Valentine's Day

Red Fashion -Not Just for Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2020 By kimwheeler 12 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day! Do you have fun plans today? Tonight we are cooking a family dinner with the sons and doing our chocolate fondue tradition. When my boys were small we would do Valentine’s night dinner as a picnic on the floor by the fire with chocolate dipped strawberries we made together. My own mom always made Valentines special for us with a small gift like socks, a little money and chocolates by our breakfast plate. Valentine’s is the day I got engaged 24 years ago and on that same day my sweet niece Veronica was born. It’s one of my favorite days of the year.

I wanted to share a few lovely discoveries in the fashion world I came upon this week in red, just in time for Valentine’s Day and beyond..

Red has never been my favorite, but I needed a pair of red shoes to wear to a Valentine themed lunch and came across a suede pair of sandals at our local and darling She She Shoes. Feeling a little thrilled with the red, and how pretty it looked, I walked over to Banana Republic to see what they had in the shade, and found this very lovely high necked blouse in lipstick red. I’ve already worn them both in many ways this week. Just these two red pieces are making the bland winter closet staples like my camo pants, dark jeans, camel blazer and brown handbag pop! Thanks to Valentines the closet got a little boost and everything feels reinvented and fresh. I guess it is good to go out of your comfort zone and try a little color, especially this time of year when we can use a little injection of bright with the wardrobe classics.

Above and below, you can see my friend Jeanne’s darling red booties she wore to the lunch. SO COOL! I once saw a woman in Paris with almost the same boots and a trench coat and it was perfection. I adore Jeanne’s fun outfit. Her Diane Von Furstenberg lips knit skirt is darling and I have always liked the mix of pink and red.

If you can’t get to She She Shoes, my red suede sandals can also be found here and here. Similar red booties to Jeanne’s are here, here and here. My jeans are Madewell Cali Demi Boot.

Banana also has this darling XOXO sweater.. How cute is this in black or grey? It was hard to choose, but I bought the black. I know it’s cute enough to wear it all year long. Right now it’s 40% off this weekend and I think they have free shipping also.

Happy Valentines to you all in whatever way you celebrate. I’d love to hear any traditions or memories in the comments if you can!

xoxo

Kim

Links may sometimes generate commission. Thank you for supporting the blog.

Valentine’s Gifts

February 7, 2018 By kimwheeler 4 Comments

Valentine’s Day is literally a week away. It pops up before you know it and I do love it. I try to keep it Valentines all month long at home, with pink in my kitchen and hearts about the house. February is such a short month, but it’s special to me in a lot of ways. I got engaged on Valentine’s Day 1996, and my niece Veronica was born on the very same day! It’s also the month my beautiful mom Suzanne was born. She was a Leap Year baby and born February 29, 1940.

Right now, it’s warm, unseasonably so even for California. I am trying my best to soak it in and enjoy. I’ve been distracting myself a bit with all the cute Valentines’ themed things and I have to share a few as they are pretty cute. A few ideas for a friend or maybe just for yourself..

– I am starting to love square scarves again like I showed in my last post. I could wear this Echo I Heart You scarf with so many things.

– I love these Tory Burch Espadrille Mules. I can see these for running about all spring – equally as cute with skirts as with white jeans. The khaki color is another great choice in this shoe.

– How cute is this Anthro metallic zip clutch? I am crazy about these for makeup bags and travel. This is particularly pretty and also comes in a gold and beautiful blue-silver. All were just marked down.

– This J. Crew heart wrap skirt is darling. I love it with these sneakers with a pop of red! It’s also available from Nordstrom here.

– J. Crew is killing it with their T-shirts this season and this Love First one is adorable. It comes in a navy with light blue print too. Another fun piece to layer with jackets and skirts. Both the shirt and T are an extra 30% off for Valentines online if you use code xoxo from J. Crew.

Our family tradition is to cook a big meal with some fancy dessert together. When the boys were small I would always get them a small box of candy from See’s along with something cute like a pair of socks and some cash. My mom always did that for us as kids and it would be at the breakfast table on Valentine’s morning. Do you have any traditions you can share?

Kim

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Valentines Fun

February 14, 2013 By kimwheeler No Comments

I’m loving Valentine’s week! It’s just a fun time right before we take a week off of school for ski week here… I really get into making little treats, decorating the house ( I love this bowl, shown above, forever and always dig it out) and working on class cards with my younger son. Here’s what we are working on for class today…A fun little idea found on Pinterest- where else?

These were really simple and we cut blue paper to fit in clear bags with wavy scissors…

Griffin wrote, “I’m glad you’re in my school.” We filled them with Swedish fish and tied tops with blue yarn.

I think it’s so nice to make your own Valentines. These took almost no time. Last year we did this.

My camellias are blossoming like crazy now! We have pink, white and red and they seem to take turns blooming. The red started first. I am grateful to whomever planted these below our giant sequoia. They are one of my favorite things at this house. Isn’t it amazing how certain plants just sprout in the Winter? Nature’s calendar never ceases to wow me.

In other news, my son Griffin’s play was on stage after rehearsing since October! Groovy finished last week and was so fun. I’m really proud of him and all the kids who stuck it out so long.

Griffin after the show in costume with pals Abby and Seraphina.

Some of the moms of show kids worked the cast party dressed in 60s outfits… I got to wear a vintage 60’s poncho from the costume designer’s box. I wish I could have kept it! What a find.

I checked out Trader Joes’s today and couldn’t resist these primulas in these old recycled pots.

I can’t decide where I like them best.. For $3.99 these are a bargain…

…A great little Valentine gift too.

Yesterday, was one of the most fun events of the year to me, the SAP Ladies’ Day Lunch. The SAP Men’s Tennis Tournament has been held in the Bay Area for 125 years and sadly, will be no more. Women are invited for a special day to watch the professional men’s tennis and then have lunch hosted by Macys and La Crema Winery, meet players and take photos. We also received swag bags with generous full-sized Skinceuticals serum and cream.. Test driving it as we speak and I’ll let you know…( I think they were honing in on the most likely sun-damaged crowd- tennis players.)

This was a treat. I love tennis! At the lunch. Great wine too- Did I mention that?

Aussie and cutie, Lleyton Hewitt was fun to watch..It’s crazy how fast the men serve! I’d run if they put up one of those serve speedometers near me… It would be embarrassing to know how slow I actually am.