The 12 Shirts of Christmas

I own a lot of Western shirts.  And when I say a lot I mean 12.  Exactly.  So to be particularly festive I thought I would show them to you, so you could laugh at my excessive amount of check shirts and give you a bit of Christmas cheer.  I also thought that since I own a total of 12 it would make a great count down to the big day.

So my First Shirt of Christmas is this short sleeved pale blue one, which is by the brand Twenty X, at least I think that is what it says...the label is pretty faded.  It also says Oceanside Cowgirl on the collar, which is quite fitting as this is a really nice summery shirt.  The colours in it include turquoise, French navy, beige and chocolate brown.  I love how checked shirts are made up of so many colours, which you can only see when you get up close.

My Second Shirt of Christmas is this pretty pale orange one by R.M. Williams, the iconic Australian brand.  I have so many R.M. Williams clothes.  Actually I haven't introduced you to my R.M. Williams boots yet.  I must do that in the New Year.  Anyway, back on topic.  This one is semi-fitted and has a few fine pleats in the front.  The colours are apricot, pink, pale brown and white.

The Third Shirt of Christmas brings us this 'Steppin' Out Shirt'.  It's a bit flash.  It's a Wrangler shirt and is brighter than my usual pickings.  It is a mix of hot pink, turquoise, aqua green, a burnt sienna and white.  It also has lines of silver thread through it to give it a little sparkle and some turquoise stitching to highlight the pockets and lapel. 

The Fourth Shirt of Christmas seems to make me very grumpy for some reason.  Another Wrangler shirt it has pink (obviously), white and a bit of yellow in there.  The buttons are cute too.  They are those stud kind (which means you can rip off your shirt in a hurry in case you need to) and they have little pink horse shoes on them.

The Fifth Shirt of Christmas is an Australian brand called Bull Rush.  It's even made in Australia, which unfortunately is a rare thing nowadays.  This shirt has more of a linen feel to it and has their logo embroidered on the pocket, which is a cowboy on a bucking bull.  It's pretty cool.  The colours included are three various shades of green and a bright blue.

The Sixth Shirt of Christmas is another Wrangler shirt.  This is a little different in that the checks are diagonal.  It also has diamond shaped pearl coloured buttons.  This one is actually a size 8 and I don't think I've ever been able to do it up, but I like wearing it open over a singlet.  Colours found in this one are light blue, navy, yellow and white.

The Seventh Shirt of Christmas is another by R.M. Williams.  I really like this one.  It has their logo on the yoke of the shirt at the back, which is a the head of a longhorn cow.  The buttons are the snappy kind and are a pretty pearl.  Colours in the shirt include pink, a sort of burgundy brown, white and a little bit of bright turquoise green!

The Eighth Shirt of Christmas is my most festive, I think.  It's by Wrangler and very Christmasy with all the red.  I like the contrast with the navy and white too.

For the Ninth Shirt of Christmas I found this nice rusty old gate and stood against it.  I'm looking in the direction of where my town is.  How nice are the hills in the background?!  This shirt is by Wrangler and is full of pretty colours like pink, orange, brown, white and a hint of green.

For the Tenth Shirt of Christmas I couldn't choose between which photo I liked the best.  I'm sorry, but my daughter got in there too and they were all so cute.  Of her, not me.  My final R.M. Williams shirt is a semi fitted one like the orange one and has the little pleats in the front.  It's got a few shades of mauve running through it, white and navy.

The Eleventh Shirt of Christmas made my little girl cry.  Actually it wasn't the shirt, it was the fact that I got on the swings without her.  This one is made by Thomas Cook, an Australian family owned company.  I remember wearing this at The Royal Melbourne Show one year, after the cattle judging when I went to the Cattleman's Bar.  Let's just say it didn't end well and I don't remember most of it.  It has burgundy, various shades of red, beige, salmon and cream.  It's quite pretty actually.

For the Twelfth Shirt of Christmas I have one of my favourites because it is super comfortable.  It's by Wrangler and has that lovely soft feeling of being washed dozens of times.  It's cream with a bit of beige, burgundy and pink.  It also has three quarter sleeves and I've had lots of good times in this shirt.  In fact I've had lots of good times in all my shirts!

 

Merry Christmas to you and all your Western shirts! xo





 



 

 



 

























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What Is In My Bag

Actually that's a good question because half the time I don't even know what is in my bag.  Having read quite a few posts from fellow bloggers who dissect their handbags for us, I thought I would show you into the depths of my nappy bag...basically whether you are interested or not (!) 

 

Pre-babies I never carried a handbag.  I'm a 'wallet-in-the-back-pocket' kinda gal, and I squish my mobile phone in the front pocket of  my jeans.  I always have pockets (I always wear jeans), so never have to worry about a bag. 

 

Post-babies and I'm stuck with a nappy bag, because you just can't wrangle a sea of children without one.  Trust me...once they have got past the 'I-need-nappies-wipes-changes-of-clothes-hats-toys-etc' I'm going right back to that 'wallet/mobile phone-in-the-jeans-pocket' combination.  Too many hypens??  Perhaps.

 

So...this is my bag..

It's quite big!  Understandably.  It's also real leather and it was a treat to myself for my birthday last year.  It's from Isle of Charlie, which is a great website and I ordered it online.  I figured that with four kids (and three of them being under school age) I was going to get a lot of mileage out of this bag.   I tossed up between a gorgeous soft blue version, but then figured I'd get sick of it so went for the camel coloured.  I wonder if camels appreciate having bag colours named after them? Hmmmm....

 

Inside you will find terribly boring things like...

Ok, so there are nowhere near as many nappies in my bag as there used to be.  At one stage I had three in nappies.  It was fabulous.  Not really.

Wipes.  Possibly THE most handy invention.  EVER.  Seriously.  As well as wiping little bottoms they do noses, faces, hands, shoes, benches, bathrooms, toilets.....the list goes on.  I'm always covered in sticky finger stains from my kids and I'm often found scrubbing at my jeans during the last minute dash to head out the door with a bunch of wipes.  Buy some.  You will thank me.

We're getting out of hat weather really but as it is Spring it is weird and crazy and everywhere so the hat still makes an appearance.  Love the bobbly bits that hang down.  Gives my daughter something to chew on.

These rescue pastilles are awesome.  I keep some by my bed too.  I have the odd panic attack here and there, not ashamed to admit, and these are great.  I don't usually need to resort to these during the day, only at night sometimes, but it's handy having them in my bag just in case.

This is a little plastic container.  How cute is it?!  Currently there is nothing in it but I usually carry emergency snacks in here....biscuits, fruit...chocolate....tranquillisers.

I have done a Moo Goo review here.  This is an all purpose moisturiser that is really handy, has a sort of marshmallow-ey kind of fragrance and occasionally I will use it as a nappy balm.  Love it.

Yep..cute squirrel purse which is empty.  No idea why it is there.

Gorgeous pair of designer sunglasses by Ralph Lauren that I have hardly worn.  Got them a couple of years ago.  Mum picked them up for me when she was on holidays with my sister and her family.  They were in Italy!  Exciting!  And it took me ages to pay her back....I'm terrible.  I need to wear them more this year because the sun is really harsh here in Australia and I have wrinkles under my eyes from too much squinting.  Most likely from when I worked as a farm hand on various farms.  Hence my love for anti-wrinkle eye cream.

 

There is also usually my wallet but it is a bit of a disgrace and while taking these photos it had gone missing, thanks to my kids.  However, it is brown leather and is from R.M. Williams, which is an iconic Australian brand.  When I met my husband he had exactly the same wallet.  It was kooky.  I generally live in my R.M. Williams boots, but at the moment they have holes in the soles and let in water.  Otherwise they are the best.  (The boots aren't in my bag by the way...as we are talking about what is in my bag...but once I get on to the topic of my boots.....!  Enough Amber, shut up about the boots!!).

 

So that's about it really, other than the bits of fluff and the odd Matchbox car that I find, and random coins floating around the bottom. 

 

What exciting things have you got in your bag?























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