White Shirt + Leopard

Happy almost Thanksgiving!  I am so excited to celebrate with family and eat lots of good food in a couple days!  Are any of you planning on shopping on Black Friday?  It was always my favorite day to get some Christmas shopping done and also get a few items that were on my wishlist that were now at a super discounted price.  Sadly, I'm not doing any shopping for myself this year unless it's a baby item on sale.  Oh, how my priorities have changed! :)

I'll put together a round up of my favorite sales from the places I normally shop, along with items from my wishlist that I would get if I wasn't preggers, and post them on Thursday (in case you need some shopping inspiration).

One of the maternity pieces that I thought was worth investing in was a crisp white button up for work.  It can be worn so many different ways by simply adding a different (non-maternity) cardigan or sweater over top.  I added a belt to make it seem less bulky on my small frame.  I also invested in a nice pair of black pants for work.  Since they are classic and go with just about anything (and since I wanted to save money and only bought a couple pairs of maternity work pants), I've worn them regularly on repeat (sometimes even twice a week) and no one's the wiser.  

What I'm Wearing
Shirt ~ GAP Maternity (Regular version here)
Cardigan ~ WHBM (similar)
Pants ~ A Pea in the Pod (similar non-maternity)
Necklace ~ GAP (similar)
Earrings ~ Park Lane (cute option here)
Belt ~ Limited (similar)
Purse ~ Limited
Shoes ~ DSW (similar)

Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 27 and 28

The weeks continue to fly by.  I'm officially in the third trimester now that I've reached 28 weeks.  I can't believe it - 2/3 of the pregnancy is already over.  I am both excited and nervous for the next 3 months.  I'm looking forward to meeting baby girl and losing the belly, but I'm anxious about how everything is going to work out.  I know it will all be fine in the end, but the unknown is a little intimidating!

I finally bought maternity jeans last weekend.  I was having a hard time finding ones that would fit my body but I finally found a couple good pairs.  Since I don't wear jeans as much, I think 2 pairs should be enough for me for the duration of the pregnancy.  They are so comfy.  My regular jeans were getting to the point that the rubber band trick wasn't as comfortable and the belly band was getting a little tight.  

Last month I bought this huge U-shaped body pillow to help me sleep on my side.  I normally sleep on my back and you can't do that after a certain point in your pregnancy.  It wasn't uncomfortable switching to my side, but sometimes I would wake up on my back and I felt like I was waking up more often during the night.  I sleep much better with the pillow.  It's so comfortable to snuggle up in it.  I'm still sleeping completely through the night for the most part and not having to get up to use the bathroom.  I'm surprised and will continue to enjoy it for as long as I can because I don't know how it will be once the baby gets bigger. 

A friend who had a baby a few months ago once commented during the last part of her pregnancy that she felt like she was an alien in her own body, like she was just along for the ride and had no control over what was happening anymore.  I'm starting to understand what she meant.  It is weird to experience all these changes that your body goes through and you really do feel like you lose control of many things, such as your expanding girth and the weird pregnancy symptoms.  Luckily I haven't had too many weird symptoms.  The only thing I really complain about is a muscle tear that I have on my right side near my ribcage.  My doctor said that it's fairly common in shorter women and it happens when your ribcage expands to make room for the baby.  Luckily it doesn't hurt too much and if I put pressure on the spot, it makes the pain go away.  It has been kind of annoying though and it won't heal until after the baby is born.  I feel like I can't really complain though since the rest of the pregnancy has been smooth sailing.

I almost forgot to mention that I passed the glucose test at my last appointment!  Woohoo, no gestational diabetes to worry about! :)

Here is what we wore for Halloween (same shirt as above).  These shirts were too adorable to pass up. :)

Past Pregnancy Posts:

Weeks 24-26

Weeks 21-23

Gender Reveal

Week 20

Week 19

Week 18

Week 16 & 17

Week 15

Pregnancy Announcement and Weeks 11-14

Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

Leopard and Feathers

Happy Labor Day friends!  How many of you took advantage of the awesome sales going on this weekend?  I wanted to get some more maternity wear but I am out of town.  Oh well, there will always be another sale. :)

I tell ya, dresses are my thing now.  That's about all I wear to work now.  It's funny how certain dresses with a well-placed belt and cardigan will completely hide my bump on a frontal view.  It's definitely still noticeable from the side!

I played off the lacy pattern on the dress with my ridiculously small purse. :)

What I'm Wearing
Dress ~ WHBM (kind of similar dress here with cool stripes and eyelet cutouts)
Belt ~ Steve Madden (similar)
Cardigan ~ WHBM
Purse ~ Victoria's Secret
Necklace ~ ?? (similar)
Bracelets ~ Stella & Dot and Guess (similar for under $5)
Shoes ~ Two Lips


Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

Ruffles

I love ruffles.  They are so cute and feminine!  When they're layered like this, they can also be very figure flattering.  Are you a fan of ruffles?

I love that this ruffled top also has polka dots!

What I'm Wearing

Ruffle Top ~ WHBM (similar)

Cardigan ~ WHBM (cute options in green and purple)

Jeans ~ WHBM

Shoes ~ thrifted

Necklace ~ Limited

Bracelets ~ Stella & Dot (1 and 2) and Betsy Johnson (similar)

Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

Pink + Gray

As promised back in this post, I'm bringing you another pants business casual outfit.  This lacy peplum blazer is one of my faves and I keep it in regular rotation.

What I'm Wearing

Top ~ WHBM

Blazer ~ Langford Market (local boutique), cute option in black lace

Pants ~ Express, similar, cropped version

Shoes ~ Ross

Necklace ~ ILY Couture

Earrings ~ gift

Bracelet ~ Kate Spade, similar

Bag ~ Kate Spade, pretty option here

Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

Peplum and Pattern Mixing

We had a mini cold front come through last week, but now I think the warm weather is here to stay.  It's definitely warm enough now to break out the shorts.  I went a little crazy with the pattern mixing in this outfit: striped shorts, floral top and leopard purse.  It's cool how it can all come together and create a cohesive outfit.  I've been playing around with pairing different patterns together lately.  It's fun to push the envelope and see which ones you can successfully combine.

I'm happy that peplum is still popular.  The look is so flattering for any body type!  I feel like it is going to become one of those classic looks that is around for a long time.

What I'm Wearing

Top ~ NY & Co (similar here and here)

Shorts ~ WHBM (almost identical)

Earrings ~ Francesca's (similar)

Sandals ~ Bongo (similar)

Bag ~ Kate Spade (similar)

Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram

Thrift Style Thursday: Animal Print

I can't believe it is Thursday already.  The first part of this week really seemed to drag by and now all of a sudden it's almost the weekend! I went fairly subtle with this week's theme.  When thrifting, I found it hard to find animal print that doesn't look like it belongs to an 70's pimp! ;-)  It sure is fun to look at all of the options though.  I did find an awesome pair of dark denim with a subtle leopard print, but unfortunately they were too small.  So here is my animal print outfit.  The shoes were thrifted.

Check out how all the other lovely ladies styled their animal prints!

The Two Cent Chick

Being Zhenya

Confessions of a Refashionista

Sandpaper Kisses

Buttons and Birdcages

Alligator Toe
Sincerely Miss J

Sistas From Cali

Snippets With Alex
Spoolish
Bethie The Boo
Rachel's Lookbook
Muddy Flowers

Have a great rest of the week and as always, thanks for reading!

Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram

The Trench Coat

It's supposed to be Spring but the weather here decided to give us another cold front.  I guess I can't complain too much though because I enjoy any excuse to keep out my cute jackets for a little bit longer.  We only get to wear them a limited time here in Texas.  I recently got this trench coat at Banana and it might be my new favorite jacket.  Luckily they had it in petite so it is the perfect length for me.  The inside has a shock of red, which I love, even though it's not noticeable when I'm wearing it.

What I'm Wearing

Dress ~ Banana Republic

Jacket ~ Banana Republic

Clutch ~ Steve Madden (super cute scalloped edge option here)

Shoes ~ Jessica Simpson (similar)

Necklace ~ Limited (similar)

Bracelet ~ WHBM (similar)

Earrings ~ old (similar)

What To Do When You Have Nothing To Wear ~ Part II

This is Part II of What To Do When You Have Nothing To Wear.  Click here to read Part I.

As promised in Part I, I am going to show a couple of outfit examples that I put together using inspiration from Pinterest.  

The first is a literal interpretation of the outfit.  Here is my inspiration and my version.  The pics are a little dark, but you can see that I'm pretty much wearing the same thing.  There is nothing wrong with exactly copying an outfit you see.  It is a good way to see for yourself how everything looks together. :)

Source: Putting Me Together via Pinterest

The second example is a very loose interpretation of my inspiration photo.  I really liked the pairing of pink with navy, but I don't have a skirt that color.  I do have a top that is very similar in color though!  So I put together an outfit using that shirt and a navy cardigan.

Source: Long Story Short Blog via Pinterest

What I'm Wearing

Outfit 1

Top ~ WHBM

Cardigan ~ Limited (similar)

Jeans ~ Limited

Scarf ~ Limited (another option here)

Boots ~ Natural Selections (similar)

Purse ~ Chanel (similar)

Earrings ~ Limited (another option here for only $8!)

Outfit 2

Top ~ Limited (similar)

Cardigan ~ Banana Republic (similar)

Jeans ~ WHBM

Booties ~ BCBG (similar here and here)

Necklace ~ ILY Couture

Clutch ~ Steve Madden (old)