mama on the go (mama on a date)

Marshall's dress (similar) and heels; Lauren Conrad for Kohl's blazer; Old Navy jean jacket; Converse sneakers; Target necklace (red) and hat, Laonato necklace (heart); thrifted belt.

I admit, I am not much of a sneaker girl. I only wear them for working out or errands after working out. I did wear them in Disney once after four days of hurt feet walking 12 hours a day. I wore them on the fifth day and was amazed at how comfortable they were! Still, I will suffer for fashion and wear cute sandals over sneakers any day. I recently found a pin on Pinterest that showed a girl wearing sneakers with a dress and thought it looked so cute and wanted to try it. I think it suits my girly personality to wear them this way.

     

my parenting truth

For the past six months or so I have been floundering. My sweet two year old finally realized who he was and was determined to let us know who that is. He is very strong willed, and stubborn. He hasn't responded to any of the tricks I used with my daughter to calm him down and teach him right from wrong. He has been uncontrollable. Running away from me at restaurants and the grocery store. Refusing to walk when he needs to. Refusing to do anything if he doesn't want to.

I have turned angry. I yell more than I like. I spank more than I like. I do awful things like squeeze his arm so tight it leaves a mark when dragging him into timeout. Essentially having kids had made me realize I have an anger problem. I solve issues with my kids by being overly strict and not teaching them how to solve problems, I just rush in and yell and solve nothing essentially. If I am being really truthful I have been doing this a long time. Both of my children are very headstrong, a wonderful thing in so many instances, but hard when you are teaching them proper behavior. They test me. Multiple times a day. It is exhausting, it is teaching two people every day all day how to behave and I don't know the answers. I have always found that reading parenting books has helped me a lot. This book saved me when I had babies. It taught me how to establish routines and created two amazing sleepers and eaters who flourished in their schedules. I found more books to help me in the early toddler hood day. This book helped with my daughter, but only up to a certain point. I'm finding that raising two children as opposed to two babies or two toddlers is a whole different ball game. Tactics that have worked before no longer work and I have been so frustrated.

After a horrible day yesterday I found a book online. It is geared specifically towards strong willed children and after reading it I feel it has some amazing options that will work for me. It's about setting hard limits versus soft limits. Having my actions mirror my words. It is funny to think you are parenting one way when you are actually doing the opposite. I have been going back and forth from being too soft and then too hard. After one day of trying these new options I see improvement. Do they still test me? Yes. Yet I am finding that I can help stop bad behavior without the yelling and anger, without the spanking. Wish me luck!

casual friday

F21 top and shoes; Target dress (similar.)

Most days around my house are pretty casual, especially in the summer. No school for the kids means extra days at the Y (for my sanity) followed by a trip to the pool. After the pool I just want to be comfortable and end up throwing on cotton dresses topped with a cozy sweatshirt. This polka dot one is my favorite, I bought it in the Love 21 section at Forever 21. (For a great article about finding great stuff at F21, click here!) It is soft and faded, like a sweatshirt should be. It is also very thin and worn in, not heavy at all. I like to knot it over dresses or skirt to avoid that whole pregnant look (been there, done that!)

As for my hair, this is what it looks like at home when no plans are made. Up off my neck in a very haphazard way. The better to hide how long I go sometimes between washings.

love junkie

F21 top (similar here and here); Old Navy jeans and shoes; Target clutch, Etsy necklace.

So you all know I love polka dots and stripes. Now I have a new pattern to obsess over...hearts! Maybe I am a twelve year old in an (almost!) thirty two year old's body. Maybe I just love a graphic pattern. I gravitate towards black and white with pops of color whenever I am in doubt. It always works. That and color blocking. My real style self loves simplicity and finding easy outfits that work for many different occasions. With flat sandals and a large tote I would wear this to the park with the kids, and at night I would jazz it up with a bright clutch and lipstick. I would also probably wear my hair down as that is how I feel it looks the best, but a day at the pool and the gym did not warrant that for pictures today. It was frightening. As it my fading chocolate brown to weird reddish color. Time for another box of Feria!

is it fall yet?

Charlotte Russe tank; Old Navy cardi; Target jeans (similar), shoes and necklace; Coach clutch.

I don't know if it is part of growing up in the North East, but now that July is almost over and back to school items are up in the stores (weird when it is the dead of summer, right?), I find myself  really wishing it was Fall. I see new pencils and fresh notebooks on the store shelves, squishy scarves and tons of fun layering in magazines and online and I want it to be October in New Hampshire. Crisp, cold air. Pumpkins on doorsteps and crunchy, fallen, colorful leaves underfoot. Apple cider in steaming stoneware mugs.

There are many benefits to living in Florida, but seeing Fall unfold in New England is something I yearn for every year. I want to shop for cold weather clothes and have it be cozy and warm in my house while a pumpkin scented candle burns. I want to buy new backpacks for my kids and pack their lunch boxes with sweet notes and kiss their soft, rounded cheeks on the first day of school while they run in with their brand new shoes and first day outfits.

Maybe it is because it has been nice out and feels like we have had summer weather since February. And it is brutally hot here and there is only so many days in a row you can do the pool, the beach, the lake before you shrivel up with age spots and emerging wrinkles despite the hourly applications of sunblock. Maybe even your precious (not the word I say in my head sometimes!) little children are watching their umpteenth hour of Micky Mouse Clubhouse and you can't wait for school to start. That commercial totally makes sense now that I have kids. You know the one where the parents are dancing down the aisles of Staples buying school supplies while "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plays? I get it now.

mama on the go (mama on a date)

Stylemint dress (similar); Old Navy jacket; F21 sandals (similar); Marshall's heels (similar); Target belt and sunnies.

This dress is soooooo comfortable (can you tell that is a main selling point for me?!) It may look like a maternity dress in some instances and I am okay with that. I wore this to the library with my kids the other day and it is casual enough for that. Belted it can go from day to night with a change of shoes and a light jacket for chilly air conditioning. You may also notice this necklace in every single photo I've taken lately. I bought it from a cute shop on Etsy and it just goes with everything and adds a fun touch.

the 2.0 version

Stylemint tee; F21 skirt (similar); Target sunnies; Old Navy wedges (similar); Etsy necklace.

 Beware, this may be the most boring blog post. Ever.

We've had AT&T internet for about a year now and found it fine. Sure it took about two minutes to load some web pages. Sure watching videos took forever because they would pause fifty times to reload. No biggie.

Then one day we decided to stop procrastinating (the husband and I are big procrastinators) and I called Comcast to hook up Exfinity.

Long story short, our internet is now ridiculously fast. It's like we have been looking at everything through a filter and now it has been removed and the world is now clear. Yippee!

On another note, I got this shirt in the mail the other day and love it. The color is bright and pretty and it is baby blanket soft. And my new sunnies from Target make me feel like a 1950's movie star. Even when I am carrying two 40 pound kids around the pool and sweating. I'm cool. In my head, only. 

bff

Lauren Conrad for Kohl's top; Target dress (similar) and heels.

I was putting my daughter to bed tonight and tried to make it special due to the fact that it was raining all day and we watched too much TV and she and her brother were driving me nuts and I had to yell a lot. I try to end the days on a good note. I try! This doesn't always happen. Especially when they come out of their rooms too many times (drink of water, one more hug, potty again...) Ugh. I could literally pull my hair out some nights. I need that book about bedtime (parents, you know what book I am talking about!)

Anyway, long story short, when I put Molly to bed I snuggled with her and talked about our day. She chatted, danced for me, put some lip gloss on my lips (I said no thanks to eye shadow application) and she told me she wanted to be my best friend. Sigh. I know she won't feel like that always, maybe even by tomorrow. But it is really nice to hear that my little girl wants to be my best friend.

less than

F21 top (similar) and shorts (similar); Target booties (similar.)

I have seen floral shorts everywhere online, but mostly at an astronomical price that I would never pay for a) a pair of shorts, or b) a trendy item that may or may not last through this season. I was thrilled to find them at Forever 21 this past week for about $20. Now if I get sick of them in the next two months or so I won't feel bad if I end up donating them to the Salvation Army.

As for the sweatshirt, it has polka dots and is made of a super yummy, soft material that is perfect for lounging around the house or layering in the fall (or the frigid Florida air conditioning!)

What are some trendy items you lust after but don't want to spend a lot of money on?

P.S. Please ignore my banged up legs. Boot camp was a little rough.

stripes and dots

Stylemint top; Lauren Conrad for Kohl's shorts; Target hat; Old Navy wedges; Etsy necklace.

Chances are, if an item of clothing had either stripes or polka dots it will magically jump into my cart (online or otherwise) and it will end up in my home. I never thought to actually pair the two patterns until I saw it in the J Crew style guide (my go to style inspiration.) As long as patterns have like colors the can be paired!

I have been eying this tee on the Stylemint website for some time and recently just bit the bullet and bought it. It is so soft and comfortable and I can wear it now and layered with cozy knits later on. The shorts, well these shorts are just for now. They are fun and once I saw them at Kohl's the other day I had to get them. I am hoping to find pants in this pattern so if you happen to find some, please let me know!

mama on the go/mama goes out

Charlotte Russe blouse (similar); J Crew shorts, Target sunnies; F21 sandals (similar.)

Charlotte Russe blouse (similar); Target jeans, wedges and clutch.

Lately I have been infatuated with loose, airy blouses. Maybe it's because the temp in Florida is thisclose to hell on earth. Maybe I just like the feel of the fabric not touching my skin. Maybe I have a shopping addiction and need help.... we may never know why exactly. Until then I will keep buying tops like this and wear them with everything from jeans shorts and flat sandals to bright jeans and high wedges. Now I just have to find a babysitter so my husband and I can go see "Ted." Has anyone seen it? I want to go so baaaaaaaad.

P.S. Let's keep it a secret how much damage I did at Kohl's the other day, kay?

hair issues (part three)

Lauren Conrad for Kohl's blouse, J Crew shorts; Etsy necklaces here and here; Old Navy shoes.

Short story:

This weekend I went shopping with my mom in a massive, two story Forever 21 (yes, it was A-MAZE-ING.) We lost each other at one point and she called me on her cell. I could see her on the phone, but she couldn't see me even though she ended up looking right at me. Turns out she didn't recognize me. My hair color was different and it threw her off. I asked her what color she thought it was and her answer was bad. She told me it was orange, with blond ends. Yikes. No sugar coating, no "let it mellow out and see what it fades to." She gave me the truth. I knew it and kept hoping when I looked in the mirror each day that it would be what I wanted. What I went to the salon two separate times and spent too much money on had to go. I went straight home and died it back dark brown with a $14 box of hair color from Walgreen's.

My poor hair. It needs a rest. No more salon, no more dye. It has to just has to be. The texture is off and it needs to regain its shine, but that will happen with time. I am happy with the brown, it is my natural color after all. Thanks to all who gave me hair advice over the past two weeks, I really appreciate it!