when I see your light shine, I know I’m home

Blouse: Free People Smell The Roses Dot Top, Mom Jeans: Topshop, Booties: Topshop

Slowly but surely, the weather is finally starting to warm up here in Toronto. I don’t know how I did it over the winter, taking pictures outside in the freezing cold. The pictures this week were taken on a sunny, slightly warm (but still a bit windy) day, and it made me appreciate the feeling of the warm sun just shining down on me as I sat on the railroad track. I forgot how nice that feels. And for the first time in a long time, I was able to be outside without a jacket on for more than 5 minutes at a time!

For this week’s outfit, I decided to pair this polka dot blouse with my standard high waisted mom jeans. This top is amazing – the style of it with the ruffles and voluminous, banded sleeves gives it such a Victorian feel, but the cropped length keeps it looking modern. As for the pattern, let’s just say that polka dots are gonna be HUGE for this Spring/Summer. I prefer smaller polka dots like the one on this blouse because I find that larger polka dots tend to look a bit clown-ish. However, smaller polka dots are just so darn cute, delicate, and much more wearable. I’m sure we all have something polka dotted in our wardrobe as this is such a classic pattern, so now is definitely the time to take it out and rock it! If sporting an entirely polka dotted piece is too out there for you, definitely try incorporating it through an accessory. I’ve seen polka dotted headbands, scarves, and even shoes! Such an easy and subtle way to rock the trend, while adding that little special touch to spice up your outfit.

If you do decide to try a polka dotted blouse (or perhaps polka dots on the bottom), be sure to pair it with a solid colour on the other half of your body to balance it out. We all know that black goes with anything and everything, so with this blouse, I decided to pair my favourite washed black mom jeans since it’s not yet warm enough for shorts. But once it is, I can definitely picture this top with vintage black Levi’s cutoff shorts, or even a light washed blue denim shorts and some easy slides on the feet.

So I didn’t just pose on this railroad track for no reason.  For me, railroad tracks always remind me of returning home to family/loved ones and so I wanted to incorporate a song with that theme. I feel like there are so many songs out there with that theme, but for some reason I had such a hard time thinking of one. Then I started listening to Vance Joy’s new album Nation of Two. Even though it was only released a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. Especially the song We’re Going Home. And that’s when it clicked – this song would be perfect for this week’s blog post! I believe this song was previously released as one of the singles off the album. Perfect timing because this is such a dreamy springtime love song! I just imagine it playing in the final scene of the movie where the girl is staring out the train window after deciding to return to her lover, with the sun halfway shining on her face (coincidentally very similar to the opening scene of the music video). I’m sure the majority of you have already listened to it, but if not, check out We’re Going Home below, as well as the rest of the album.