Tag Archives: Fashion Blogger

Chunky Hand Knits + Leather Pants

I went over to my parents house a while ago and saw this sweater in a bag that was supposed to be “donated”. Except…I recognized it as a sweater that my dad had knitted himself, so I grabbed it! I mean, I couldn’t let a gorgeous hand knitted by my father sweater go!! It was a little big for the Huz, but oversized comfy knits are the best, so I stole it for my own! 🙂 And honestly, I’ve been wearing it almost every night around the house ever since…And…I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect leather pants for over a year now. I’ve bought a bunch and then either returned or sold them, but this holiday season…I SCORED! It pays to shop on eBay when everyone else is rightly so focused on shopping for others (whoops!!) ;} This particular pair, I snagged for $50!!! Yes, leather pants…$50!!! The bonus of it all? I had just sold a bunch of stuff, so they were free with my Paypal credit-woo hoo!

The next two pairs I bought…not so much, but, whatever 😉 I have a stack of things I’m going to sell, so it will all even out.

These were even better in person. The marbled copper and black? They will go with everything! Be prepared to see these a lot in the future (apologies in advance :))Yes, I’m a little embarrassed about my frizzy non showered hair. I mean, the messy no shower top not is not a rarity on this blog, but it was especially out of control on this day. I didn’t really realize it until I was going through the pics. Oh well-sorry! :{ This totally reminds me of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz for some reason, except obviously she’s not crossing her arms. Her sweater is a little too big, so her left hand is lost… 😉“Mommy, kiss my nose!” She’s been obsessed with me kissing her nose at nap time and at bed time lately… And then she was like “Mommy, I want to stand on that rock!” Um… Yeah, I tried to dissuade her, but no go. And really, what’s the worst that could have happened? She fell in 6 inches deep of water? Not worth the fight… And the joy??? SO WORTH IT!! 🙂 On me…

Sweater- Hand knit by my dad

Top- StyleMint (old, similar here)

Pants- North Beach Leather ( eBay, similar here)

Shoes- Target

On Maya…

Sweater- Earth Ragz (thrifted, but similar here)

Jeans- DL1961 “Chloe” in Rafaeli (C/O)

Shoes- Converse (thrifted, but similar here)

Keeping it Real…

Words cannot describe how nice it’s been to have TWO consecutive weekends off!! I have a couple of shoots in January, but I’m soooo glad to be out of the 3-4 shoots a week holiday season. Not that I don’t love my clients and feel incredibly thankful to be able to do what I do!!. I’m incredibly lucky!! But…truth be told, I just want to enjoy this little nugget and not be so stressed out 😉 That sure is nice…

Oh, and I almost had a runner!! Scared the crap out of me!

(all pictures taken with a self timer and tripod, except ones of Maya :))

Cold and windy day at the beach…

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Maya has been asking to go to the beach the last few days, but it’s been so cold and WINDY!! Granted, not as cold as other parts of the US, but for us low 20’s in the morning and mid 30’s in the afternoon is cold! Toss in the wind down by the water and it’s closer to 30. ANYWAY, it was sunny on New Years Eve, and it didn’t seem that windy outside, so I finally gave in and told her we could go. Wow, what a difference a few blocks makes. We got to the beach and all you could see was white caps and peoples hair flying everywhere. BUT…I wasn’t about to say no to her once we were actually there!

Oh, and I need more jeans like I need another hole in my head, but when I saw these at the Rack this week for $46 plus an additional 25% off, I had to try them on… :} They are SO soft and comfy, and I looooove the zipper details!! So, they came home with me. 🙂Yeah, not windy or anything 😉 The minute her feet hit the sand, she was OFF and running!! 🙂 I have been living in the hoodie. It’s soooo soft and thick! What you can’t see is that it says “Protector, Lover, Mother” on the back-love that! It was too freaking cold to take my jacket off! I managed to lure her back for a few shots… And then she was off again! “Mommy, you go over there!” This after I told her she could not run in the water…haha.Yeah, that worked :{ I mean, you can just see the anticipation in her fingers. So hard to deny the joy she gets from running in the water, but when it was this cold, I had to finally pull her away. On me…

Jacket- Vintage (similar here, and less expensive here)

Top- StyleMint (old, similar here)

Hoodie- LB Brand (my particular one looks like it’s sold out, but similar one here)

Jeans- Joe’s Jeans “Miley” (Nordstrom Rack (, similar here without the zippers and here with)

Shoes- Superga (thrifted)

On Maya…

Jacket- Amy Coe (thrifted, but similar here)

Cardigan- Old Navy (thrifted, similar here)

Raglan- Little Boogaweezin (old, but tee shirt version here)

Jeans- Joe’s Jeans (thrifted, but similar here)

Shoes- Superga (thrifted, similar here)

Keeping it real…

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve. I knew we were going to stay home and have a low key evening, but I may have taken it a step further ;). I haven’t been sleeping very well lately, and me and lack of sleep do not go well together. Anywho…I had a couple glasses of wine, laid down to watch Legends of Oz with the Huz and Maya, “rested my eyes” for a few minutes, and was OUT before 9 HAHAHAHA.

Sorry Huz…

2014 recap of Maya and me…thank you for following along!!

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This was such a fun year blogging! We really didn’t know what we wanted to do with this blog when we started, and I specifically wasn’t really sure what I wanted my posts to be about. They started off as casual mom fashion posts, but quickly turned into me documenting Maya and me having fun together, but…also showcasing our mostly thrifted clothing. 🙂

Fashion aside, I hope some of the images just made you smile 🙂 The main point for me is to have fun with Maya and to be able to show this to her when she grows up. That is the best thing to have come out of this little venture.

Life can get hectic and overwhelming, but this blog has consistently been something I look forward to doing. The images I now have of Maya and me are invaluable. Having a structured way to document us having fun and stories along the way, an absolute unexpected bonus! The people I have “met” both from the blogging community and on Instagram probably know more about my daily life than a lot of my family and friends (I still don’t really share this blog with that many people…maybe some day I will :))! For those of you that have followed along and become friends along the way…thank you, thank you, thank you! 🙂

Anyway…No idea how I narrowed down my favorites from this year, but…here are a few (ok, a LOT haha).

Happy New Year!!!

(All pictures taken with a self timer and tripod, except ones of Maya and 6 random ones of us that either my mom or the Huz took-can you guess which ones they are?? :))

Vintage Levi’s Jean Jackets + Combat Boots…twinning (oops!)

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I’ve been on the HUNT for a vintage Levi’s jacket. I wanted it to be a little boxy, but not too big. And then…there it was just hanging on the end of a rack at the thrift store. I’ve said it before. I’m ridiculously lucky when it comes to thrifting. I think of something I want, and sooner or later (usually sooner) it’s there for about 90-95%+ less than retail price! This was not a major score at $10, but because it was something on my wish list, it was a total score (insert happy dance the minute I saw it!!) to me! I had found one for May a while back, so…yes we were totally twinning this day haha. Whatever, I’m not even sorry!! 😉 If only we could find joy as adults, as toddlers do jumping of a single step…over, and over, and over 🙂 On me…

Jacket- Levi’s (thrifted, similar here)

Top- The Oxford Trunk (sold out, but similar here)

Jeans- J Brand Skinny Leg Shadow Destroyed (ebay, not destroyed here and less expensive here)

Boots- Frye 12″ Harness Boots (eBay)

On Maya…

Jacket- Levi’s (thrifted, but similar here)

Scarf- Mine, old

Dress- Hanna Andersson (thrifted, but similar here)

Leggings- Gap (thrifted, but similar here)

Boots- Xhiliration (eBay, but similar here)

Keeping it Real…

I don’t really have a keeping it real. I’m still on the high of the holidays, and…the holidays being over! ;} What I mean by that is I LOVE the actual holidays!! Getting to spend time with family, eating amazing food, drinking good wine, giving, and ok, let’s be honest receiving gifts!! 😉 THAT all makes the time leading up to the holidays-the prep for them during my busiest work time of year, all worth it. That said… The fact that all the running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the last 3 months is coming to an end is…such a relief (does that sound bad??) Honestly, I don’t even care if it does sound bad!!

I am such a creature of habit. I love the simple day to day activities. I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch about 90% of the time, and honestly, my day to day doesn’t vary all that much! When too much out of the ordinary happens or too much gets out of whack, I just feel out of control and overwhelmed. And let me tell you, the last 3 months has been ALL THAT and MORE!!! So…January, I am soooo ready for you! 🙂

(all pictures taken with a self timer and tripod, except ones of Maya :))

Leather + Animal Print for the holidays…

What we wore for our holiday pictures…

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I’ll preface this to say…our family pictures were more along the lines of those viral forwards that everyone laughs about and says “thank GOD that wasn’t us”. And just wait for it. The truth is in the pudding. Really, I don’t even know what that last phrase means, but…it sounds better than the truth is at the end 😉

And yet… I’ll start of with what we wore, because well…that’s what this blog is mostly about 🙂I scored this top from The Oxford Trunk for $10 (!!!) when they had a big sale. I got it in both white and black, and I looooove them!! A post with me wearing the black version is coming soon. These next two are a little out of focus (we missed our mark in the excitement), but I don’t care 🙂 She’s been extra into giving kisses lately, and I’m not complaining!! And…here’s our holiday card 🙂 Not at all what I had planned, but it’s what we got. And…I kind of think it’s perfect 🙂SO….keeping it real ahead of the real “Keeping it Real” at the bottom. All of the above pics of me and Maya were taken a few days ago. The holiday card…3 weeks ago…

I have a list of suggestions for clients before we take family pictures, and I absolutely LOVE when they put some time and effort not only into what they wear, but how they want their pictures to look. That said, my number one goal is to make sure everyone has FUN…and then I capture that.

Well….none of that usually happens for us haha. What’s the phrase “The cobblers children have no shoes”??

I’ve been insanely busy doing everyone else’s holiday pictures, and we’ve had a LOT of stuff going on personally so I honestly wasn’t sure we’d even have time to take ones for ourselves.

ANYWAY. I had a last minute cancellation about 3 weeks ago, the weather was actually clear, so we scoured everyone’s clothes to find things that were clean and somewhat went together, I grabbed the tripod and away we went. Maya is always so excited when her brothers are in the back seat with her, so she was chatting and laughing the whole way there. I was getting hopeful that we would get some great shots of everyone…

We all get out, and I get a few pics of the boys with the Huz. Again thinking “This is going to be great!!” Maya was just running around happy as a clam, playing and then trying to get in their shots. As I’m getting the tripod set up to get a group pic, Maya starts howling. Like a hysterical crying that I’ve never heard before. I make sure she’s not hurt (she’s not). All she wants to do is have me rock her on the bench. Um….are you kidding me?! The kid that gets her picture taken almost every day of her life, and is totally used to having it taken with a self timer and tripod is now flipping the F out! Inconsolable even??! I tried taking a few and playing with her like I always do. NOT WORKING. At this point, I’m losing my patience and am getting totally frustrated. Tears may have been shed from both of us. Honestly, I really just wanted to get ONE picture of all of us, and a few of Maya with her brothers! It sounds like something that would be easy to get, but with teenage boys and us all being so busy. It just isn’t… Oh well. I Photoshopped two images together to get the one for our card, and honestly, that’s all we needed. I got a few of the 3 of the kids at Thanksgiving, and that is better than most…

On me…

Top- The Oxford Trunk (sold out, but similar here)

Jeans- DL1961 Emma in “Cellar” (thrifted, but similar on sale here)

Boots- Circa Joan & David “Kirstin” (thrifted, similar here)

On Maya…

Jacket-Gap (thrifted, but similar here)

Dress- Gap (thrifted, but love this one here)

Tights-H&M (old, similar here)

Boots- Zulily (search Link Boots)

Keeping it Real…

This is what really went down… hahaha. I can somewhat laugh about it now :{

And here’s the Huz finally calming her down, and honestly my favorite picture of the entire shoot… She looooves her Daddy!! Sadly, it was too late to get all of us into this moment. I don’t care though, because THIS…was all worth it for me 🙂

(all pictures taken with a self timer and tripod, except ones of Maya and her Daddy :))

Oversized sweaters and playing on the beach…

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I have been on the hunt for the perfect oversized black sweater for a long time now. I’ve bought/returned and bought/resold so many over the years.

THEN…one of my favorite people to follow (Sheree of It’s Not that Deep) started her own shop-Deep Style! She has the best eye for vintage and thrifted clothing, so I checked it out right away. When I saw this sweater in her store, I couldn’t hit buy fast enough. Those ruffly sleeves! The cowl neck?! $35!!??! When it came in the mail, it was even better in person. So thick and soft…even better than what I had been picturing in my mind during my search! I will try and repeatedly wear it on my non picture taking days so you don’t get sick of seeing it on me 😉We haven’t been going down to the beach as much lately (weather being crazy and life being even crazier), so I’ll apologize in advance for the massive amounts of pictures. We were both in our happy place! 🙂 And nobody else was there, so I didn’t feel like a total nerd moving the tripod all over the place 😉 Kind of love this next one…. So impressed she threw this big ol’ piece of driftwood! Goooo Maya!Coming in for a kiss hahaha 🙂And then this happened…OH MY GOSH-DYING!!!! And no, there is no way I could leave it at just a few images… She got up there, and just started busting a move!On me…

Sweater- Tahari (from DeepStyle, love these here and here)

Top- H&M (similar)

Jeans- Paige “Blue Heights” (thrifted, similar here)

Shoes- Superga (thrifted)

On Maya…

Sweater- Gap (thrifted, but similar here)

Top- Tea (thrifted)

Jeans-Joe’s Jeans (thrifted, but similar here)

Boots- Xhiliration (eBay, but similar here)

Keeping it Real…

I could say I turned the two black and white images into black and white because it helped create the mood… In reality, it’s because I haven’t had time to dye my roots and my gray hair is out of control :{

Can I tell you HOW EXCITED I AM that I have next weekend off???!! I had a client reschedule, and it’s the first weekend off I’ve had in 3 months! PARTAY!!! Or, in reality…sit on the couch and have a Netflix marathon!!!

(all pictures taken with a self timer and tripod, except ones of Maya :))

Little Black Dress from day to night…

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I feel like I keep saying I’m not a dress girl, yet whenever I make myself wear them, I love them! They are so easy, and comfortable. At least they can be… Yet, for some reason I think they are more work than they are? I don’t know why that is, but I’m happy Dressember spurred me onto thinking differently. I for sure didn’t make it on the wearing a dress for each day in December, but a few days for the month already is a big step, and I’m planning on trying for more!

But in order to make it really count, I thought I’d go for a twofer 😉 Day to night dressing is honestly a Mom’s best friend. Although…I rarely do anything at night, so whatever. BUT…if I DID have plans, this would be a great transition outfit! 🙂 And then for night…remove a few layers, add a classic pump, apply a little make up, go from a no shower top knot to a twisted side bun, and voila….ready to go to holiday party!On me…

Dress- Rhyme (old, but loving this here here)

Top-StyleMint

Leggings- Forever21 (similar here)

Shoes- Converse (thrifted, similar here)

Heels- Via Spiga

On Maya…

Dress- Zulily (search Yo Baby)

Leggings- Gap (thrifted, but similar here)

Boots- Zulily (search Link Boots)

Keeping it Real…

I could lie and say we went to some fancy party, but truth be told I just ran outside to take the “Night” pictures after I put Maya down for her nap. The Huz (who also works from home), came upstairs and was like

“WOAH! Where are YOU going?!!”

“Oh, you know…party on the sidewalk. Whoop whoop!” 😉

(all pictures taken with a self timer and tripod, except ones of Maya :))

The power of Social Media…

Jeans that feel like pajamas? Count me IN!

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I’m a little embarrassed by how many days in a row I’ve worn these jeans :} They are not the most flattering jeans, but you cannot beat them for comfort! Not only are they super baggy, but the cotton is this super soft thin fabric. Even better? I got them off eBay for $15!I recently scored this sweater from StyleMint when they had their get 3 for $20 sale. Yes, this sweater was less than $7 (regularly $69.98)!! The road to having this sweet little nugget was not an easy one. Looking back now, I’m glad for every road bump, every hope dashed, and every tear shed, because they’ve been blown away by all the laughter and love she has brought into our lives. For those that have struggled to have a child, it’s SO hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Believe that it is there…

I vascilated between leaving it at that and telling the whole drawn out story (I actually did, but ended up deleting it because it was literally a novel that maybe 2 people would read…)

My story really isn’t any different from many. We started trying to have Maya a little before I was 35, aka “advanced maternal age”-UGH, can they not think of a better phrase now a days??!! So…I was somewhat prepared for complications and not so easy road. What I wasn’t that prepared for was exactly how much of an emotional roller coaster it would be. Every month, getting your hopes up, and then having them crushed. A process that is supposed to be joyful, ended up just being frustrating and depressing.

BUT…after two years, almost as soon as I became pregnant, I knew! Before any kind of testing, I just knew, and I WAS!! I’m tearing up just typing this. I took a test early, and it came back positive. Yes, I still have the test (gross to some, but there is no way I’ll ever throw it away!!)

And then…I got to go get the official word. The only real bonus to going to a fertility specialist is ALL the extra/early tests you get! I remember the crappy parking on a downward hill to get to the clinic. I remember getting in the elevator to get to the office. I remember it ALL. And I have the worst memory ever!!

The minute I heard the heartbeat…it became a reality. Maya became a reality.

A reality, I could never have imagined… A love I could never have imagined. A joy I could never have imagined, and yet it was mine.

I know so many people that have stories way more complicated and heart wrenching than mine. The ability to have a child is such a gift. A gift many can’t have.

I will never stop being thankful for this gift.

On me…

Hat- Nordstrom (thrifted, similar here)

Sweater- StyleMint “Nicholas”

Belt- Vintage (thrifted)

Jeans- Rag & Bone (ebay, similar here)

Shoes- Target

On Maya…

Top- Old Navy (thrifted, but similar here)

Jeans- DL1961 “Harper” (C/O)

Boots- Cherokee (thrifted, but similar here)

Keeping it Real…

I wear these jeans around the house unrolled, but they look even more unflattering that way. SOOOO comfy though. The fabric is so soft that they don’t really hold a roll though. SO…about every picture I took I had to roll them again… 😦 All in the name of vanity, because I couldn’t show you just how slubby I really look every day-HA! Oh, and while I’m at it. Yeah, not only was I NOT showered, we had just gotten back from the gym. It was such a nice day though, and I knew I wouldn’t have time to take pics after we took our shower/bath. Maya was already dressed, so I just grabbed what was laying in a heap on my dresser from the day before hahaha. Thank GOODNESS there’s no smell cam on computers 😉 And double thank goodness for the hat trend!

(all pictures taken with a self timer and tripod, except ones of Maya :))

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