April 2020 - The Real Tall

Tall & Isi

It’s always a good day when we can introduce/feature a new tall clothing retailer to you all! Especially in these unprecedented times, when we’re doing the best we can to support small businesses it couldn’t be more timely. We’re all struggling in various ways being quarantined, and no one more than non-essential businesses. To all our friends/followers who cannot or are not able to work right now, we truly feel for you. Please let us know if there is any way to support you in the comments below. The effects of COVID 19 are wide reaching and we aren’t seeing the end of the tunnel yet. In the meantime, we’re trying to control what we can, which is to support people the best we can. Meaning, if we can stimulate the economy by shopping, we’re happy to step up to the plate.

Without further ado, let’s talk Tall & Isi! Founded by Isi herself, she feels firsthand the gaps left in the marketplace for tall fashion. We are always so inspired by women who see a problem and take on the challenge to find solutions instead of just hoping someone else will handle it. Solution seekers are the best!

The second part we love about Tall & Isi is how she names her clothing items. She takes her inspiration from the women in her life that have encouraged and inspired her. These women span the globe, which is incredible! Those are the kind of friendships/relationships I think we all aspire to have in our lives.

You should definitely sign up for her newsletter, because firstly it gives you 15% off your first order(!) and secondly it gives a fun explanation of why each item is named! I enjoy reading the reasoning behind each choice, it adds a layer of sentimentality to my shopping experience and is much more personalized, even if I don’t personally know them.

The clothing she sent us to try was Emilie longline blazer and the Lisa A-line skirt. We were most excited about the blazer, as that has long been a nemesis of ours. The shoulder width and arm length and size constantly eludes us on fit. We’re super happy to report that you don’t have to worry about either of those with this perfect blazer!

First off, the shoulders fit our wider frames perfectly. Caitlin is wearing the XL here in orange. She was probably between a large and XL for chest size. The second part we adored is the ¾ sleeve length. This makes the blazer ideal for wearing in the warmer months, since most of the time we can’t get that perfectly rolled cuff look with full length sleeved blazers. Plus the sleeve width works well for our more muscular arms. It’s also the best fabric to make it a crossover blazer for dressing up or casually. It’s a one piece wonder that will make you look polished in the 10 seconds it takes to throw it on!

Caitlin wanted to show y’all her two takes on professional and casual style with the Emilie blazer. First she was super excited to add a rust orange blazer to her collection. It is such a perfect statement piece or it also comes in black. So for work she styled it with these black trousers from ASOS tall and a white cami and flats. To make it casual, she switched it out to Gap curvy cigarette jeans with a ripped knee and her favorite strappy sandals from Amazon which go up to size 11. Here is the link for Amazon basics which goes up to size 13, just keep bookmarked for when they come back in stock!

The Lisa A-line skirt is totally our style. A tall midi? You know we were interested right away, as we adore anything midi length. We were initially hesitant because Isi described the size large as good for a 10/12. Would it fit us? So we tested it out and are so happy to report that it works perfectly! The skirt is a gauzy/floaty style and it is lined, so no worrying about see through fabric. As it is made for tall women – it hits at the perfect below the knee calf length. You already know how much we adore army green, so this color was a no brainer to add to our closets. If that’s not your color, she also has cream and burnt orange! Plus, with this fabric, again it is super versatile to wear to work or transition to your weekend activities! To style it, Caitlin wore this Gap linen button up shirt. These button ups from Gap have really great sleeve length if you’re constantly looking for that like we are!

Basically, Isi is putting together a wonderfully well-rounded boutique for her tall sisters. We have been following along and are loving these new Spring/Summer pieces. We had already snatched up a couple of her Winter sweaters and so far, everything has been perfectly proportioned for our length! If you’re able to support a small business and have some fun shopping while you’re at it, we urge you to go check out Tall & Isi!

April 27, 2020/0 Comments/by Jenilee & Caitlin

Post, Style

Five Positive Quarantine Habits

While I must admit my introvert self is doing just fine with most of the quarantine, there are still parts of life that I’ve let slip and haven’t noticed until I reached a grumpier “woe is me” point. We all operate off of having systems in place in our lives. It becomes evident when we deviate from these systems as our mental health suffers. With all that in mind, I wanted to share a couple of things I’m working on this week to get myself back on track.

Avoiding my phone. I’ve gotten in the nasty habit of scrolling social media immediately upon waking up in the mornings. Despite it being an effective tool to keep me from rolling over and going back to sleep, we all know it’s not a healthy way to start the day. Instead we’re turning on the lights and opening the blinds, maybe some light stretching.
Getting dressed. Perhaps another more obvious suggestion, but it’s easy to roll out of bed and throw on my bathroom and immediately clock in for work. Before you know it, it’s lunchtime and I’m still not dressed. I’m not talking crazy, like fully getting ready/dressed if that’s overkill for your life but putting on some leggings/sweats that make you feel a little more put together.
Limiting caffeine. Before quarantine I’d take my thermos cup of coffee for my morning commute and then be done with coffee aside from the odd two cup day. Now that I’m sitting at home, it’s too easy to decide to finish off a pot of coffee or go for a second pot to warm up later in the afternoon. We all may be struggling a little more with sleep, and caffeine certainly isn’t around to encourage that. Instead, I’m focusing on drinking more water. I’m really good about it when I’m at work and I need to carry it over at home.
Cleaning up. When we’re in our house all the time, we can’t easily avoid messes. I’m not the neatest person, and I get in cycles of dropping my clothes where I take them off only to see a large pile accumulate by the weekend. There is no reason I can’t sort and put the rewearable clothes away and the dirties directly in the laundry basket. The same goes with dishes. We’ve been cooking a lot more and therefore more dishes to wash. It can feel like the dishwashing never ends. We’ve gotten a lot better about cleaning as we go during the prep downtime.
Movement every day. I unfortunately threw out my back last week the one day I had to go to the office, which made for a painful day. Since then I’ve been testing out stretching and still going for walks as I can. Today I finally feel like I can try out a good full body workout and I feel like it’s necessary. I notice I sleep better at night if I exert myself physically, so whether that means doing a long walk or however you translate it, it might be beneficial for you as well!

Those are just a few things I’m working on this week. I realized I needed more systems in place when I’d lay down at night and start on an internal guilt trip on what I didn’t do that day. Instead of continuing to beat myself up, I thought about what I could do to fix it. Since we’re at home for at least a couple of more weeks, what better time to make new habits. They take 21 days to stick, and I’d love to come out of this quarantine taking care of myself in better/smarter ways. That’s not to say you need to “work on yourself” during this time. If you feel inclined to make a change during this time, we’d love to hear about it below!

These outfits were shot pre-quarantine (just to let you know we’re not gallivanting around Milwaukee). We are both wearing the beloved Amalli Talli denim jacket, which is a tall girl must have. There is no better fitting stretchy, but structured jean jacket than this one. It is worth every cent. Caitlin is wearing a graphic t shirt from ASOS mainline, and a midi skirt also from ASOS mainline. Unfortunately both are now sold out. We’ve said it before but their mainline stuff still has plenty of gems that will work for our elongated selves, specifically midi skirts. I (Jenilee) have on an old sweater from Express and my new white stretch curvy white jeans from American Eagle. They have a great high rise waist and they aren’t see through, which has been an issue with my white jeans in the past. Plus they are only $30 right now and come in up to XL inseam.

Outfit Details

Amalli denim jacket. Jenilee’s white jegging.

April 21, 2020/0 Comments/by Jenilee & Caitlin

Post, Style

Dealing with Feelings During COVID

A lot of us are going on a month or so of quarantining. It’s a crazy, unprecedented time to be alive. Navigating it in theory seems like it should be simple or easy. That’s hardly the case when it’s such a vast departure for most of our regularly scheduled lives. Not sure about y’all, but Caitlin and I normally have booked up schedules. Like, maybe one night a week where we don’t have an intramural sport, or appointment or blog event. That’s on top of heading to the gym most days, or seeing a movie at the theater. So to sit at home for days on end is as foreign to us as visiting a different planet. Part of that is ok; to slow down and be in your own environment. The other part is, it presents a new set of challenges.

Challenge number one is, working from home for most of us isn’t ideal. We’re used to having several monitors, instead of one smaller laptop screen. When dealing with spreadsheets and comparing several applications, it’s much more difficult to navigate. Plus not sure if anyone else struggles with your laptop being click happy and selecting things you didn’t ask it to, but that is a major frustration for me (I did turn down the sensitivity of my navigation mouse pad but it didn’t improve anything noticeably). You might not have a chair or even a desk that is comfortable to work at. Let’s call it what it is, working from home is a challenge unless you have the appropriate set up in place.

The flip side of that, is being grateful to still have a job. These are scary times we’re living in, and they are forecasting that unemployment will reach 15% of the population. If that’s you, please understand and take these complaints with a grain of salt. We only can easily inhabit our own lives/problems. We’re sensitive to the fact that other people assuredly have bigger issues than this. This post is just meant to work through frustrations/feelings.

Challenge number 2 is cancelled life. Life as we know it, is on pause. It’s ok to mourn the missed events. Caitlin and the rest of our family just missed their trip to Asheville at the end of March. We all create these expectations/plans and when they fall through it creates disappointment. Looking back on old trips can be a great way to relive memories you’ve already made. Like our trip to London last year, as it approaches the one year anniversary. We can look back and smile, remembering all the incredible memories we made with our aunt and our mom. Even beyond anything as big/momentous as a trip, it’s truly ok to be sad about whatever you’re missing in your regular life. To ignore it is to invalidate your feelings.

We’re not telling you to spend all day dwelling on it, but maybe grab your journal or a piece of paper and just get your feelings down. Make a list of the things you’re missing. Once you’re done, make a new list of things you can do while at home to look forward to. It might be a smaller list, but it might open your eyes and move your thoughts towards something positive. For me, our home renovation is put on hold as it’s non-essential. I totally understand and respect that, but it’s still something I’ve been looking forward to for almost five years. Instead I’m taking this time to make a list of other updates/game plans we’d like to tend to, ourselves. It’s been fun to look through pinterest and see the ideas/move ahead virtually while we cant see physical improvements.

The bottom line is this. We’re all going to have different feelings during this time. Some people are going to want to keep busy and do whatever they can. Other people might just feel frozen, like they need to cozy up on the couch and zone out. There isn’t a right way to handle any of this. Don’t let anyone invalidate your feelings. We will all figure out different ways to cope during this quarantine. We’d love for you to share some of your feelings in the comments below and connect/commiserate with you. Tell us where you’re at with everything.

You can buy the comfiest travel dress HERE.

April 6, 2020/0 Comments/by Jenilee & Caitlin

Post, Style

Intentionality During a Time of Stress

The idea of reframing this time to be more intentional about life has definitely been a saving grace for us. While a lot of the meme accounts out there are making jokes (which is completely welcome and necessary for coping), we’ve seen some great posts about coming out of this better as a whole population. That is something worthy to focus on, if possible. I think keeping our eyes facing forward, and controlling what we can control will be vital in the coming weeks.

Different people need different things to cope during this time. Some people thrive on a lot of structure. Others can be a bit more relaxed about it. Pay attention to how you’re feeling, and make tweaks as you need to! Caitlin was telling me the other day she wasn’t feeling great, because she hadn’t gotten ready for the day, but felt like it was pointless until after she worked out (which wasn’t until 4:30 in the afternoon). So today, she changed into her workout clothes and swiped on some mascara, and already feels better. It doesn’t have to be crazy, like wearing jeans or a full face of makeup, but if that’s what makes you feel good, then don’t feel bad about that either! That’s the beauty of this time. No one HAS to see you, so it’s a no judgement zone.

I was getting down on myself daily about feeling/looking like a slob. It took an AHA moment of A. that I shouldn’t be talking to myself/treating myself that way, and B. I am in control of my own choices. This means maybe washing my hair a little bit more often than 1.5 times a week, or even just choosing to use that dry shampoo even if no one else can see my greasy hair. This is the time to figure out how to take care of yourself as best you can.

It can be easy to try to avoid your feelings by zoning out with Netflix or whatever your streaming service du jour may be. While that can be healthy to “relax and unwind,” it also serves to suck up hours of your day or avoid dealing with facing certain issues. If you have the bandwidth, you can spend some time journaling or reading. Pick up your bible, or grab that self help book you’ve been putting off reading.

If you feel out of control about your eating, take some time to plot out your meal plan for the week. Usually I’m bemoaning my lack of time for cooking. I’ve taken advantage these last couple of weeks and made some fun and delicious recipes. Plus if you plot out a meal plan, it should help you get in and out of the grocery store as quickly as possible, or have a game plan for ordering online.

I’ve talked to friends who have scheduled time in their calendar to do certain chores, or to get outside at a specific time. Maybe you need to block off time to make things happen. You could also prefer to have an idea of what needs to get done and just let the day unfold. Look at this as a time to experiment with how your life works best!

We have the unique opportunity right now to sit at home to keep others safe. It might feel trite or melodramatic, but we all can help reframe our mindsets on this. If you’re home alone, set up daily check-ins with friends/family. Even if you’re not home alone, check in with your friends and family if you haven’t already. We’ve got the time, and once it’s gone we can’t get it back, so we might as well take advantage.

It feels a little strange still to be sharing clothing, while most of us aren’t feeling like it’s worth shopping right now. We want to be as respectful as possible to all of you. People have encouraged us to continue to post during this time, and to be frank, it gives us a wonderful creative outlet to continue to pour into as well. We’ll all have to go back to work eventually, and if you are on the hunt for work pants or a great tall bodysuit then check out these options. Another positive out of this, is a lot of retailers are continuing to share some incredible deals if you’re choosing to shop.

We want to reiterate that we had all of these pictures stock piled so we aren’t traipsing around the public to get the shots. You have seen this one shoulder bodysuit in the past and it is still proving to be a staple in Caitlin’s closet. She snagged these oxblood work trousers in her recent work pants haul (ironic timing now that we’re working from home). I loved that she went with a more trendy trouser look than a typical work look here. These Amazon heels keep proving to be the most worn heels in her closet.