Shirt Dress

Ah, I had all the intention to do an outdoor photo shoot this morning when I was out with my mom's cousin but totally forgot.

I had been wanting a shirt/cargo dress for a while. Found this one at an outlet location of a Turkish store callled Koton. I like that it is super thin (t-shirt like) material. Other qualities I like are it has snaps instead of buttons, the selft belt easily comes off and has belt loops, it has side and front wrking pockets. I do wish it was khaki color instead of dusty rose pink as that would have gone with more things but this also works. I plan to wear this dress like a coat over other dresses. Have not tried that combo on to see how it looks. First decided to wear it as it was meant to be. Took out the self belt and used my leather belt instead. Scarf make it a bit more dressy. Again wore the inner skirt. Could have gone either way as far as looks go. But for practicality the inner skirt was a good call. Since it is snap front when the kids were sitting on my lap they come undone easily and the inner skirt allows me to stay covered. The neutral tan sandals go with everything and their ankle cuff style always give the outfits a touch of ruggedness. I am in desperate need of a pedicure but need a good nanny I can leave the kids or have them both sleep at the same time.

Cotton shirt dress - Koton - 62 TL ($40)

Leather Belt - Limited

Scarf - Gap

Sandals - Victoria's Secret Catalog

Inner Skirt - shop in Turkey - 17 TL ($11)

Today's Activities: Very full day today. New nanny came at 8:30 AM, left the house around 9:30 AM to meet my mom's cousin to walk to the convention center and to the park in there. Then we visited his mother which was my grandmother's close friend. When I was a little girl she and my grandma used to take me swimming everyday at our beach house. She loved seeing me and my kids. After lunch at home amazingly both kids slept with little problem. Unfortunately daughter woke up only an hour later. After snacks we went to Grandpa's house, but the kids never went up. My mom came downstairs instead and took them for a walk and play time while I visited my very sick Grandpa. Once he went down for rest, my cousin took me and the kids to a shopping center. Found an indoor play area there called PlayBarn. A little pricey but very nice. Kids loved it. We ate at my uncle's restaurant at the shopping center and then had them play a bit more there before coming home for bed time. After that, left the nanny at home and went to Grandpa's again for a few more hours. Hoping to find another nanny tomorrow as this one barely speaks Turkish (she is Russion) and she is not able to entertain or communicate with the kids. Under no circumstances can I leave the her alone with the kids when they are awake so it won't work. I need to spend more time at Grandpa's house so someone we can trust and the kids love is vital right now. 

Gamer

Well, as promised here is a photo today. Of course as you can see I took this photo at the very end of the day after kids went to bed so lighting is horrible.  My mom bought me this denim shirt yesterday as a 'mother's day gift'. It is exactly the type of shirt I was looking for. Thin and fitted with some interesting detail (silver studs on shoulders).... I got a different hue denim shorts to go with them but will also wear these with other non denim items to make some interesting combo's. This was one of them. Since everyone finds this skirt's lenght too mini for the city here I wore jean shorts underneath. Not sure if you can tell from the bulkiness. But I did feel a lot more comfortable knowing even if my skirt shifted I would not expose anything. This Tee was some movie promotiong t-shirt my sister got for free and was about to give it away. I thought it might look interesting and kept it. I think it looks great under this shirt. I used my coral necklace to pick up the red in the tee. These sandals give it just the right kinds of ruggedness as they have a boot feel.

Above is my first attempt to take the photos before my son went to bed. After him or his balloon got in every snapthot I took I gave up and waited until after he went to sleep.

Denim Shirt - Boutique in Turkey (Tally Wei JL) - 40 TL ($26)

Black Skirt - TJ Maxx - $12

Graphic Tee - thrifted from sister who got it for free

Black Sandals - Boutique 9 - Zappos - $120

Coral Necklace - Charlotte Rousse - $10

I wish I could say I thought of my outfit and felt good today but I didn't. I just felt good about coming up with this combo last night. Here is why...

Today's Activities:
It was a real effort today. I never had a moment to breathe. I realize now how having my husband's help in the morning was so very essential for my sanity. With my nanny gone, I am alone with both kids in a small house with 3 other people sleeping. The combination of my daughter crying and me getting out of bed to go to her woke up my son an hour earlier than his usual time. There was no way to get him go back to bed without me going back with him.  My daughter who is waking up way too early is super fussy and cries even if I put her down for a minute. I have to go to the bathroom with her on my lap just to keep her quiet. If we were at our house I would get her to back to sleep with a little crying but here it is impossible since we don't want to wake up the whole household.
After breakfast, it took me an hour to get them and myself dressed and the living room and kitchen picked up. We rushed out. Walked on the boardwalk until it ended. Love the boardwalk (Kordon) area. It has 4 paths!. One sidewalk which hardly no one uses. One soft path for runners and walkers (this is the path I use), one concrete path for bikes and carts (vendors) and one huge cobblestone area that is right in front of the water. Each path is separated by large grass areas. In the morning grass gets watered so I can't let the kids out but we walk peacefully. Found the huge and beautiful playground at the end. It is the nicest one we have found here. Had 5 slides, bridges, swings, other structures to ride on etc...Spent a lot of time trying to tire out the kids there. Then walked all the way back. Picked up the house keeper and went grocery shopping. Kept the purcases to a minimum since we had to carry them on foot several blocks back home plus the kids.
My daughter who is on a sleeplessness strike never fell a sleep during all this walking so could not make it until her usual nap time. I put her down early and of course she woke up an hour later right when I was putting my son down for his nap. Therefore I got no break.
Took her out for another hour long walk in the city with no luck of her falling a sleep. At least my son napped. My mom came over to take over the kids so I could see my grandpa for a little while. Met a new prospective nanny who barely speaks Turkish as my luck would have it. She also does not speak English. Since we are desperate and I need to help out with my grandpa we are going to hire her at least for couple weeks until our summer nanny can start. We tested her out for an hour tonight with the kids and she seems Ok so just need to find a way to communicate somehow.
Hoping for a more peaceful day for me and healthier day for my Grandpa for tomorrow.

No Photo Today!

Today's Outfit:

Blue Skinny Jeans

Mom's black striped white top

Black converses

If I had a normal day I was going to switch into heels and add mom's coral/red trench and a cool necklace to make this outfit photo worthy. But it was not meant to be...

So, as I mentioned in my post yesterday my Grandpa is not doing well therefore today was a bit chaotic. Not that I did anythin to help but I still had to take care of the kids and most importantly keep them out of everyone's way as they tried to help. I was planning on leaving the kids with the nanny tonight, get dressed up and go see and spend the evening with family and my grandpa. Unfortunately, my nanny broke her arm today and her right arm will be in a cast for a whole month and no one can take care of kids with one hand/arm so she can not work. Normally this is not an issue. I can take care of the kids as I do all the time in the U.S. But, here it means it will be very difficult for me to see my Grandpa or spend any quiet quality time with him without a nanny. Hence, we are looking for a new one asap. At the end of the day my Grandpa is now on an IV and an oxygen mask and as a result feeling better and more comfortable. I hope to see him tomorrow by going straight there after kids wake up from their naps. Hoping mom can entertain them for a bit so I can see him.
Since I spent the evening alone, I did create a dozen or so new outfit combinations for the city life with the few purchases I made while here. Which was badly needed cause I realized majority of my combinations were for the summer town and I was running out of ideas for this month. At least there are some new combo's for me to work with.

Today's Activities:
My daughter was up for couple hours last night and woke up early. So did I. Took my son to get a haircut at my hairdresser and got my hair styled before my nanny left at 10 AM. Took the kids to the convention center to run around and to the playground. Met a Grandmother there with two boys from Australia. The kids ages were days apart from mine but unfortunately they are just visiting for a little bit. My dream to find a suitable playmate for my kids and a playdate companian for me has not been that successful.
After naps (my duaghter slept but my son never did) found out about my nanny. Took the kids out to the bay area where my mom met us. Had them run around/crawl on the grass, throw rocks in the water etc... Then visited the 'Ataturk Museum' that was right there. Since we had no food at home took them out for dinner. Managed to find an equivalent of mac'n'cheese for them so they were happy. I can't even describe how dirty the kids get here. Especially my daughter. She is still not walking and crawling gives her a dirt rag look after just a few minutes. Plus they both eat a little bit of ice cream everyday and get it all over themselves even with bibs. I guess not much I can do if I want them to get exercise....

Promise a more fashion related post tomorrow....

Sheer Magic

This outfit was put together last minute. Dressed a lot more casual in the morning but in the afternoon we had a true photo shoot for a local magazine so had to dress much nicer. Bought this chiffon top from Mango outlet store for 15 TL ($10). I love its boxy shape and round pretty collar. It had a self belt but I liked it with not belt and boxy over skinny jeans. It would also look great over jean shorts but thought that would be too much leg exposure for the ‘mother’s day’ photo. I liked how the light brown colored heels picks up the earthy tones of the top. And the circular gold necklace compliments the round brass studs on the heels.

Floral Sheer top – Mango - $10

Skinny Jeans – Forever 21

Light brown leather heels – Michael Kors

Gold necklace – Forever 21

Today’s Activities:

Went to Izmir’s new zoo which is called ‘Izmir Dogal Yasam Parki’ with my mom’s cousins. I was utterly impressed with how beautiful it was designed. I did not miss world famous San Diego zoo. The kids loved it. Especially my son who is obsessed with lions got to see both lions and tigers from very close proximity and was hooked. We only got to visit half the park since the kids got tired and hungry and we left after lunch to make it home in time for naps. After naps the magazine crew came to the house to for the Grandmother, mother and kids photo shoot. After that was done we rushed to my Grandpa’s who is going to be hospitalized tomorrow for a liver biopsy. Tough days are awaiting form this point on.

Business Savy

So, today's event was not planned when I was packing for this trip. My Grandpa wanted all of us to attend the share holder meeting of the company he is in the board of directors'. This was as professional as I could get with what I packed. I was so glad I at least packed this blazer jacket. My grandpa strictly advised no open toed shoes since both my mom and I have blue nail polish. These and my converses were the only closed toe shoes I brought. But with the jacket I think it looks OK. I decided to go with no belt. The chunky chain necklace is not super professional but it brings out the zipper detail of the shoes I thought. This place was georgous. We could have done an amazing photo shoot but it would have been highly inappropriate with all the share holders around. This was a renovated historic natural gas terminal station. It had multiple stone buildings with a huge brick tower and black wrought iron spiral stair case. And they added multiple beautiful fountains all around. I had to drag my youngest cousin to the back building wall to quicly take these photos between the meeting and the cocktail party.

I picked the photo above as my center photo although it does not show the outfit best I love how the wind naturally blew my skirt to show even the lining of the dress has lace trim.

Blue flowery dress - Anthropologie - $80 on sale

Black boyfriend blazer jacket - Newport News Catalog - $49

Black leather shoes with zipper detail - Madden Girl (by Steve Madden) - TJ Maxx - $50

Multi chain chunky necklace - Forever 21 - $17

Today's Activities: Took the kids for a stroll in the morning. What I love about this part of the town is that it has 4 or so streets that are closed to traffic all together. Since the sidewalks of the city are horrible with a stroller I prefer these streets where there is no up and down and a pretty smooth ride. Plus I can let my son out of the stroller to run/walk safely. So we took one of these streets and followed all the way to the end which was the water front. It was pretty quiet and cool in the morning which was perfect. Couldn't help walking into a couple bargain shops on the way. Bought this brown belt with a braided faux fur detail. I thought it would be very unique for winter. Also bought a cargo style shirt dress but made out of soft cotton material. I have been looking for something similar but always shyed away from them due to need for ironning. Love the material of this one. Horrible nap today. Neither kid napped. Therefore all the plans to get ready for the meeting in the afternoon died. Imagine not only two kids underfoot but two fussy kids that did not nap underfoot. It was not peaceful until we sent them out with the housekeeper to get them out. So went to the historical terminal station for the share holder meeting followed by the cocktail party. After 11 years of working in management in U.S. it was very interesting to see how a meeting is run in Turkey. The presentation was done very professionally but after the presentation that was some very heated arguments between stock holders and board of director's...The cocktail party was very nice. Came home early to get the kids to bed.

Here is my Grandpa with 3 of 4 of his grandkids. Just my sister is missing. The girl is my oldes cousin, 8 years my junior. The boy is my youngest cousin 14 years my junior.

Crochet Vest

This was a look inspired by a photo from Victoria's Secret catalog. The crochet vest there was very pretty and I actually ordered it but after it came I realized it wasn't worth the $49. I bought this one at Forever 21 for $23. I think it looks just as good. I love how these tan sandals look under the cuffs rolled up cargo pants. Thought the brown/green bead necklace goes very nicely with the bird bead dark green leather purse. Of course only used this purse for an hour or so when I went shopping with my mom while the kids were napping.

Cargo Pants - Gap

Pink T-Shirt - Forever 21 - $13

Crochet white vest - F21 - $23

Tan Sandals - Victoria's Secret Catalog

Brown/green bead necklace - from Turkey

Leather purse with bead/bird detail - Thread Show - $90

Today's Activities:  Got my hair professionally blown dry again for $4.50 with tip! Then took the kids for a stroll. Unfortunately had to rush home as my son had a tantrum fit in the middle of the street due to a wolf sticker in the sheet of stickers he picked out for himself. Everybody felt sorry for me and tried to help. I just needed to get home and once he ate lunch he was totally fine. While they were napping my mom and I went to the outlet store of Mango. I love Mango and unfortunately we don't have it in San Diego. Picked out some great stuff at very good prices. Once the kids woke up and ate their snacks we met my cousin and his girlfriend again at the convention center entertainment center which is walking distance. They had fun but most fun was on the grass area afterwards. We also did the swan pedal boat ride on a man made lake there. The boats are super old (from my own childhood days). Action photo below...

Peaking under denim

So, remember I was talking about this look of white inner skirt peaking underneath dresses and skirts? I found one that will work I think. I also remembered I have this very thin white eyelet skirt back at home in U.S. that might also work but for now I bought this one here. It also helps lengthen the mini skirts. Bought this denim dress here. Love it is dark rinse. I wore it with a white seasshell/bead necklace to match the inner skirt. However, decided to tuck it in so it shows the white beads. The denim sandals add lots of embelishment anyway. Also wearing my new earings I got at the Thread Show last month.

The motorcycle is my uncle's... My two cousins and I went downstairs with the kids in the morning to buy fresh bread and 'smit' (similar to bagels). I decided to my photo shoot while we were out. Saw this motorcycle in front of the apartment and asked if it would be OK to post with it. My cousin reminded me it was theirs so it obviously was OK. :)

Denim Dress - boutique in Turkey - $25

Inner skirt - store in Turkey - $12

Denim Sandals - Steve Madden

White necklace - Target

Earings - Thread Show

Today's Activities: My oldest cousin is visiting from Istanbul for a few days. Her, my son and I all slept together last night in her old king size bed. Woke up early together and took them to buy fresh bread. By the time family sat down for breakfast it was lunch time for kids so it worked out nicely. My cousin and I tried to sneak in a farmer's market shopping while the kids were napping but my daughter woke up early and my son never slept so we rushed back home. Went to the shopping center play area again with my boy cousin and his girlfriend. Had a blast. The kids adore them. Trevor rode every single ride pretty much. Came back late just in time for dinner than took them out for ice cream. Oh, while we were at the mall, I bought 3 pairs of awesome pantyhose. One black fishnet with lace detail, one cream all over lace and one brown that has knee high sock detail with bronze satin bows. Super cute. Can't wait to wear them during fall/winter.

Here is my girl cousin and I with the kids on the promenade that the apartment we are staying in resides.

That blue purse is the coach wallet/purse I carry EVERYWHERE so all my valuables are always with me and never in my diaper bag. When I carry normal purses I simply put this inside the purse.