HOUSE HUNTING -- AARRGGHHH!!

Hi friends,

Sorry I've been totally a.w.o.l. for a while. We've been house-hunting. Pretty much every spare minute of the weekends are taken up going from house to house, then many times sitting at the realtor's office submitting offers for homes we love. Unfortunately, so far nothing's been accepted.

When we started this process I was very excited, but I'm now extremely frustrated. Since we only have my husband's salary to qualify, our house buying budget is limited, and finding houses at our price range in our hometown is a nightmare. We're constantly getting outbid by these fools who plunk down cash for homes we fall in love with.

But we keep trudging on. Our realtor said not to lose hope, so we're trying not to. Hopefully soon we'll be signing the papers on our dream home. Stay tuned ...

BLOG AWARD! SQUEEEE!!

One of my all-time favorite bloggers, Jenava of Daily Outfit Diary, gave me a blog award! I feel really honored because she is supremely stylish and knows how to dress in a truly chic and inspirational way every day! That's something I aspire to. Even though I don't go out anywhere much these days, I know that soon I will have to, when I return to school, start a new career, etc. I'm so grateful for blogs like Daily Outfit Diary, which show how you can dress beautifully on a daily basis, something that's not easy to do!

I'm supposed to pass this award on to bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The following ladies have amazing blogs that deserve to get loads more fans, so I'm passing this award to:

• Margaret of Too Few Beacons: another blog showcasing fab-u-lous and inspirational everyday style, but also rad vintage finds! 
• Bhushavali of Fashion Panache blogs from India! She designs and sews a lot of her own clothes and also has a wonderful travel blog!

I'm so happy to have found such inspirational stylish blogs from around the world! I can truly say I've learned how to dress better by reading them, and I'm very thankful for that. Don't wait to check them out -- they are wonderful!

WINTER WIND

Our winter so far has been really weird -- mostly bright and sunny, but cold and windy too. More like Fall or Spring. The rain we so badly need around here is nowhere to be found.

Today we went to the library with the baby, and I had to dress warmly but without too much bulk or layers. So I chose this cozy flared sweater with jeggings and tall boots. It worked very well!

I love cozy knits like this but can't wear a lot of them because I'm so top-heavy. But the flare in this sweater gives it a sense of balance and shape. I love how clothes like this are just as comfortable as yoga pants and tees, but look so much nicer. After all, you never know whom you'll run into at a library!

So I'm glad I got another mom-on-the-go (MOTG) outfit down. I should keep a record of these or something, for easy reference, lol!

Sweater: Free People

Top: Faded Glory (Walmart)

Jeggings: Old Navy

Boots: Me Too

NEW YEAR'S EVE 2011

What did you do on New Year's Eve? We were invited to a Sri Lankan dinner-dance, but we decided not to attend because of the baby. My mother went, and turns out there were plenty of other babies there. Oh, well ... next time!

But we did have a very nice New Year's Eve -- we went to a newly-opened Italian restaurant, where the ambience was warm and pleasant. The food was pretty good too. We enjoyed a quiet, easygoing family dinner (our very first!) and it was awesome!

I had a hard time choosing what to wear. When we were thinking about going to the dinner-dance, I was going to wear a party dress, but for a family dinner on New Year's Eve? I had no idea. I didn't want to wear jeans (even with boots), and my dresses were too summer-y for January. 

Until I remembered that I got this dress last year when I was pregnant. It was sleeveless but perfect with a sweater. And I loved the festive black-and-white polka dots!

With it I wore my Belle by Sigerson Morrison boots. The dress was washable and didn't need ironing, which is always perfect when you have a small child to carry around! And the flat heels were great for that too.

We rang in the New Year in a very nice way, and I'm hoping that 2012 will bring us all a lot of joy and good luck!

Dress: I.N.C. (Macy's)

Sweater: Jessica Howard

Boots: Belle/Sigerson Morrison

VINTAGE LUV!

Hi friends! Hope your New Year's Eve was awesome and 2012 is off to a wonderful start!

I thought I'd start the first post of the new year about some fabulous old stuff!  ^_^  Vintage stuff, that is -- some beautiful leather accessories I picked up at our local Hospice Thrift store.

First off, these gorgeous leather gloves. They are just the softest, most supple gloves I've ever seen or felt in my life. By the typeface of the label on the inside, they look like they're from the '60s, maybe early '70s. Swoooon! I felt like an elegant lady just slipping them on!

I also found (thanks to a tip-off from my mother), this beautiful '80s leather tote by an obscure luxury leather goods label called Sergios Collection. The company still seem to be in business in the Middle East, but not in North America (though I could be wrong). I love the gorgeous rose with the little metal studs around it!



The quality of vintage accessories never fails to amaze me. They retain their beauty and durability for decades and decades after they were used. I always wonder whether the leather bags and gloves made today will ever last as long and look as good.

I hope 2012 brings more such treasures my way. There are few things I enjoy more than a good turn vintage shopping around our local charity shops!

FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 to all my wonderful blog friends out there! I hope 2012 is special, happy and memorable in the best way for you! Much love and blessings to you all!  ^_^

CHRISTMAS DAY 2011

This was a very special day for us because it was our baby Devindra's first Christmas. It turned out wonderful and Devindra loved his presents! We got him a set of vintage fairy tale picture books, illustrated by Janet & Anne Grahame-Johnstone. I had these books as a child and now I'm collecting them for our son.

For the day, I wore this Free People dress, which I love for cold weather because of the bright "wintery" colors! It's also very comfortable and allowed me to run around getting things ready for dinner, take care of the baby, and eat comfortably! ^_^  Clothes that allow you to do all that are hard to find, so I'm always looking out for them.

Hem detail. I just love these colors - they remind me of a stained glass window!

I wore dark purple/burgundy tights and brown boots because I wanted to tone down the black color of the dress:

Dress: Free People

Top: Mossimo (Target)
Tights: Calvin Klein (via TJ Maxx)

Boots: Bronx

Hope you all enjoyed a fabulous, joyous Christmas! Now on to the new year ... can't wait!