from somewhere in my imagination

The Month of Fabruary

I love clothes and fashion.  To be truthful I love them much more now than I did 10kg ago.  I also love that three days a week I get to get reasonably dressed up to go to work.  I love that I can finally walk in heels and am slowly adapting to wearing makeup most days.  I love that I actually feel comfortable wearing red lipstick.  Over the course of the past year I got amongst it with some of the Fox In Flats style dares.  I gave Darecember a shot but got in a muddle with work days and non work days and Christmas stuff.

Then Fabruary arrived and I popped all of the prompts into my diary, and Iam thrilled to say that I accomplished every single one.  Some with more vigour than others, depending on the day but I loved it.  I composed my look in my head for some days and definitely did a few things that pushed me out of my comfort zone.  I am thrilled to feel that there were some looks that I really pulled off that I was more than a bit nervous about giving a go.

The month of Fabruary

Sunglasses – A no brainer, I wore my aviators and kicked off the month with a complete look that really pushed me.  Jacket is a market find and skirt from Theory.

Glitter – I have a few glittery pieces but chose to pair some sequinned flats with Sass & Bide boyfriend jeans and my favourite Saba T.

Checks – After a 16km run and 1500m ocean swim I rugged up in my flannie.  I definitely got a few sideways looks at our local shopping centre when my kiddos were not exhibiting their best behaviour.  Who says people don’t judge a book by its cover?

Ponytail – A ponytail was pretty much impossible with my growing out hair and the fact my girls eat hairties and there were none to be found.  I compromised by slicking my hair back.  Skunkfunk Top with Country Road basic black pants.

Leather – A hot one in Adelaide and not one for my favourite leather jacket so I chose a French Connection white shirt that has a thin leather waist tie teamed with Witchery denim & hat.

Green – Green Lorna Jane shorts for morning training followed by Country Road pants for the afternoon.  I paired green with coral both morning and afternoon.

Statement Earrings – I had to enlist help from my sisters because I didn’t have any.  I enjoyed wearing them so much that I have lashed out on a few pairs since.

Noisy – The bright pink nails and reasonably loud Sass & Bide jacket were my nod to the noisy factor.  A work colleague told me I looked like I was straight out of a 70’s disco, you don’t get much louder than that.  Mission accomplished.

Killer Heels – My hottest killer heels are these A/X babies I couldn’t go past about 12 months ago.  They were perfect with my Sass & Bide dress for a night out in Brisbane.

Bright – I very nearly didn’t buy these Madewell shoes last year in NYC.  I am so glad I did because they have turned out to be my favourites this summer.

Belted – I knew that I’d be pulling this Roni NYC jacket out as soon as I saw the prompt.

Orange Lips – As much as I tried to find a bright orange lippy that worked on me it just doesn’t work no matter how much I love it.  I settled on a coral shade from MAC.

Flats – This was perhaps one of the toughest prompts for the month, because I am totally spoiled for choice in the flats department.  I ended up popping on pink studded flats to go with the pink and gold of my dress.

Quiff – This was a prompt that I was really looking forward to trying out.  I enjoyed it so much I’ve done it again since.  Ted Baker top and Country Road basic black pants

Furry – The furriest thing I could find in my wardrobe was a feathered headband so I mostly just focused on putting together a great look with the Coop dress and Country Road heels. 

Leggy – I spent all days with my legs out between my Lorna Jane running shorts, bikini down the beach and Diesel denim skirt in between the weather was perfect in Adelaide for having legs on display.

Laces – I usually live in thongs and barefeet on the weekend but lacing up in my Nike trainers was a good idea because my feet are sore from all the running.

Bun – Two little tiny buns at my neckline had to suffice.

Polka Dot – I was pleasantly surprised by the number of polka dot pieces I have in my wardrobe but yellow wins every time.  Perfect outfit for a school picnic.  Kookai top with skirt purchased in NYC.

Fragrance – Wednesday is a double training day with an outdoor session followed by gym session but most days I’ll be sporting that sweat fragrance at some point.  Keeping it real.

Red – I have a surprising lack of red in my work wardrobe so red flats it was to be.

Button Up – This was one of those looks I could see clearly in my head but knew I’d have to put my brave face on to do it.  Was pretty damn happy with how it turned out.  Cue shirt, Country Road Snakeskin print pants and those A/X killer heels.

Layers – Another hot day in Adelaide, the best I could manage was a light scarf and some super dangly earrings with my dress.  I took my denim jacket with me to Symphony under the Stars in the evening but didn’t even come close to putting it on.

Gloss – My favourite lip gloss is Chanel Insouciance paired with some glossy sequins on my Country Road tank

Kicks – I pulled on my Nike frees for my early morning run, these are seriously the most comfortable pair of kicks I have ever owned.

Vest & Retro – Tuesday is my day off. It was hot and I had a bit of a case of CBF so I held over my vest wearing until Wednesday when I teamed it with a white tank, charcoal All Saints jeans and my new yellow Florsheim loafers.  The whole look was a little bit 50’s rocker but the humidity meant that my hair wouldn’t play nice no matter what I did.

Pink – I had to pull out the needle and thread to stitch up a few wayward seams in this neon pink Country Road dress, perfect for both the theme and the weather.

What I learned during the month:

• Planning outfits and digging things out of my wardrobe that I might bypass otherwise is a whole lot of fun.
• I am starting to get more comfortable with having product in my hair.
• Wearing heels at least three times a week is actually good for keeping my running feet stretched.
• I am now comfortable putting on lipstick of a morning, the next challenge will be actually reapplying it ;)
• I love the little Instagram community that Andrea has created through these dares.  Such a seriously nice bunch of ladies!

We're in to the March style dares already.  Today I cuffed my jeans and zipped on a pair of killer heels just to do school pickup.  Just because I could.

Looking forward to the month ahead!

Tatum xx

Coffee Confessions

I am a bit of a coffee snob.  Well, actually, snob probably isn't the right word, I just know what I like when it comes to coffee and I know the difference between a good one and a bad one.  There are a ridiculous number of coffee photos in my Instagram feed.

On my floor at work we have a fancy schmancy machine but unfortunately the beans supplied aren't that great and by afternoon the machine tends to run too hot and the coffee gets bitter and pretty much undrinkable, as far as I'm concerned.

I've resorted to making tea, and I can tell you that the T2 choc chip chai is delightful in the afternoons.  Madagascan Vanilla is my choice for a morning cuppa.  However, I digress, I was talking about coffee wasn't I?

When I started working in the city I would get a coffee on the way to work I stuck with what I know so Cibo on the corner of Grenfell and King William was my regular but it really wasn't cutting it.  Cibo in Pirie Street is en route to Joggers World and after stopping there a few times I discovered that the barista really does have a whole lot to do with how good your coffee is because the coffee in Pirie Street is a whole world better than on the corner of Grenfell.

Then, one morning whilst dashing up James Place, I spotted Fair Espresso out of the corner of my eye.  I was confused because I was sure that they hadn't always been there but I had been missing their coffee since the baseball ended back in February.  That weekend I discovered them at the footy, tucked under the northern grandstand at Aami Stadium.  When I fronted up for a coffee in James Place the following Monday morning they recognised me, my name often gives me away like that, and I have been visiting each day I'm on my way to work since.  Love the place, love the friendliness and warm atmosphere and love that what they serve is fair trade and organic.

However, there was one morning when I got coffee from the Coffee Branch.

The Coffee Branch is on Leigh Street and, semiregularly, on Friday mornings we head to work via Leigh Street to visit From Scratch Patisserie who set up their cute little cabinet selling their amazing pastries each Friday. 

A couple of weeks ago I decided to get a coffee to go with my almond croissant, there is a delectable array of pastries but I still haven't tried anything other than an almond croissant, call me a creature of habit.  Well, the coffee branch coffee is fantastic, but the atmosphere just made me want to pull up a stool and my laptop and just spend the entire day in there just sitting and writing and drinking coffee and eating the delicious things they have in their cabinet. Seriously.

Around the time Fair Espresso opened on Leigh Street so did Caparezza.  They sell the from scratch pastries everyday, thats what drew my attention to them in the first place.  So, I have my lunchtime coffee with the Italians (and often with Lauren).  I'm sure they secretly want to tell us off for drinking lattes after lunch, I'm so sure of it I think I might start having a macchiato in there instead...once I feel confident enough that I won't sound like a dick when I order one.

The baristas wear white shirts with skinny black ties and mandatory 5 o'clock shadows.  They talk to each other about the soccer in Italian and someone's Mamma makes the minestrone.  I love the place, it makes me happy.

Besides the pastries they also have some kick ass looking rolls and sandwiches but their cannoli are amazeballs.  I told Lauren they were a zillion times better than the ones from Cibo, I don't think she thought it was possible until she tried one and agreed it was probably closer to infinity times.

So there you have my Adelaide CBD coffee confessions.

Are you a coffee drinker or is tea more your thing?  Is there somewhere in the Adelaide CBD, or any other CBD for that matter, that makes a great latte that I just need to try?

Tatum xx

She Danced on Tables in Beautiful Shoes

My Nana loved beautiful shoes.  As she got older and her arthritis got worse she would often tell me about the beautiful shoes she used to wear, and how she danced on tables.

I miss my nana.

For a long time shoes weren't really my thing but then sometime in my mid twenties they started to capture my attention a bit more.  It may have had something to do with the number of times I was preganant and breastfeeding so shoes I could guarantee my shoe size far better than I could the size of my clothes.

In to my thirties my love of shoes seems to have amplified somewhat.  I do have some lovely pairs of shoes.  In the last six months I have slowly but surely actually learned to walk in most of them.  I'm more likely to be tearing my ballet flats from my feet when I walk through the door than most of my regular heels.

I've named quite a few of the pairs.  Does that make me strange?

Recently Steven had the day off with Jasmine when she was sick.  He took it upon himself to tidy my shoes and emailled me the above photo at work with the caption:

Did you know you have 41 pairs of shoes?

I replied with

Don't they look beautiful.  I need a red pair.

When I posted the photo on instagram most people couldn't quite get over the fact my husband had tidied my shoes.  41 is not that impressive a number when it comes to shoes, Super Kawaii Mama tweeted she was counting her red lipsticks and was up to 37.  In conversation she reassured me that 41 pairs of shoes was really not that bad compared to her 156 at last count.  That gorgeous lady has some seriously divine shoes.

Red heels and sneakers are the only things on my shoe shopping list when we go to the US at the end of the month...but if some others happen to slip in I won't be sad.

As for my most recent shoe purchase I could not leave this pair of AX heels in DJ's at their seriously reduced price.  They are a hot pair of shoes.  I've never had 'hot' shoes before.

Are you a shoe person?  Do you buy clothes especially to match your shoes?  Do you have names for any of your shoes or am I actually a bit crazy?

Tatum xx

Shoes in the picture are:

Top Shelf L-R: Nine West nude patent heels, Country Road black wedges, Country Road tan ankle boots, AX black cut out stiletto ankle boots, Country Road brown ankle boots, RM Williams cowboy boots

Bottom Shelf L-R: Black Country Road pumps, Black Country Road heels, Aldo orange heels 'Vegas wedding shoes', Jeffrey Campbell Hello Sunshine yellow wedges for ModCloth, Midas Wedges, Nine West blue heels 'High Tea shoes'