Jord (pronounced Yode) is a unique watchband brand that we LOVE! The company is run by artists, designers, marketers, and minders. They focus on creating timepieces for the modern person. They use raw materials to create stylish, different, and captivating watch bands. Typically when our family sees watch companies we don’t really even consider shopping them because we are all Apple Watch wearers. This is part of the reason we love Jord; they sell full watches as well as Apple Watch Bands.
They have some mixed media watch bands with wood and metal combinations as well as leather bands. All of them look timeless in their own ways but we were partial to the leather bands ourselves. We picked the Mocha Suede and the Camel because it doesn’t get more classic and timeless than that! Like all Apple Watch bands, these are extremely easy to slide on and off to change any look in just a few seconds.
The bands are 100% genuine vegetable-tanned leather and 100% genuine grained padded leather. Both are completed with stainless steel lug end adaptors & clasps. We chose the padded leather because it seemed slightly more feminine and us. However, they also offer flat leather as well. Today you see the camel band on me, stay tuned for more to come showcasing the mocha!
With the Holiday season upon us, this is the perfect gift for your watch wearing and Apple Watch owning friends. You can even add a personalized touch by adding engraving on the back of the watch faces; which makes any gift that much more special.
Now and through the Holidays we strongly urge you to shop local, shop small, shop items made in North America. Skip the cheap products you can have in a day on Amazon that won’t last more than a few months and support the companies with a mission and passion for what they are doing! We know all too well that the convenience of Amazon is addicting and the low prices are enticing. Just consider quality over quantity and the ethics behind what you are purchasing.
I want to leave you with something Jenilee saw on Instagram last week I think it’s a great reminder for us all as we head into the season of extreme overconsumption and greed.
This has been a much-requested post! I think we all can agree that picking an appropriate wedding guest attire can be very trying at times. A lot of wedding invites use ambiguous wording at best to describe what to wear. Then you show up at the wedding and find people in a wide variation. It can make you question, did I read the invite wrong? Did they? Obviously there is plenty of room to interpret the dress code as you’d like. Plus, it’s our prerogative as we all appreciate being able to showcase our individuality through our selections.
With that being said, Caitlin and I have a few unwritten rules we typically abide by. We would rather show up overdressed than under dressed. Hopefully, we can help you avoid standing out for the wrong reasons. As tall women, we’re noticed first when entering a room as well as on the dance floor. While I’d love for that not to be the case on the dance floor, I definitely don’t mind people noticing me when I took the time and care to dress well and do my makeup and hair nicely.
The second rule is mainly about length. I don’t like to worry about showing too much leg at a wedding, so you’ll typically find me in a midi dress length. Caitlin feels the same way, especially when you attend the ceremony in a church. It feels a little disrespectful to show up with something that you could wear to a club. Personal preference for us though. So if you like to show a bit more leg, this might not be as helpful to you. Definitely not against the use of cutouts or showing cleavage, because all of that can be easily covered in a church with a wrap or a cardigan etc. And we, of course, go by the unspoken rule of NEVER wearing white or a primarily white printed dress.
So without further ado, let’s jump in and break it down by dress code!
Casual
Let’s say it’s a courthouse wedding, or maybe a backyard wedding. Something a bit more lowkey or maybe they did a destination wedding and are doing a party now they are back at home. This is the easiest because it really isn’t a typical wedding attire. You can show up in whatever you’d like!
Semi-Formal (Cocktail/Dressy Casual)
This is where it starts to get a bit blurry on the rules. Clearly, you can’t show up casually dressed, but that’s still not easily translatable on what you should wear. Even at my job currently which is business casual, there is a WIDE array of choices that are “accepted.” When I say accepted in parentheses, it’s because I’m not sure a lot of people know how to discern it themselves let alone govern others choices! But I digress here. Basically, here is where we start to err on the side of dressier than more casual. Unless the dress code says casual, leave the leggings at home. It’s still safe to choose a print on your dress.
Cocktail
This route is pretty similar to semi-formal. Men would be in a suit, and the hemline can be from mid-thigh to mid-calf. There’s no need to avoid maxi dresses if you’re so inclined. Jersey fabric will be a clear no-no, you’ll want something with a stiffer fabric to dress it up. Definitely don’t need a gown. We wouldn’t do a floral for this dress code, but you can still go with some brighter colors.
Caitlin is wearing this dress for the pictures, click here for the link. It’s the perfect Fall color.
Formal or Black Tie Optional
Here is where most people have a lot less experience. I know that between Caitlin and I, we’ve never attended a formal wedding. This is sad to me because I’d love an excuse to buy a ridiculously gorgeous full-length gown. But I know a lot of other women must be attending them because we spot a lot of amazing options when we’re online shopping. Floor-length is not expected, even with black tie. You can go the cocktail length or still midi length but a bit more subdued on color (ie no pastels, no prints typically).
Destination/Beach
Guest choices can run the gamut on options for beach weddings. Where men can get away with pretty casual and just wear un-tucked button-down shirts, we still have a plethora of choice. Where it might seem obvious to choose flowy, I’d be careful on length as a lot of beaches I’ve seen weddings have a lot of wind to contend with. If you go flowy you might want to stick with maxi length. However, this is an opportunity to get a bit bolder on color choices and/or patterns! If you go shorter, you might want to keep it tighter fitting, either body con or a shift.
Bridesmaid Duties
There’s bound to be opportunities for you to be asked to be a bridesmaid. While you may end up in a dress you don’t love, at least a lot of companies give the option to add additional length to fit our height. That’s a tall girl pet peeve of ours, however. They will add a specific length to the fabric, which costs extra money. Then if you don’t actually need that specific length, then you have to pay additional money to get it tailored. So now you have to spend more money than most. If you’re able to choose your own gown, we definitely recommend buying a tall option if possible. Tall tip: If the bride to be chooses a shorter length dress and it’s too short, ask if they offer the same style in floor length and have it hemmed. Caitlin did this last summer and it worked wonderfully!
General Tall Tip: To see more options filter by midi length on all sites rather than only by tall and you will see hundreds more! They likely won’t fit like a midi but they will still be plenty long. Also shopping out of season and planning way ahead when a wedding is on the horizon will help you get a great deal on most dresses!
Shoes
We hear you bemoaning the lack of shoe options, and we don’t blame you because our options are definitely limited. With that being said, we did some legwork and found some options up to size 15 available on Amazon. You can check out our picks at Amazon here. Please know that we get a commission by you clicking the link and purchasing any items. We try to provide a value for y’all to make your life a bit easier, so we appreciate your support and understanding on this! We’ve also attached a widget of other shoe options as well for larger feet. Some small businesses that aren’t available to link through the widget include CoIX shoes, and Smash Shoes for some beautiful dressier options.
Last night we had the chance to visit Milwaukee’s Irish Fest. The weather couldn’t have cooperated more beautifully. We were initially a little worried about being chilly, but the sun warmed us until it set, and with a cool breeze we were very comfortable as we wandered the grounds. For those of you following along earlier in the Summer, Irish Fest and most other cultural festivals are held on the Summerfest grounds. Typically we attend Germanfest, which has always been a fun tradition, but this year we took a break as we were a bit event fatigued. Luckily Irish Fest messaged us and gifted us some tickets to head down and enjoy the experience.
We just missed the opening ceremony, as it was difficult to get down there quickly after work. Irish Fest runs Thursday, August 15th through Sunday, August 18th, so there is plenty of time to join in on the world’s largest Irish celebration! Any time we hear about the irresistible combination of themed (fried) food, live music, and some beer, consider us lured in. We did some scoping of the traditional Irish fare being offered and after last night, we can conclude safely, that we love it.
Being that it was our first time, we can’t speak to the crowd typical size. As we walked in, we were relieved to see that although there were plenty of people enjoying the first night, we wouldn’t be elbowing our way around as it usually happens at Summerfest. Some of the food vendors were closed probably just because of the smaller crowd size on the weeknight, but there were still ample options available and we took full advantage!
Whenever we visit festivals, fairs, etc; we love to share food. It’s always better to get a couple of bites of something and be able to try another new item than fill up on one thing. Plus you’re also risking not liking the new to you food you just spent good money on! So grab a friend you can split your grub with and enjoy as we do! To start us off strong, we stopped at Mulligan’s Irish Pub and grabbed the Reuben quesadilla. That was at the top of my list of items to try and I didn’t regret it! If anything now I’d like to make it at home.
From there we grabbed a Sausage Roll from Mother Machree Strudel House. It was a top-notch Usinger’s sausage encased in a wonderfully flaky crust. It was like a gourmet corn dog, completely wonderful. As we enjoyed our first bites, we sat and took in the sounds of Backwest at the Miller Lite Stage. They are a traditional Irish music band and play some really fun classics while providing a backstory. Once we satiated our stomachs with the first round of food, we headed to find some beer. We ended up with the Terrapin IPA, which was new to us but had a great orange (citrusy) flavor.
We got to the grounds cutoff point (which might be shortened again because it was a weeknight but can’t confirm that) and found Winston’s. There was quite a line and as we scanned their menu, we realized it was for good reason. They have a plethora of incredible sounding options, and we intended to put it to the test. We ended up trying the Irish Egg Rolls, and oh my gosh were they more than we ever hoped! Perfectly fresh out of the deep fryer, with gooey wonderful insides.
Although we haven’t typically eaten a lot of Shepherd’s pie, for some reason the Shepherds Fries were calling our names. They are fresh fries, topped with Shepherd’s pie and melted cheddar cheese. The toppings were ample enough that we dug in with forks. It’s a play on the typical chili cheese fries and we loved it! The last thing we tried at Winston’s was their Toasted sandwich. It’s a corned beef sandwich on toasted marbled rye, with cheddar cheese and grilled onions. You can tell the corned beef was high quality and plentiful, we all just agree that we should have gone with the traditional Reuben because we missed the thousand island dressing. It was still a great sandwich, just hard because it was so similar to a Reuben!
While we passed around our food with sighs of contentment, we listened to Realta another Irish Band at the Aer Lingus stage. They had a lot of the traditional instruments, playing with uilleann pipes, whistles, flute, bouzouki, banjo, and bodhran for an alternative folk take on Irish traditional music. They mixed in some slower tunes and then had some livelier riffs, which we truly enjoyed! We had a blast trying to figure out which Irish instruments they were all strumming on.
As we were heading back out of the festival, you know it wouldn’t be us (especially down at the Summerfest grounds), if we didn’t make a stop at Cedar Crest Ice Cream. There we split their peanut butter ice cream sundae, to satisfy our sweet tooth and cap off a great experience. We loved our first visit to Irish Fest, and we will definitely be returning in the future. Next year they are celebrating their 40th year of Irish Fest, so it seems like a great time to return. Go check it out for yourself this weekend, or save the date for next year’s huge celebration!
Peep the face you make when you remember you are sharing the sundae!
Sweet sweet Summertime. How wonderful it is to be in the throes of Summer. To anyone complaining about the heat, take that mess elsewhere. I know I’ll be soaking up this warmth because once it’s gone, it gets ugly around here pretty quickly. Catch me by the pool on the weekends, probably happily sweating. Hopefully y’all have similar plans that involve a body of water or just being outdoors in general.
During the week, it might not be as easy to be near or on/in the water. Hence the need for alternate enjoyable plans. Why not consider Jazz in the Park? It just so happens to be Milwaukee’s favorite FREE, outdoor, summer music series. We headed downtown to experience it for ourselves. If you follow along on Instagram you may have already caught our experience live. If not, let me fill you in on some details!
Jazz in the Park has been held for 28 years and counting! It’s run by East Town Association which we’ve highlighted this Summer, writing about Bastille Day and the Cathedral Square Market (you can click the events to see our posts). It starts at the end of May and runs through the end of August, so you have all Summer to stop by. They post the schedule on their website here so you can plan who you want to see when. While you are on their site you can also check out the incredible list of vendors you can expect to see throughout the summer.
The night we went was unique because it was the first time “Jazz went Country.” The performance was awesome! People were dancing near the stage, the audience was filled with smiling faces, bottles of wine and charcuterie boards galore. It was a gorgeous summer night for sitting outside, especially as the sun was setting.
We got to Cathedral Square and promptly needed to get a cool drink in our hands. There was a mild debate whether we should purchase a bottle of champagne, wine, or just snag a few beers. We opted for one of our local favorites; Happy Place, from Third Space Brewing. We made it to the tent before 6 pm which was a big win for us because it was happy hour and drinks were discounted. You all know a sale of any sort is our love language! With a drink secured, we decided we should survey all of the vendors that were present before choosing the ones we saw first.
Our first stop was Kompali Taqueria where we got chips & guacamole, the steak taco, pastor taco, and chicken tinga taco. We wanted to try the Elotes but sadly they didn’t have any cheese so we didn’t get the opportunity. We also grabbed some Chicago Mix Popcorn from Lush Popcorn which was divine. The last things we indulged in were billy goat hand-cut chips and Miss Molly’s Assorted Cookies from The Village Cheese Shop.
The Flowers for Dreams Truck was also present on the sunny Thursday evening that we attended. This truck is the cutest truck we have ever seen! You can buy flowers right out of the cutout windows on the side of the truck.
You can catch Jazz In The Park tomorrow, August 1, and catch The Jimmy’s or any of the following Thursdays with Plaid Hawaii, The Claudettes, Abby Anderson, or Eddie Butts. We would love to hear about your favorite musicians, vendors, or experiences if you are able to catch Jazz this summer!
Lots of Summery tall jumpsuits are now marked down for the end of the season, so snatch them up if you’ve been looking!
https://www.therealtall.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/DSC06237.jpg943629Jenilee & Caitlinhttps://www.therealtall.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2.jpgJenilee & Caitlin2019-07-31 07:30:392019-07-30 15:02:06Jazz in the Park
In honor of Summerfest starting this week, we thought we’d share a mini post of 10 things we love about the world’s largest music festival! Without further ado…
The grounds are on the lakefront. Not only do you get to listen to tons of amazing music, but you get an incredible view!
The eggplant strips at Venice Club. They’ve been a mainstay for many many years, and every year we prioritize splitting a platter and sprinkling parmesan cheese on top.
The sheer amount of options! There are 12 stages that cover every genre of music! You can head down there and easily find a band/artist you’ll enjoy.
Catalano’s Lemonade. If you go during the day, there is nothing more refreshing than some fresh-squeezed lemonade that is ice cold!
The small town feel. Inevitably, you will run into someone you know, despite the thousands of people moving through the festival
Festival Fashion. Duh, you knew we couldn’t get through the list without mentioning all the fun looks people show up in!
Public Transportation. They do a great job of providing safe options to get to and from the festival. Plus it’s a worry-free way to not have to battle traffic and parking!
Saz’s Sampler Platter. It’s the perfect mix of foods to try and share with a friend. All the fried food goodness!
Cedar Crest Ice Cream. They are another local company, and lately we’ve been grabbing a cone after the concerts end to finish off a great night.
The value! Nowhere else can you show up to a festival and get in the door to see someone like T-Pain, or Lake Street Dive for $23! Most of the time, the ticket fees are like $23 alone! Plus if you buy a 3-day pass ($57), you save $12.
Those are just a few reasons you need to visit Summerfest. We will definitely be down for a good portion of the festival. Hope to see y’all there!
Outfit Details
You can see these shorts styled differently if you check out our shorts round-up here!
https://www.therealtall.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/DSC03682-1.jpg9681451Jenilee & Caitlinhttps://www.therealtall.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2.jpgJenilee & Caitlin2019-06-25 07:30:112019-06-24 13:26:3010 Things We Love About Summerfest
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