April Challenge: Week Four

The fourth (and final?) installment of The Maiden Metallurgist's April Challenge to Ditch the Dumpy Sweats!

Wednesday 4/23

Agenda: Annual doctor visit, first t-ball game (rained out at the last minute)

Going comfy and casual to the gyn.  But it still counts as "not sweats!"

Thursday 4/24

Agenda: Indoor playtime at rec center, McTeacher Night for elementary school

I wanted to wear this scarf today, so I paired it with a simple black top and jeans.  The scarf is a piece of a Didymos Indio wrap... one of the first wraps I bought on my babywearing journey.  It has a lot of meaning to me, and a dear friend chopped a scarf off of it so I can keep it forever.

Friday 4/25

Agenda: Work in Bean's classroom, emergency retail therapy with Mom

Love love love this sweater and boots.  It's missing some accessories, though.  Hmmmmm.

Saturday 4/26

Agenda: Tackling to-do list, surprise DATE NIGHT!

My parents surprised us with an offer to babysit so hubby and I could go out to dinner and get a break from the bedtime routine, which has become quite a nightmare at our house as of late.  YES!  Grabbed the new sweater and scarf purchased during retail therapy the previous day.

Sunday 4/27

Agenda: Blerg.

Mama's not feeling so awesome.  Pass.

Monday 4/28

Agenda: Co-op preschool with Littlest

Time to rally!  For preschool, I wore the new tee, scarf, and sweater that I found at a local boutique shop on date night.  The items are really soft, too... maybe not as relaxing as sweats, but pretty darn close.  Mamas don't have to look frumpy just to be comfortable!

Tuesday 4/29

Agenda: Playdate canceled... guess I should pick up this house

.

My most important lessons from this month are:

1.  Purge the closet, brutally.  I tend to reach for pieces that aren't flattering just because they are THERE.  Out with the old items that no longer serve me well, and in with the new.

2.  Everything is better... LIFE is better... when I feel good in my clothes.

3.  Accessorize!  Putting on jeans and a plain top is boring.

4.  Be more bold with colors and patterns.  I need to add interesting pieces to my closet, not just solid and "safe" colors.

So who wants to go shopping with me?

April Challenge: Week Three

The third of four installments of the Ditch the Dumpy Sweats April Challenge!  (See The Maiden Metallurgist's weekly post here.)

Wednesday 4/16

Agenda: I honestly can't even remember back that far.

Be warned, the theme of this post is going to be "The Week of Blah."  Blah because I consumed waaaay too much pre-Easter Easter candy.  Blah because it WON'T STOP RAINING.  Blah because parenting is hard as heck sometimes.  And blah because... well, let's just say it's that time of every month that I'm not feeling so peppy.  I chose this first outfit just because I wanted to wear a comfort sweater.

Thursday 4/17

Agenda: Easter party at Nix/Gax preschool, annual check-up for Nix and Gax

I tried again to work in The Impossible to Coordinate pants.  This is a light coral linen sweater and a fluffy scarf... hoping I pulled it off?

Friday 4/18

Agenda: Work in Bean's classroom

My friend found this super cute necklace for me at ModCloth, and I wanted a simple top to show it off.  Sometimes when we are feeling the most Blah, a reminder of a sweet person in our lives can cheer us up.  (Pardon the dorky pose, it was impossible to capture light with all the dark clouds this past week!)

Saturday 4/19

Agenda: Stand outside in the rain for soccer and t-ball, birthday party at bouncy house with Bean

The functional outfit, pants that fit in tall rain boots and a top that layers under my warm, dry, huge jacket.  Done.

Sunday 4/20

Agenda: Easter at my parents' house

Biggest pants in my closet to hide waistline attacked by a herd of chocolate bunnies.  Yep.  At least we got a brief reprieve from the constant downpour.

Monday 4/21

Agenda: Co-op preschool with Littlest

Those same pants.  The bunnies did a lot of damage, little jerks.

Tuesday 4/22

Agenda: Grocery store, post office, Target, soccer banquet for Nix and Gax

This morning I woke up to... yet again... this, out my window.

And I just gave up.  Dumpy sweats it is.  (Sorry Drea!)  Not only is this a comfortable sweatshirt, but it also explains to people in public why I look and act like I am some sort of zombie.  Because I am.  Actually, the checker at the grocery store said to me, "You don't look like you have four kids..."  Which I decided to take as a compliment, instead of reading into as, "... you look like you have at least ten."  So thank you, checker, I appreciate it.

April Challenge: Week Two

Picking up right where I left off with The Maiden Metallurgist's April Challenge: Ditch the Dumpy Sweats.  (See Drea's second week post here.  You won't want to miss it!)


WEDNESDAY 4/9

Agenda: Nix and Gax dental appointments, playdate at our house

I call this my "grab everything in the closet that I don't know how to coordinate, and wear them on the same day" outfit.  Those pants, love them... but other than the one top I bought with them, I am clueless.  They are like a clay gray.  It doesn't seem like it should be hard, but I am always taking them out of the closet and then putting them back in when none of the tops feel right with them.  And the scarf, I adore those colors, but again for some reason, it never looks right with my outfits.  So at least I wore these items out of the house, right?

THURSDAY 4/10

Agenda: PlayDate SEA with a friend, t-ball practice

Not much to say about this outfit.  Both the gray tank and the black cardi got ruined in the wash a couple of days later, so I guess this is the memorial photo of the outfit.  Rest in peace, tank and cardi.  Rest in peace.

I am generally against stealing babies... but I have considered taking this particular one home with me.

FRIDAY 4/11

Agenda: Tacoma STAR Center playdate

I have put this top in the "donate" pile several times, only to chicken out and rescue it.  Which I suppose means next time I should just leave it there.  I don't know... it fits nicely and the color is pretty.  But something about it isn't yes! for me.  Later in the day, I put an olive green jacket over it, and I liked the sweater a lot better in a lesser amount.

SATURDAY 4/12

Agenda: Soccer game, errands, *Date Night*

During the first half of the day, my "running around to every store in town" outfit was simple blue capris with a cream top.  Then a short-sleeved black sweater with a knit infinity scarf for dinner with the hubby (thanks Mom and Dad!).

Taken shortly before I ate my weight in fondue and wanted to die.

SUNDAY 4/13

Agenda: Tackle the epic to-do list

I cheated with mommy yoga pants.  Even God rested on the seventh day.

MONDAY 4/14

Agenda: Co-op preschool with Littlest, t-ball practice

Hmmm, second time wearing this sweater during the week.  Yes, I did wash the kid snot off of it in between.  This time I am wearing some super comfy cropped khakis and a necklace.  I am still high on the boring factor, but at least I am dressed!  With make-up!  Monday is a tough morning around here.

TUESDAY 4/15

Agenda: Take dog to preschool for pet show-and-tell, Target, soccer practice

Pay no attention to the Lego explosion behind me.  (You can see the mess slowly growing behind me if you scroll through these pictures day-by-day.  I am convinced the Legos multiply and scatter while we sleep.)



Whew!

April Challenge: Week One

My first installment of The Maiden Metallurgist's April Challenge: Ditch the Dumpy Sweats!  (See her weekly post HERE.)  I decided a little late that I would participate, so forgive me for missing a few days.  But a good way to ease into posting again!

SUNDAY 4/6

Agenda: Chuck E Cheese's for Nix and Gax's 4th birthday party

The best picture I could find of my outfit was in that ticket blaster tornado thing.  (Yes, I am stuffing tickets down my tank.  I actually found two tickets in my underwear when I changed out of them.  The things we do for our offspring!)

MONDAY 4/7

Agenda: Bouncy house, errands, Pancake House for dinner

Fell in love with these cropped pants and had to buy them.  But I have trouble figuring out what to wear with them.  In the store window, it was paired with a top similar to what I'm wearing here, but it had springy pink stripes instead of blue.  That pink is not a color I can wear anyway, but I wasn't a huge fan.  Navy is my favorite neutral, so I grabbed this top and added some red as an accent color.  Not necessarily a home run, but not the worst?  Or is it?

But then it got warmer and sunnier as the day progressed, so I needed a t-shirt to take the boys outside.  I was totally at a loss at what could match from my closet, so I grabbed this t-shirt just because I bought it at the same store as the pants and assumed they would coordinate on some level.

Then it was getting really warm (70+ degrees) and I gave up.  Ditched the thick cropped pants altogether and grabbed a jean skirt and hot pink flip flops.

TUESDAY 4/8

Agenda: Host a playdate at our house

The past few days have been both busy and emotionally challenging as a parent.  We had Bean's friend (and his mom and sister) come over for a playdate, and while I wanted to retreat into yoga pants and a comfy old t-shirt, I decided to farm my closet for something that was just as comfortable without being so lazy.  Those pants are not actually yoga pants, they are "slim fitting comfort trousers" that I got in my StitchFix box.  I am counting that as a win.

Reflections and notes for the week...

* I need more short sleeved tops that are not solid navy, white, black, or gray.

* Waistline is an issue for me.  Do belts help hide a flabby tummy, or accentuate it?  Google this.

* While I love the sunshine, I am not looking forward to having to shave my legs more frequently again.

* How are Nix and Gax already four?  I am old.

* Parenting is hard.  I wish I liked cigarettes and alcohol.

* I am pretty upset that this final season of "Psych" was so poorly written.

* Shopping.  Shopping helps everything.

April Challenge: Ditching the Dumpy Sweats

There are a lot of things I love about babywearing: the convenience, the snuggles, and the delicious wrap fabrics that I can horde and pet.  But as we are entering the twilight years of increasingly infrequent uppies, what I am grateful for most are the incredible mamas that I have "met" during this journey of early motherhood.

One of those awesome people is Drea from The Maiden Metallurgist.  She is smart, cute, funky, and eloquent.  And she has issued an April Challenge, and very tentatively, I am stepping up to the plate on this one:

Now honestly, I am not really guilty of wearing dumpy sweats anymore.  The first year of any of my kids' lives, absolutely; you would find me in DH's ratty old sweatpants and an oversized faded college t-shirt.  But now that I am no longer gestating or breastfeeding, I have been able to lose a significant portion of baby/nursing weight and wear items that could actually be recognized as legit clothing.

But I am excited to participate in this challenge, because while I don't portray dumpy exactly, I am far from where I'd like to be fashion-wise.  Here are my goals for this challenge:

1.  Post more frequently on the blog.  I appreciate having some accountability to post on a regular basis... instead of just waiting for concerned relatives to email me to ask if I am dead.

2.  Be more creative in my outfits.  I am not someone who can picture different pieces together... who can pull pants and tops and belts and shoes and accessories together in unique and fun ways.  I am either wearing jeans and a basic top, or an outfit that I saw on a mannequin at the store.  I feel like there is untapped potential in my closet, pairing different things with one another, and I need some prompting to experiment.

3.  Purge what doesn't make me feel fantastic.  I am guilty of buying many a Target top that 1) costs $10 and 2) fits.  But I just feel meh when I wear some of them.  Especially in light of my recent personal color analysis, I have discovered the powerful effect of different colors on my appearance and mood.  Time to donate the "doesn't do anything for me" items to the local women's shelter and stick with clothes that make me feel aww yeah!

4.  Don't "save" favorite pieces for something that will never happen, stop relying on boring clothes.  It's seeming unlikely that my kids are going to beg me to take them to the symphony during spring break, or that Duchess Kate will call me up to share High Tea during her next tour of the US.  I can grab the cute sweater instead of passing it by to keep it clean for a special activity that just won't happen.

So join me, and link up with Drea on Tuesday!  Let me know if you do!