri lanka (shopping tip) and the massage as always is from i do thai massage from west end.

i am going to end on a bit of a serious note - a debbie downer if you choose to see it that way. i am a total believer in people being free to do what they want, but what if they are doing something that puts themselves and others at risk? what do you do? apart from having a love of fashion, it isn't my main bread and butter.  i have a job that is on the opposite end of the spectrum. it is serious and it is in a high risk industry. and sadly, sometimes people go to work and may not come home to their families at the end of the day due to unforseen accidents that may be caused by distractions of others. isn't that a horrible thing to consider. i have been their 4 years and over that time, the education towards safety has made me stop and think about the practices i do each day, that may incur a risk to the safety of me or those around me.

we had a toolbox talk a while back about the use of mobile phones when driving and the statistics were so frightening that from that day, i decided not to use my phone in the car. it has been about 2 and a half years now and guess what - there has been no emergency to or from work, i haven't missed any important facebook updates and i haven't been distracted by texting (not that i ever did) but it is really alarming to know what i know  and see people continue to be using their phones while driving. i don't know who this lady is, but she was obviously needing to do something very very important while in control of vehicle.

as i often travel in a 4WD, i see so many people using their phones in high speed, low speed and they are usually looking at the screen - how do you focus on the road? Isn't it illegal to use your phone in a vehicle????? i for one, don't want to be the reason that you or someone else doesn't make it home safely to the people you love and who love you, because i decided that watching my phone was more important that watching the road ahead.

stay safe!

dinner for one

well tonight is my second night of being home alone.  it's strange, cause many things that had become my married routines are no longer there and it feels very odd, so i decided tonight that rather then spend my time here, i would go out for dinner - for one!

i decided to head off to the loving hut in mt gravatt, cause not only do they do great food but the majority of it is vegan.  i was ready to chuck on a pair of jeans and my thongs and head out the door and i stopped and went...no jan-maree, you can do better than that, get your razzle dazzle on.

i opened my wardrobe and as if by an unconscious choice, i put my hand on this cute kaftan that i got in sri lanka many years ago.  it was the outfit for dinner for one.  the detail on this is just beautiful and timeless.  i did put my havaianas on, looked in the mirror and went...no jan-maree, you can do better than that.  so i strapped on my silver sandals and headed out the door.

   

the loving hut is a funny place - it attracts all types and they all come for the great food - it's alcohol free and no byo.  (how does that work, cause i guess no byo means booze, not cakes).  the guy with the bald head, long plait and his head, face and body covered in tattoos was there, the three girls who rode in on their motorbikes were there, the couples, the families and the dinner for ones.  i ordered, sat down, relaxed and started reading my book that my son gave me.  i am only a few chapters in, but where i am up to talks about being in the now, and what we now call mindfullness or self-awareness, which really ties into my blogging about not sweating the small stuff.

dinner arrived and it was the naughty/healthy.  first up was deep fried nuggets with tomato sauce (i love tomato sauce) and then raw zucchini pasta.  the amount of zucchini pasta was over the top.  it was too much to eat, but i did my best.

 

following tea, i figured that i might as well get out my selfie stick/tripod and take some snaps.  i took my top off and posed away, then i decided to get in on the pics (wasn't that just like a carry on film). 

i have a pretty hot looking car, even if it's not the original volvo.  i still love getting behind the wheel and taking it for a spin and having the freedom of a convertible is so much fun.

  

after all that fun, i dropped in to see my son (who is sick) and his girlfriend.  i had a quick hello took a cute picture of one of their birds

then cruised home....with my top off of course.  dinner for one was a great success, and not as scary as i thought.

what i wore:

kaftan from sri lanka

shoes from jo mercer

and the car was a volvo 

a little fashion interlude

I thought today, i'd do a little post about my outfit i wore.  i don't do them often, but maybe i should.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a fair bit of change at my house - physical, mental and probably spiritual and it seemed to culminate this weekend with the finalisation of room change arounds and the uncovering of some great and not so great fashion finds.  I took the opportunity to cull, cull cull.

I was ruthless in my endeavours and started the journey of letting go of some items that i had been storing for so long.  It's a really hard thing to do when you have emotional attachment to some things, but the reality is, that some of these items no longer represented who i was in terms of shape, size, or just general age of some things.

I let stuff go and it felt good. It's amazing what a good clean up does for your mind.

A couple of things were taken out of storage today and put in my cupboard and with the unearthing of some fabulous shoes i decided to build an outfit around them.

These shoes came from a trip to India, where i found them in a random shoe store in New Delhi and decided that i needed a pair and so did my sister.  They are gold and have bells on them, so they are awesome without even putting them on your feet.

My next unearthing was these fabulous tops that came from Sri Lanka. I was surprised when i remembered that i had got them back in the start of 2007 when we went on a family holiday.  I even remember buying them, cause i had to limit myself to 4 even though i wanted to buy them all.  In currency conversion, they were about $40 each, so i thought they were a bargain. And the detail on them is just incredible.

 

They are so beautiful.  They need to be worn over something unless letting it all hangout is your thing,  I knew that one of these had to be worn with THOSE shoes today.  the underneath outfit wasn't a problem, but deciding on which of the tops to wear was, How would you choose. 

well, i just held them all up in the mirror against me and let the top decide.

In the end, i went with the green. I did buy it a long time ago, but i feel the colour is still relevant and the top itself is something that i haven't seen many of.

I know it's on the neon side, but it just felt like the right one to wear today.  I didn't take a photo of my outfit with my bag though, but managed to take a photo of the bag when i was out having coffee this morning.  i was really chuffed with the overall look.

  

What's great about these tops is that they can be worn over anything, depending on the occasion -jeans, skirts and imagine it over a super swimsuit. given they have a flowy feel, are forgiving with the beautiful bumps that are hiding underneath, it's a winner.

What i wore:
shorts made by me
camisole from huudaverti
shoes from new delhi
top from Roma 4 in Colombo Sri Lanka (this is a must along with Odel, if you are ever travelling there)
bag from second hand store in brissy