All Posts By

Eric Wertz

Head to Toe TOPO

Posted on March 13, 2017

This summer I told myself I’m going to do as many outdoor activities as possible. Since Nate loves hiking and my parents are also avid hikers, we will definitely be doing our fare share of hiking. I took our trip to Arizona as an opportunity to start picking up some outdoor gear, and Topo Designs was at the top of my list. I love their artistic view on outdoor gear and how they don’t shy away from using bright colors, even if its just a subtle detail. The Puffer Cardigan is now one of the most unique pieces in my wardrobe. The nylon material almost gives it a leather jacket vibe. I honestly feel like it looks like I’m wearing a leather jacket but it’s so comfortable you almost don’t feel like your wearing a jacket at all! I also like the fact that the inside of the jacket is a vibrant yellow…when the wind blows you get that peek of the color pop. It was the perfect jacket to bring on my trip. While in Arizona the weather was pretty sporadic. It was actually ranging from about 80 degrees where we were staying, to 35 degrees at the canyon – crazy difference in just a 3 hour drive! I wasn’t sure if I should bring shorts, pants, a jacket or what. So I brought their Mountain Shorts in case it was hot and Puffer Jacket in case I got cold. It’s light enough to wear under another jacket if it was really needed, or if I got hot I could roll it up and put it in my pack. I’m seriously obsessed with this jacket! It was a little chilly but once I started moving around I was glad I was wearing shorts. The shorts are the perfect length and have a slim fit. Also, I like the little bit of color that the red belt adds. To go with the red detail in the belt I paired the fit with their red Nylon Camp Hat. Most of the hats I own are 5 Panel. Since I have a small head, it seems to be the style that fits me the best. For the pack I knew I wasn’t actually gong to be doing any long distance hiking so I went with the smaller Rover Pack. To to be honest, I didn’t do much hiking at all. It was more site seeing. But, I still needed somewhere to keep some water and snacks since we were going to be out all day, and it was perfect for what I needed it for. This summer when we actually start taking some longer treks I will probably upgrade to the Klettersack. Topo Designs won me over as a fan with their quality and product designs, and it’s always a bonus when all of the items are made in the USA!

Reviews Style

Beating Winter Bulkiness With a Slim Fit in Navas Lab

Posted on February 15, 2017

So you may have noticed that over the past year there has been a surge of technical garments. For the average person though, who just wants the look of the tech garment but doesn’t need it to be overly technical, NavasLab is a great choice. I got my hands on the NavasLab MADS jacket and I instantly became a fan of the company once I put it on! The inside is lined with polartec fleece, which makes the jacket super comfortable and surprisingly warm for such a lightweight jacket. The midweight soft-shell gives the jacket a very slim and fitted look (which is good since some hoodies and jackets make you look extra bulky). I like the detail of the bottom and how the back of the jacket is just a little longer than the front. The matching black zippers also adds to the refined look of the jacket. I also really dig the extra large pockets, which in this weather is great so you can fit your hands in your pockets even when you have gloves on! I already have plans to make this jacket one of my layers for when I go skiing. It’s perfect because it will keep me warm while I’m on the mountain and fashionable when I take off my ski jacket and head to the lodge bar. 🙂 The slim-fitting style is also perfect to fit right under my outer layer, without adding much bulk! From winter to chilly summer nights, it’s safe to say this jacket will be getting a lot of use! Their tech pieces are available in tall & slim (fit sizes L & XL)! All of NavasLab’s premium apparel goods are made right in Vancouver, Canada! It’s always refreshing when a company uses local vendors for their manufacturing needs, which allows them to be easily and heavily involved in the sampling of their pieces. Check this brand out and use code BCP1 to get 10% OFF Any NavasLab Purchase Until 3/31/17!

Family Reviews Style

#GiveGodiva This Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 3, 2017

I’ve never been one to buy my wife flowers. Now, before you start judging me, hear me out! Roses are pretty, but only for about 24 hours and then they start to die. A bunch of dead flowers on the table just doesn’t scream romance to me! (LOL) Luckily for me, my wife also has never really been into flowers (the smell reminds her of a funeral home) AND she has a MAJOR sweet tooth. Whenever I want to surprise her with something, to show my love and appreciation for her, chocolate is almost always my go-to. So for Valentines day especially, you have to go with the best…Godiva. Surprising her with something sweet is also a fun way to get my 4 year old son Nate involved. What kid doesn’t love going to a store that sells an array of delicious sweets? He loves the idea of me bringing him along to help me pick out something yummy that he thinks mommy would like. We can also spoil ourselves and walk out of there with a delicious milk shake, ice cream, or some hot cocoa! (and you better believe we did) This year we’re giving her the Godiva Slices of Love Chocolate Gift Box and 2 of the Godiva’s Valentine’s Day Gold Boxes. The Slices of Love collection features some of your favorite cakes from around the world in the form of chocolates. Nate picked it out for the packaging, but I was sold on the cake inspired flavors. A chocolate assortment is always a good idea so we (I mean my wife) can try a little of everything! My favorite was the chocolate turtle, my wife loves the caramels, and Nate just wanted to bite into each piece. Getting to share the sweets is another reason I always opt for chocolates over flowers! Nate was so excited to tell mommy “I have a surprise for youuuuuu”. He loves getting presents but also loves giving them, and can’t keep a secret for anything. So, we ended up giving them to her a little early. She was so happy when her 2 favorite guys surprised her with a little luxury of chocolates. We were quickly overpowered with high-pitched mommy excitement, a triple family hug and kisses galore! There’s just something about Godiva that shows you went that extra mile to make someone feel special. Every year it seems like these special occasions mean more and more to me. Being able to show my wife how much my son and I love her and appreciate everything she does to take care of her 2 silly boys means a lot to me. It’s very easy to go everyday and not take time to appreciate the ones you love but as I get older, I try to on a daily basis. I want to make sure they know everyday that no one loves anyone as much as I love them. I love our little family and we will always be a tripod or maybe more like the 3 stooges! 🙂

Reviews Style

AFFORDABLE WRIST-WEAR WITH ARMITRON

Posted on January 26, 2017

Being a huge watch fan I sometimes get lost on daydreaming about getting a nice fancy and expensive watch. Then most of the time, well actually, all of the time reality hits me and I realize I don’t want or need to spend a down payment on a car to get a fashionable watch! Here’s proof with this Armitron Silver-Tone Black Dial Watch with Stainless Steel Mesh Band. Its classic & clean style and beautiful metal strap really caught my eye. I’ve been wanting a watch with the metal mesh strap for awhile now! Its a perfect everyday watch for any outfit and it’s hard to believe that it only cost $55! This style watch is also available with a navy face or in a gold tone. If you’ve got that itch for a pricey piece, snag this one instead and put the rest in savings! LOL #DadAdvice (If you’re wondering about the last photo – I think he was upset when my wife told him she needed some pictures of me without him in them…awww)

Family Reviews Style

GETTING ACTIVE AFTER THE HOLIDAYS

Posted on January 22, 2017

Trying to stay in shape these days feels harder and harder – especially during the holidays! Between juggling work, the blog, house chores, and spending time with my family, it doesn’t leave much time for fitness. These days I’m finding that if I want to work out as much as I would like to, I need to find ways to include my son. We’ve been bringing Nate to the track lately. He loves trying to race mommy and I around. Sometimes we’ll even have an imaginary game of baseball and run the bases over and over. The kid loves to run, so it works out! It actually started lightly snowing when we were shooting, but it made it all the more fun for Nate! I also recently starting going to a Cross Fit gym by me a few times a week. The gym actually allows me to bring my son to watch while I’m taking my class. It’s adorable watching him try to copy the moves and workouts from the corner. He’s a big fan of burpees and box jumps LOL. Not only does he enjoy being included in getting active with my wife and I, but he also loves that he can match daddy. One of the many reasons we like going to Marshalls is that they have something for the whole family. They also have some great workout equipment! My wife recently got a yoga mat, I got a muscle roller, and I also picked up this jump rope, which I’ve really been into lately! (Of course we had to find one for Nate as well, so he can join in). I’m a big fan of keeping it simple when it comes to activewear so I love an all-black fitness look. The long-sleeve RBX shirt is great for winter. It sort of has a mock turtle-neck and the inside has a fleece feel. I’ve been looking for fitted & tapered workout pants for a while now. They’re actually not so easy to find, and most activewear pants that I come across are baggy and sloppy looking. I was so happy when I found these! I LOVE the neoprene material that was used in this outer jacket! I love the silhouette with the scoop hem in the back and the fact that you can take half of the sleeve off and still be able to rock it in warmer weather. I’ll definitely be purchasing more of these technical looking sweatshirts by PUMA for 2017. Love the look and versatility of them! I wore these black ECCO sneakers to complete my fitness look. They’re very clean looking since there are no laces, and they’re also very comfortable and easy to slip in and out of. Its like wearing a slipper that you can run in! We lucked out and found some coordinating all-black activewear for my son as well. Marshalls really is our one-stop shop for brands we love for my entire family! Check out my feature on the Marshalls Blog!

Reviews Style Travel

CLASSICS REIMAGINED WITH @GHBASS

Posted on January 6, 2017

As you already know I’m a big fan of G.H.Bass and have gotten to work with them quite a few times now! I was excited to be a part of their Classics Reimagined campaign to showcase how I would go about styling some of their shoe styles. Click Here to see the feature on their site!

Reviews Style

NEW CHELSEA’S IN MY CLOSET

Posted on December 8, 2016

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that one of the hottest trends not only in men’s fashion but in footwear alone is the Chelsea boot, and I’m a huge fan! Some of these brands sell them for upwards to $1000, so it was nice to see that Shoeology makes and sells them for less than $100! (You don’t always have to break the bank to follow trends) I paired these Thompson Brown Chelsea Boots with black pants, this rust vintage button down, my black leather and this green fedora (just to add a little pop of color, but not over the top) I felt like the look was sort of that old school Brooklyn vibe 🙂 The distressed brown on the boots gives them that worn-in, casual look but the subtle sheen on the leather keeps them a little dressy. If you don’t own any yet and are hesitant to try a chelsea boot, due to the more refined look and narrow shoe silhouette, these are a good pair to start off on – price-wise and they’re one of the more rugged styles I own, for you manly men! 😛

Family Reviews Style

‘LIFE IS GOOD’ AT MARSHALLS

Posted on November 3, 2016

Usually a perfect Friday night for my family and I is a little date night. Nothing too fancy but something that has a little something for everyone…a trip to our local Marshalls. On the surface it might not sound that exciting, but it’s a night that has everything we need after a long work week. We’re able to spend some time together doing something we all love…SHOP! We’re lucky enough to have our favorite pizza place, Home Depot (we’re homeowners, we live here), and liquor store (for after Nate’s asleep) all in the same shopping complex. We usually start our night by getting some pizza and filling our bellies so we don’t have to rush shopping and Nathan’s not cranky. We then head over to Marshalls to do some shopping! It’s a great store to bring our son Nate to because it not only has clothes for him, but we can also bribe him with a toy if he behaves and let’s us shop LOL. Depending on how good he is during the week also determines the size of the toy. Usually we just get him a little toy truck, book or puzzle (we shop at Marshalls way too much to be getting a full-sized jeep every time we go). Sometimes we’ll even grab a little snack from the checkout or home goods area to snack on while we’re walking around. We actually grabbed a bag of Jalapeno chips ($2.99) to take to the park with us, but unfortunately we were too hungry and the chips were too good and never made it to the park to be in our shots. Before we head to the fitting rooms, we always hit up the home goods section – a good portion of our house decor and kitchen utensils are from both Marshalls & Home Goods. We love the hopes of finding that one unique piece! The outfit I picked up had a great variety of brands…which is another thing I love about Marshalls. What other store can you have access to all these top brands at such affordable prices?! I’ve been trying to grow my hat collection but with such a small head I have a hard time finding a hat that fits just right. This plaid ‘Life is Good’ hat ($9.99) is a perfect fall pick up and goes great with the preppy look I was going for. The green in it was really brought out in combination with this Vineyard Vines vest ($59.99). Fall is a good time to break out the vests and a great way to add some color or texture to your outfit. I kept the shirt simple with a classic white button down from Jack Spade ($24.99)…which happens to be one of my favorite menswear brands. I also got a great pair of New Balance sneakers ($39.99) which I wore with no socks. I know some people aren’t a fan of going sockless but it’s comfortable for me and I do it all the time, and most importantly I like the way it looks with most of my outfits. However, you can easily go to the Marshalls sock section and pick up a pair of no-shows to get the same look. While I was shopping in the shoe section I also found and bought Nate the cutest all black Onitsuka Tiger sneakers ($19.99). I own two pairs of sneakers from the brand already and love their retro style. Of course he looked adorable in them! We took our Marshalls finds to one of our local parks to play, explore and shoot. Unfortunately one of our favorite little streams was a little dry, but it didn’t stop us from exploring (Nate loves exploring and hiking). We still got to throw some rocks…just with a lot less splash. Heading over to the playground, Nate was a little too excited and wasn’t watching where he was walking and tripped and fell. Poor little guy got a boo boo on his knee but was excited he didn’t mess up his new sneakers LOL That’s my boy! My family and I pretty much have the same routine at least 2 Friday’s out of the month LOL What can I say…we love pizza and love our Marshalls, in hopes of finding that perfect hidden piece! We also love the fact that you can hit up another Marshalls location and find completely different pieces. Boy do we get excited when we’re away for the weekend and drive past a new Marshalls to scavenger LOL We love the shopping rush of finding that perfect #MarshallsSurprise! Check out my post on the Marshalls site as well!

Family Reviews Style

NATE GOES BACK-2-SCHOOL IN MINNOW & MARS

Posted on November 1, 2016

My son Nathan recently got to work with a super fun company, Minnow + Mars. He got to choose from a few items from their collection so we let him pick his faves. He went with their Not Too Wacky Essential Khakis (good choice Nate) and their No Sleep Til Brooklyn Bridge Tee. I know every parent thinks this of their kids, but he’s super smart for his age and he told us he liked the shirt because “that’s where daddy grew up” (how he knew that is beyond me…he can’t read yet, but somehow he knew that bridge. His Nanny teaches him a lot and his memory is unbelievable! (Ok enough bragging). I wasn’t surprised he chose the joggers, because almost all of Nate’s pants are joggers. They’re just more comfortable for kids to wear while being active, but it still gives them a clean look of a jean, or in this case a chino. With school starting he really wanted a new backpack…and he loved the About Face Fox Backpack! Once his package came he was so excited to get mail with his name on it (he can read his name :p). His favorite item of course was the backpack…he loved his new “little friend”. We took Nate to his school’s playground to take some shots in his new gear and to burn off some of his 4 year old energy (and boy does he have a lot of it!) This kid is such a ham in front of the camera. He knows the drill too well after watching mommy photograph me lol. Definitely check out this new brand, Minnow + Mars, for some cute, affordable kids wear (they have women’s & home goods too!).

Style Travel

G.H. BASS MAINE TRIP (LOOK 7 )

Posted on October 25, 2016

When Styling the GH Bass Ranger Moc II Lyndon Hi Bison Boot (in Medium Brown), I wanted to go with a denim rugged look. I wore this mostly denim look, pairing these awesome polo carpenter jeans with this G-Star denim jacket. To try and edge it up I wore an olive turtle neck….which are currently two of my faves: the color olive and turtlenecks! (need more) These boots are different than most because they come right out of the box with that comfortable broken-in feel. The leather is sooooo soft, and the rigid sole adds to the softness that you feel when you’re walking…by far the most comfortable boot I EVER wore! I also love the texture of the leather. I might be in love with these 🙂

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Eric Wertz

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