,

Oh Canada: Part One

Just another travel post, in other words, one of my favorite types of blogs. Traveling is something that has always been exciting, refreshing, and necessary in my life. Our parents always did such an amazing job taking us on trips even if it was camping in Wisconsin or somewhere nearby. We were blessed to see many beaches and woods-growing up. Now that I am on my own, I try to travel as often as possible. If I don’t have a trip booked, I get pretty angsty. This trip came together quickly and I couldn’t be happier with how it fell into place. 

Originally we were supposed to be heading to Nashville with a larger group, but when it came time to plan the group dwindled from 12 to 4 and we decided on Canada instead. You know we ball on a budget over here, so I used credit card points to book my flight. We found a reasonable Airbnb in Dead Man’s Flats that was perfect for us. For transportation, we rented a sick minivan through Costco. We had all the big details locked in ahead of time. Then we spent a little bit of time researching some food, breweries, and hikes so that when the time came we could just choose from a researched “master list”. (Type A planner-Type B traveler over here)

We all worked a half-day on the Friday we left and caught our first flight to MSP which connected us to Calgary. We got into Calgary LATE and by the time we got our minivan and drove to Dead Man’s Flats, it was nearly 2 am. It was really interesting making that drive in the pitch black and not really having a clue where we were. 

Day 1 we took off around 7 for our first hike: Ha Ling Peak. This almost 5-mile hike was rated Hard on “All Trails” (Which is a great resource for any trip like this) and they definitely didn’t lie about it. I felt like I had never worked out a day in my life on this hike. I felt a little bit off from the start and I am not sure why, but it was a struggle to the top. I forgot my crampons on this hike and it was extremely icy, slippery and hard to find solid footing. My lungs were on fire and by the time we got to the scramble at the top my mental game was weak. But boy was this hike worth it. The views were unreal and satisfaction was high. We enjoyed some snacks and snagged some pictures before the long slippery trek down. I discovered a new fear of heights as we descended and kind of tried to scoot along. So much so, that I ripped a brand new pair of pants. 

On our way back to our AirBnb we stopped at the grocery store to grab some basics for breakfast, lunch, and a few local beers to sample. Back at our place we cleaned up and headed out for some beers at Grizzly Paw, followed by dinner at Tavern 1883 which was delicious! We all kind of sampled each other’s meals which included a bison burger, pesto gnocchi, and some homemade meatloaf. Seriously everything was incredibly delicious and reasonably priced. We beelined it back to the Airbnb so we could maximize our sleep for the impending early morning. 

Day 2 we headed out at 6 am for Lake Louise. We were warned by every website that parking is tricky at Lake Louise, and we weren’t going to risk not getting a spot so another pitch-black drive it was. I still felt pretty off to begin this day but figured I could shake it. I had a second cup of coffee and it pretty much went downhill from there. We hopped on the Little Beehive trail via Lake Agnes and stopped at the Tea House on the way. About halfway up the mountain, I realized I needed a quick stop to throw up (TMI -sorry!). I blasted Come and Get your Love by Redbone so my friends wouldn’t have to hear me and now that song will always have a funny place in my heart.

The rest of the hike ended up being great and the view at the top was amazing again. It snowed for a bit while we enjoyed our PBJ sandwiches and beer. They all decided on a second hike but I figured I should listen to my body and know my limits for the day. So while they hiked I meandered the streets of Banff and stopped in some vintage stores, tourist shops, and any other places that caught my eye. There is something exhilarating about exploring the streets of a bustling city alone. 

We stopped at Banff Ave Brewing after they got done and had a few jugs of beer, some poutine, and soft pretzels. We had a little buzz going and headed to Park Distillery where there was a wait, so we got to put our name on a list and headed to a bar down the road. We split our meals again and tried the tagliatelle and a rotisserie chicken sandwich. I was the driver that night, so I opted for water and my friends got some Canadian Maple Rye Whiskey and it was delicious. I am not a big whiskey person, but we ended up buying a bottle to bring home and share when we camp in a few weeks. I HIGHLY recommend Park Distillery if you’re looking for some delicious eats and an awesome atmosphere. 

Stay tuned for part two, I’ll be sharing my packing list then!

Enjoy the Real Reel on this one!

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Amalli Talli Dream Denim

Our fellow leggy ladies, it’s time to throw out all of those jeans that you have been making work, for lack of better options. Our best option has arrived and it’s no surprise to anyone at this point that it’s Amalli Talli. What you might be surprised and ecstatic about though, is the price point! We’ve all been shopping for denim countless times. Enough to know that sometimes not only are there limited options available (if any in-store) but we also usually have to pay a premium to find the same options regular sizes have. 

Before this drop, it’s been a woe is me and my lack of options. Now it’s more like, check me out in my well-fitted, comfortable, ideal denim. Caitlin and I have long ago transitioned to almost exclusively wearing high-rise denim. As we’re built in more of an hourglass frame, it makes us feel our best to nip in at the waist. Also, a long-overlooked fact is with longer legs, we often have longer butts. So you’re already operating at a disadvantage with mid rise, and don’t even speak of the low rise in our presence. We lived through that ill-advised trend in high school, and nothing will make us return to it ever again.

We’ve got big butts and we cannot lie! A lot of people have mentioned their concern because Amy and Alli are very slim tall women. You know that Caitlin and I are built differently and we’re always happy to give our thoughts/feedback on the difference of their clothing on us a couple of sizes up. This denim is billed as high-waisted, and a higher inseam in the back than the front. I will note that I definitely have denim that is higher than this, but I do still call it high-waisted. The front goes to an inch below my belly button. The back leaves me with zero concern about my butt crack creeping out the top when I sit down. If it passes that test, then I definitely say it’s high-waisted. 

I have on the size 30 in the black pair with grey wash, which is basically true to size for me. For sizing reference, I wear between 30/31 in other denim. I did try on a pair in size 31. I noticed the difference in the waist, where I didn’t feel I needed any extra room. The denim does have a great amount of stretch to it. Plus, I didn’t notice any stretching out, which is usually a big concern. Often because I’d rather pick my denim to be comfortable I’ll pick a larger size, but then it ends up loosening a bit too much and I’ll constantly have to pull them back up.

Caitlin got the dark wash pair with knee rips. She decided to keep the size 31 after trying on both the 30 and 31. She is a 35 inseam to the floor, so as you can tell she has some extra length to cuff the jeans! Plus it’s so magical having the knee rips be perfectly placed. It makes all the difference in comfort as well.

Another notable part that starts to drive us nuts with wearing a lot of skinny jeans: the calf tightness. I don’t have particularly large calves but the nature of skinnies it pulls on the calf portion trying to remain tight to the leg. Consequently, that pulls on the knee, which means suffering throughout any time seated or constantly adjusting the pants up and down as you sit and stand. Well, rejoice! There is room for your calves in Amalli Talli’s denim!

Lastly, I want to touch on the obvious: length. They cut their denim in two lengths, 35” and 37”. I’m wearing the 37” and they are generously long. My inseam to the ground is 38” so as a skinny jean, it only needs to go to ankle length. This leaves for the option of rolling the cuffs. We personally like the ability to play with cuff and give it different options! If you don’t think you want the extra length you can choose 35”. Our Mom ordered 35″ instead of choosing the same 37″ as me. Then she can wear them like the rest of her skinny denim. Or you can obviously get them altered, which to us is a great “problem” to have!

We’re feeling super spoiled with all of these quality pieces dropping from Amalli Talli. It’s been helping us to go through our closets and clean out items that we now realize we were just settling with! Do you ever feel like you come across items that make you rethink your previous purchases? We’re grateful for Amalli Talli raising the expectation bar. Now, we can have clothing just as high quality as anyone else!

The cost of their denim is already under $70, which is spectacularly good. PLUS, they go up to size 38, which is amazing since we know a lot of people have been wondering about better coverage for plus sizes! To get an additional 15% off, use THEREALTALL15 and snap up a pair or two. We’re just here to spread the good news!

Also we wanted to give a quick shoutout to our new photographer friend from France: Ignace! You can see his work here

Outfit Details

Link to the black/grey wash denim here! Link to the dark wash with knee rips, here!

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Workwear With Amalli Talli

Good Morning, and welcome to another Monday. Not sure about you, but in Milwaukee this weekend we were blessed with some seriously idyllic Fall weather. The leaves are hitting their peak colors, and it is spectacular! Plus we had a chance to shoot with a photographer visiting from France, so that was a fun way to be outside enjoying the weather as well. To top it off, the beer that Caitlin and my Dad brewed for me was ready to be bottled, so we finished that on Sunday afternoon. Now I just have to anxiously wait a week to taste my Hazy IPA!

We’ve been posting a ton of Amalli Talli items recently, and it’s for good reason. They have never done this big of a drop before. Plus, we’re not even done!! We’re still coming with the second tier of the drops, which include the jean jacket, the moto leggings, AND jeans! Talk about being SPOILED. We can’t tell you how many incredible conversations we’ve had recently with other tall women who are thrilled to have these new items that fit our bodies correctly.

But before we get to sharing those new items we’ve got to keep showing you the versatility of their collections. Somehow they’re managing to bring us pieces that are both classics, but still on-trend. That’s one of the tenets of our style. We don’t want to get rid of pieces after one season. Ideally, everything will last us until it wears out. A good way of realizing if you’re buying the right items is the hanger test. Turn your hangers around backward and only turn them the right way if you wear the item. If you haven’t worn it in a year, get rid of it! 

Make sure you take a look at why you didn’t wear it. Is it too short? Did you size up to get more length out of it?  A lot of pieces I get rid of are things I bought in a mainline size because I wanted to fit in, or it’s cheaper. But I’m not exactly saving money if I buy an ill-fitting garment and never wear it, am I? When trying clothing on, I am either with Caitlin or send her a picture. A second opinion from someone you trust is invaluable. They’ve probably heard you complain about fit or preference before. So then they can act as a sounding board and help you thoughtfully question your purchase. 

All of this to say, you need smart purchases that will last you! Sometimes the least “glamorous” purchases have the best-staying power in our closets. You can’t underestimate layering pieces, as evidenced by this favorite crew tank. Crew tanks have long been a favorite of mine because they’re modest aka work appropriate. Give me one in a pop of color like the cobalt blue here, and I can make dozens of outfits happen. 

You saw Caitlin dress this tank down here, so that’s already two ways to style it. Plus the tall girl approved length and torso width are perfectly proportioned for our comfort. The material is just structured enough but doesn’t box you into wearing only dressier clothes. As with their other items, they really thought through all of the details when designing this piece. No more “tall girl-friendly” items needed when we have these layering pieces available to us!

So if you haven’t made a purchase yet, we can only assume it’s because you know once you try their items you know you can never go back! Luckily we’ve got 15% off for you to sweeten the deal. Use THEREALTALL15 and let us know what you buy and how much you love it!

Outfit Details

Link to the favorite crew neck tank here!

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A Little More Amalli Talli Leopard Action

I am hot and fresh off of vacation today and dragging because of it. You may have seen some stories from Canada and I can’t wait to share more on that trip so for this sweater today I will literally share just a tiny bit more! Jenilee already gave you the long low down on this leopard beauty here, but I couldn’t resist throwing in my two cents as well. Y’all I love this sweater, like really truly love it. I have recently been thinking about a lot of items that really and truly make me feel amazing.

I don’t know if it was the influx of tall clothing I have recently received or purchased that made me truly take a look at how things are fitting me. But I feel like I have been shown the light (again). I have had this realization many times but sometimes it just needs to hit you again, maybe harder this time. Whatever it was, it inspired me to go through my clothing yet again and set aside all of the items that fit anything less than perfect. And by that, I mean that I am 100% comfortable in. Can I move my arms, does my back feel tight, is it too short, do I need to roll the sleeves up to wear it? If the answer was no…sayonara sucker. But actually I just set aside the high-quality pieces that have a lot of life left for an upcoming blogger consignment shop. Stay tuned for more details on this! 

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of this sweater. I feel like a broken record talking about how amazing this line is, but it’s so deserving of the kind words and praise. They made the back roomy, the sleeves long, the fabric soft, the quality high. They missed nothing! The soft brown, black and white make this one of the most versatile sweaters you will own. It matches literally any and every pair of shoes in my closet. 

I have worn this casually with jeans, I have worn it to work with this striped skirt for a little bit of print mixing, I have done black jeans, Jenilee did black faux leather leggings. The opportunities to wear this are literally endless. As the weather dips you can add their amazing moto jacket over the top or perhaps their new denim jacket! And by now I can confirm that as long as you follow their instructions it will wash up like a champ. Some sweaters can’t hang in the wash but of course, this one can! 

To reiterate from my Instagram story (Which you can watch all of our try ons in our Amalli Talli Highlight) I am 5’11 and am in the Medium here. I would highly recommend getting your true to size, there is a lot of give, so it’s super comfortable! And I just really want to stress that I have a lot of extra space in the sleeves so if you are taller this will still fit you like an absolute dream! 

As a reminder, you can also read about the oatmeal duster here, the striped sweater here, the crew tanks here, the moto jacket here and another post on this leopard sweater here. And if we haven’t convinced you that you need at least one of these items yet to sweeten the pot: use our code THEREALTALL15 for 15% off your entire purchase!!

Outfit Details

Link to the leopard print sweater, here!

Link to the perfect height heels up to size 11, here!

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Falling for Stripes with Amalli Talli

It’s a good Monday for both of us, mainly because neither of us is at work today. I (Jenilee) have Columbus day off as a holiday so I’m in Philadelphia on a twin trip. Caitlin took today and tomorrow off because she’s in Banff Canada for a long weekend. I’ve been seeing all of these glorious pictures of Banff recently because another blogger we follow is there this weekend (Liz Adam’s of Hello Adams Family). It looks incredible with a fresh dusting of snow. I think Caitlin is hoping that some of it will melt though because it will make hiking a bit more challenging with snow on the ground. But regardless, we’ll be sharing her trip guide later this week if anyone is interested. I know we have had a couple of people message us regarding hiking gear in the past. Hopefully, this will cover some of those questions!

It’s an even better Monday because we have another delicious sweater to share from Amalli Talli today! We shared the leopard print sweater last week. Plus we’re showing it remixed tomorrow on Caitlin! While we adore it, we totally recognize that animal print might not be your thing. So today, we’ve got this fun striped option that you can get excited about instead! 

We love that the stripes are bold colors, the marigold, rust, and navy blue allow for some incredible options for mixing and matching. It’s also great that they are large stripes and they don’t cover the entire sweater. Sometimes, I get stripe fatigue when my shirt is completely striped. Weird, I know! Then I end up not wearing that shirt because of it. So I definitely won’t have to worry about that with this piece.

As with the other items we received from Amalli Talli, this is a size Medium. It’s a generous cut and is made to look slouchier/more like an over-sized look. That’s how we love to wear our sweaters all Winter long in the Midwest. The more wrapped up, the better. Plus this one has a turtleneck, which I live for as well! If you typically shy away from turtlenecks because they make your neck feel suffocated, I do want to mention that it doesn’t suction against your skin. It grazes it and has that same slouchy fit. Caitlin feels like that a lot with turtlenecks and she likes this way A LOT better. 

The sleeves are always such a beautiful length with Amalli Talli’s pieces and this sweater is no exception. Without stretching it out whatsoever, you can pull the sleeves right over the top of your hands. That’s pure happiness right there! Even as I write this, I’m wearing a regular sweater from Old Navy (not tall sized) in a size medium. I have to wear it ¾ length sleeves because it stops 4 inches from my wrist. I wish I were exaggerating! But this sweater is inspiring me to get rid of the ill-fitting garments that I’ve made do with up until now. 

Caitlin wanted to show it worn casually and was inspired to make it a 70’s vibe. She grabbed her pair of flare jeans she has from Gap. Her inseam is 35’ and they just hit the ground on her while she’s wearing flats. So anyone with a longer inseam, probably avoid this pair. For another option for longer inseams, I just reviewed a pair I won from All Tall Things Co. You can check them out here! They work really nicely on my 38’ inseam. 

One more time for anyone who has missed it. Use THEREALTALL15 for 15% off your purchase! We’re very excited to be able to share that code with you and save you a few dollars. These products are all so high quality, that you will definitely be getting your money’s worth!

Outfit Details

Link to the striped sweater here!

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