Top

A Two Drink Minimum

Blog

/ Style

Burgundy Color Combinations

burgundy outfit ideas fall color combos
burgundy outfit ideas fall color combos

The cool crisp days of fall have arrived and so have the brilliant colors of fall.  One of my favorite colors for fall is a rich burgundy color tone. Did you know that a deep burgundy wine color symbolizes power? In medieval times, fashion was determined by the elite. Burgundy was influential to society because royalty wore robes and gowns in shades of burgundy and often mixed it with gold metallics.

Burgundy Color Combinations

Below I put together a few burgundy color combinations for you to consider while pairing a burgundy item of clothing you may have. I enjoy playing around with different color patterns. One of my favorites is mixing burgundy with light blue. Try mixing your burgundy pieces in the following ways:

olive or sage

Olive and sage are also colors stemming back from the middle ages. Elegant dark shades of green pair beautifully with burgundy

gold metallic

Metallics alway add a bit of hierarchy and they are a perfect compliment to burgundy

navy

Navy is very classic and always complimentary to burgundy.

blush

a pretty pink blush color is light and pretty and keeps your look fresh

brown tones

Dark and Light Brown tones work the best for fall just think about the colors of the leaves and incorporate them into your look.

light blue

light blue is such a calming color, add this to burgundy for an unexpected impact. By the way, how about these booties? I love the coloring of them. They are now on my fall wish list!

Denim

Another no fail match for burgundy is denim. You can’t go wrong combining comfy sweaters or a faux suede top in burgundy wine with a pair of dark denim jeans.

burgundy outfit ideas fall color combinations

/ Style

7 Types of Jackets that I love this Fall

camel coat outfit casual fall
camel coat outfit casual fall
camel coat outfit casual fall
camel coat outfit casual fall
camel coat// plaid shirt//spanx leggings//white mountain loafer

I love this time of year. Just color me fall as mother nature has the best set of crayons you’ll ever find. Enhance your wardrobe with all the beautiful colors of this season. Most of us own a winter coat that we wear soon will wear almost everyday. And, it’s usually a basic color. During the fall however, we have more outerwear style options. We can wear colorful lightweight jackets, sweaters, and blazers before the temperatures drop. Below I’ve 7 types of jackets that I love this fall.

Camel Coat

You can wear a camel coat with jeans and leggings for a preppy look. You can throw on a camel coat as a topper over a black dress for a classic minimalist style. Or experiment with being a little avant chic, by layering it over a denim vest with a plaid shirt underneath and add your favorite pair of boots. How many other coats give you all of these options to change up your street style?

Teddy Jackets

Teddy jackets are warm and cozy. These comfy coats are meant for casual style. Wear these with leggings and jeans or over your athleisure clothes

Capes & Ponchos

Capes are excellent over heavier chunky sweaters and turtlenecks. Not to mention they are the hottest trend on the streets right now.

Checked or Plaid Blazers

A statement blazer is synonymous with fall. They will forever be a perfect duo. Wearing a blazer over a plain or graphic tee shirt and a pair of jeans allows you to dress casual with an added touch of formality. Blazers combined with jeans always incorporate a pulled together look. The lines of a blazer can vary from tailored to structured. The 90’s oversized boyfriend blazer has also made a comeback.

Faux Leather Bomber Jackets

A leather jacket looks great with with dresses and long skirts. I love mixing the femininity of a dress with the rustic vibe of a leather jacket

Army & Utility Jackets

Army jackets are some of the more popular lightweight jacket styles for women right now. You can find them embellished or with fun patches, this makes the rugged looking outwear show a more feminine tone. For practical purposes army jackets have many pockets. Pockets on coats come in handy especially if you are attending a sporting event at a stadium that has restrictions on purse size.

Trench Coats & Belted Wrap Coats

You can find the classic trench coat now with snakeskin and leopard print patterns which are very popular. I’ve also seen a spin on the traditional khaki colored trench coats in shimmery metallic shades.  

What ever your “in between” jacket is, throw it on and head outdoors. This time of year is a great time for layering and enjoying lighter outerwear before the heavy coats are a mandatory staple. Enjoy the colorful crisp days of fall and treat yourself to a pumpkin spiced latte.

how to incorporate the colors of fall into your style
photo courtesy of my good friend Linda

/ Style

Daytime Dresses to Wear this Fall

daytime dress casual fall style
daytime dress casual fall style
daytime dress casual fall style
daytime dress casual fall style

When I was younger, my family lived in Chicago. I remember going to the grand opening of an A&P Grocery store. My mother held my hand as we walked the three blocks to Cicero Avenue. She was wearing her dress gloves, a woolen cape, and a fancy hat. We ran into neighbors that were also dressed in what also looked like their Sunday best. In fact, this wasn’t uncommon. At the time, many women wore dresses everyday.

As with many fashion trends, daytime dresses have gone by the wayside. I’ll be the first to say that leggings and jeans can be more comfortable. However, there is just something about putting on a dress that makes me feel confident. Personally, I have always preferred feminine clothing, and that’s the persona dresses have.

If you’re looking to change up your every day look a bit, below are a few ways you can wear dresses during the day.

Sweater Dresses

Sweater Dresses are a very comfortable and cozy option for a daytime dress. Wear these with any type of boot, over the knee boots (like these) would be a unique alternative. Another way to style a sweater dress is to wear a pair of cuffed skinny jeans underneath (I like the Old Navy Rockstar Jeans). Wear it with or without a belt, sweater dresses are meant to be loose fitting but you don’t want to look too bulky.

Shirtdresses

For winter you can wear a shirt dress like a duster with a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans, or you can layer a turtleneck and leggings underneath and add a belt. I previously wrote a post How to Layer a Shirtdress if you’re interested in a few other ideas.

If you have a denim shirt dress try layering it over leggings with a faux fur vest. Another way to wear a shirtdress is to wear high rise pants underneath. Then leave the bottom half of the dress unbuttoned as I’m showing in the pictures below. As for shoes I’d go with ankle boots, sneakers, or loafers.

daytime dress casual fall style
daytime dress casual fall style
daytime dress casual fall style

Long floral dresses

Right now, I’m loving long floral dresses. Floral dresses portray a romantic look yet with chunky boots they can have a little edginess. To wear floral in fall and winter you need to stick with darker floral prints. You can also add sweaters and denim vests and leather or suede jackets as the weather gets cooler.

Lately, I’ve been watching the television series Cable Girls on Netflix. I’m enjoying it. It’s about friendships between four women that work together as telephone operators, trying to gain representation in the 1920’s. I love all the fashion from the 20’s and 30’s and watching this series is what inspired me to write this blog about dresses.

On most days you will probably see me in jeans or leggings. However, I do like changing it up and throwing on a skirt or a dress. What I do know is that the on the days I decide to wear a dress, I will not be cooking dinner.

/ Comfort Food, Food

An Easy Warm Apple Breakfast Recipe

This warm apple recipe makes a warm fluffy pancake. This dish can be thrown together rather quickly as you will most likely have all ingredients on hand.
warm apple breakfast recipe
This warm apple recipe makes a warm fluffy pancake. This dish can be thrown together rather quickly as you will most likely have all ingredients on hand.
This warm apple recipe makes a warm fluffy pancake. This dish can be thrown together rather quickly as you will most likely have all ingredients on hand.
This warm apple recipe makes a warm fluffy pancake. This dish can be thrown together rather quickly as you will most likely have all ingredients on hand.

Bring on the apples! This is the time of year to enjoy delicious crisp flavorful apples. I’m sharing with you a simple breakfast recipe that I have made for over 30 years. Nothing like a weekend morning when you don’t have to be in a rush to do anything or go anywhere. Waking up to rainy weather changed our plans today so, I decided to make a nice breakfast. I noticed a bowl of apples sitting on the counter and decided it was a good time to make them useful. By the way, isn’t a bowl full of apples so inviting and comforting fall decor?

Ingredients for Warm Apple Breakfast

  • ¾ cup of flour
  • 5 Tbls. Butter
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 5 small sliced apples (use less if your apples are large)
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar and ½ Tablespoon Cinnamon
  • Confectioners’ sugar (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Place the butter in a square baking dish and in the oven to melt. Watch carefully not to burn- this should just take about 1-2 minutes. After the butter is melted, remove from oven and coat the baking dish with the melted butter. Set aside but keep warm.

Mix the flour, eggs, and milk together. Batter will be lumpy. Peel and cut the apples into small thin wedges. Place the apples in the buttered baking dish, laying flat. Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon and sugar.

Pour the batter on top and bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately

You can sprinkle a little confectioner’s sugar on top. Or as my husband likes to do, drizzle maples syrup over it.

The rain is God’s way of slowing things down. And in this case enjoying time at home on a Sunday morning.

/ Style, What to wear

How to Wear your Athleisure Clothes Outside The Gym

Puma Track Pants // Sequin Tank//Blue Bomber // Metallic Pumps

Did you think that athleisure wear and athletic pants were just for the gym and errands? Throw on the right jacket and it works for lunch dates and casual date nights out. A few simple tricks of the trade can turn your athleisure wear into a fun date night outfit.

Opposites really do attract! Recently I posted a few pictures on Instagram in outfits I put together for an athletic look. The comments inspired me to write this blog. There are many pieces of clothing in my closet that I have owned for years. One of the reasons that I have hung on to them is that I enjoy recreating ways to wear them. The benefit of this is not spending money and feeling like I have something new to wear. Stretching my imagination, I started pairing unexpected pieces together. For example, a buffalo plaid jacket and a long black skirt, or a graphic tee shirt and a glittery skirt. The newest fashion juxtaposition I tried and found successful, was wearing track pants with a dressy jacket.

I’m not a conservative person when it comes to dressing. I like to express my personality or how I’m feeling with what I’m wearing. I am however frugal, and I do not like to make unnecessary purchases nor buy something to only wear it once. Thus, the reason for writing about wearing workout clothes outside the gym.

The first rule of thumb here is to not look like you just left the gym.

With all the cute workout clothes we see it is perfectly fine to wear them while running errands during the day. What I’m trying to show you is that if you make an investment in a good quality pair of work out pants it’s easy to find another way to style them. In doing so, you can wear them somewhere other than the gym or the grocery store after your work out.

In the pictures below, I took a pair of black track pants/leggings put a black net top over a white tank, and added a white and black Elie Tahari jacket. I liked how this looked and I liked the fact that it did not expose too much skin. I would wear this to lunch with the girls or a casual dinner date with my husband.  

Below are a few other examples on how to turn your casual athletic look into a new outfit

Drawstring pants with a sweater tucked in front

Black leggings with a leopard tank and a cozy cardigan

Track pants pants with a sequin tank and a bomber jacket

>

Leggings with a long tunic blouse and Blazer

A zip up jacket with a workout bra underneath

I hope I have inspired you to take another look at your work out clothes and try styling them into a new looks.  Also, try to keep in mind to ways to shop smart and purchase pieces that can be worn several ways.

/ Let's Have a Drink

Let’s Talk about Menopause

Today I’m sharing my personal journey with menopause. This post is made possible with support from AARP’s Disrupt Aging. As always, all opinions are my own. For more on the Disrupt Aging Campaign you can click here

Saluting The Real Mid-life Pioneers

I’m very grateful that menopause is no longer referred to as “change of life.” Labeling women and/or being referred to as going through “her change” was not only degrading, but extremely hurtful. Many years ago, with little information as to what menopause was and how our bodies reacted, women went through hormonal and emotional years of torment wondering what was happening to them.

Just hearing the words change of life would have instantly made me feel as though others viewed me as a different person. With so little information available as to what was happening to them, menopause took a toll on numerous women before us.

Years ago no one was well informed about menopause.

Menopause was somewhat taboo. In the sixties and seventies doctors aggressively handed out prescriptions of valium to women who were trying to cope with the strange and unfamiliar emotions they felt.

I saw this with my mother. I was in my teens when I came home, and I saw her crying while washing the bathroom floor. A few days later she went to the doctor and came home with a prescription for valium. My father then informed us that she was going through “her change” and we all needed to be patient with her. I was too young to really comprehend, but I remember seeing the pills and thinking they would make her feel better. I gathered this was a typical diagnosis for a woman in menopause. My mom had her moods, and some days were better than others, but thankfully she never became addicted to Valium as many other women unfortunately had.  

Hormones are overpowering at times. They can control our reactions, and how we feel both physically and emotionally. Hormones can literally make you feel like a stranger to yourself. We are still grasping for further findings about the strength in hormones. Knowing just this bit of information unfortunately allows me to understand how the term Change of life may have come about.

I’m not sure when they stopped referring to menopause as the change of life but it’s relieving that it’s no longer referenced as such. Luckily today we have more clear facts on what a woman’s body undergoes during menopause.   

My Personal Experience

Let me first say that everyone experiences menopause differently. I believe that while we can share information and stories, the outcome of what works for one woman will be different from another women’s experience. I first started thinking about menopause in my early forties when I was at neighborhood bunco and the ladies were all talking about Suzanne Somers recent book about perimenopause. It was an eye opener for me as I realized that I was already in perimenopause. Looking back, I wish I knew then what I know now about perimenopause as I would not have been so critical of myself.

I had my moodiness; I know I had a particular outburst that I can’t take back. My husband jokingly called me physco mama. I had years of night sweats, uncontrollable hot flashes, and I cried very easily. There were days I would feel angry from the moment I awoke for no reason at all. It’s a small miracle that I managed to get through all ten years of menopause without taking any medication, herbal remedies, or HRT.  During this time, I might have made a few enemies and embarrassed myself, but I endured the climacteric battle. I’m definitely calmer now, and I understand that it was just a transitional part of my life. I’m still the same person, menopause did not steal way my identity.  

Now a days I’m dealing with the aftermath of menopause which is weight gain, dry skin, and brittle hair. Women will all experience menopause differently. I have friends that have said that HRT saved them. I have friends that needed small doses of anxiety medication to help them. The important thing to note here is that we are much more knowledgeable about menopause and it’s symptoms. Doctors have more information and better resources. Hopefully our daughters and our granddaughter’s experiences will not be as dreadful because we are farther educated and have much healthier remedies.

I have complete respect and adoration for the women who fearfully endured menopause decades ago. They were the real mid–life pioneers! Those women did the best they could to survive the phenomena of menopause. Women today have gained incredibly from their tribulations. The most important advice I can pass along to younger women is that our bodies may change but your identity does not, you are still you. It’s not a change of life, it’s just a phase of life, remember that.