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....