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....