Ready for Fall!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am so ready for Fall weather! The past few days were around 30 Celsius here, which to some may not be that hot, but for me it is HOT…..and for here it’s pretty hot! I don’t sweat, instead my body overheats and I get heat exhaustion or heat stroke….so yeah, the whole not having to worry about smelling or soaking through clothes is great, but not really worth it because of what even a little bit of heat does to me. We spent some time outside on Saturday at Heritage Park(local historical village) and the only reason I lasted a couple of hours was because I actually wore a hat(which I don’t do often), I carried around a frozen water bottle and hubby was spraying me with water the entire time. Normally outdoors I can’t handle much over 20 degrees if I’m going to be in any sun. So, yeah, I’m ready for some cooler weather! Sadly once the cooler weather comes for us it doesn’t last long and Winter weather hits ….I wish we could have Fall-like weather all Winter. I LOVE 15 to 20 degrees, any hotter and it’s uncomfortable for me, any colder and it just sucks because that means that awful white stuff!
What is your favorite season? Do you get “true” seasons where you live? We can get anywhere from in the –30’s to the +30’s in Celsius here. Usually we get lots of 30 degree days in summer and a few pushing the high 30’s, this year we didn’t get our 30 degree days until September though but never went above it. The rest of the summer was nice I thought, lots of nice warm days without being too hot and enough cooler and rainy days that while it got very dry here it didn’t get dry enough for us to have a fire ban in the city(south of us did though)….we usually end up with a fire ban for at least a short time during the summer. Winters can be very brutal here, last year was not only an extremely cold Winter, but sooooo much snow too! I sure hope we get a milder one this year. We’re only a few weeks from when we saw our first hint of snow last year, fortunately it didn’t stick around, but it can…..sucks knowing how close it is to that time.
Another great part of Fall is the clothing of course! I love jeans and boots! I actually have some great jeans for this year too, I’ve never had jeans that I truly love at this size(still hanging onto some smaller sized ones I love should I ever get back to that size)…..but this year  I have 3 pairs! I don’t even remember the last time I actually owned more than 3 pairs of jeans at one time, so to have 3 that I love is a big deal for me! And I found a great pair of new boots for a great price. I just need to find some flat boots now though. I have a black pair and a brown pair of boots, but both have heels, and as I’ve said before I don’t do heels a lot and don’t get how so many women can wear heels all the time. We’re real homebodies, but when I do go out we usually walk a lot wherever we’re going and I need a nice pair of boots with little or no heel for those times when we’re walking around for hours because I know I can’t do it with the boots I have. I wore my new boots  out last week when we had a cooler day(before those hot days hit) and my feet were killing me.
Do you have any favorite pieces for Fall that you can’t wait to wear?
Jolene

I’ll Be Back Soon!

I promise! I will be blogging more regularly soon! Our holiday was fantastic! Hubby is back to work and I have been researching Homeschool Curriculum until my brain has turned to mush! As soon as I get the kids school year sorted out I will be making becoming a more regular blogger a priority!

Guess what else I have been doing? Canning! And OMG, I make some kick ass Jam! Just saying….LOL! I think I’ve found a new love, who would have thought Canning would be so fun….now if I could only find cases of fruits and veggies for a good price so I could do more canning….oh right, nevermind, I live in Calgary where everything costs a fortune! LOL!

Here’s a picture to enjoy of one of my favorite spots we stopped at during our road trip. It was our first stop and I fell in love with it! I haven’t been camping in probably about 18 years and I think next year we are going to try and go camping at the campsite right next to these Falls…..I could imagine sitting near these Falls for hours just enjoying the peace and the beauty.

 

Jolene

Plus Size Shopping in Canada

Getting to this post much later than I had planned on! Does someone have a few hours they can give me for my day? LOL! There’s just not enough is there?

Here in Canada shopping for clothes for us Curvy girls is HARD! There is just simply not enough stores offering plus sizes, and then on top of that the even bigger challenge is finding clothing that is affordable. There are a lot of us up here that are nice and curvy and we need clothes right? Yep, we sure do! So why is it so hard to find those clothes? I really wish I had the answer to that, but sadly I don’t. What I can do is share with everyone where I am buying my clothes and hope I can help others find more options for themselves.

First some advice for shopping online since that is what most of us have to resort to. Sizing is hard when it comes to clothing of any size, I do recall back in my skinny days that sizing was all over the place even for small sizes. There is no exception to this with Plus Sized clothing. I wear a 16, but occasionally I need a 14 or even an 18 in some styles/brands. In some stores a 16 translates to an X or 1X, in other stores it translates to a 2X. So I have definitely learned that taking measurements and keeping them handy when shopping online is very important until you get to know a store and what size fits you in their version of sizing. Length can also be a difficult thing when shopping online. I’m not overly tall(was 5’8” but have shrunk already to 5’7” *sniff*), but I have and have always had very long legs…my legs are as long as my husbands and he’s 6’. If you have shorter legs length isn’t as much of a concern because you can always shorten the pants, but if you’re tall or have long legs you want to make sure to pay attention to pant length before ordering. I know I can’t order anything shorter than 32” in length, fortunately I find this is actually becoming more of a standard length these days, it used to be 30” and I could never find anything longer(and I won’t even get started on “tall” sizes which are even harder to find than plus sizes). So definitely know your measurements, returning purchases from online are usually at your expense for shipping, which means if you send it back you will get your money back for the item, but then you end up paying for shipping to end up with nothing….just NOT worth it, so be sure of what you’re buying before you hit that button to confirm your purchase. I like to test a new store first by only ordering one item so I can check fit, I can deal with one item that I might have to make alterations so it fits, but I certainly don’t want to end up with several things ordered to find out that’s not my size at that particular store.

Since this could end up being a very long blog post I will limit it to where I have recently been doing my shopping for clothes. I have a long list of stores that I would like to try and stores I have bought from before but not recently or regularly, but I will save those for another day. For today these are places that I am buying from and plan to continue to buy from.

Walmart: Ok, this one is obvious I know. I don’t buy much from Walmart, but every once in a while I find something. Their selection for Plus Sizes is BAD as in quantity, I’m not sure if this is the case in the US, but in Walmarts here in Canada it is. They have a very small Plus section that sadly in my opinion has only got smaller in recent years. At least in this small section they do seem to have an ok variety of styles for different ages, which I also think is important for stores to carry. I’m 36, I like to look good but what I think looks good and is appropriate for me now is not the same as what I would wear 10 years ago, my mom is also Plus Sized and in her 60’s so she is obviously not going to wear the same styles that I do. In their small selection Walmart at least seems to cover stuff appropriate for all ages. Fit is a problem for Walmart though, they are guilty of what so many are, they simply increase the amount of fabric with sizes but do not take into account other  things that change with size. I think I have only ever once been able to buy a pair of pants there because their pants will fit perfect throughout but then have a HUGE gap at the back of the waist….obviously impossible to wear pants that fit like that. Tops aren’t too bad though for some of them if it has straps they’re too long and the tops often gape under the arm. But I have been able to find some pretty decent tops there in the past. My best buy at Walmart has actually been shrugs, I’ve even been able to fit into their regular sizes in shrugs(which is a plus because they’re cheaper than the plus ones). Shrugs are so expensive for so little fabric in some places, I’ve found Walmart’s much more reasonable.

Forever 21+:  As far as I know the only place you can get F21+ clothing in store in Canada is in Toronto. I know for sure you can’t in Calgary . It wasn’t that long ago that I even found out F21 carried plus sizes, they are new up here and the only other time I saw their stores was when we lived in Texas and there were no plus sizes in the store I was in there either. So for most of us up here the only option for F21+ is online. I did a review on them here and I do still check their website almost every day to see what they have added. I don’t like most of the stuff they have added the past few months though so I haven’t ordered anything for a while. I really liked stuff they were adding for a while but their stuff lately just isn’t my style….a lot of t-shirts and I’m so not a t-shirt person. I’ll probably place another order after we get back from our holiday though because I am still so in love with my skinny jeans I got from there and want to get them in black if they have them, I just hope they add some more stuff I like so I can spend the $60 to get free shipping……fortunately there’s always shoes and jewelry .  I love their shipping(it’s fast!) and haven’t had to return anything but I’ve been told by the people in the stores that I can return items to the stores for credit that can be used online….with the order comes a piece of paper that says otherwise but I have asked twice in the store and they assured me I can return there if I need to.

1-Plus: This site is a combination of Addition-Elle, Penningtons and  MXM Boutique. Addition-Elle and Penningtons are two separate stores, MXM is a line that is carried I believe only in Addition-Elle(I could be wrong on that one, it might be in Penningtons too…I can’t remember). But they are all owned by the same parent company and you can order online from all 3 on the same order. I seem to have a love/hate relationship with these stores. I love their clothes, love their customer service in the stores usually(usually the associates are very friendly and chatty which I love), their locations for me are great(I have 3 of each of the stores within about a 20 minute drive from me), and I love that you can order online from all 3 on one checkout. I hate their prices though…I have noticed their prices seem to just keep creeping higher and higher to the point that even a simple sale doesn’t bring the prices down to what I’m willing to pay, I have to wait until they have stuff on clearance and then a sale like another percentage off of that price before the prices become ok. I can’t justify paying $30 to $60 for a top, I mean if I pay $30 or $40 even for a dress it better be a pretty amazing dress, there’s no way I’m going to pay that for a top, especially if that top is not much more than a tube top….so little fabric yet such a high price, I can’t and I won’t pay it. I really love their stores though, they are definitely the best option up here for a store to walk into and shop, selection is usually really good…..a good variety of tops and pants, and an ok selection of dresses and skirts(sometimes I’m a little disappointed in the selection of regular everyday dresses)….they also carry PJ’s(I love their spaghetti strap nighties and own a few which I wear almost every night), panties and bras(haven’t tried their bras as they’re too expensive for me but I’ve heard they’re good). I have only ordered once from their website and my biggest complaint with that was that one item I ordered that said in stock got canceled. Apparently this is what is done if they don’t actually have the item even though the website and checkout says they do, problem is they don’t let you know that the item is out of stock or even offer you a chance to choose another item….they send you an email that makes it look as though they are canceling the item for you because you requested it be canceled. When I emailed them because of that it took much too long for them to get back to me with an explanation, there is no reason for it to take more than 24 to 48 hours for a company to get back to a customer….it took them a week to reply to me….I’m a real stickler for customer service and to me that’s not good customer service…..in this day and age all stores should offer very good and quick customer service via email, I know I’m far from alone in being someone who does almost everything via email.  So my experience ordering online was definitely not as good as my experiences in store and I think they should improve on some things to make their online customer service better. Overall if price is not an issue for you these stores are definitely the BEST option for most of Canada, if price is an issue for you as it is me then you really need to watch for the good sales….sign up for their emails and join their Facebook page is a great way to do that. They also ship to the US for anyone down there interested!

Sexy Plus Clothing: I have to include this website on this list even though it’s not a place that I will buy from much….at least not as long as I have kids to feed and clothe still. I have only ordered one thing from this store and even on sale it was expensive for me, the prices are really high(crazy high for my budget on most of them), but it was so cute and hubby loved it so I caved……unfortunately there’s one part of the top that just doesn’t fit me right and I haven’t worn it yet….I really must get that taken care of so I can wear it since it’s a Fall top and soon the weather will be right for wearing it. BUT, the reason I must include this site is 1. because her stuff is GORGEOUS and 2. the owner is so absolutely wonderful! I don’t know her so this isn’t just a plug for someone I know, but I starting following this store on Facebook as soon as I found it and the owner interacts with customers on her site and you can just tell she is a sweet and wonderful person and cares about her customers…..and she even included a really nice pair of earrings in with my order as a thank you for ordering which I though was absolutely the sweetest thing ever that you will never get from a big chain store. She does have an actual store, but unfortunately it’s in Toronto, the rest of us can only order off her website, which saddens me because from feedback I see on her Facebook page it sounds like a trip to her store is a fabulous, fun and sexy time! If you’re tight for money like I am this store will not be for you, but if money is not an issue and you like good quality, fun and sexy clothes then you MUST check out her store either online or in person if you can.

eBay: Ok, on eBay it is two stores specifically….121Avenue and DealZone.  Both of these stores carry the same items so I believe they are connected(and I’m pretty sure my orders from both did come from the same place). They are a US based eBay store but they also offer free shipping to Canada(I think some shoes and jewelry you pay shipping but clothes are free). I have ordered about a dozen items from these stores in the past few months. They carry from Small up to 3Xand even the occasional 4X. Their stuff is cheap and cute! Some of the stuff is definitely a little thin(which for me is a good thing because I’m always overheating and need light stuff especially in summer LOL). They are not going to be amazing quality for most of the stuff but are a great option for those on a budget, though a couple of the tops that I got definitely were of a surprising quality and I was really shocked and  impressed. I have not seen a single piece of clothing listed for more than $20, including the dresses! I’ve only had a real problem with one item so far, sadly it’s my favorite! The first time I wore one of the dresses half the stitching came out in the top part(it was a strapless) and after taking it to an alterations place yesterday I found out it is something that is very difficult to fix and it will be very hard for me to find someone to fix it…..I’ve sent an email to the eBay store and am hoping even though I’m past the return date(which is only 7 days and you pay shipping….I didn’t even wear it until after I had it 7 days) that they will do something for me because of how much I’ve ordered in such a short time…..so we will see how that goes, hopefully well LOL. All items except 1 were exactly as I was expecting…..there was one dress that was WAYYYY shorter than what it appeared in the picture, in the picture the dress went down to the mannequins knees, on me it barely covers my ass LOL, so I have to wear it as a top and it works just fine.

City Chic: This site I have noticed is very popular among the Plus Sized blogging community, I will be completely honest(as is how I am with everything ) to say that this store has huge potential to be one of the best, but both from my own experience and from things I read on their Facebook page from other customers they have some work to do(I’ve seen complaints about service, pricing and quality apparently not beeing as good as it once was). I had an issue with them when I first ordered from them in that I could not get a reply from emails to their customer service and then posted on their Facebook page to only be ignored at first there as seemed to be the same for anyone posting a complaint…..they were on their page often posting things but were not acknowledging anyone posting with problems(while they would comment to people asking questions that were not complaints). After a second post in which I said I would not shop there again and would share my bad experience with others I finally got noticed and someone got in touch with me. Apparently not being able to get through to customer service is not usually a problem for the US site(this is according to the service rep I was corresponding with) but it has been for the International site…..so she couldn’t even offer me a reason as to why nobody got my 2 emails I had sent. I did get apologies from customer service and they even gave me a credit to try ordering from them again. I did order a second time and the item came quickly, other than an issue with fit on the top part of the gorgeous dress I ordered I was very happy….I love low cut stuff(ok, my husband loves it when I wear low cut stuff LOL), but this dress just would not stay put….I wore it yesterday for the first time(it’s a Maxi with a heavy lining, which I don’t get….I don’t want a heavy lining on a summer dress) and I spent the entire day covering my boobs back up LOL. I think the problem is a design flaw in the dress, the bottom is lined and I think the weight of the bottom because of the lining(it is pretty heavy) is pulling down on the top part of the dress thus showing off my boobs to the world….at least I was wearing a pretty bra! LOL! So all I can say is that I hope my little service issue was a one time thing because I was pleased with my order. Now, when it comes to prices at City Chic things are a bit crazy! Their regular prices are high but they seem to almost always be having a sale of some kind. Problem is the prices are just all over the place from one week to the next at times. For example a dress that is regularly $80 in a period of a few months I have seen be full price, half price, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it at 30% off and 40% off, and even for $20……confusing part is that with clothing you usually see an item at full price when it’s new and then the price gradually goes down….not the case here though, I’ve seen it go down and back up and down and back up again. Maybe I just haven’t paid enough attention yet to know how and when they run their sales, but it just seems odd and something I’ve never seen before with clothing. I will continue to check this store though(I believe they have actual stores in the US) as I like their styles for the most part and maybe I can get a good deal on some things I like. Shipping is usually free but I was on there one time when all of a sudden it was only free over a certain dollar amount, every other time it was free no matter how much you spent….so not sure what is up with that.

I have more to share but it’s getting late and I need to get used to an earlier bedtime(not my usual 4 to 6 am going to bed) because hubby is on holidays and we’re going on a road trip next week…woohoo! So at least here’s a start for anyone interested and I will talk more soon on shopping for Plus Sized clothing in Canada!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful and safe long weekend….I know it’s a long weekend both here in Canada and in the US this weekend…….stay sexy, love your curves and I’ll hopefully be back to regular blogging soon!

Jolene

I So Suck

Yeah, I totally do suck! How do I manage to let 2 months go by without posting? Amazing how easily those days just tick away, it really doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. I don’t think people who don’t blog really realize how much work blogging really is. When I had my first blog I literally would spend all day doing stuff for my blog and things related to blogging….like being a Mom it was a full time job that didn’t really pay LOL. I made a little bit of money doing website reviews and such…but no more in a year that what most people make working a few days at a full time job. I don’t have that kind of time to put into blogging right now, though I certainly didn’t mean to have such a long hiatus already. I would like to be a regular blogger, though not an obsessed one as I used to be….for now anyway LOL.

I haven’t been MIA for no reason at all, life can just be so darn busy LOL. I was planning for a road trip when I last blogged and now I’m getting ready to plan another one that we’re going on in a couple of weeks. I’ve also got the Contest bug back again, I used to enter a lot and while I didn’t win anything huge(yet!) I did win some things so thought I would try to get back into it and see what else I can win….maybe finally win something big . And I have my Facebook game that I love(Treasure Madness) which I don’t play to the extent I used to but I try to keep up with because I gave it up once and when I started it again it took me months to catch up again….so I try to keep that up….crazy I know, it’s just a game LOL, but hey, it’s my “fun” thing! On top of all that I’m a Mom of course which always takes up time, yeah my kids are a little older and fairly independent….but it still takes a lot of time to yell and nag y’know! LOL!

Now in addition to planning our road trip I need to plan our school year. The kids were going to be going into online school this year instead of me homeschooling them, but after some major problems with our school board we have switched boards and the new board doesn’t offer online. This other board is supposed to be a really good one though, and a change was definitely needed after the way the other board was treating us. So bad that I had to tell them to stop contacting us unless they offer us a full apology and I informed them I was filing a complaint with my MLA and with the Minister of Education…..I haven’t decided yet if I will file those complaints or not. I want to because I don’t want any more families to be treated as we were(we’re not the first they’ve done stuff like this to), but at the same time dealing with them for the past year or so has been so emotionally draining for me I don’t know if I can handle dragging it out(I don’t handle stress well at all). So because of all that I need to plan their curriculum which I wasn’t planning on being the case this year. My youngest is still easy because he’s going into grade 6, Elementary grades are super easy to plan. My oldest is Grade 8 though and way more complicated because of a serious lack of curriculum choice I have found for Jr High grades for Homeschooling. And since we’re going to be with a new board I sort of want to wait until we meet our new facilitator sometime in September likely, to see what they would suggest. So I need stuff to get them started for the year until I meet with him/her and can plan for the rest of the year.

Ok, well that was a long boring post after 2 months away LOL! I promise the next one will be better! Next post should either be an outfit or a post about where I’ve been doing my shopping lately…..depends what I feel like doing at the time LOL!

I would like to offer a special THANK YOU to Yoli from Diva Deep in Thought! I have to admit I was also feeling a bit bummed because I was having a hard time getting readers and I’m not sure why….I never had that hard of a time before getting readers and even though I was reading, following and commenting on other people’s blogs it wasn’t doing anything to get some of my favorite bloggers to read to come and read mine too. So I guess that might have made it a little easier to let the days tick by without blogging because I was so bummed about that. I just found out that Yoli asked where I went on her blog….I’m not sure if she has been reading mine but at least she paid attention to me commenting on hers(hers is one of my favorites! I just got good vibes from the first time I read her blog, I like kind and genuine people and that’s the vibe I get from her). Even though it was a while ago she asked about me it was just a few days ago I found out, and that made me feel so good and gave me the push to make an effort to try blogging again! So, thank you Yoli!

Jolene

Biscuits and Gravy

I said I would include recipes once in a while on here too since cooking and baking is something I’ve been known to do well . Since my blog is almost a month old I think it’s time for a recipe!

Tonight I made Biscuits and Gravy for dinner, which for us is more like breakfast so the type of meal was fitting. Hubby works nights so we go to bed usually between 4 and 6 am and wake up usually anytime between 10 and 2. Our first meal is usually Dinner though even though it’s really “morning” for us, but since there’s only a few hours from the time we get up until hubby is off to work again I make Dinner so we have a good full meal together and he goes to work with a full stomach. Every once in a while we do breakfast for dinner though. Our days and nights are mixed up so why not our meals too? LOL

We have been eating better than this lately, better as in healthier, but this week I’ve been trying to use up some things and I had a package of sausage in the freezer that needed used….so Biscuits and Gravy it was!

We lived in the South in Texas for about a year and a half several years ago now, but I actually never tried Biscuits and Gravy until I decided to make them myself a few years ago. I honestly didn’t think I would like them, but I do! Hubby and the kids LOVE them! I used Italian Sausage this time only because it was the sausage I had and me personally I don’t care for Italian Sausage, usually I use just a regular pork sausage and it tastes much better that way.

 

Biscuits and Gravy

1/2 to 1lb Ground Sausage

1/4 cup Butter or Margarine

1/3 cup Flour

3 1/2 cups Milk

Salt and Pepper

Biscuits

Scrambled Eggs

 

Brown sausage in frying pan then remove and set aside. Melt butter or margarine in the pan, add flour and blend well. Cook butter/flour paste for a couple of minutes. Slowly start adding the milk and mixing well as you go, a whisk works best for this to make sure there’s no lumps. Add salt and pepper to your taste, I personally go easy with salt but load it with pepper because we like pepper. Continue stirring/whisking for about 10 minutes, as it starts to thicken add the browned sausage back in and mix well.

Cut biscuits in half and lay open on the plate, top with some scrambled eggs then top with the sausage gravy. You don’t have to add the scrambled eggs but it really does taste good with them added to it and makes it much more filling. It is very filling!

You can use storebought biscuits or make your own, they are VERY easy to make…..here’s the ones I always make:

 

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups Flour

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

6 tbsp Cold Butter(unsalted) or Margarine

3/4 cup Buttermilk(if you don’t have Buttermilk just add about a tbsp of vinegar to a measuring cup and then fill with regular milk to 3/4cup mark, stir and let sit for a couple of minutes…I never have Buttermilk and always use this method for anything that requires it)

Put flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into food processor(I have a Ninja blender/processor since I last made these and used it last night and it worked just as well as a regular food processor). Add COLD(yes, this is important) butter/margarine, make sure they are in small chunks and not just one big chunk. Pulse a few times just until you have a course texture. Add Buttermilk and mix it just until it’s combined, make sure you do NOT overmix or you will have very dry brittle biscuits. Dump your dough out onto a floured surface and flatten out gently with your hands until about 1/2” thick….don’t use a rolling pin because the dough needs to handled gently. Cut out biscuit sized pieces, I just use a cup that has the right sized mouth as my “cutter”. Place on a baking sheet, I recommend using parchment paper so they don’t stick. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

There you go, not just one recipe, but I gave you 2! LOL! If you happen to try it yourself please let me know and tell me what you think of it .

Jolene

What I’m Wearing

geez where does the day go? I’ve been meaning to blog all day but instead got busy with all sorts of things then sat here all night reading blogs instead of posting. Reading them is so much easier sometimes LOL.
Happy Summer! Woohoo! And we actually had Summer weather for the first day of Summer! Imagine that! It was a gorgeous day and I only just finally closed the window I’m sitting next to and it’s 3:30am. Of course by the end of the week we’re back to cool and rainy . At least we got the yard done finally, and managed to get eaten alive by mosquitoes in the process.

I wore this outfit on Saturday. It was a very cool and rainy day. We went to the opening of a new park not far from us, a very very cool park that I know we will visit often. All the opening stuff was inside but we wandered around outside too so we could check it all out. We got pelted with rain, and I mean pelted not because it was raining all that hard, but because the wind was insane and causing the rain to pelt us. Fortunately I had hubby take a picture before we left the house so you don’t have to endure looking at wind blown hair LOL…..although we had a reporter from a local University paper take our picture for an article he interviewed us for…outside in the insane wind, I’m sure that’s a picture I’m not going to be thrilled to see how it turned out! LOL!

So, on to the outfit, I totally love skinny jeans now, I only have this one pair but can’t get over how I love them! Pre-kids I lived in skinny jeans! Yeah, I went to High School in the days of “bangers” and “preps” and such LOL….good thing I already shared my age because if that’s not aging myself I don’t know what is, haha! I was a “banger” I guess(wow, totally weird saying that, it’s been so many years!) and well, we wore the super skin tight jeans. Back then it wasn’t a problem, I was so skinny I wore one of the smaller sizes off the rack LOL. The guys used to call them painted on jeans because they were so tight. After having kids and ending up with this very generous curvy figure I never imagined I would ever wear a jean like that again, if I did it would only be because of trying to fit into jeans 2 sizes too small LOL! I was skeptical that skinny jeans would ever be for plus sized women when I first saw them getting popular, but I was wrong! Not only are they for us too, but I think they look better than I ever imagined they could on our curves! I’m so in love with them now and on Saturday wearing this outfit I felt amazing! I have learned to love my curves, but still nothing beats wearing something that makes you feel “skinny” and this outfit made me feel that way!

Shoes: Zellers, $15???(2006)

Skinny Jeans: Forever 21+, $14(2011)

Tube top: Addition-Elle, $10??(2010)

Shrug: Walmart, $12(2011)

Earrings: Forever 21, $5(2011)

Bracelets: Forever 21, $5ish(2011)

Glasses….if you are interested LOL, are from Clearly Contacts. I said I would do a post about them, I still will do one just about them one day. Not because anyone is paying me to, but because I think they are that awesome! I own 5 pairs of glasses, 4 of those came from this place and I LOVE them all and you wouldn’t believe what I paid for them if I told you, their prices are that amazing(and they do some awesome giveaways too, which I’ve been lucky enough to take advantage of). These ones in the picture are my newest pair, I wear them and a red pair the most because I think they look the best on me. I haven’t been brave enough to attempt contacts, so for me my glasses are totally an accessory. They have a US website too, Coastal Contacts, I can’t speak for them since I buy from the Canadian one….but the Canadian one not only has incredible prices, but incredible service too! I can’t say enough good things about them.

Jolene

What I’m Wearing

Well, I have definitely not been good about blogging or reading blogs the past couple of weeks, but since most of the bloggers I read were in NY anyway I don’t think there’s been a lot of new reading for me. So tonight I’m reading and writing! And I can’t wait to read about Plus Size Fashion Week in New York and see all the pictures!

I have a few outfits to post this week from the weekend, so this is the first of 3 that I have for now, will post the others over the next day or two . Now, one question I have is, is it only me that has a bitch of a time with the linings on short skirts? As you can see in the pic, it’s showing and this always happens to me with these skirts.

Skirt: Ricki's, bought in store, $11.25(2011)

Top: Reitmans, bought in store, $9??(2010)

Belt: City Chic, online but no more, $12(2011)

Shoes: Walmart, in store, $15(2011)

We’re not really good at taking close-up pics for my accessories, but I’m wearing a bracelet which I got from an American Indian woman selling at a rest stop in Arizona several years ago, the earrings are from Sexy Plus Clothing as a gift, and the necklace and a small bracelet I’m wearing with my watch are part of a pearl set that I got for $8 at Walmart.

Well, now I’m off to do some reading!

Jolene