week 17. the news is out!

Ali here.

Kirsty has a way of persuading me to do things I normally would never do. case in point...these blog posts. The whole "week by week baby bump pictures" not so much my style....then I got pregnant and I found myself looking in my closet asking "what in here can I possibly make work with this bump?" It's like I lost some sense of what to wear. Do you feel this way?

So we bring to you—dressing the bump—believe me, I'm not an expert or a stylist or as fashionable as Kirsty, but if we can offer any inspiration (like which lkj necklace looks best with a bump under it) then it was all worth it. Check back weekly for more pics on dressing the bump.

top: wilster apparel (old) . jeans . boots . scarf: h&m (old) . earrings

FOUR quick steps to making dressing during maternity easier...

1. Call Your Friends (the ones with the style you love). Borrow borrow borrow (and whatever you end up purchasing save for your girlfriends).

2. Utilize Your Craftiness. Hit up Nordstrom Rack or your local Marshalls in search of designer jeans (one size larger than normal). Take the waste band out and sew in a belly band. After delivery sew the waste band back for great post-pardum jeans.

3. Purchase The Basics. You can decide what this means for you...for me it meant splurging on a supportive bra, some quality tanks, and a couple go to tops that will last me through the entire pregnancy.

4. Make Long Lasting Purchases. Search for items that are not "maternity" but will work for some if not all of your pregnancy. Search for things you could maybe wear when your body goes back to normal.

*I realize everyone gains weight differently during pregnancy...so share with us what works (or worked) for you

Do you have any tips to make dressing during pregnancy easier?? 

What did you miss most in your wardrobe when you got pregnant?

til next week...

Ali

what i wore {more sweaters mama style}

 here's to sweaters.  right?

on those days when you don't get much sleep the night before.  and not by choice.  and its rainy and cold outside.  and your house is a disaster, and your to-do list long.  and you are feeling quite inadequate as a mom.

so I put on a blanket.  and my rain boots.  and faced the day.  and you know what with some deep breaths, it was actually a pretty good day.

sweater - Splendid {old}

black t-shirt - Gap {old}

leggings - Ideology, Macy's
rain boots - Hunter

earrings - Lucia K. Tag

and then there's this sweater.  my quest in my wardrobe is to find great jeans that are flattering,  and clothes {mainly tops} that are big and slouchy yet somehow flattering.  I don't know why I just love them.  anyone else with me?

recently I have stopped {for the most part} buying my shirts a size larger, and instead buying them to fit, in my size.  I think pregnancy warped my brain a little bit.

I ordered this sweater from shopruche.com last year.  and I almost returned it because when you lift your arms, so goes the sweater.  it would be perfect if the darn sleeves weren't attached to the sides.  so its more like a cape.

and I love these earrings because they always sparkle.  just enough to always give a shimmer through your hair.  they dress up or they dress down.  and these Swarovski crystals remind me of crystals from an awesome vintage chandelier.

so I am glad I bought this sweater.  {and I actually wear it a lot}.  if I hadn't it wouldn't have been posted by Nicole {who has a very inspiring blog} and then re-pinned to the Today Show Style board.  crazy to see myself next to Kate Middleton!  a surreal moment for me for sure.

sweater - shopruche.com {old}

jeans - 7 for All Mankind, Anthropologie {old}

shoes - Dolce Vita

earrings - Lucia K. Estelle

bracelet - Lucia K. Nora in Ombre.

I am linking up with mama style today

definitely 3 items necessary to my style...
1.  flattering jeans - I don't care what style as long as they make me {and my butt} look great.
2.  flowy yet flattering tops or white tops - feel good and classic.
3.  great accessories!  mainly jewelry and shoes.  makes every outfit better.

and dang if I can only choose 3.  runners up would be comfy leggings, stylish jackets, and fab rain boots.  I live in the Pacific Northwest folks.

also linking up pleated poppy today.

happy wednesday.

best,
kirsty

i have a weakness.

for accessories.  especially in the form of shoes.

and I LOVE these shoes.  its not quite open toe shoe season yet, but I couldn't resist a little dress-up.  they are from a company called Joyfolie.  Jessica, the founder and designer just gets it right.  for instance, I don't like ankle straps, they cut my leg line short and just aren't flattering on me.

but the way she has the strap extra high above the ankle bone, I love.  and then she adds in these adorable {removable} shoe clips.  great details.  your shoes come in great shoe boxes with canvas bags.

{shirt - old, jeans - old, shoes, earrings}

and well actually Joyfolie mainly makes ridiculously adorable girl shoes and clothes.  so I lived vicariously through all of my nieces this christmas...

these...

and these. and these...did I mention they come with matching hair clips.

and these boots, my goodness it was fun.

and Joyfolie is launching their new spring line tonight.  so naturally now these are on my list.

use code SPRING30 at checkout for 30% non-new items!

happy shopping.

best,
kirsty

UNwashed style {the curl files}

so we still need to post about all of our favorite curly hair products, but there is so many trying to figure out how to sort.  I'm kind of a product junkie. 

 in the meantime, how about what I do when I haven't washed my hair, which is often.  and a little bit of a sloppy outfit, but its so comfortable.  and who doesn't love those long long sleeves.  

so the thing about blogging and such "tutorials" is its hard to know when anybody is gonna care or if its more of a "duh, totally already knew that."  I'm guilty of this, so I can't be the only one?  please feel free to give feedback.  maybe just be gentle.

so if I have washed and dried my curls that day, when I go to sleep I will push my curls up above my head so I don't lay on them and smash them.  sometimes this is successful, sometimes not.  lots of factors...humidity, restless sleeping, etc.  I've heard of people {and I think Ouidad recommends this} of pulling your hair back, or up in a very loose scrunchy, to keep from sleeping on those curls.

1. start with bedhead.  use your favorite product to smooth the top down.  I usually use a dab of odon oil smoothed thru from roots to end.  and then I spray hairspray mostly on top and run my fingers thru it in direction I want it to lay {forward, back, side-part, ect}.  maybe it will listen.

2. start with the scarf in the middle of your head at the back and wrap forward.

3.  then wrap it back and tie a knot or bow, usually slightly off center so it doesn't interfere with a bun.

4.  then gently and loosely pull the sides back.  you want the hair to stay in place under the scarf.  rocket science right?  and don't I look angry?!

5.  first option: put a rubber band in a low pony tail if you want.

6.  option 2:  tuck the loosely pulled back hair back up under the scarf at the back of your head, so you have it sticking up the top.  it will be a lot less than normal because of the loose strands.  you may need to grab a few strands out completely to anchor the bun in place.  use a rubber band to put into a messy bun.  

7. now separate, tug, pull, and adjust as needed.

8.  Any good?  my husband says I always miss a piece and have a tail.  funny he might be right.  did not even feel that stray strand.

9.  then bobby pin the front pieces back if you want, or leave them down.  I usually start with loose strands just tucked back, and then they fall out.  and usually I'm ok with the final finish.  sometimes I look in the mirror much later, and think "Man Wondering How Long I've Been Walking Around Like This?!"  oh dear.

the end.

{earrings, shoes, scarf - vintage}

happy thursday.

best,

kirsty

what i wore {less black and more red please}

it must officially be winter.  its that moment when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror {or photo} and you realize any hint of that sun-kissed glow is gone.  added some extra blush for this shot.

it could be that I am dressed in a black shirt.  such a plain outfit to share today.  in the spirit of January, I started to go through my closet, thats how this outfit appeared.  hmmm, not sure.

but I do have my favorite headband and some great gold earrings on to help out all the black.  

shirt - oldie from Target

tank - oldie from Ae.com

jeans - Vioss, Nordstrom Rack

shoes - Kelsi Dagger

headband - handmade gift from her

shoes - Lucia K. Tag

outfit #2.

 I love this sweater, but its one of those that only looks nice when you have good posture.  the minute you slump your shoulders, your just a big frumpy mess.  keep that head up and shoulders back.

favorite earrings in red and gold.  wouldn't these be great with your LBD for Valentines Day?...or with a rockin pair of jeans?  just enough red to not overpower but I love red for Valentines.  I just do.

appropriate that I am standing next to my bed since I look like I just woke up right?

sweater - Darling, Queen Anne Dispatch

shirt - Splendid

skirt - Anthropologie

shoes - Dolce Vita

earrings - Lucia K. Taylor

bracelet - Lucia K. Chloe

In honor of the looming love day ahead, we brought the Red and Gold Taylor back...40% off.

{sale ends 1.27.13}

linking up with Pleated Poppy today for what i wore wednesday.

happy wednesday.

best,

kirsty

what is that velvet

I am totally that girl that looooves wearing a new outfit.

new velvet leggings.  think I can correctly say I have never worn velvet leggings.  it took me a long time to get on board with all the crazy pants in style.  but obviously I'm ok with it now.

do you see the plastic wrap on my windows?  that's because I refuse to replace the original leaded glass windows in my house, that also are very thin single paned.  {praying they make it through my boys' adolescent years.}  so for the few winter months here, the top floor panes are wrapped in plastic.  and legs always look better at an angle.  

layered Faye necklaces.  {ok not new but just right}

my new wool hat.  

that I can do cool poses in like this.

hat - Collection XIIX, Nordstrom

shirt - Anthropologie {on sale}

leggings - AG Jeans, Anthropologie {on sale}

shoes - Cole Haan {old}

necklace - Lucia K. Faye 3 strand and Faye Knotted Chain

 TGIF.

best,
kirsty

what i wore {fresh and found}

happy wednesday.

happy mid January 2013.

good. ness.

{dress, necklace, shoes}

this is one of the first "official" Lucia K. necklaces I ever made.  it lived in my brain for a long time before it came to life.  it is named Loretta after my great grandma who I spent summers with as a child learning to cross stitch and crochet with, I once entered a pillow case I had stitched a kitten onto into the county fair and won second place.  lovely memories for a lovely necklace.

why am I telling you all this?  besides that its late and I am feeling sentimental for a childhood past.

I have a couple of these left.  they are the last ones as I can no longer get these specific fire-polished czech crystal beads.  I kind of consider this piece classic Lucia K.  its hand-tied macrame using navy dupioni silk with raw edges, the beads get longer as it drapes.

I want the last ones to go to good homes.  so if you love it too, its a sale price that is a steal.  seriously.

ok outfit #2 - I have been seeing so many cute sweaters with the button up shirt underneath.  and I have tried this combo unsuccessfully thus far.  until I found this great light weight shirt.  now I can mix-up my sweater.skinnyjeans.boot look with another layer.

sweater - French Connection, Queen Anne Dispatch

white shirt - Anthropologie

jeans - J Brand, Nordstrom Rack

boots - Frye

necklace - Lucia K. Loretta

earrings - Lucia K. Tag

do you all have lots of goals or resolutions or themes for the new year?  a new beginning.  fresh start.  i'm officially on board.  one {of many} for me, is to blog more than 1x week.  now that I have a good record of posting regularly on wednesday.  I think I can at least bump it up to 2x a week, or more.

so watch out wednesday, you are going to be joined by other days!

linking up with pleated poppy for what i wore wednesday.

happy wednesday!

best,
kirsty

what i wore {bringing color back}

ah who doesn't love a cozy sweater.

so I loved my brightly colored jeans in the summer, but couldn't quite bring them into my winter wardrobe.  pairing them with black just felt too harsh of a contrast.  {in fact looking at my outfit posts, I rarely wear black.}  then I came upon this sweater at the anthropologie sale this last week, and I almost didn't get it.  it was one of those ok-whats-the-final-total-before-i-decide, and well you know the outcome.  but when I got home I realized how well this would work as a "neutral" with my brightly colored jeans. 

and since I had plenty of color on below, I wore the simply stated Blake earrings in white and gold.  have you seen these earrings made the front earring page on amazon.com/fashion!  I love how they have a subtle glimmer.

sweater - Anthropologie {on sale!}

tank - Anthropologie {old}

jeans - Ae.com {this style but color no longer available}

shoes - Dolce Vita {on sale!}

earrings - Blake Painted Chain Earring

we are having an awesome giveaway to celebrate 2012 and welcome 2013.  stay connected to find out the details coming soon.  {instagram @luciakjewelry} {facebook} {pinterest} {twitter}

linking up with pleated poppy for what i wore wednesday.

happy wednesday.

best,
kirsty