What I Wore Wednesday: Zulily

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before but I LOVE a bargain. The only thing I love more than getting a bargain for myself is getting one for Blondie Boy so naturally I freaking love Zulily. For those not in the know Zulily is an online store offering daily sales events on top-quality apparel, gear and other goodies for moms, babies and kids. Membership is FREE and members enjoy savings of up to 90% off retail prices! Score!

The fab team at Zulily listened to my nonsense about how Blondie Boy is as rock and roll as a three year old gets and that hats were to boy moms what tutus are to girl moms and sent over this AMAZING outfit for my little dude.

Kids Trapper Hat- Atlantis Kids

Softshell Jacket- Regatta

Kids Star Wars R2D2 Tee

Jeans- Autograph (model's own)

Loafers-Timbaland

How cool does his look? Yes I'm biased but I love this outfit! I really hate boring or naff kids clothes so I love that Zulily has funky clothes you wouldn't find on the high street at a reduced price. Blondie Boy loves his t-shirt so much he insisted on wearing it to bed tonight, too. If you'd like to join Zulily it is free and you can access all of their amazing limited offer deals in both the US and UK! Do you subscribe to daily deal sites? Are you a weirdo like me about what you'll let your kids wear? 

 Loading InLinkz ...

Transatlantic Blonde was provided an outfit for review but all opinions are our own. Have you ever tried to get a three year old to wear and pose in something they didn't like?

What I Wore Wednesday: Pin it Forward

Hi. My name is Blondie and I'm addicted to Pinterest. If you've not heard of Pinterest before have you been living under a rock  it is basically a virtual mood board but instead of just cutting out an image for inspiration it then links to the actual item--so that shirt you love? Click--you can buy it. That delicious looking dessert? Click--here's the recipe to make it. Super cool kid's crafts? Click--here is how you can do it with your little one. It is a great place to get new ideas and to store ones you already have.

One of my favourite boards is my "Don't Hate Me Cause I'm Beautiful" Board. First of all I'm not stuck-up I'm just referencing a Kelly LeBrock commercial from the 80's--yes I guess I'm old because no one else remembers! Anyway some of my favourite pins include:

I love my Naked Palette and I love that I can search on Pinterest and find tutorials of how to use it in new ways. This pin in particular tells me exactly which shadow to put where and I don't even need to click through to find out how to do it! Score!

I've had hot rollers for a while but I literally had no idea how to use them. My Mom has SUPER curly hair so funnily enough she didn't teach me how to use hot rollers! I love step-by-step hair for dummies type pins. Foolproof!

Of course I have to keep it real sometimes so of the beauty tutorials are insane! Sweet Brown says it all- Ain't Nobody Got Time for That! Some people have a lot more time on their hands than I ever could for doing my nails lol.

Pinterest is also great for finding new blogs and bloggers so as part of the Pin it Forward campaign I'd like to introduce y'all to Jennifer from Mum of One!  

She has so many amazing boards from Cooking Toddler-Style (can you say rainbow candy apples?) to  Things I Covet (who wouldn't covet Kate Spade hot pink capped flats?) her Pinterest boards have something for everyone!

Are you on Pinterest? If so leave your link so we can all follow back and if not why not sign-up? It's free and I promise you won't be disappointed. For those on Pinterest what's been your favourite pin find so far?

 Loading InLinkz ...

What I Wore Wednesday: Met Ball

So basically since Friday I've been a hot mess. I've caught some sort of crud and I just can't shift it. This is literally the first time I've left quarantine the guest bedroom since then. I've been really lucky that NBH has been looking after Blondie Boy and when he is at work his Mum and Dad have been watching him. Hopefully I can shake this thing sooner rather than later!  So for What I Wore Wednesday this week I'm sharing my Top Three looks from the 2013 Met Ball.

For those who don't know the Met Ball  is an annual ball that celebrates the annual opening of the Metropolitan Museum's  fashion exhibit at the Costume Institute. It's never a boring red carpet and this year the theme was "Punk: Chaos to Couture." So I picked not just my favourite looks but my favourite looks that followed the theme.

Sienna Miller in Burberry 

Photo from Vogue.com

I love that studded jacket and it works so well styled with the white gown. Normally I'm not a huge fan of Sienna Miller but I think her look just exemplifies how to follow a theme but still look elegent and trendy.

Anne Hathaway in vintage Valentino

Photo from Vogue.com

I think the hair, sheer dress and her smug smirk totally make this work. I think if you deconstructed it all I'm not sure they'd stand on their own but togetehr it totally works.

Cara Delevingne in Burberry

Photo from Vogue.com

I'm a sucker for studs and I love how this is on trend and on theme but isn't too over the top. I know the Met Ball is known for over the top (see SJP and Madonna's looks this year) but I don't think you should go over the top just for the sake of it. I much prefer the elegant edge Burberry brought to this.

You can view all of the looks from the red carpet in Vogue's gallery. There were a lot of interesting choices (did you see Kim Kardashian looking like she'd been upholstered by Laura Ashley?) and some looks that were nice but just had nothing to do with the theme.  Who got your best dressed nod?

I also want to say THANK YOU to everyone who nominated me for the BIBs this year; I've been shortlisted for Best Style Blog! I really appreciate all of your help and I'd love it, if you want, if you'd vote for me to be a finalist! Just vote for "Transatlantic Blonde" in Style (#12) in the survey before May 12th. Thank you!

 Loading InLinkz ...

What I Wore Wednesday: Next Children's Clothes

I like to think that Blondie Boy is a trendy little dude; I know I don't let him wear just anything and I'd hope that he would turn his nose up at certain styles too. We are both big fans of Next Children's clothing so when Collective Bias™ asked us to head to Next to check out the children's clothes on offer we jumped at the chance.

I'm a big fan of Next as their clothes wear quite well but are also stylish; I love that their boy's clothes tend to be mini (but appropriate) versions of adult men's fashion trends. I'm not sure about the US but statement tee-shirts are huge in the UK right now. Basically it's just a tee shirt with one word across the front in a varsity style font.

I loved the dude tee. When I was probably about 8 in Ohio I desperately wanted to be a Valley Girl and said stuff like "Gag me with a credit card and put me into layaway" so dude has been part of my vocabulary for a long time. Unfortunately they didn't have Blondie Boy's size in stock when I visited so I'll just have to pop back again later to see if it comes in stock.

Honestly shopping for boy's clothes there usually aren't a lot of great options but I was spoiled for choice; look at how many shoes there were alone! There were so many options to choose from I was overwhelmed! I finally decided that I'd go with another current fashion trend that is also my favourite decade: the 90's. Short floral dresses, ripped jeans and high-tops (okay they are wedged now) have made a come back so I decided to put a twist on the 90's with Blondie Boy's look:

Doesn't he look like he fell out of a Kevin Smith movie? I LOVE this Nirvana t-shirt. First of all both NotBlondeHusband and I are big Nirvana fans (Blondie Boy is more into Pearl  Jam for now who I also love) but I love that Blondie Boy can be a mini rocker.  I chose the dark wash jeans for no other reason than I wear dark wash so he can too! The flannel shirt and backwards cap just give it that extra grunge feel.

Poor Blondie Boy; he's been asking me to do a photo-shoot on the front porch every day before school recently but I couldn't understand why he seemed so grumpy for this one. Normally he's a mega poser and break dancing; turns out he's sick and has been running a fever on and off since. Poor kid no wonder he looks pissed off!

While this is the outfit I picked there were so many other clothes I could have bought if Blondie Boy's closet wasn't already over-flowing. You can see all of my favourites from the Boy's section in my Next #CBias Google + album! Where do you normally shop for clothes for your children? Do you follow fashion or prefer to stick to practicality? What do you think generally about fashion trends for kids?

 Loading InLinkz ...

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own; don't y'all know by now I only speak the truth?

What I Wore Wednesday: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

This week was NotBlondeHusband's 33rd birthday. I made him a Malted Chocolate Buttercream Devil's Food Cake with Marshmallow Filling and then gave him a present that I don't think anyone was really expecting; if I'm honest not even me: twin haircuts.

What a difference 4-5 inches makes huh? I loved Blondie Boy's long hair but it just wasn't practical any more. It was always in his eyes (I don't like boys with bangs/fringe don't ask me why I just don't) or had boogers or paint or play-doh stuck in it. We talked about it and he wasn't that bothered so he and his Daddy got matching haircuts on NBH's birthday.

The stylists couldn't believe how still he sat for almost 30 minutes and gave him a special certificate to say what a good boy he was. My inspiration for his hair was David Beckham's haircut---yes I know Blondie Boy is only three but I wanted him to have a cool haircut. You could also just say it's a longer version of his Dad's haircut. I haven't really played with it yet but I think he could probably rock a pretty sweet faux-hawk.

After the haircuts we had two birthday dinners, one on Friday with NBH's Dad and his wife and another on Saturday with NBH's Mum and her husband. Both dinners were super yummy (I ate far too much) and we finished both meals off with the aforementioned cake. On Saturday after dinner NBH and I went to a charity concert one of his friend's from work was throwing so I wanted to make sure I had on comfy shoes. I was really struggling with something that would work and I'm not 100% with what I came up with if I'm honest.

Black Sequin Loft Top

Old Navy Sweetheart Jeans

Next Studded Flats

Children's Place Embellished Button Down

Cherokee Jeans

Disney Cars Flasher Gym Shoes

I think part of the reason I couldn't find something I liked to wear was that I'm not happy with my body right now. I've put on a ridiculous amount of weight (I've been on the scale so trust me) and things are fitting the way they should and honestly it isn't healthy. I loved my eye-makeup (thanks Pinterest!) and my hair but I'm not comfortable in my own skin right now. 

I've lost weight before and I'm angry at myself that I've gotten this heavy again. I could blame it on a number of changes and frankly shitty things going on right now but that's not fair. So I've started SlimFast; it isn't something I've tried before but a 2 weeks supply was on sale at Costco and it seemed like an easy way to try and get my butt in gear. It isn't a long term solution but hopefully it is a way to start losing some weight and motivate me to start exercising, eat better and keep losing weight until I'm happy with myself.

Has anyone done SlimFast before? Any tips or tricks?

 Loading InLinkz ...

What I Wore Wednesday: Secret Sales The Secret Launch

I love to shop. LOVE. It's in my genes. The only thing I love better than shopping is shopping a sale. Who doesn't love getting any amazing deal on an outfit? So I was super excited to be invited to the launch of SecretSales The Secret last week in Notting Hill. The past few weeks have been a bit stressful so I was really looking forward to it!

SecretSales is a designer fashion and homeware flash sales site which offers up to 70 per cent discounts on over 600 brands and The Secret is their new bespoke blog with posts on make-up tips from top make-up artists, day-in-the-life spots with their experts, trendspotting and more! 

To celebrate the launch of The Secret several of us were invited to the SecretSales studio for make-up tips, cupcakes (what event is complete without them?) and our own chance to style a model with some of the amazing clothing, shoes and accessory in the SecretSales closet.

I spied a Hugo Boss brown leather jacket on the men's clothing rack and knew I had to base my outfit around it. I'm a sucker for a good leather jacket what can I say. From there I held up about half a dozen different shirts to the very cooperative (and very handsome) model Paul to find one that popped with his eyes. I don't often put men's outfits together but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Image by Dom Aleandri Photography

Image by Dom Aleandri Photography

Brown Leather Jacket-Hugo Boss

Blue Shirt- Hugo Boss

(both available from SecretSales from 19/4)

So what do you wear to the launch where you will be surrounded by fashion bloggers, journalists and models? Yea I struggled with that one too! Especially since I was flying down to London and back the same day plus trains and tube to get there. So as much as part of me wanted to go a bit avant-garde I aired on the side of practical. 

Xhilaration High Low Striped Dress

Black Loft Cardigan

Hot Pink HM Hoop Earrings

Black Folded Trim New Look Ankle Boots

Probably not my first outfit choice but stripes and monochromatic are in this season so it worked in a pinch. I do have a chance to really increase my stylishness but I need all y'all to help out please!

If you visit SecretSales Facebook page and "like" the photo of Paul in the outfit I styled I could win a Dolce and Gabbana handbag!

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. This is probably the only chance I'll ever have at owning anything by Dolce and Gabanna (one of my favourite designers-no one does leopard print better) so I'd freak out if I won! I feel like I'm asking a lot of favours lately but it literally takes one second to like the photo and I'd really appreciate your help!

 Loading InLinkz ...

What I Wore Wednesday: Polarn O. Pyret

Jet lag is a bitch. I'm struggling and that is a fact. I've not had anywhere to be or anywhere to go so I've been lounging around the house in sweats pretty much this whole week. Luckily for me Blondie Boy has picked up the slack and is stylish as always. He is really into hats and picked this one out on his own to go with his outfit.

HM Hat

Polarn O. Pyret Block Stripe T-Shirt

J. Crew Green Long Sleeve Top

Polarn O. Pyret Cargo Trousers

Converse Slip Ons

He is so his mother's son he had such a fun time with our little faux photo shoot. He was doing poses and dancing around and having an all together good time!

Are your children posers or are they camera shy?




Nominations for the BIB Awards close this Friday at midnight BST. If you like What I Wore Wednesday and fancy nominating me in any of the categories this is the information you need to know and fill in:

Blog Name: Transatlantic Blonde Blog URL: http://transatlanticblonde.blogspot.co.uk Blog Twitter ID: @Melaina25 Blogger Email: M e l a i n a 2 5 at Gmail dot com

I greatly appreciate anyone who nominates me but if you don't want to no biggie!
  Transatlantic Blonde was provided a POP outfit for review but the cuteness and opinions are all our own.