Dancing in the breeze.

 

 What I wore today:
Shirt: Gap
Skirt: JCrew
Shoes: Born
Necklace: Crystalb

I know this outfit doesn't look like much, but it is my favorite. The skirt is light weight and dances in the breeze. That is the not-so-secret to staying cool, is wearing clothes that move in the breeze.

Today I went to Thomas' school, and it is a great school, but there is no air conditioner. Thomas and I also went to a Buddhist Temple in search of an elephant, but it was not there. So we just walked around for a minute before Thomas started crying because the ants were crawling on his feet. You see, you have to remove your shoes before entering the Temple, and Thomas is not a big fan of taking off his shoes. Oh well. It was still a fun day.

 

 

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Family Pictures. Or I love Blue Lily.

I love family pictures. 

Growing up, we only have a few family pictures, and I wish that we had more, so I have made an effort to have family pictures taken at least every other year. 

SOOOO...when I found out that Blue Lily photography was doing a world tour, and they were looking for places to go- I HAD to suggest Sri Lanka.  Guess what?  THEY CAME!!! Oh my gosh! I am so happy with the way they turned out. Wendy was so great with the kids, and it the 45 minute session was perfect for the kids. AND the price was totally reasonable. If Blue Lily comes to your area, you should take advantage.

I am currently picking out frames so I can hang these pictures on the wall.

Lovely.

What we wore: 

Boys:

 Shorts and Orange Polo: JCrew

Yellow Polo: Children's Place

Ben: 

Polo: JCrew

Shorts: Local

Me:

Shirt and Belt: JCrew

Skirt: Kate Spade via Neiman Marcus

Shoes: Seychelles

Necklace: Bauble Bar

Bracelets and Earrings: Stella and Dot

Date night by the Indian Ocean

For our date night, we went to a bonfire, where the main attraction was the rocket "man" that was built for the occasion. It was indeed awesome and an incredible sight to watch burn. We also watched the sunset over the Indian Ocean, which was gorgeous.

It was a great night.

This outfit was perfect. The top (from Loft) is extremely lightweight and the skirt (from Anthropologie) is lightweight as well! The sandals (born shoes) are perfect for the beach, and walking around town!

Success! We have a winner! Finally an outfit that works in the hot weather that I feel good about.

Rooftop.

Is the timer on? 

Yellow Dress: Made here

Blue Shoes: JCrew

Red Belt: Target

Necklace: Nordstrom (Kate Spade)

This and That Thursday.

I love putting the primary colors together.  They always make life a little more cheery, and when the main color is yellow, it is hard to be anything but cheery. 

I went to Jack's school today, and several of the Kindergarten girls LOVED my shoes.  I have to agree with them, as they are currently my favorite pair of shoes.  They are the perfect color blue with a metallic finish. I bought them at JCrew on Sale.  I didn't see them currently on their website, but they have some really cute ones on sale.

As you will notice I took pictures on the roof today. I thought it would be a fun change to take pictures up there, but the pictures didn't go as well as I wanted it to.  Now I know.  

It is hot here (have I mentioned that before?). The difference between hot here and hot in the States, is in Sri Lanka, there are a lot of places without air conditioners.  This has been difficult for me because I want to wear nice clothes, but sweat marks tend to make any outfit look sloppy. I lose my desire to wear nice things when it is so hot.  Even though I would like to think that I wear great outfits all the time, it just isn't so.

Where to begin? (Plus a Post-Edit)

Tank: Old Navy

Cardigan: Gap

Skirt: Loft

Necklace: Tiffany

I haven't posted an outfit in a bit. There are several reasons. The first is it is starting to get really hot, and I am adjusting back to the hot weather, and anytime of adjustment can be challenging for me. I'm trying to remember what works and what doesn't in the heat. AND I have had a lot of homework, and Ben has been out of town for the last few weeks. All of these things add up to no outfit pictures.

Hopefully it will be better now.

*I wore this out and about today, and it was way too much fabric.  It did not work in the hot weather. It's time to get serious about this heat and humidity...

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Beautiful.

 

When I was a teenager, maybe fifteen or sixteen, someone (a really hot guy) made fun of me because my legs were so pasty white. I was totally embarrassed. Until that moment, I had not been ashamed of my paleness. However, from that moment on, my life was full of tanning beds, self tanners and any sort of artificial color I could get. I wanted to be darker, and I know that I am not the only one. Products to darken skin are everywhere in the States.

Guess what friends? I don't really tan. No matter how long I am in the sun, or how many products I use.

However, living here has given me a new perspective.

The commercials here for skin products are to lighten skin. Can you imagine, someone trying to lighten their skin? In my mind the darker the skin, the more beautiful the skin. Here in Sri Lanka, so many skin products have some sort of lightener, you have to be careful what you buy.

WHAT? Can we switch?

Then, my friends, lightening struck my brain.

It seems that no matter what you have, people want something different.

Can't EVERY skin color be BEAUTIFUL, just the way it is?

Who cares if I'm too pale? Who cares if the HOT 17 year old thinks I'm too pale and makes fun of me? I need to let it go.

It doesn't matter what color our skin is; we should think we're beautiful no matter what.

And be grateful for what we have.

So, when we move somewhere cold, and the dark winter days are upon us, my legs will be a light in the darkness.

 

So whatever your skin color, wear it proudly!

 

 

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Pity, party of one; your table is ready.

Shirt, Shorts and Belt: JCrew

Necklace:  Groopdealz.com

Bracelet: Bauble Bar

I blame Pinterest. I was searching for something in the Pinterest world, when I came upon a pin for a website where you can compare your body to others with the same height and weight. "Oh how fun," I thought in my naive head. Wrong. I entered my weight and height, and waited for the pictures of the women that should look just like me.  BAM. All of the pictures were of women that I would have assumed were 5-10 pounds heavier than me. Bam. Enter complete and utter devastation. I immediately began questioning what I look like, and feeling like all of my exercise and other efforts were for naught. Remember how I posted about not comparing yourself to others? I FAILED. Instead, I did what any self-respecting person would do. I reached out to Facebook to receive love and words of encouragement. It totally worked, and I have the best friends ever.

 I felt better until the next day.

I took a math test. A test that I prepared for. A test that I thought would be a little challenging at most, but not anything I couldn't do. I got my lowest score of the semester. A score that took me below my overall target percentage. Bummer.

AND Ben is out of town.

AND yesterday I planned to have a night out after this long week and the person who had said yes to watching the boys, cancelled. 

AND on our day to sleep in, the boys woke up early.

What can we learn from this? 

1. It is not helpful or productive to compare yourself to others. 

Noted.

2. Quit whining. Get over it.

Done. 

Well almost.

3. Iron your shirt.

I agree.

Enjoying the hot outdoors.

Shirt: Loft

Shorts: JCrew

Necklace: Local

Bracelets: Nordstrom, Bauble Bar

Shoes: Born

Sunnies and Purse: Target

This is what to wear to a picnic at the park when it is really hot, and there could be a game of football (soccer), and you will probably have to sit on the ground. 

Thomas' school had a picnic at the park today, and man, is it getting hot here. And even though it was hot, the boys had some ice cream, and I had some fresh coconut water, and things were alright. 

To give you an idea of how hot it is, when we got home, I had sweat lines from my purse. 

HOT MESS. HOT. MESS.

Oh, and just so you know, my fresh coconut was less than 50 cents! Anyone want to come for a visit? You too can be a hot mess. AND I will treat you to coconut water. Seriously, does it get better than that? I think not.

An Ambitious Goal

Shirt and Skirt: Anthropologie

Belt: From another skirt

Shoes: Local

Bracelet and Necklace: WontonMommy

Earrings: India

Have I told you about my New Year's Resolution? I am not going to buy clothes until July. Six months without buying any clothes. It is a challenge. There are two main reasons I am doing it. The first, the money that I would spend on clothes is going to pay back my trip to Paris/Ireland. The second, I have a lot of clothes, and I thought it would be good to try using what I have before I buy more. 

It has been a good experience. Depending on how it goes, I might extend it for the entire year. That way I can start saving money for when I need to buy clothes for a colder climate. But we will see, I also really love shopping...we'll see if I go for instant or delayed gratification.

Questionable Outfit.

Dress: Gap

Undershirt: Half-Tee

Belt: Anthropolgie

Necklace: Can't remember

Shoes: Dolce Vita brand

Earrings: Target

I am not sure how I feel about the whole strapless dress and an undershirt, but I thought I would try it out today.  Normally I wear this dress with a cardigan or something over it, but today, today I went for it. I didn't feel like the hassle of making sure the cardigan was covering all my bits, so I went with the undershirt.

I still don't know what I think of it. I just really wanted to wear this dress, and you know when you really want to wear something so you make it happen, no matter what? Yup, that is where I was this morning when I got dressed.

Oh, and this dress wrinkles really easily. Kind of a bummer.