friday link love

Hope you all have a lovely weekend planned!  Here in the midwest, we are apparently getting snowed in - or it could just be a bit of overblown panic, since this is our first real bit of winter weather this year.  Either way, my husband is going to be out of town and I have yoga teacher training all weekend, so nothing terribly exciting around here.  I have two Christmas parties next weekend (one is ours), so I've decided to revel in the opportunity for relaxation.  My plans include Chinese takeout and either "Love Actually" or "You've Got Mail."  Perhaps both.    

A few of my favorite things from the web this week...

Pretty much how I feel on the weekends, since being pregnant.

I didn't even know this style of Swedish Hasbeens existed, but I LOVE them. Good thing Christmas is coming up!  That cognac leather just kills me.

Seven pairs of black tights that never rip.  The Commando pair is my personal favorite.  

These brownies look insanely delicious.  And dangerous.

How to find the people that are right for you.

World births and deaths in real time.

Are you smart enough to be a citizen?  (Yeah, my score is going to stay a secret.)

maternity style/01

wearing: top - pink blush maternity, j. crew leggings, sam edelman louie boot - aka the most comfortable booties ever

When I started shopping for maternity clothes I have to admit, I was seriously bummed out by one thing: the clothes are, in general, extremely matronly.  Dresses mostly hit below the knee (at least on me, I'm 5'3), low necklines are hard to find, and a lot of tops are drapey and oversized.  When I'm already feeling bigger than usual, the last thing I want is to look schlubby in clothes that I'm swimming in (except maybe during a weekend Netflix marathon).  This struck me as a really odd phenomenon, because a lot of women who are pregnant are in their late twenties, so I'd assume most still want to look cute and even - dare I say - sexy while they're pregnant.  

So I was pretty thrilled when I found out about Pink Blush Maternity.  They have an amazing selection of cute tops - all plenty long enough to pair with leggings (my current favorite thing to wear) and all totally affordable.  Most of their items are under $30.  This top is the first thing I picked up from them, but it certainly won't be the last.  I'm eyeing a few dresses right now - particularly this body & bump conscious lace option that would be perfect for a holiday party.  

note: their clothes run small!  if you are normally a medium, get a large, etc.  their size chart is accurate, which is the only thing that guided me to go a size up, so definitely check it out.  

*all opinions and ideas in this post are my own - i was not compensated or even asked by pink blush to promote their line, i just really like it!  

spend or save: maternity jeans

I had pretty much always worn Gap jeans - I think their "always skinny" fit is a great approximation of a higher-end jean at a more reasonable point (around $60 full price.)  The denim is thick and soft, and their washes never look cheap.  

I know that a lot of pregnant chicks swear by the "rubber band through the zipper hole + belly band" equation, but I could just never wrap my head around the idea of walking around with my pants undone the entire day.  No thanks.  After I had worn the 5 or 6 flowy dresses I own about three weeks in a row on rotation, I figured it was time to take the plunge and buy some new pants.  I went into Gap and was pleasantly surprised - their demi panel option (a wide elastic band that sits below the bump) was a perfect fit.  I bought the size I was before pregnancy - that's right, don't go up a size, they stretch out in all the right places.  I've also washed and dried them in the machine, and they're great afterwards.  I'd actually recommend it, it helps them keep their shape.  

 When trolling around at the beginning of my pregnancy getting an idea for what I'd need to buy, I read the most positive reviews about J Brand maternity jeans.  A friend of mine even asked me if my Gap jeans were J. Brand - inspiring this post.  I'll admit, I haven't tried any of their styles on - $218 just seems a little nuts for jeans to me, maternity or not.  If you have, leave a comment and tell me if I'm wrong!  If you're like me, and love Gap's jeans pregnant or not, you can head on over to their site.  FYI, they pretty much run amazing sales the entire month of December, so while there isn't one today keep checking.  

*ps: i wasn't compensated for this post at all.  i have just really loved gap's jeans since i've been pregnant

our christmas card

So I thought I would write up a little post on the Christmas card we chose to send out this year!  

We chose Tiny Prints, which is a great company we love, and very affordable.  I have looked at Minted, and I used Pinhole Press last year, but they are honestly a little out of my price range. I used to only send out about 30 cards, but it seems I need more each year.  Now I could easily send 100.  That probably has something to do with being married, because my husband has a huge family.    

We also love the quality of their paper and the wide variety of designs they have.  You can go really classic, or a bit more funky like we did this year.  

We didn't pay any fancy photographer to take our photos, my friend Joanna is just good with a camera and sweetly offered to come to the park with us to take some snapshots.  

Here are my tips for getting a good picture, without hiring any professionals: 

1.  It's a holiday card, so I like it to look seasonal.  Wear something classic you know you look good in - no need for a new outfit.  Sweaters and peacoats are great.  Don't force your man into anything he isn't comfortable in, or the pictures will look fake.  Jeans are fine!  

2.  Take a lot of photos.  We have a pretty nice camera, and in about 30 minutes I think Joanna snapped over 150 photos.  Just so you don't think our dogs are TOO well behaved, here is a shot of us wrangling them into submission.   I think we only had 10 photos total in which we were all looking at the camera.  

3.  Try to take photos during the last hour before sunset.  Have you heard the term "golden hour" before?  There's a reason that's the best time of day to take photos!  The light is almost perfect then (around 4 pm in the US this time of year) so I didn't have to edit these photos at all!  It also meant no fancy camera settings were necessary - we shot these on the auto setting.  

4.  Have fun!  If you've got a fake smile going or you just weren't in the mood to take pictures that day, it might be better to put it off.  You don't want it to look forced!  And for the record, I love our outtake photos as well.  Sometimes the imperfect shots would also make a great card.  

Got any other tips for the perfect holiday photo?  Any other favorite places to get cards?  

*ps - There's a reason I didn't link to the card we went with.  Tiny Prints doesn't like outside websites linking to them - in fact I got an email from their pr team asking me to take some from last year down!  I didn't mind, they were incredibly nice about it.  Something about trying to control all of their advertising from inside their office.  Just google their name and their website will pop up.  

our big announcement

It's possible I've never had a Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for!  I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend with your loved ones - and I'm so glad you came back after my long hiatus to hear our big announcement.  

We're having a baby!  

Here are the big details: 

He or she is due on June 14th.  Darrell's birthday is December 23rd, which he has always hated, so our child's birthday being as FAR from Christmas as possible made him pretty happy. 

I am somewhere between 12 or 13 weeks along (pregnancy isn't an exact science, apparently).  

We are going to find out the gender of the baby, at our appointment on January 16th.  I am too excited to start buying baby clothes to wait until June!  

I have been the luckiest pregnant woman in the world: no morning sickness, and really no nothing other than being more tired than usual.  I'm going to chalk all that luck up to a consistent yoga practice and my vegetarian diet.  Also, I started taking prenatal vitamins right when we started trying, and apparently building up some of those nutrients in your body before you're even pregnant can help you better handle the hormones that cause morning sickness.  

It's not noticeable to everyone yet, but my belly started sticking out pretty quickly, and I have had some challenging few weeks as far as getting dressed.  For weeks 7-10, my regular jeans were really uncomfortable, but maternity jeans were still too big, so I had a three week period of wearing nothing but tights and flowy dresses.    

Just for fun, here is another gif of photos we took back when I was about 9 weeks.  It's kind of fun to see the tiny progression (although I'm totally aware that I may be the only one who can even tell a difference!)  

I'll be back to regular posting this week, and I promise it won't ALL be baby stuff.  

When you're trying to keep your blog feeling authentic and "you" and there's such a big secret, it's hard to keep the content going.  I didn't feel like it was all real until I could share our big news, so I'm so happy that I finally can!