worth it/quality sunglasses

one/two/three/four/five/six

Once upon a time in my early twenties, I resided firmly in the camp of cheap sunglasses.  I strongly believed that if I purchased myself a pair of nice ones, I'd lose them just as quickly as I do the plastic Forever 21 pairs that are scattered throughout my car at any given time.  Truth be told, I probably would have - and did once, on a float trip a few years back.  If you are now the proud owner of a pair of river-rescued folding wayfarers in tortoise, please be nice to them.  

Now I am (the obviously super mature and adult age of) 25, and my main activity on sunny summer weekends doesn't involve nearly the quantity of alcohol it once did, so lo-and-behold!  I am a person capable of owning a nice pair of sunglasses for as long as I please.  Darrell, however, not so much.  He is a prolific loser/breaker of sunglasses.  Although I find that to be true of men in general, have you ever noticed how much more often they lose things than women do?  And how often it's us that happens to find whatever's lost?  So Darrell has one pair of nice sunglasses, and then he borrows from my embarrassingly large collection of Ray-Bans with close supervision.  Sometimes, on occasion, Fitz borrows them as well.  

I thought before it gets well into summer we'd all better get ourselves a new pair for 2014, and these are my picks!  I already tracked down pair #3 on eBay last week, and I love them.  Note though, that not all of these are Karen Walker-crazy expensive.  Pairs four and six are from my favorite affordable eyewear site, Warby Parker.  Darrell really needs a pair with prescription lenses since he doesn't often wear contacts, and since you can get these WITH the prescription for a ridiculously awesome price, I might trust him......might.  

These particular pairs aren't available quite yet, they're part of a sneak peek of the summer line for Light Sleeper, Heavy Dreamer readers.  For now I would definitely check out what they already have in store - you can request up to 5 trial pairs of glasses or sunglasses for free (yes, 100% free, including free shipping) to try on at home - just another reason they're so awesome.  

awkward and awesome

Awkward: 

Fitz’ incredible ability to puke wherever we don’t place the protective towel in the backseat of the car.  We can cover every surface possible, and he will make an effort to screw it up and puke right on my car seats. I pretty much just laugh every time someone warns me about baby spit-up like it’s the most awful thing ever.  

Baby girl keeps measuring large…..like 80th percentile.  I have this lovely birthing plan that involves hypnotherapy & all-natural birthing etc, but no judging me if I scrap all that to get induced early if my OB offers, I have no interest in birthing a 10 lb baby.    "Birth plan" is kind of an oxymoron anyways, right?  

Any potential answers to the questions “are you hating being so pregnant?  Aren’t you uncomfortable yet?”  I mean…..awkward.  I actually feel pretty great - pregnant, but great - and also, I prayed for this baby.  I am grateful to be pregnant.  I try to reserve any complaining solely for my husband.  

I am hot ALL the time.  This is easily remedied by blasting the air conditioning, but poor Darrell may eventually take to sleeping in a parka.  He let me win that fight though, good man that he is.  

Hitting the belly on every single thing possible!  Getting something out of the fridge?  I am probably hitting the baby with the fridge door.  Walking into a door?  If I don’t open it fast enough, the bump hits it before it opens.  Getting into a restaurant booth?  The condiments are lucky if they make it out intact.  My spatial awareness is at a solid zero.  I’m sure next week I’ll be telling you how my belly finally hit a small child in the head.  Yes, I say "my belly" and not "I" because I'm pretty sure this thing has a mind of its own.  

Awesome: 

Our weekend at the lake.  I cannot say how nice it was to have three days on the water.  Even though I worked on Friday, it was incredibly nice to have a change of scenery. The weather cooperated perfectly & we got to get out on the boat - no bikinis, but there were mocktails!  

In the waiting room for my doc appt last week there were two children: a well behaved little girl and a, well, rowdy little boy.  Both were adorable, but the little girl had this absolutely hilarious and judgmental expression of "you filthy hooligan" towards the boy for my entire wait.  

Gap Outlet sales - we got Darrell 6 pieces of clothing I believe for about $60, and a hat for the baby.  One pair of pants was $3!  Shopping for boys is just about the most fun thing ever, am I right?  

Iced tea & lemonade.  This is my favorite right now, in addition to alllll the fruit - all I need is watermelon & peaches to be in season and I may quit eating anything else. Actually who am I kidding, there will obviously still be chocolate & tacos.  

My belly button is still in!  I mean, it’s hanging on for dear life I’m sure, but it looks like we might just make it to the end without an outie.  

I took Fitz for a walk yesterday, and I DID bring a dog bag, but of course he managed to poop twice, the second time directly as the owner of the house in front of his chosen sidewalk space came walking out of the door.  I was about to be fully mortified at having to leave it there, but just then my hero came to save the day in the form of another dog walker with extra bags.  

All my Sonnet James dresses - holy comfortable, stretchy, and flattering.  I pretty much ordered all the ones I wanted when they first went up for pre-order, and now I wish I had just ordered them all.  They are probably some of the best pieces of clothing I have ever had - I’ll be looking forward to every collection from now on.  

the weekender

Sometimes I feel as though each Friday kicks off an inevitable contest to have the "best weekend ever" after the workweek, and this weekend I think we won!  Of course that's easier at the lake, but I feel like the makings of a perfect day are pretty much universal.  

 Consider this post the official Light Sleeper, Heavy Dreamer guide to the perfect (lazy!) spring weekend.  

Step one: wake up in the morning of your own accord - no alarm clocks! Eat asiago cheese bagels &  fruit for breakfast with a big mug of Dunkin' Donuts coffee while watching the weekend news and reading blogs.  Shower & get ready for a day out on the boat at a snail's pace.  This may or may not include a quick trip to Target to buy a new hat (but it probably should.)  Pack your hat and your favorite sunglasses and a tote bag, and head down to the dock once you feel like eating lunch.  

sunglasses: ray ban (on sale!), hat: target, bag: old navy, and I had the embroidery done

Step two: make your handsome husband pose for some cutesy photos on the dock while the boat lift lowers into the water.  Make good use of your new hat in said photos.  

Step three: order a mocktail with your lunch, because Pina Coladas are yummy, rum or no rum.  

Step four: sit in the sun watching the boats and chatting about nothing much at all until you realize that it's time for more food! Head home to watch a movie, and eat dinner & some ice cream, of course.  Go to bed at 10, exhausted & happy from being in the sun for so many hours.  

Step five: rinse and repeat the next day (this time for brunch, because of course it's Sunday) potentially in a cuter outfit.  

hat - target, dress - loft

Other exciting (okay, to me) things that happened this weekend: 

I finally ordered a few samples of Le Labo perfumes I've been dying to try, because I'm almost out of Coco Mademoiselle.  Darrell just has a naturally stuck-up nose - he won't even notice it, let alone compliment it, unless it's....well, let's just say not cheap.  On the upside, more reason to buy fancy perfume!  I'll keep you updated on whether or not I decide their scents are worth the splurge.  The packaging alone....I mean the bottles are basically decoration.  

My Sonnet James dresses finally came!  I'm not going to lie, I was skeptical of whether or not they'd fit.  I ordered them all back in February when I was um, much smaller, but the dresses were supposed to work for pregnancy and after.  Well, they were all perfect!  When does that ever happen?  They're stretchy of course, and the fabric is pretty fantastic.  They're super fitted now, which is actually more flattering during pregnancy, and I think they'll be perfectly relaxed and casual later.  The packaging was adorable, each dress came in a bag with suckers and a little kids toy.  Also, I got a promo code I thought I'd share with my order: they have a few extra dresses in stock that you can check out here, and get $10 off with sjfriend10!  

I managed to snag my first pair of Karen Walker sunglasses on eBay last week after stalking them for quite a while, and they showed up too.  These are the "Helter Skelter" style.  I suppose time will tell whether or not I'm cool enough for Karen Walker sunglasses (debatable.)  Sometimes I think I'd rather buy something online just because of how fun it is to get packages, which is probably incredibly silly, but tell me you don't sort of feel the same!  

friday link love

Of all the months, I think May would have to be my very favorite.  It has the best temperatures, and all the promise of summer to come.  We're kicking off the month - and also having our last weekend away before a month of not moving much at all - by heading to the lake to stay at my parent's condo for a few days.  In fact, as you read this, we're already there!  Picture me sitting on the patio, looking at the water, enjoying a cup of (decaf) coffee and eating a bagel.  Sounds like heaven!  

To kick off your weekend, here are my favorite links from this week: 

Truthfully, if one more person says to me "enjoy it now, you'll never do that with a baby!" or "say goodbye to sleep!" I might just lose it.  This article sums up my feelings pretty perfectly.  

Can you guess the Shakespeare play from these quotes?  This was hard, but way fun for an English nerd like myself.  

I tend to be put in charge of ordering wine at a restaurant (and I've made a bit of a study of it because, well, I love wine!)  This guide makes it easy for anyone to pick the perfect bottle.

I want to go to there!  

If you ever have anxiety, this website is pretty amazing.

In case you need some inspiration for Cinco de Mayo, these margarita recipes look delicious.  

I've got my eye on this backpack in navy, for Darrell's "daddy diaper bag."  

This is too funny.  

This 10 minute lunch sounds kind funny but also crazy delicious! I'm saving ideas like crazy for easy things to make once baby girl arrives.  More on my Pinterest recipe board here.  

maternity style 19/the last 6 weeks

The last few weeks of pregnancy call for a reevaluation of your wardrobe.  Those pants you bought at 14 weeks?  Yeah, they don't work anymore.  Actually, no pants really work anymore, except the shorts with the HUGE belly panel, that nooooo I did not buy in my pre-pregnancy size, per the website's suggestion, because that would just be silly.  

I have a good feeling about saying hello to those 14 week jeans again postpartum though, so they're staying in the closet for now.  

I've decided that dressing for pregnancy falls into two categories: Weeks 12-32, and then everything after that.  Also, there is the unfortunate period between weeks 28-30 where instead of feeling cute and still somewhat small, and not yet like the bump is the focal point, you just feel really really fat.  About that period of time I can only say: wear yoga pants and just give in.  Things will even out soon enough.  It was like my body was saving fat to move it all to the bump in a few weeks.  

Once you're past the "I feel fat" phrase and into the "I feel REALLY PREGNANT" phase, you can either hole up at home to wait it out (not recommended, and also a waste of your last few weeks just you and your partner!) or take my advice for keeping it together and dare I say, feeling pretty and even sexy for the last 8 weeks!  Without further adieu, my top 5 tips.  

1.  Get thee some false eyelashes!  

Okay, so there is a pretty obvious difference between the two photos.  The false eyelashes highlight your eyes, subtracting from  anyone's ability to immediately focus on the slightly puffy "pregnant face" (it's a thing and you know it).  Although my case is relatively mild that may change over the next 6 weeks.  Falsies are not just for weekends now - they make me feel better about myself pretty much every day!  

2.  Quit wearing anything oversized - it's not helping.  

I largely blame Hatch collection for this trend.  This is a Hatch "maternity" dress.  

Does that model look pregnant to you?  Um, no, she just looks like a 6 foot tall model.  Put that on a pregnant me (allllllll 5'4 of me!) and I will just like like I'm fat & wearing a striped sack.  

That's better.  Shows off the bump, looks adorable with her slouchy army jacket & flat sandals, and accentuates all the good stuff!  

3.  Which leads me to my next point, stripes.  

There is literally nothing cuter on a pregnant belly than stripes.  Of course, this is just my opinion, but hear me out: once you're 32 weeks, it doesn't matter how thin you are.  There is no hiding that you are way pregnant.  Stripes highlight and accentuate the bump.  They're classic & match everything, making them easy to wear for tons of occasions and with whichever jackets/pants you have left that still fit and are comfortable.  Let me reiterate though - fitted stripes.  

4.  As for shoes.....

Flats are great - I am in no way saying abandon your flats.  But if we're being honest, they can kind of enhance the waddle effect.  A reasonable wedge or heeled bootie (we're talking 2-4 inches here) can be the perfect antidote to feeling a little frumpy.  Your legs probably look pretty teeny in comparison to that bump, and a little heel puts them to their best advantage.  

5.  And the most important advice....

Remember that you look gorgeous, no matter what kind of makeup you have on, what dress you're wearing, or how big you feel.  There are few things in the world that make a woman look more beautiful than being pregnant, and even though it may not come across in photos or in the mirror, it's 100% true.  Even when you aren't feeling that way, try to remember the last time you saw a very pregnant woman out and about and considered her with anything but admiration.  In a unique way, you look the most beautiful in others' eyes than you ever have, and if you can remember that, try to see and feel it yourself.