Ireland: The Outfits!

Today's post will be *so much* shorter than yesterday's monster post of visual imagery of the beautiful countryside, my kids, my friends, and lots of crazy frivolity.  Today is all about the outfits.

I have recently joined pinterest, and I noticed that before I pinned my own outfits, my blog's photos were being pinned here and there, and quite a few of them are outfit of the day photos, which is awesome.  :-)  So I delved a little further and discovered that my polyvore sets were really popular on pinterest, and of all my polyvore sets, the packing sets are the most popular.  Well, okay then, if that's what the people want, I'll provide.  So at the end of the post I will include a polyvore set I've entitled "Ireland Packing Polyvore" for anyone who wants to pin it for any future packing ideas they need.

I will keep the comments brief, letting the outfits speak for themselves, but if I have something to say, I'll definitely mention it...

On my right is the lovely Avril, who wrote up our night out in Belfast here at this blog post.

Even though Belfast was on our second full day in Ireland, I wanted to publish this outfit first since it is a look that I don't normally wear, and I was glad I had challenged myself to try it out.  And because great minds think alike, I love that Avril wore almost the same outfit.  ;-)

This look is from my first full day in Ireland, when we enjoyed all the sights of Dublin.

Wore this ensemble to Giant's Causeway.  I knew there would be a lot of trekking, but also a lot of driving, so I wanted something that would do well in both circumstances.  I *may* have switched to my uber comfy Pure Collection tie-waisted trousers for the ride down to Kilkenney (that is a whole lot of Ireland between the two), but I honestly can't remember.  I have to drive, btw, since I have experience driving on the left hand side of the road and Mr. Dina doesn't.  You would think that by now, and with all the traveling we do together, he would have learned, but nope, he makes me take the wheel in any country who drives opposite us here in the States.  (Since I hate driving, I figure that means I will just have less of it to do in general if that's his plan, lol.)

Worn to trek all over Kilkenny on our third full day in Ireland.

The last photo shows the effect of too much mead on a good woman's soul.  :-)  This was our fourth full day in Ireland, and was from when we were at Bunratty.

There was a fifth full day of traveling, but that was the day that Mr. Dina was very ill, so we didn't do much beyond checking out of Bunratty and driving to Dublin.  Then the kids and I went to dinner, without Mr. Dina.  If I recall, I wore the comfy Boden leggings with the Boden sweater.

Ireland Packing Polyvore by dinagideon featuring wrap boots

I feel like I chose well for this trip.  The boots may seem a big extravagance when airlines limit just how much luggage a family can take, but with all of my undergarments, tights, and socks packed into them, there was plenty of room left over.  I don't regret bringing any of these items, and as you can see from the right hand side, many of the items were worn multiple times.  The items on the left packed well and didn't wrinkle, so I can highly recommend any sort of item like that for any packing you may have like this in the future.  Because it was Ireland in the early spring, I made sure to pack woolen items for warmth and layering, but also packed a lightweight down coat to ensure that it wouldn't weigh me (or my luggage) down, but still keep me warm, AND not wrinkle.  Surprisingly I needed the sunglasses nearly daily, not a drop of rain fell while we were there.  It was pretty stunning how bright Ireland was!

Okay, that's it for now.  Thank you all for your sweet comments over the last few posts.  My darling Angus is really sick with the stomach flu, and just on the mend, so most of my time over the past day has been to tending him, but I definitely have plans to go back and comment to all of your nice thoughts! 

Gotta Squeeze in One Last Little Post Before the End of June...

To make up for a really sad showing of posts this month, I am making up for it by publishing TWO WHOLE POSTS in one day. Admittedly this is a fairly easy post to create, basically, pick photos, upload them, write a paragraph to introduce and close the post, and write a sentence for each photo. I think a well-behaved monkey could do this post fairly successfully. :)

These photos below are only part of the trip to CA. I have more but really want to focus on each part of the trip. All are taken in Santa Barbara, CA. I so very much HEART Santa Barbara, what a lovely place. I was glad that as a family we could enjoy such a beautiful day and environment together. Okay, yes, Rex freaked out at the beach (that poor kid has as many anxieties as a neurotic old woman) but eventually even the waves couldn't stop him from seeing that we were indeed having a great day. CW, from start to finish, had a blast. That's my girl. LOL. Mr. Dina says that if Rex didn't look exactly like me he would be concerned that he wasn't my kid, what with his fear of the beach and Disneyland (yes, he is afraid of most of Disneyland--more on that in another post).


From the very end of the day, slightly sunkissed, and very sated, the dinagideon family poses for what could possibly be our Christmas card photo (it is in the running). We are next to the restaurant we ate at (which also had an INCREDIBLE view from their open-air deck of the Pacific Ocean).


I know kids shouldn't be allowed to plant their face in the sand as it is very icky, but well, we couldn't stop her in time. Doesn't CW look so happy, though? It's okay...this time. ;)


CW...even happier. Momma...still kind of grossed out.


CW walked happily, hand in hand, with me to the waves. The water was chilly, but she was more than happy to stride into the water for at least a minute or two.


Rex managed to stop freaking out, and at that point he sat happily looking at the ocean with us.


And there Rex stands, looking quite proud and satisfied. Good. He deserves a nice day every once in a while.


Here are CW and Momma at the restaurant with one of the best views anywhere. I really liked CW's face, which is why I uploaded this photo.

I hope you all have a great night. I know that these photos are mainly for my dear relatives and friends who love seeing pics of my kids, but if you are one of my beloved fashion friends, more info on my outfit can be found in this post and this polyvore.

P.S. For all of you who are born on Canada Day, I say a early "Happy Birthday." SWAK.

Quick Hello from Florida!!!

We are having such a nice time down here...lots of sun, heat, and humidity. But since this is my favorite type of weather (I actually love DC in August), I am in heaven.

On Saturday, we arrived after a very uneventful flight (Rex and CW were awesome). Then we arrived at our friend's house and did nothing...it was blissful. Yesterday we got up, found our way to Magic Kingdom, and were able to ride four rides and walk around before we HAD to quit (yep, along with our two, our friends have two boys under 3--we have a travelling preschool). Then we ran over to T. Rex, a restaurant with a dinosaur theme. The choice for dinner last night was not by accident, Jim made reservations a while ago...after all, our #1 son is named Rex. Considering how expensive and themed it was we completely expected it to serve awful food but a good time. Well it turns out that not only was it a lot of fun and really well decorated, the food was really, really good. I had the Fillet Mignon and it was as scrumptious as the ones I have had at more expensive steakhouses. Mmm.

Today we are off to Cocoa Beach and it appears today will be less active...woo. Tomorrow will be a jaunt to Universal Studios (we have to go on the Simpsons ride). On Wednesday, the day we fly out, we plan on going back to Downtown Disney (where T. Rex is located) for the morning just to walk around and see the sites.

We will be back by Wednesday night, but I probably won't be able to post and/or comment back until Thursday morning at the earliest. (But don't worry, you know I always keep my word, even if it takes longer than I would like.)

I want to leave you with my Polyvore of the trip's outfits. Many of you have already seen this, but for those of you who have not, I felt like this post's pic could be of the set I created. I have worn these outfits without fail. I truly believe Polyvore has helped me with packing...it's official...I am not going back to the old way of packing...this is way better and way quicker. (By the way, I will post all of the in real life outfits when I return to NOVA!)

Have a great day everyone!


Spring Break in Orlando 2009! by dinagideon featuring J Crew cardigans

Smart Casual on a Saturday!

Okay...so this outfit that I made in Polyvore is almost completely accurate to what I actually wore yesterday. They don't have my Sybil coat in burnished yellow, so I substituted the yellow lady day. It is close enough. This outfit is so comfortable...and sunny...and colorful. Only thing it wasn't enough? WARM. It was freaking freezing in Bethesda yesterday! The double cloth is great if it is in the upper 30s or 40s, but it was lower 30s and with a wind chill. BRRR! I did order the lady day in med. blue with thinsulate a few days ago (what a color and what a price...love the final sale when it works for your wardrobe), so I think that will become my go-to coat when it is sunny but very cold.

By the way, the shoes are awesome. They are the Joelle flats in bright spearmint. I love this color so much that I bought a pair of allesia flats in this color for my daughter when she gets older...not too matchy-match, but still sweet!

The scarf is different, too, but honestly, it doesn't matter!

Here is the link to the polyvore set:
http://www.polyvore.com/smart_casual_on_saturday/set?.mid=ecard&id=6235166

Here I am wearing it...at the end of our trip...it held up well. :)

Shiny Casual on a Day Off!

This is the polyvore set of my outfit I wore on my day off. I actually got inspiration from "My Delightful Obsessions" blog, here: http://mydelightfulobsessions.blogspot.com/2009/01/todays-outfit.html

I changed it up a bit...but still have to give credit where credit is due! Thanks!

Here is the link to the Polyvore set itself: http://www.polyvore.com/shiny_casual_on_day_off/set?id=6205487



Here it is on me...right before I left for Costco with my brother. I am sort of surprised how comfortable I managed to be in the behemoth of a store. Let's not even begin to talk about how much I bought (and scary enough, how much we will USE)!



Had to add this pic, because my brother took such a nice pic of me and CW. Her outfit is so darling itself. It has RUFFLES on her butt. AWESOME. At Costco, I bought her an outfit with a bee on her butt and a ladybug on her butt. Does she need them? No! But will she look darling...so that is enough for me. Oh, and at 5.50 per outfit, no big deal!

I also want to mention how much I love the Picasa 3 photo editor...although Photoshop elements does more, if you want quick fixes, this is where to go. I used the GLOW feature on this photo. :)