The End is Near-ish

The heat, combined with my size has been severely limiting my clothing choices as of late.  I have found my staple comfort outfit- leggings or fitted shorts with a dress or longer shirt; however as I round the home stretch of my pregnancy (only 9 weeks left!) I don't want to keep buying more clothes that may not fit me later on.  

I finally conceded and made a special trip to a larger Target to check out the maternity section...but I ended up with this dress from the regular women's department instead.  I bought it a size up and the empire waist makes it suitable for pregnancy attire.  I wore it 3 times last week so when I put it on yesterday I decided to add a belt to change things up a bit.

Coincidentally, the red in the belt matched perfectly with the faucet handle adornment on my new Jardiniere from The Kitchen Sink Bag!  

dress~ Target

belt~ vintage

leggings~ TJ Maxx

bag and silver necklace~ The Kitchen Sink Bag

One person's trash...

Well it was exactly trash, but I got this shirt from a clothing swap.  When I first wore it I was barely showing and it was very flattering with jeans or a simple skirt.  Then I went through a brief period where the bubble hem began creating an enlarging effect- not good.  Now that I'm rather big anyway, that effect is not an issue, but it still looks better with leggings.

I added this close-up to show how nice the macrame is on the top of the shirt.  Also to show one of my favorite thrift store finds of all time- the yellow earrings I found while I was in college.

shirt~ clothing swap

leggings~ Express

earrings~ thrift store

shoes~ Toms!

The Official Pregnancy Shoe

I've tried various shoes as my feet continue to swell in the hot summer months, but most of the time I would end up in my converse sneakers.  I was started to dub this my summer of dressing like a camp counselor, but then Toms shoes came to my rescue.

These are absolutely the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned and they go with everything- absolutely perfect for pregnancy.  This is a dress that I showed in another post, but I paired with a different belt this time.  I'm not generally a fan of capri leggings, but with all my garment limitations, I'm giving them a whirl.

belt~ vintage

shoes~ Nordstrom

leggings~ TJ Maxx

NYC Trip

I took a quick trip to NYC last week, I figured it would be nice to see some of my friends before I'm completely huge or have a baby in tow.  As a result of sweltering temperatures and the necessity for comfortable walking shoes my fashion choices were less than creative, but I did go a bit camera happy during my stay.

My first night Noga and I had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Fonda in South Slope where she treated herself to a yummy cocktail.  Later I treated myself to a chocolate mousse cake covered in white chocolate, I think we were both quite happy. 

I stopped by my old Manhattan apartment on Bleecker St.  This was the side where my bedroom was, all the way up on the 29th floor...

I went to the bar Max Fish in the Lower East Side.  I chose it because I remembered it as one of the more low key places in that neighborhood.  Much to my surprise when I arrived I was greeted by two bouncers and a mock "velvet rope."  I guess a lot had changed, but you could still get a PBR...my beverage was in the cool green water bottle though.

After a delicious lunch at Life Cafe in Bushwick, my old neighborhood Carolyn, Steve, and I  had a little photo shoot

Porch Photo Shoot

I recently went out to find another pair of maternity shorts, but in the grand tradition of retail stupidity nobody had shorts left for sale.  I know we all want to pretend that our shopping schedule revolves around fashion week, so naturally I should have picked out and purchased my spring/summer ensemble last fall,  but I didn't know I was pregnant then so ha!  In any case, I needed to get a little more creative with expanding my summer wardrobe.

A lot of the non-maternity shirts I've bought end up being rather long because I'm buying larger sizers.  Some of my leggings still fit me, so I can pair them with these longer tanks- not always as cool as shorts, but on the non-sweltering days it's better than jeans.  

'

I'm also wearing a necklace I was playing around with.  The pendant is comprised of two pieces I linked together, and the upper chain is another portion from the necklace I showed in the previous post.  In this one though, I removed the middle bead and replaced it with the green one that I had from an old bracelet I took apart.  Thanks to Dom for the photos :)

tank~ TJ Maxx

leggings~ Express

shoes~ Blowfish

Necklace Beta Testing

This is a necklace I made out of the pieces I showed in my last post.  The red pendent is a clip on earring attached to an old chain.  The lower portion is a segment from a longer necklace that I took apart.  I attached it to the other chain with the intention of making this look like two necklaces in one.  I'm still toying with the idea of having the bottom part be detachable, so that the pendant could be worn alone if desired.  Any thoughts?

This is why I have so much trouble getting rid of clothes

I'm self-admittingly one of those annoying children who can never seem to completely move out of her parents house- i.e. I use the room off the basement as my personal storage unit.  Clearly this ad fails to reach me:

I was there a few weeks ago retrieving more of the belongings I had left after my move from Brooklyn when I stumbled upon a bag of clothes that I had intended to donate to the goodwill.  Out of curiosity I looked through them and discovered a few tops tops that I thought could work as maternity garments.

Among them was this yellow number.  I bought it a few years ago and I don't even remember where it is from.  I didn't wear it much because it always felt unflattering- the material is very structured so the bottom portion maintained a wide shape that didn't work for my normal body type.  However, it does wonders for my pregnant body!  The empire waist cut works very well and the ruched, elasticized portion around the bust has a lot of give, which makes the shirt extremely comfortable.

This does pose a problem though, because I have trouble getting rid of clothes because I always wonder if I will like them better down the line.  Usually I force myself to donate clothes that I haven't worn in a while, but this scenario threatens to throw off my entire system...

shirt~ probably Marshalls or something of the like

jeans~ Old Nay Maternity

sandals~ Mudd