WEEKEND.

 mama wore: target dress, jcrew sweater, zara leggings, jessica simpson boots. 

baby wore: h&m top and pants.

with gray skies and illness hanging over us, we have been feeling cooped up and stir crazy and a little lonely and isolated, restrained within the four walls of our home.  i never realized that getting sick when you have a baby means that you are banned from all activities with other babies which has severely limited our interactions with other people.  despite still not feeling well (a week and a half later) we managed to escape from our confine for the day, in between the scattered showers, getting out of the house for the first time in what feels like forever and running a few errands.  in the hopes of overcoming all of our dismalality, i opted for some bright stripes for both holden and i, and the universe seemed to acknowledge this, the sun peeking through the clouds just as we left the house even if it was only for a brief millisecond.  hoping that we are back to 100% next week and can resume our normal weekly routine of activities.

DRESSING LIKE A MAMA.

mama wore: billabong dress (also worn during pregnancy), shawl c/o rvca (from a blog i wrote a few years ago), forever21 necklace; baby wore: hurley zip-up hoodie, h&m pants, trumpette "vans" socks

before holden, i thought having style meant wearing designer clothing.  i would spend hundreds of dollars on one item of clothing and end up having no money left over to actually style it.  then i got pregnant and i couldn't bring myself to spend hundreds of dollars on one item of clothing that i knew i would be wearing for small portion of a nine month time period.  i knew that i needed to create a wardrobe that could be worn during and after pregnancy instead of wasting my money on high-priced maternity clothing that i would billow and balloon around my small frame after little h arrived.  my pregnancy made me get creative with my style.  instead of blowing entire paychecks at neimans, bloomingdales, and small san francisco high-end boutiques, i perused the racks at marshalls, tjmaxx, loehmanns, thrift stores, h&m, and forever21, finding flowing maxi dresses, empire-waisted-tops, and stretchy leggings that fit snugly around my pregnant belly and now flatter my flat-again-post-pregnant belly.  i emphasized and accessorized my bump with belts, long necklaces, and comfortable wedged heels, a stark contrast from my pre-pregnancy self who would throw on designer jeans and a designer top and call myself fashionable because of the label on hanging on the back.  i loved my pregnant body and i've never felt more confident about the way i looked than in those nine months.  learning to style and dress my bump was really the start of finding my own style and feeling confident in my fashion choices.

now i'm learning how to style myself as a breastfeeding mama and there are a whole new set of rules.  can this necklace withstand holden's mighty grasp and tugging?  will this belt scratch holden's legs when i carry him?  can this neckline stretch enough so that i can breastfeed easily?  but i've learned that being creative with where you shop, the art of accessorizing, a bright lipstick, and a fun shoe can make all the difference.  i'm taking fashion risks that the non-mother in me would have been terrified to make and i'm stepping out of the constricted style box i made for myself years ago.  i am breaking my old routines like wearing nude lipstick and nothing else like i have for the past five years, feeling a sense of empowerment and self assuredness by the simple act of swiping a red stain across my lips.  who would have thought that having a baby could make you more fashionable?  dressing like a mother has a whole new meaning.

HAPPY WEEKEND.

mama wore: francesca's collections dress, zara leggings, steven boots bought on hautelook. baby wore: h&m pants & rolling stones t-shirt, minnetonka infant booties

hope everyone is having a happy weekend!  gray clouds have taken up residence over us and there has been a steady downpour since last night.  we are starting to get creative with indoor activities.  today we went to open family swim at the indoor pool in our area.  holden was like a little fish, slapping the water gleefully and kicking his tiny feet.  i wore my "vegas" bikini (it was the only one i could find) and red lipstick which resulted in a lot of gawking and gaping by my surrounding counterparts in their speedo one pieces and tankinis. oops.  next time i'll dress more appropriately for family swim.

FAMILY STYLE.

 mama wore: h&m sweater, f21 dress, zara leggings, jessica simpson boots. dada wore: billabong beanie, vans hoodie, h&m pants, vans shoes.  little man wore: quiksilver thermal, h&m pants.

as soon as i found out i was having a baby boy, i dreamed of my little tow-headed, blue-eyed boy standing in the surf, his small body bronzed from his afternoons spent in the sun and the sand.  i already knew he was going to be a so-cal surfer boy, a miniature version of dustin, so before holden was born, i began to compile his wardrobe, constantly hunting for clothes that would suit his laid-back-surfer-slightly-hipster style.  however, finding baby boy outfits that fit this style proved to be more difficult than i anticipated.  if i was having a girl, i probably would have just bought out the entire girls' section of almost every store i walked into, but looking for baby boy's clothing was near impossible.  i half-heartedly joke that having a boy kept me from going broke (although it's probably a much truer statement than i would like to admit).  i would rummage through rack after rack of miniature sweaters and tees, fingering shorts and pants that were the size of my forearm with a look of distaste plastered across my face as i perused the selection hanging before me.  where were the surfer clothes for babies?  

i knew that my baby was going to wear quiksilver and hurley baby, but finding these brands can be near impossible.  the online selection is limited and the sizing in stores usually starts at the toddler sizes.  thankfully, the nordstrom's racks in la and san diego have been our baby style saviors.  for some reason, they always seem to have a huge selection of the most amazing quiksilver and hurley baby boy clothes.  after a few trips down south and months of sending friends and family on shopping sprees for me, we have finally compiled a wardrobe that holden and i can be proud of.  he finally has a wardrobe that represents his style.  

all my hard work as holden's stylist paid off because today, one of my mommy friends was introducing holden and me to her friend and she said, "this is holden.  he is the hipster of the group.  he is always very stylish." :: ahhhhh :: what a satisfying feeling.

i am still dreaming of rvca coming out with a baby boy clothing line (can you imagine?!)

ON THE OPEN ROAD

Over the weekend we inherited a vintage Cadillac.  Not exactly sure what to do with this random surprise as we already own two new cars and a vespa, but I'm sure we can find a use for it.  The rusty red color of the car immediately brings visions of the desert and has me dreaming of drive-in movies, an open freeway in the middle of nowhere, parking at a lookout point and necking under a star studded sky, sipping lemonade under a giant sun hat at the Parker in Palm Springs, and sitting on the hood under a blazing sky of orange and crimson.

There's something about the temperature rising that automatically raises your happiness level with it.   The weather couldn't have been more perfect this weekend, reminding me of those hot summer days of which you spend the entirety outside toasting your skin in the sun until you suddenly realize that the sun is no longer up, zipping into a hoodie over your barely-there summer clothes as dusk begins to fall and despite the nighttime chill, you romp around the night in your daytime clothes...(except we don't stay out after sundown anymore so this scenario may no longer apply).

I threw on this tribal/ikat shift dress that I love for the fact that it feels as though I'm wearing nothing at all (I spent much of pregnancy lazing about in it for this reason).  The dude shirt may be my most favorite item of clothing in the little man's closet.  Super soft and super thin, it's Holden's equivalent to my not-wearing-anything dress.  We frolicked through the afternoon before parking ourselves on the hood of the car to watch the sun fall from the sky.