Real Style: Natalie

Alright, peeps - time for another installment in the Real Style series! This is Natalie, a young, stylish, professional from Arizona! LOVE her and LOVE her style!!

Natalie's necklace came from Target, but it doesn't appear to still be in stock, so I found something similar available on StoreEnvy.com at a shop with vintage items called Missing Trezures for just $6.55!! 

 Natalie's dress pants are JC Penney's Nine & Co. Modern Fit, which are on sale for $29.99 here! Natalie's tank top underneath the jacket is also from JC Penney, but I am going to assume that most of us already have a go-to tank top for under things like this!

The blazer posed a bit of a challenge, as Natalie originally got hers at Kohl's and they no longer carry them, but I was able to find a similar one for $29.99 at Target, shown below.

Lastly are Natalie's simple earrings - if you don't have a pair of earrings like this - you should! I have about worn mine to death and need a new pair. You can find them just about anywhere, but the most inexpensive deal will be at your local Claire's. :-)

Hope y'all enjoyed this -- I have more outfits from Natalie and will post them soon!

White After Labor Day

There are some things in life that I have a really hard time with. Wearing white after Labor Day and wearing brown and black together are just two of the "biggies" that I've been struggling with recently.

These are not euphemisms. This is for real, you guys. These are real problems that I'm really facing. We're getting down to the nitty gritty now. 

In all seriousness, I was raised that you wore your white shoes for the first time on Palm Sunday - and put them away before Labor Day. It doesn't matter how hot it was after Labor Day - you wear your black or brown dress shoes, because the time for white dress shoes has passed. 

Well, recently, I read in a magazine somewhere that that's no longer the case. So this year, I branched out and wore my white dress shoes whenever it was too warm for dressy boots. Which ended up being up until about 2 weeks ago. It was very freeing, and the 90's fashion police didn't even slay me when I left the house.

So that brings me to my newest fashion hurdle: black and brown together. It's killing me. I am trying my hardest to get over it. Yesterday, I wore a black cami with a brown shirt. And a grey sweater. And brown boots. But I felt like a sinner all day long because of it. I ended up tucking the black cami into my jeans so that it had less of a chance of showing. I THINK I HAVE A PROBLEM.

So today I'm taking a break from black and brown, and branching out to black and navy blue...something I conquered long, long ago....

The "Mom" Hair

I have never liked ponytails on myself. Sure, they look cute on other women...but not me. Nope, I just end up looking like a boy...or someone with no hair. 

 Even with bangs, I just can't rock the ponytail! Whenever I do just give in to the ease of a ponytail, I always end up seeing someone with fabulous hair, or getting my picture taken. Murphy's Law at its finest.

After having Molly, I fell into a pattern of "mom" hair - not that it looked bad, it just wasn't my normal way of doing my hair. I didn't have "time" to blow dry/straighten every day. 

But guess what? Your baby will be just fine if you spend 15-20 minutes doing your hair and makeup every day. She will not die from being strapped in the carseat with some toys while you shave your legs and use a little hair product.

Don't get me wrong - Molly doesn't like it when I divide my attention, but she has also (after a few weeks) gotten used to it. Now, my routine looks something like this:

Feed baby, put baby in the carseat with some favorite toys. Turn on Disney kid songs in the bathroom. Take a shower. Baby cries for a few minutes (she's thinking hey! mom! share some of the bathtime fun with me!). Baby (usually) falls asleep, lulled by the shower/music/toys combo. 

Once I get out of the shower, I get a few extra "getting ready" minutes by leaving the shower running! She stays asleep and I get to choose an activity: painting my toenails...plucking my eyebrows...the fun stuff. ;-)

After I turn the shower off, she usually wakes up in just a few minutes. I leave her in the carseat, though, while I blow dry and straighten my hair. Makeup can usually wait until her next naptime, unless I have somewhere to go.

As a new mom, it can be really hard to let your baby cry, even if it's just for a few minutes. But I'm realizing that this is how they learn! If they have been fed and changed, and given plenty of attention beforehand, I know that she is fine, and is just learning to self-soothe and self-entertain. This will be such a valuable trait when she is a little bit older...then maybe Mommy can pluck her eyebrows AND paint her toenails! ;-)