Tackling Urban Jungle

All I can say is thank goodness for my list of pre-tried outfits I packed for this trip because I am on night 3 with no sleep and barely standing. Regardless of how tired and dead I feel, since I have to dress to get out of the house here I am. This is one of those inspired outfits.  Here is the inspiration photo:

When I saw it I remembered I have a very similar jacket in the short sleever version. Like the idea of red and white underneath. For fall I did wear this with a white buttond own and a red sleeveless sweater like a vest. For the summer version just used the red tank. This tank is actually halter tie but I tied it strapless since it looks better this way under the jacket.

Jacket - F21

Red Tank - Victoria's Secret Catalog

Dark Grey skinny Jeans - Closet

Black Sandals - Boutique 9

Silver heart loop earings - Baby Phat - Macy's

Today's Activities: After a horrible night where for the first time in my life I did not sleep all night, managed to get dressed and get my two sleepless and fussy kids to the nearest playground. More on that below... After lunch and very long 3 hour naps went to visit my grandpa at his house and have dinner. Hoping for a night with at least some sleep.

NON FASHION RELATED...
So, getting a bit more out everyday. Today felt like we would never get out but kids are even fussier without sleep so had to get out to get some fresh air and tire them out. Except it is no easy task just walking the streets of my city. Hence my title 'urban jungle'. Never mind you I have a very high quality stroller with jogger style large wheels (phil & Ted's) but still, I was exhausted from going up and down 12-18 inch high sidewalks with no ramps. God forbid if you decide to enter a store to buy water or check out clothes or something. Every store is either down or up from the sidewalk with a very high step followed by a door that is way too close to even level out at the store level before entering. The doors are heavy with absolutely no automatic entry. The stores are as narrow as can be and in food selling stores everthing is out. So of course Trevor goes crazy with all the different looking candy and choclates. Usually I can stop all these requests speaking in a language no one understands but here everyone knows what we are saying so it feels so weird. I wanted to get my watch battery replaced and got stuck in this tiny repair shop with my stroller. My son who was out of the stroller started jumping his toy lion on top of alll the wall clocks that were for sale. I laugh now but was sweating and cursing inside then. My son thought it was so much fun. More adventure stories to follow in the upcoming days I am sure...

'Kordon' Walk

The photos are getting a little better. Still too chaotic in our household to take better photos but getting there.
Wore the Jean Paul Gaultier dress I got from Target again. Since it is warm here I didn't add any top layers. Just a black belt and black sandals. I can see if the weather was a bit warmer it would have been too hot as the material is nylon. The sandals don't look great in this photo but they did look good.

Dress - Jean Paul Gaultier - Target - $30

Belt - F21

Sandals - Boutique 9 Zappos - $120

Chunky chain necklace - F21 - $17

REST IS NON FASHION RELATED...

The photo is taken at my aunt's apartment balcony. Which is where I am staying with the kids. It was a holiday here today, 'Kid Day' so you see a lot of apartments have Turkish flags hanging. It is such a different world here. The kids are in such a culture shock. The contrast is less about Turkey vs. U.S.A. but more about contrast between San Diego and any cosmopoliton city. My daughter is too young to register all the details she just notices we are in a much more crowded and noisier place. But, my son who notices *everything* is so confused with the whole 'apartment' concept. He keeps thinking the whole building is the house and hence goes out the front door like stepping out of a room. And asks any stranger he sees in the hallways as to who they are outloud in Turkish which is usually fine since in US no one understands him but here it sounds so rude. It is hilarious. He is fascinated by the tiny elevators we keep stepping in and out of. And the car horns he hears all the time has him going 'beep beep beep' everytime we step outside. I had to teach him to stay away from street dogs and cats which is not something that exists in San Diego. It is so interesting to see everything from his point of view...

Here I am with the kids on the boardwalk by the city's bay. This area is right across the street from where we are staying. Trevor loved chasing the piegons and watching the lined up horse carriages.

Today's Activities: First time walking around the city and bay boardwalk and checking out holiday show performances on the street. In the afternoon a quick trip to the Dr for my daughter who has an ear infection after our 24 hour flight followed by a trip to one of the malls who has a mini kid ride park area. The kids had a blast there. We had dinner at the mall then came home just in time for my duaghter's bed time. My son is having tough time sleeping here so have had a very rough night and day today. I am trying to survive on 3-4 hours of sleep for 2 days now.
Lets see what tomorrow brings...

First Outfit in Turkey

Well, we made it here... The trip was OK. The kids slept close to 1 hour during the short leg and 4 hours during the long one. Obviously not nearly enough for a 24 hour period but enough to survive on. Trying to get them back on some sort of schedule today.
Here is a quick post of my outfit. The photo is bad quality, will do better tomorrow.
The photo upload takes forever so will be fewer photos per post these days.
More to come tomorrow...hopefully....

Packing with spreadsheets

This is a scheduled post just for fun. No outfit photos...

I realize I am crazy and anal but I truly love spreadsheets. Everyone that knows me is no longer surprised when I create spreadsheets for anything from Birthday party to do list and task assignment, to who was doing what when I gave birth to my second baby, to remodeling and of course outfits....
I have indicated before I keep my outfit ideas on a spreadsheet. Well it comes in very handy when you are packing. I went down the list and tagged with a "T" for Turkey to indicate I was going to pack them. THen I sorted by that field and by 'bottom', so I can see that every pant, skirt I was taking was used to create at least 2 or more outfits.  Then I focus on the shoes as shoes take so much space in luggage. Especially platform heels. I try to only take outfits that use the same shoes to minimize the number. Initially I had 20 more outfits more to pack but it required 2 more pairs of heels so I eliminated them. It is not realistic I will wear heels that much there since I still have the kids full time. So I left it at 3 pairs, with 4 pairs of flat sandals and 2 pairs of flip flops for the beach when summer comes if we make it to the summer town.
For kids I packed everything, since we are gone for a long time and they don't have that many clothes and what ever we leave behind they will outgrow buy the time we come back. For my daughter's dresses I kept in hangers so I can just hang them somewhere when I get there to save time. If I had the room I would have done the same for my stuff but would have weighed too much.

Here are my spreadsheets:

Here is my son's suitcase:

Here is my Daughter's (I had already moved it out of her room so she can nap so it is in the hallway):

And here is my stuff:

Travel Savy

Finally we are flying today. This was one of the outfits in my packing list but when I tried it on I felt it would be great for the road. I am always freezing in the airplanes, so needed an outfit with a thick jacket and have to wear socks. These shoes are perect, can wear them with socks, great for walking and since they are slip on’s so easy for the security check. The jeans feel like leggings and jeans are always good as they don’t show too many stains and easy to spot clean. The jacket is a bit dressier than my usual choice for travel but this one is made out of jersey material so it is comfy and thick enough to keep me warm.


I was inspired by this look from another blogger on chictopia. She wore a similar combo but with a white tee and pink converses. Since I don’t have pink ones I wore a pink tee instead.

I alwas like to wear a chunky chain necklace on trips with kids. When they are very fussy and I am holding them it gives them something to play with.
My suitcases don't match my outfit but once I check them in, my diaper bag for once matches perfectly.
 

 

Black boyfriend blazer – Newport News Catalog - $49

Pink tee – Target

Grey skinny jeans – CLOSET
Black leather belt – Ralph Lauren (under tee)

Converse Sneakers – converse.com - $55

Charm necklace – Betsey Johnson – street fair vendor - $20

Diaper Bag - Juicy Couture - Thrifted - $100

Today’s Activities: FLYING, waiting at airports, FLYING and waiting and FLYING some more...

4 hour flight from San Diego to Chicago,

2 hour 40 minute layover,

10 hour 40 minute flight from Chicago to Istanbul,

2 hour layover,

1 hour flight from Istanbul to Izmir.

So, we leave around 1:40 PM PST on Tuesday and arrive 8 PM on Wednesday Izmir time. That is going to be one long flight/trip…

Cream and Gold

So this outfit was thrown together last minute. I was in packing hell all day. Had to get dressed for dinner with family and realized I still have not tried on the dresses she gave me yet, so I put them on and decided to keep it on. This cream linen dress is very simple and cute. I found this sash with gold and bronze beads at the back of my belt hooks. Then went from there with the bronze heels and the bronze jacket. I got this jacket almost 3 years ago but still remember exactl where and how much cause it was a good deal and I love it. It looks great over black as well.

Cream Linen Dress - given by a friend

Satin sash with gold/bronze beads - F21

Bronze/gold heels - Guess

Bronze Jacket - Trina Turk - TJ Maxx - $90

Gold necklace and gold/cream bangles - I can not remember where I got these

Today's Activities: Packing, packing and more packing. Finally followed by dinner out with family.

Layers of white

This combo was inspired by one of my favorite non-mommy bloggers Lida of Fashionista Talk's April 8th post. All her pieces I am sure were more expansive variations of mine, so this is the budget version of her oufit. I got these leggings on clearence from Victoria's Secret. I love the idea of colored leggings. Had not figured out yet how to wear them so I was excited when I saw her post with bright colored leggings and thought mine could work. I would also love to get a bright pink and a blue turqoise pair as well.  These are more of a teal turqoise color. Very pretty though and great quality. I love layering now. Before I used to just wear one top and one bottom that matched.  May be another cardigan or jacket if the weather was cold. Now, if I don't have mutliple layers or a belt I feel the outfit is incomplete. And God forbid if I dress matchy matchy, I feel so predictable. It is amazing how almost 3 months of blogging can make someone edgier. The eyelet corset top came from my mom. She is not wearing it anymore. I had all the other pieces. This jacket has been a great purchase (couple years ago). It always looks cool in any outfit. The collor can be high so add style and love the huge buttons. The short sleeves do not provide much warmth but oh well. I love creating another outfit to showcase the zipper heels. They are just so adorable and the chunky not so high heel makes them very wearable. I had no problem carrying my son from the parking lot to the grocery store to pick up a birthday cake and back. :)
I styled my hair in somewhat of a 60's style with a black headband. And used those 'bumpitz' to make a slight bump in the back. I love headbands. I have a huge collection. They are my go to hair accessory in summer when I leave my hair curly a lot more often.

Eyelet corset top - F21

White tunic tank - from Turkey

White crop SS Jacket - F21

Teal turquoise leggings - Victoria's Secret - $11

Black zipper heels - BCBGirls - TJ Maxx

Black bead long necklace - Nordstrom rack

Headband - claire's

Today's Activities: PACKING! My mom and step dad took the kids all morning so I can start packing. So, it took me 2.5 hours to just take out all  the outfits I will be taking to Turkey. Since my trip will be long and there will be couple days of no posts I might do a post just on my packing experience. I will take some photos of the process etc... You can all see how anal I am. In the afternoon, we went to a family BBQ at my mom's house to say good-bye to everyone. Except with the volcano situation, doubt we'll be flying on Tuesday so we are on a wait and see status at this point.