Just for today we’ll give you a break of talking about our new favorite teddy coats… oops broke our rule again and mentioned them. If you want to hear more about the coat you didn’t know you needed, you can check out Caitlin’s post here or my post here.
But onward! We had the best dinner on Tuesday night at this tapas place called La Merenda. If you’re ever in Milwaukee, make it a spot to try! It’s in a cool little neighborhood, and all of their plates are shareable so you can sample many different flavors!
Last night I went with our friend Kelly to a women’s coffee night at church to celebrate Christmas. It was a great way to relax for a bit and just take in the reason for the season. It’s so easy to get carried away with earthly materialistic things, but this was a great night of praise and worship!
As for this gorgeous mustard shirt dress, my mom and I found it while shopping in New York. It’s another & Other Stories find. Initially I wrote it off as something that wouldn’t work on our length, but once my mom spotted it, she had to try it on. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that it fit! It obviously is meant to be a bit longer, but all of us tall women are still waiting for H&M and & Other Stories size inclusivity to reach us.
Shirt dresses are definitely a friend to tall women. Even if you find one you love that the sleeve length isn’t quite there, the beauty is no one will notice if you roll up the sleeves to ¾ length. Now please understand, I notice for myself and get irritated that it has to be worn that way. But if you fall in love with one, just know you can make it work!
As for the boots, they are old and I don’t remember the brand. I don’t wear them that often because the heel height is just high enough that my feet get tired quickly. But dang they make me feel like a badass! I love the high boot trend worn underneath midi length dresses and skirts.
This look is something you can wear to work, and to events. I think the texture is dressy enough but still fun and a standout piece. It says I’m professional, but check me out! This mustard is one of our favorite hues, which began with our mom loving it and us stealing her clothes!
Tell us below, what kind of occasions do you wear dresses to, if any?
Hope everyone liked my little play on words, very clever girl right? It feels like this week is longer than normal, probably due to the holiday season. It’s that time of year where your social calendar ramps up, and everyone feels like having a get together or party. I’m all about gathering with friends and family, but I also would love to see people I care about outside of the holidays all crammed into a month long stretch.
With that being said, there is nothing like a holiday gathering. Everyone’s homes are decorated beautifully, people are in especially good moods, and there is nothing like dressing for the holidays! Everyone brings out their fun items of clothing they keep stashed away for the rest of the year. You get to see people shine like never before, (pun intended) with all of their sequins, velvet, and jacquard fabrics.
The holidays are all about statement pieces, in my opinion. They call for a little something extra, a cut above normal. Whether you pull in a louder than typical color, or a special detail, it’s all welcome during this special season. Plus, as tall women, we can pull off some of the more difficult styles due to our gift of extra length. Take advantage ladies, and pick something that you love!
Speaking of something I REALLY LOVE. This teddy bear coat. You read about it on Monday here, from Caitlin’s post. Literally can’t speak highly enough about it. It is the coat of my dreams. Not only is it extremely chic, but it also feels like a coat you’d take a nap in. That doesn’t even compute how that would be the same coat, yet here we are indescribably happy because of it. Not only that, but it is completely on trend and a tall girls dream for length.
Long Tall Sally is killing the coat game right now. Caitlin and I also spotted this red beauty and are debating if we really “need” another coat. Wisconsin winters though, all in favor!
When I was browsing Long Tall Sally’s look book, I was so inspired by the idea of a monochromatic outfit, after I spotted this coat. I took one look at this mock-neck sweater dress and knew it fit the bill. Just a note for us tall ladies, a couple of the pictures on the website show it being below the knee midi length. As you can tell by the pictures, it definitely at or above the knee depending how tall you are. For me at 6’4, it’s a couple of inches above the knee, but with tights, I am all set to look this luxe sweater dress.
**Sale Alert that this dress is down to $75 today only!**
A problem I’ve had with sweater dresses in the past, is the quality. There are zero issues with this beauty, it is right between thin and thick and I love that it isn’t see-through like some others I’ve tried in the past. I’m looking forward to wearing this through winter, maybe switching to some leggings when the true cold hits us. If you’re looking for more of a cheery color, this red sweater dress more than fits the bill and is on sale today as well.
Last and certainly not least – these boots. I’m going to be wearing these as much as I can get away with this winter. I am in love with the quality and the fit of these boots. They are true to size, a high quality and so ridiculously comfortable. The cognac brown color is what I’ve been searching for, and the gold buckle detail just adds the finishing touch.
Also love that they are named the Cindy Leather Booties after my wonderful mother in-law! They are also available in black, because Long Tall Sally has all our needs covered!
Long Tall Sally also provides an array of beautiful nylon and tight options for anyone wondering where to find those. In the past we had been buying the queen sizing in random stores, but not any longer! Now we can buy them specifically made for our long limbs!
This whole outfit made me feel like a rock star, and I can’t thank Long Tall Sally enough for creating tall pieces for tall women to be just as chic as the rest of the population.
Also, Caitlin’s chenille sweater is on sale today for $45! You won’t regret having this cozy yummy colored sweater.
I would like to formally apologize if that song is now stuck in your head like it is mine. But in all honestly that is all I can think of when I wear this beautifully cozy coat and you will want to spin around in it as well to show it off.
I don’t often treat myself to on trend coats because, well, they’re expensive and I try to ball on a budget. And also because, in the depths of winter I am usually forced to wear my down Patagonia Jacket. I also alternate with my favorite dressier coat that Jenilee got me from Asos for Christmas a few years back.
There are so many coats I have lusted after, but I can never seem to pull the trigger on my own. So when the winter lookbook came out for Long Tall Sally and this Teddy Bear Faux Fur Coat revealed itself; it had to be mine. So as I do with most items I told Jenilee I had to have that one. Unsurprisingly, she just happened to also need it. Before we had the coat in our hands, we saw our fellow tall friend Lindsey wearing it, and became even more excited when we saw the sleeve length on her.
When the coat actually arrived, I was so pleased with how comfy, cozy and warm it was while also not being extremely bulky. It’s definitely thick but in a good way. If you’re looking for the perfect warm, trendy, versatile coat look no further. And hurry up because this one won’t stay in stock forever!
Anyways I will digress and move on from my love affair with this coat to talk about the feels from this chenille turtleneck sweater. I won’t lie, chenille coming back was a weird blast from the past for me and I definitely wasn’t here for it. I very clearly remember a lavender cardigan I wore in our church family photos as a child. For some reason I just felt like I should leave chenille there.
However the color of this LTS turtleneck was undeniably gorgeous so I gave it a shot and now I live permanently inside of it. Seriously – it is that soft, that I never want to take it off. I wore it to Thanksgiving dinner and couldn’t have been more comfortable all day. It felt like I was wearing a blanket the entire time. Which, if you know me in real life you know that this is pretty much what I strive for. You could also say that I am officially on the chenille bandwagon now!
As we continue down the outfit, that would lead us to these jeans! I have never given straight leg a shot but with a little bit of encouragement from Jenilee, I figured why not try to hop a little bit outside the ole comfort zone.
I also wore these to Thanksgiving dinner and I have to tell you they felt nearly the same as leggings with comfort. These have so much stretch! I do have to say, I may have been better off ordering a size down, but like my mom said it’s good to have a comfortable pair of pants! I liked them better rolled with these specific boots but since then I have worn them unrolled to show up the cute raw hem. The other amazing thing, is the inseam length options. I ordered these in a 34′ inch, but they also do 36′ and 38′. They’ve got us all covered ladies!
Lastly, these beautiful fur boots! If you haven’t picked up that we require a lot of warm weather clothing and shoes here – this is me telling you. We need oodles and oodles of coats, boots, wool socks, etc. because winter is long, cold, and scary. I saw that these were not only a cute pair of booties, but would also keep my feet warm, while also having an outdoor style tread. I was ecstatic!
I have reached for these so many times already. For Thanksgiving, for an outdoor Christmas Market, for wearing them to and from work, and multiple other errand days. They are so comfortable and unbelievably warm. When we went into a tent at the Christmas Market I had to unzip them because my feet got too hot! That rarely happens in Wisconsin winters.
In conclusion – you need everything I am wearing. Totally kidding, except not really. But truly each of these items is made so well that I would recommend each of them -together or separate. Also if you read the post we wrote here and here about the Karl Lagerfeld Paris collection at Long Tall Sally or prefer the newer items from the #MerryEverything campaign, click here so you don’t miss this giveaway!
https://www.therealtall.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/DSC03380.jpg8711309Jenilee & Caitlinhttps://www.therealtall.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2.jpgJenilee & Caitlin2018-12-03 08:23:192018-12-03 08:23:22Teddy Bear Teddy Bear Turn Around – So Everyone Can See This Coat!
We wanted to put together some gift guides to help y’all with the people on your list who maybe aren’t into clothing *GASP* and more so like “one size fits all gifts”. We first made these guides and not surprisingly got a little bit out of hand. The gift guides inspired us to add a few widgets to accompany some of them, because clothes! It only made sense to include our favorite travel gear for your jet setting friends, etc.
Also, don’t forget that (if you celebrate) St. Nicks is next week already! We included some excellent stocking stuffer ideas if you’re blanking out on ideas for those as well.
Athleisure is a total game changer for traveling, and now men can look a little more put together while traveling, without sacrificing their comfort. Our tall men love them some Lululemon ABC pants, and can wear them in so many scenarios comfortably! Also, our brother loves these three packs from Asos, and wears them regularly.
The Gym Buff
We grew up in a family that values hitting the gym regularly, starting with our Dad. This is for the men who love to lift, love to play basketball, or anything a gym love needs. This includes finding those pesky sweatpants to throw on over your shorts in the winter!
We basically have our traveling uniform down at this point. The inspiration behind this one is coming from cold weather, headed to somewhere tropical. Layers are key, so you don’t have to waste precious time changing in the airport bathroom once you arrive! Soft items you can wrap up in and sleep or just be cozy, are what we’re all about. Our Mom got a cashmere wrap, and loves it for traveling, and we’re always going to grab our Lululemon leggings for comfort and style.
Workout Gear
We may not have gotten around to inundating you with Gym things… yet. But rest assured, we are regular gym goers. We know what we like, and we know what works for us tall women. Old Navy is tried and true, and totally reasonable. We’ve talked about Lululemon for tall women before here, and they are worth the investment.
As promised from Monday’s post, we want to share more about my birthday weekend. Awhile back, Caitlin inquired about what I’d like to do for my birthday. I kind of brushed it off and said definitely not a party. She asked me a few more questions and left it alone. Some time passed and she asked if I could be booked for all day Saturday and Sunday. I checked my calendar and agreed, having no clue what the plan could be. Now try to keep up as you read this story from both of our point of views!
Caitlin
When you enter your late twenties planning a party is hard. And between Jenilee, Nick and I we are planners. And I don’t mean the actual planning is hard. I mean that we get so hyped up and excited about the people we love gathering around us. We look so forward to enjoying each others company. However, we have been burned by this excitement so many times in the past. I wasn’t willing to let people not showing up affect Jenilee’s big day. Cue the planning. With the dates locked in my mom and I began planning away.
Jenilee
Flash forward to Friday night. We had a great time at the Christmas Market, but made it an earlier night. I was told I needed to be awake and ready by 7 a.m., so definitely need sleep! Luckily for me, Caitlin is super detail oriented. While some would frantically be throwing everything they own in a bag to cover any eventualities, I was able to avoid that! I received a picture of what she was wearing for the day, and then she told me yes or no when I sent her pictures of what I wanted to wear. I probably did a better job of packing than what I would do on my own!
Caitlin
We started first by deciding on Chicago to celebrate- so first things first, train tickets, check. We love taking the train to Chicago because you avoid any and all traffic and it is always on time. And you get to enjoy the entire ride relaxing. Our mom has stayed at the Kinzie Hotel previously with our dad and thought it would be a great choice for this weekend as well. We can confirm-she was right!
Jenilee
We get in the car, and start heading towards Milwaukee. At this point I was imagining a fun day of walking around downtown. There is always lots to keep us occupied in our fair city! As we’re getting closer, my mom is asking if I need more coffee. I’m thinking – “heck yea – always!” and at the point we exited the freeway. My mom said, “ok I’ll grab the coffee and you park the car to Caitlin,” and I realized we were heading to the the Amtrak Station!
A that point, I didn’t want to make any assumptions, but my excitement was building. I asked where we were headed and they told me Chicago! My first reaction was disbelief and excitement. I love visiting Chicago, ever since our brother moved there. It’s been a city we haven’t explored much until recently, but now we can’t get enough of it. Plus, taking the train is the most ideal way to experience it! So we had a relaxing ride down there, enjoying our coffee and almond croissants.
Caitlin
I had discreetly tossed Jenilee’s bag in the car and we headed East toward this city. As we approached down-town my mom said well do you want to give her her first clue? Which is when she found out that we were hopping on the train! Our mom bee-lined it to Stone Creek Coffee, Jenilee got in line for the train (a must for my mom and I as we both get extremely motion sick and need to face forward), I parked the car and we all rendezvoused at the line. We enjoyed out coffee and pastries and sat back.
Once we got to the Union Station we grabbed a Lyft and headed to the hotel (which Jenilee still didn’t know about). Luckily our room was ready and we were able to check in early and unwind for a few minutes before we hit the ground running. So as you may have gathered by now I am a planner. Down to the minute usually, which can be a bit much sometimes. So we were choosy with what to pick for this trip in an effort to not overbook and then feel like we missed anything. So we played it at this point as if we were just going to do some shopping and kind of let the three of ourselves dictate the day. We maneuvered our way through toward the shops grabbed a fresh juice at Joe and the Juice and enjoyed our morning. Once I caught a glimpse at the time I said we needed to grab lunch and we picked the first place we saw called Wow Bao. It was a game time decision and delicious!
Jenilee
When we arrived in Chicago, I still didn’t know where we were headed for the day or anything! So we caught a Lyft from Union Station and made our way to the hotel, which was yet another exciting development for the day! We stayed at the Kinzie Hotel, which was a great spot and good walkability. So we were able to check in early and headed out right away to do some shopping! On our way we stopped for a quick juice to hold us over until lunch. I was feeling so grateful just to be down in Chicago for the day/night already, hanging with the women I love and having some leisurely girl time.
So we shopped for a couple of hours and found some great sale items. Then they wanted to grab lunch, and I’m always down for some food! We walked into the mall and grabbed some Orange Chicken Bowls to eat and they were eating pretty quickly so I figured something was up. We left the mall and my mom was basically running down the street back to our hotel so I was guessing we had plans of some sort!
Caitlin
At this point I silently started trucking it back to the hotel when Jenilee asked-are we in a rush? I said we’re not not in a rush and kept it moving. We dropped off our haul, grabbed a car and still kept her in the dark where we were going. We joked along the way that we were stopping at a fancy McDonald’s etc until we couldn’t lie anymore as the CIBC Theater lights flashed in our faces. I think this was the part my mom and I were most excited! We headed up, up, and up to our balcony seats and settled in. Hamilton was AMAZING. I highly recommend seeing this show if you have the chance. It blew us away how much they had to memorize between the singing and dancing. The theater is an amazing thing people.
Jenilee
We dropped off our bags at the hotel and grabbed another Lyft. As we’re riding in the Lyft, I had no clue where we could be headed. I was teasing my mom by looking at the address, even though it meant nothing to me. Once we turned on the street, I saw a sign up ahead and literally couldn’t not believe that it was where we were going. The CIBC Theater, and on the marquee said Hamilton. My mouth agape, I still was speechless when the Lyft driver confirmed that was where we were headed. I was out of my mind overjoyed and still basically speechless, but grinning at this point. We hopped in line and got in the theater and settled in our seats. This show is EVERYTHING people have hyped it up to be. I could not have enjoyed myself more and I am so thankful that my Mom and Caitlin wanted me to experience this masterpiece!
Caitlin
We took off after the show to get back to the Kinzie and enjoy their free happy hour! Yes, this did take part in choosing this hotel. We all grabbed a glass of wine, some snacks and enjoyed reminiscing on the show we just saw. We grabbed another glass and stopped back at our room to change into something a little more night friendly and told Jenilee we were going to grab burgers (one of her very favorite foods) at Au Cheval. I had been here with our brother and knew what we were in for so I was excited for them to try it. As expected there was a 3 hour wait so we put our name in and headed down the road.
Jenilee
We then headed back to the hotel, to partake in their happy hour. Free happy hour at a hotel is our love language with traveling and these two knew me so well. We were still high off the fabulous experience that was Hamilton, and enjoyed our wine and snacks. It was time to change and head to dinner, which they had told me was Au Cheval! I was super excited, because they know my burger loving heart.
This place has been on my list other times we’ve visited, and we knew there was going to be quite the wait. So we went and checked in, and with our three hour wait time settled, headed down the street. We knew of Bombobar through a blogging friend Lindsey, and their delectable looking confections were the perfect dessert before dinner! From there we bar hopped, because there were lots of fun options in the immediate vicinity. We hit up Lone Wolf, Punch Bowl Social, and The Emporium. They are all completely different bars but fun in their own ways!
We enjoyed our three hour wait, but were definitely ready for our burger. We walked in at 11 p.m. and ordered right away. This burger is all that it’s cracked up to be people! I loved and savored every bite I took. We rolled ourselves out of that restaurant and headed back to the hotel to sleep off our food comas. Wow, what an incredible first day!
Caitlin
One of our good blogging friend Lindsey runs the Instagram for a few restaurants in Chicago and has had us drooling over Bombobar for months so with our three hour wait in mind we decided we should probably get dessert first. It was delicious and I can’t wait to stop by again. From there we popped around a few bars: Lone Wolf, The Emporium and Punch Bowl Social. It was fun to again not really have a plan and just enjoy a new city. When my phone finally buzzed it was nearly 11 and we headed back to Au Cheval. At this point the burger was a lot to take down, but I am happy to say I did it. I overfilled myself and we all needed to promptly go to bed after dinner.
Jenilee
In the morning, we slept in a little bit and got packed up and checked out. We left our bags with the valet and headed to Wildberry for brunch. I’ve been here before and this is another spot that sees a lot of people come through, so get on their wait list. In the meantime, we strolled down the street and gazed at the Macy’s Christmas decorated windows. It is totally worth the wait though, their food is fantastic across the board. We all ordered and shared our food with each other and they definitely don’t skimp on portion size either!
Caitlin
We were all movie a little bit slowly Sunday morning but got ourselves together and used Yelp to get in line at Wild Berry. We walked there and got to enjoy the Macy’s windows along the way which I have only done once before this so I loved it! We got to Wild Berry and of course as we waited we had to endure a family staring at us commenting on how tall we are. Sigh. Anyways we bounce back pretty easily from that and grabbed our table and promptly started drooling on the menu. Our mom and Jenilee split some omelettes and I can a Mexican skillet that was to die for and then I ordered the wild berry pancakes with it and they were equally as incredible. The food there was incredible and fed me for two days because the servings were so massive. I can’t wait to eat there again!
Jenilee
Feeling so full and thankful, we headed back out to finish off some more shopping. We perused Nordstrom Rack for shoes, which turned out to be great timing with the extra 30% off clearance. I found myself some black strappy sandals, that will be clutch for me in the summer and at $15, you can’t beat it! We were moving a little slower than we thought, so we took a Lyft over to , because Caitlin wanted to look at their winter gloves. After that, we were pretty much out of time, so we walked back to the hotel to make our way to the train.
After breakfast we needed to walk it off and did a little bit more shopping. We always spend much more time in stores than we intend to so the afternoon snuck up on us and we had to make our way back to the hotel to grab our bags and catch our train. We had another great train ride and once we got back we had to hit the ground running to make it to our basketball game.
Once we were settled on the train, it was such a relaxing trip back. Especially watching out the window, Chicago got hit with some snow, and I was super grateful none of us had to drive in that weather. We made it back in time for our basketball game by the skin of our necks and capped off a FREAKING AMAZING weekend with a win!
Caitlin
As one last perk our dad had come back earlier than usual from hunting due to the snowstorm we were anticipating so he picked up some pizza and we got to have dinner with our parents before going our separate ways for the weekend. All in all the weekend was a success! It is so hard for me to keep any surprises so I am so proud of myself for not ruining any of these ahead of time. It was so fun to watch the day unfold and spend this time with my sister and mom to celebrate Jenilee’s birthday. Our family has really converted into doing experiences as gifts rather than tangible items and we couldn’t love it more. Stay tuned for Nicks celebration (In March-hah!)
Jenilee
I can’t even believe they put all of that together for me, and I feel so utterly thankful, spoiled, and blessed. I felt so special and celebrated. It truly was the best birthday celebration I never could have planned for myself. I will never forget this weekend, so big big thank you to Caitlin and my Mom! I love you both!
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