Life Lately

Hey, the weeks are flying by and I'm going to have a baby next month!  Yikes!  Things are going generally pretty well.  A few highlights from recent weeks:

• I spent my first overnight away from Mr. Baby!  We figured we needed to have a practice run before baby2 arrives.  Pretty sure it was harder on me than on him!  Plus we stayed in a hotel downtown, which was probably a mistake.  The barhoppers were loud at 2am, and then a trash truck was loud at 6am, so my big dreams of sleeping extra weren't necessarily a reality!
• Mr. Baby and I started swim lessons.  I use "lessons" pretty loosely, but hey, it's an excuse to go to the pool and play around.  Plus I look really cute in a swimsuit at 8 months pregnant (I'm joking, I look ridiculous).
• My mom has been in town for the last week or so.  We've gotten quite a bit done. We made a bunch of freezer meals.  John and I are getting close to done with baby2's room.  Plus Mr. Baby is having fun with an extra grown-up around to play with him.  

This outfit is from mid-May, so I'm not quite a month behind at this point.  Maybe I'll even get my act together and post twice this week!  No promises though!  

Cardigan: JCF
Dress: Younkers
Belt: Gap
Shoes: Target

Copycat Aunt

So, this is my niece.  She's awesome.  You may remember her from the last time I shamelessly copied her outfit.  What can I say?  The girl has great style!  Anyway, she recently sent me these pics of her in a super cute outfit, and I thought it would be fun to do another copycat post.  I wore my version out to dinner with my 2 favorite guys, and then we walked around the duck pond.  Somehow, taking outfit pictures turned into copying all of the poses that E did.  

Tree hugging isn't my forte, especially since there was a spider on the tree.  I also sadly didn't have a red hairbow!  

There also weren't any fancy benches at the park we were at, so I had to settle for this boring green one.  

 Thanks for the inspiration, E!

Cardigan: H&M (similar)
Tee: Gap (similar)
Skirt: Banana Republic (eyelet option that I have been tempted to buy!)
Shoes: Target (similar)

Swiss Chard

That's how big my baby is at the moment, allegedly.  Or at least how long/tall he is?  I guess he weighs about 6 pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot until you are carrying it around in your belly.  Pregnancy is so weird, you guys!

Anyway, I have my last baby shower tonight, so that should be fun!  Plus my sister and nieces have been keeping me busy for the last couple of days, so I may just sleep for 48 hours straight when they leave.

Jacket: JCF (top 10 remix item)
Sweater: Old Navy Maternity
Jeans: Old Navy Maternity (top 10 remix item)
Shoes: Target

All That Shimmers

You can't really tell, but this shirt is all golden shimmery.  I bought it back in January, and haven't worn it at all so far.  Oops!  But now that I'm running out of things that fit over my giant belly, this tee might get a little more action in the next (plus or minus) 6 weeks.

Can anyone even believe it is almost April?  Or am I the only one in denial that the year is 1/4 over?

Cardigan and Shoes: Target
Tee: Loft Maternity
Jeans: Old Navy Maternity

Spring Mix

Everyone thinks of floral print in the spring, right?  And stripes just seem to go so perfectly with florals, right?  I was planning on wearing my coral boyfriend cardigan with this outfit, but apparently I got rid of it (or lost it??), so the pink one was an emergency substitution, as I was running late (pretty typical) and didn't have time to think of anything else to wear.  I was also planning on wearing my navy shoes, but they are feeling a little tight lately (thanks swollen feet!), so the gold flats sitting by the door seemed like a decent option, and I snagged my gold chain necklace to make them match better.

I felt pretty great in this outfit, and specifically very "great with child," because this tank top is a very fitted maternity style.

Weekend update?  Well, it the weather was about as perfect as possible, so John and I got takeout on Friday night and found a park bench next to a duck pond.  Pretty good date.  Saturday was spent getting the baby room mostly in order.  I just have to do a few more little projects, but all the big furniture is arranged.  Sunday, I was exhausted (this is becoming a trend), so I was kind of a bum between church services and got just a few things done.  Late pregnancy and rheumatoid arthritis are not a great combination for efficiency.

Cardigan: Gap
Necklace: F21
Tank: Old Navy Maternity
Skirt; Macy's
Shoes: Target

Legs for One Day

On the most glorious of all January days, the temperature actually topped out at 61 and I was the happiest girl in the world.  I took advantage of the opportunity to wear bare (bear) legs, and normal shoes (not boots!).  It was so great.  And John may have called me crazy, because the low was still in the 40s, and it was pretty windy, and I didn't see anyone else in bare legs.  So maybe I am crazy.  But you know, I'm glad I got one day where I didn't have to wear boots or tights.  And then it snowed like 2 days later, so it's a good thing I took advantage of the nice weather!

Dress: Younker's Maternity
Scarf: Calvin Klein
Jacket: Target
Shoes: Target

Blazer Week - Coral Stripes

Let's just jump from yesterday's most expensive blazer to today's cheapest.  This one set me back $7, and honestly, I probably should have left it, because I haven't worn it much in the year since I got it.  It was right around the time when it seemed like every blogger I knew was buying that coral blazer from Gap and I loved it!  But I wasn't going to spend that much, and then I saw this one and thought it was close enough.  But something about it being coral and striped just makes it harder to style.

Today is also the Third Thursday of the month, which means it's time to link up with Bri.  Her theme this month is Fall Footwear.  I'm pretty sure Nebraska has decided fall is SO LAST SEASON, and we are firmly in winter.  But I did wear this particular outfit when we were having lovely fall weather.  I know some girls jump at the first slightly cool day as an opportunity to break out the boots, but I cling to my non-boot footwear as long as I possibly can, because I know my boots will start to feel boring when I have to wear them on repeat for 4 months straight.  So I wore my gold flats, which you can't really see.  But it was fall, and I had footwear, so it counts, right?

Blazer Week continues below!  Link up your looks and be sure to check out the other links!

Blazer: Jones New York via TJ Maxx
Shirt: J.Crew Factory (exact)
Skirt: Gibson&Latimer (similar, similar)
Shoes: Target (exact)

Confident Twosday

It's Tuesday, which means I'm linking up with Laura for her Confident Twosday party.  And this week is extra special, because she asked me to co-host!  Whoo!

I've been thinking about confidence, since that's the whole theme of the linkup.  I've never considered myself to be a super confident person, but I pretty regularly have people tell me I must be confident to wear whatever bright colors or crazy patterns.  That may be a back-handed compliment, but I'll take it.  The more I've thought about it, I guess I agree with them.  I don't walk around feeling super confident all the time, but I also don't spend very much time worrying about my flaws.

It seems like there's a trend recently towards celebrating different body types, and I think that's good.  What I don't like is that it sometimes swings too far, and we get into the "real women have curves" type comments.  So I would like to say that yeah, sometimes real women have curves, and sometimes real women have angles, and sometimes we are short or tall or medium, or whatever.  I don't buy into the "everyone is perfect" thing.  I'm more on the "everyone has their own set of flaws" side of things.  We've all got to work with what we've got.  So I probably need to lose a few (well, more than a few) pounds, but right now I'm a little bit fat.  And that's okay.  

And here's a SUPER HELPFUL definition of "self confidence" from Merriam Webster: confidence in oneself.  Wow, I never would have guessed that.  Isn't there supposed to be a rule that you can't use the word to define itself?  Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of defining things? 

Anyway, link up below!  And I'd love to hear your thoughts about confidence! 

Cardigan: H&M (similar)
Dress: Loft Outlet (option,option)
Belt: Steve Madden (similar)
Necklace: Old Navy (similar)
Shoes: Target (exact)

I do deClaire (Bloglovin) | Just Another Smith (Bloglovin) 

An InLinkz Link-up

20 Things You May or May Not Know (or care to know) About Me

Well, if you want to know 20 random things about me, today is your lucky day!  You can thank (or blame) Brynn for tagging me.  She made a cool video, but I wasn't up to that challenge.  At first, I was just like "no, I hate seeing myself on video" and then I was like "Oh yeah, and I actually wouldn't even know how to do one anyway, so it doesn't matter."  So if you want to know what my voice sounds like, you'll just have to come visit.  I'll take you to the zoo.  Or maybe I'll figure out how to vlog someday.  It's not likely.  

Anyway, here are the questions and my answers.  

• How tall are you?  5'9"
• Do you have a hidden talent?  If so, what?   I don't think so
• What's your biggest blog-related pet peeve?  Probably just the weird rat race to get followers.  Sure, I'd love to have 1000 followers (although saying that makes me nervous, maybe I wouldn't love that at all).  I think I've mostly stopped following people who seem caught up in that.  But even now, I will get people who link up for a theme week and they aren't even remotely close to the theme.  I should delete them, but then I feel like a jerk if I do.   
• What's your biggest non-blog-related pet peeve?  Oh, where to even begin?  Probably grammar and spelling errors, especially online.  I know I'm not perfect, but seriously, the computer has spell check!  You should not be making these stupid mistakes! (and now I'm extra paranoid that I have stupid mistakes in this super long post!)
• What's your favorite song?  It's impossible to choose a favorite song.  I can't even pick a reasonable number of favorite songs to put on my iphone.  My favorite artist is definitely Ben Folds.  That man is a musical genius. 
• What's your favorite Etsy shop that isn't yours?  No idea.  I'm not into Etsy.  
• What's your favorite way to spend your free time when you're alone?  If I'm in a lazy mood, I will be reading or binge-watching Netflix/Hulu.  I also really like to shop by myself.  
• Do you have a pet or pets?  If so, what kind and what are their names?  Nope.  I really want to get a dog, specifically a Great Pyrenees, but the timing hasn't worked out for us yet.  We just aren't home enough.  
• What are your number one favorite nonfiction and fiction books?  Again, I am really bad at picking favorites.  I mean, I had 6 favorite books from just one year!  So, my 2 favorite fiction books from 2014 so far are The Rosie Project and Ready Player One.   I don't read as much non-fiction, but I really like Malcolm Gladwell's books.  
• What's your favorite beauty product?  I've been using Pantene Curl Defining Mousse for the majority of my life.  Other products just don't get the job done.    
• When were you last embarrassed?  What happened?  I do embarrassing things all the time, so these moments don't really stick with me as much.  So, I can't think of anything specific that has happened recently.  
• If you could only drink one beverage (besides water) for the rest of your life, what would it be?  This is tough!  I think I have to pick milk.  I drink a lot of milk, and I don't think I could do without it.  But I'd really miss drinking soda.   
• What's your favorite movie?  Ugh, why are there so many questions about favorite things??  I like lots of movies!  Probably the movie I've watched the most is Waiting for Guffman.  It's just so hilarious.  I really need to watch it again - it's been awhile.  Every time I watch it, I notice something new.  
• What were you in high school: prom queen, nerd, cheerleader, jock, valedictorian, band geek, loner, artist, prep?  Well, I went to a pretty small Christian school, so most of the groups overlapped quite a bit.  We didn't have a prom queen.  I was smart, but I think about 30% of the class had a 4.0 at graduation.  I kind of wanted to be a cheerleader, just to teach them that doing the "we're #1" cheer isn't appropriate when we are losing by 50 points.  I was definitely not a jock, band geek, loner, or artist.  And we were all preps, because we literally went to prep school, uniforms and all.  So, have I answered the question?  No?  Well, I don't know what I was.  There were a lot of things I didn't like about my high school, but I think the social dynamic was pretty good.  I honestly think I was friends with almost everyone.  Does that make me sound like I was actually friends with no one?  Longest non-answer ever.  
• If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  I would want to live on the beach!   I always joke about moving to Puerto Rico, but I should probably pick a place that mostly speaks English.  So maybe we should move to Hawaii?  
• PC or Mac?  I've always had PCs.  
• Last romantic gesture from a crush, date, boy/girlfriend, spouse?  Our anniversary was just at the end of July.  John sent me flowers at work, and bought me an opal ring.  So that was pretty nice.  Otherwise, we tend to be silly rather than super romantic.  
• Favorite celebrity?  I'm not super interested in celebrities.  The first person that comes to mind is Jimmy Fallon, just because he seems like such a nice guy, and appears to really love his job.  I remember loving him back in the day on SNL, because he couldn't get through a sketch without giggling.  Most celebrities seem like jerks, so my favorites are the nice-seeming ones!  
• What blogger do you secretly want to be best friends with? I don't think it's a secret that I want to be best friends with Kate and Danielle.  Well, and a few others of you.  You should all move to Nebraska and we can hang out all the time!       

Top: Kohl's (refashioned from a dress)
Cardigan: J.Crew Factory (exact)
Skirt: Gibson&Latimer (similar, similar)
Shoes: Target (exact)