budget,  fall,  fashion,  inspired by

Inspired by Rena: Olive and Stripes

October 18, 2021 /

This is my 2nd inspired by post in a month! Why do I enjoy writing these posts? First of all, they allow me to share bloggers that inspire me and that I have enjoyed following for the past few years and second, they inspire me to not shop but to shop my closet to recreate an outift.

I always make notes (sometimes written most typically with a picture) of an outfit I might want to recreate with things I already possess in my closet. While it is fun to buy something new (as my plaid pants in Friday’s post), there is something really satisfying about digging through your closet to copy a look that you like. There are several things I have learned about my style this year and one of them is that I only like waterfall type cardigans on myself. I have tried short cardigans, long cardigans and after making myself wear them, I end up donating them. So now, the cardigans in my closet (typically thrifted ones) are mostly a version of a waterfall cardigan. My oldest ones are this one from White House Black Market and the thrifted one in an old Thanksgiving post (here).

This outfit is inspired by Rena of Fine Whatever and can be found in her post “Fresh Focus: Classic Stripes“. I do not wear this cardigan much anymore but I can’t seem to let it go as the stripes are such a classic especially in black and white. Each time I think of donating it, I try it on, remember why I like it and put it back in my closet. On this particular day, I wore this outfit minus the cardigan and hat all day because it was still too warm for a layer. It still has been reaching 80 degrees in the afternoon.

 

My Amazon olive joggers are great for fall activities and they are a nice cool blend that can be dressed up or down. I like to wear joggers when we hike and travel as they are less constricting than jeans but less casual than leggings and more breathable. This reminds me that we haven’t been hiking yet this fall. It is taking a while to cool off to where hiking is enjoyable: 70 and below would be great!

I tried several shoes before settling on these. I love all of my fall/winter wedge sneakers and booties and sometimes my first ideas don’t always pan out. My boys do not go in my closet very often so they do not realize how many shoes I have. They think I have 5 or so pairs of shoes and have been telling me that I think too much about fashion (that is my 7 and my 10 year old). What can I say? It is my way of having fun! I bought these espadrilles for $5.99 at Old Navy a couple of weeks ago with a few other items and turns out I had $7 in rewards: so these were basically free! I also finally remembered to wear a pendant necklace to break the simplicity of the tank.

Lately I feel overwhelmed with figuring how to do extra curricular activities with the kids: who gets priority on activities? Should I alternate each kid every season? I cannot drive everyone everywhere but am confused on how to make things happen or even if I should. I want to have them get a chance to try different sports and activities but can’t make it happen for all of them at once. It was much simpler when they were younger at least for me! But we are chugging along trying to balance family time, play time, sports time and other time!

We took these pictures in the front of the old courthouse in our town. I am starting to take advantage of our ride home on Fridays to take pictures downtown on our way home from the high school. Too many great places for pictures to let them go to waste. Move along passerbies, I am not a celebrety nor am I full of myself. Just a small lifestyle blogger. Thankfully, nobody has asked me yet why I have my son take pictures of me!

A bientôt!

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30 Comments

  • Ellie

    October 18, 2021 at 11:17 am

    This cardigan looks great on you and love the joggers! I really should look in to some joggers for hiking. Like you, I feel leggings are a bit too casual for me, mainly because our favorite hiking trails are over an hour away so we usually combine a restaurant visit with the hiking and I really dislike going to a restaurant wearing leggings… But likewise I don’t really like hiking in jeans unless the trails are easy. These joggers seem perfect!

    Ellie
    Ellibelle’s Corner

  • Grace

    October 18, 2021 at 2:17 pm

    I think you totally nailed this inspiration! I really enjoy Inspired By posts too, and they always end up inspiring me to recreate outfits I like. I feel like you can’t go wrong with waterfall cardigans – they are so flattering. I’m not usually a big cardigan person myself but waterfall ones are always so cute! Great post – I love those big earrings as well.

    Miles of smiles,
    Grace

    gracefulrags.com

    • mimifce

      October 18, 2021 at 8:38 pm

      Thanks, Grace! I really need to start a folder with inspired by ideas because when I take a picture of my computer screen instead of a screenshot, then it gets lost among my pictures. At least I am finally learning which ones I will wear vs wasting my money on cardigans that look good on other people.

  • Rena

    October 18, 2021 at 4:04 pm

    Mireille,

    I’m so honored that you chose one of my looks as an outfit inspiration. I adore jogger style pants and your olive ones paired with a black tank make for a great look on you. Adding a striped cardigan does bump is a fabulous way to bring in a bit of unexpected interest while keeping with the casual vibe. As for maintaining a balance with kids extra-curricular activities, I started with limiting each kid to two at a time. Now I only have/had two littles, not four, but as parents, my hushband and I first concerned was to make sure our kids didn’t get overloaded. They both attended religious classes a few days a week so that counted as one activity which allowed each to also have a sport. It helped when both were participating in the same sport like track and field. There was a club with multiple age groups that held practices for all at the same time at local high school.

    Thanks again for the shout out.

    Rena
    http://www.finewhateverblog.com

    • mimifce

      October 18, 2021 at 8:44 pm

      That is what has helped this semester. In the past 2 did soccer. We will see how it goes after Christmas.

    • mimifce

      October 20, 2021 at 12:36 pm

      Thank you! Once it stays cool, I will wear hats more day to day. Right now I take advantage of them for blog pics and bad hair days.

  • Mica

    October 19, 2021 at 5:02 pm

    That’s such a nice striped cardigan and such a great tkae on your outfit inspiration 🙂 I am so bad with noting down where I was inspired to try things, I really need to try harder for that! Although mostly my otufits are more inspired by an idea or colour combo, I rarely have similar pieces like you have here in this outfit 🙂

    I hop eyou figure out the activities! I have it easy with just the 2 boys and so far they do activities that are the same or at different times so we can fit it all in in a week 🙂

    Hope you are having a great week 🙂

    • mimifce

      October 20, 2021 at 12:38 pm

      Definitely has become harder with having more kids. I am putting a stop on my shopping but I have such a good variety of pieces that I really enjoy recreating outfits when I can.

  • Jess

    October 23, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    It’s a lot of fun shopping my closet and styling myself after other bloggers. It really gets my creative juices going! You look great! I might have to check out your joggers–I’ve been looking for an olive pair like that!

    • mimifce

      October 24, 2021 at 8:58 pm

      I really like these posts especially when I am not tempted to get something new. It is fun to get ideas and to see what I have that is similar.