What I Wore Wednesday | M is for Mama

In general, I don’t post tons of pictures of myself on the blog anymore. Which…I doubt makes anybody too upset. I mean, I did write a few posts back last fall about holding myself accountable here for weekday outfits, but…I failed on that one pretty miserably. I did a better job of actually getting dressed in general, and I even documented it (most of the time), but I just never got around to posting about it, and then, I thought it would be pretty silly to show you a round up of what I wore…for the past 4 months.

So…there you go.

I have officially gotten too lazy to blog about outfits for the most part. If that’s your jam, I’m sorry. If it isn’t, you’re welcome.

ANYhoo, that longwinded intro is sort of a hybrid warning/preamble to the fact that you are about to be bombarded with pictures of me…wearing clothes (huge sigh of relief for that second part).

So, I have to ask: what do y’all think about the kimono trend? I mean, it’s been going for a while, but it always takes me a loooooooong time to warm up to the latest thing, and I honestly have always felt that kimonos–along with most drapey, flowy clothing–are best for super-slim, long-limbed girls. Now before you go scolding me about complaining about my weight, I’m not. I just don’t have a leggy, lithe physique. I have muscular arms, curvy hips, a long torso, and relatively short legs. And despite being almost 5’7″, I “read” shorter, so lots of loose-fitting things don’t drape well on me.

Cue: my reader-friend, Amanda, contacting me about trying out some LuLaRoe gear. I’ll be honest–at first, I was hesitant. I’d mostly heard about how great their leggings are. But I am firmly in the leggings are not pants camp (unless, of course, you’re wearing a tunic that covers both bum and thighs), and there’s only about 4 months per year of leggings-tolerable weather in East Texas anyway, so I passed on that option.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they have much more to offer. I especially liked the look of their jersey maxi skirts, but since LuLaRoe distributor’s inventory turns over rapidly, and even they are never sure which prints they’ll receive, I never managed to snag a particularly gorgeous large-scale floral print I had my eye on.

BUT when Amanda sent me pics of a few kimono options she had in stock, I was intrigued. As mentioned above, I didn’t really think I could pull off a kimono, but with Amanda being so gracious to let me try out an item of my choice, I figured, “Eh. How bad can it be? I’ll give it a whirl!”

Turns out, not bad at all. As in, I really like it!

{I especially like the fact that you could wear leggings or more close-fitting pants with it, since it thoroughly covers the rear-view}

I wore this little ditty to church on Sunday, and, while I’ll freely admit that, as of this week, it is officially too hot to wear this particular version of it until–oh–December again, I like the fact that I could easily throw it on with some frayed jean shorts, a white tank, and some wedges, and–voila!–easy (breezy!) date night outfit. I also spotted a pic somewhere of someone wearing a kimono over a white shift dress with strappy sandals, and it was so cute, I’m definitely going to have to give that one a shot too.

Oh, and, as always, I had plenty of helpers around for my oh-so-fancy photo shoot.

Yup, that would be my almost 18-month-old running around with no shoes and the snaps of his onesie undone. Classy. (Not pictured: the other 5 kids lurking just outside the shot).

One more thing I like about this kimono? It’s a little like wearing a twirly dress.

Regardless of how much it looks like I am escaping from a bee attack, I can assure you (since I was there) that I am, in fact, twirling. #graceful4ever

So, what’s the takeaway? Um, kimonos are rad? Oh! I know! Don’t be afraid (like me) to try things that you think you won’t like. You might just be proved pleasantly wrong.

If you’d like to chat with Amanda about her LuLaRoe selections, you can find her on her Facebook page or Instagram. She’s an absolute sweetheart and will work patiently with you to figure out exactly what works best for you!

P.S. Ezra takes pretty much all of my pics now. Man, I love having a 10-year-old.

P.P.S. My jeans in these shots are Blank NYC Denim, and I “splurged” on them with some Amazon gift card money I had squirreled away because I’d read raves about how great they are. I asked a trusted source about sizing, since they didn’t have my actual size in stock, and she said, when in doubt, size up. So I did (because they did have the size directly up from what I normally wear). But…I think they’re too big. Well, I don’t think. I know. They are quite loose through the waist and hips, but I would probably only wear them with longer shirts, so that might not matter. On the one hand, they’re insanely comfy. Soft and buttery and pliable without falling down. All good things. But! Considering that they are skinny jeans, methinks the bagging around my ankles (you can see it especially in the profile shot from above) is problematic. Thoughts?

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Shaun has been working most weekends for a while now, and this last one was no exception, so Valentine’s Day was pretty low key. Which was totally fine. We love a good excuse to cook a nice meal together and spoil each other a bit, but we also know that it’s not that meaningful as holidays go.

The night before, though, we stayed up late making my favorite dessert of all time for a special breakfast in the morning for the whole family.

Art print available at Paint and Prose

And they were worth every calorie-laden bite.

To make up for hardly seeing each other on Valentine’s (and, perhaps, more importantly, a Sunday), we finagled a date on Monday night instead. But, at the last minute, our babysitter fell through, and I couldn’t find a replacement.

Oh well, I thought. Dinner at home with the family is good too.

But I couldn’t get the thought of a night “on the town” with my man out of my head, so I called my ridiculously nice mama, and, sure enough, she and my dad agreed to come over and watch the kids at our house so we could head out to have some good food, see one of the worst movies I’ve experienced in a while (Hail, Caesar…yuck), and enjoy some local frozen custard.

But mostly, we were just thrilled to have a chance to finish our sentences and hold hands and hang out in a COMPLETELY abandoned movie theater (apparently, everybody but us got the “terrible movie” memo).

So…thanks, Mom and Dad!

Also, I jumped on the chance to get dressed up like a toddler pounces on her twin sister’s neglected Barbie (not that I have any experience with that).

I found that psychedelic dress on a birthday trip to Anthro last October and developed an immediate crush, but, even at 50% off, it was still $98, and I just couldn’t swallow that one. But then, a few weeks later, we were back in Dallas for my my sweet niece’s first birthday, and I managed to squeak in the door of an Anthro about 15 minutes before it closed. And–lo and behold–they had the very same dress in my size for…$35. (It would have been even less but they wouldn’t let me stack my birthday discount on top of the sale they were running. Hmmph!).

So, I bought it, brought it home, and hung it in my closet, where it has dangled in neglect for the last 4ish months. Our date was super casual, but I decided that dress was getting worn, darn it, regardless of how many raised eyebrows I got. (I got a few).

I paired it with a thrifted $3 sweater (also from Anthro, originally) and some leopard print heels that I scored at Nordstrom Rack last summer in Colorado and love in theory but feel more than a little sketchy about in actual practice (my 33-year-old feet aren’t nearly as enamored with heels as my 25-year-old ones were).

{P.S. We didn’t manage to get a straight-on shot of the dress before the camera battery died, but there is one on my Instagram…which, honestly, is the best place to see lots of pics of the house and the kids and other fun tidbits that don’t make it onto the blog}

Which…brings me to the title of this post. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. But you may not thank me for it if you’re a fellow Anthro-lover (of the clothes, not the prices, of course). I apologize (anthropologize…ha. ha.) ahead of time if you get sucked in.

A friend added me to this Anthropologie resale site on Facebook (thanks, Angie!), and I’ve been having way too much fun browsing the wares since. (It’s my favorite frivolous, my-brain-has-shut-down-and-refuses-to-do-anything-useful activity while Shaun and I watch a Fixer Upper rerun right before bed).

Some of the prices are decent. Some are laughably exorbitant (You want me to pay $200 for a sweater that I saw on clearance for $40 a few months back? Really? No thanks). Every now and then, you find something amazing for a great price (I just bought a mint condition white lace dress that I’ve been hunting down for a while that was originally over $200 for $25 shipped), but most of it is more than I’m willing to pay. Somehow, it’s still entertaining to browse and watch how frenzied the true Anthro-addicts get over finding their “unicorns” (their term for an elusive, sold-out item that they’re hoping somebody snagged in their size before it went bye-bye and is willing to sell to them, regardless of the price).

Other than the white lace dress, I’ve bought two things (one was perfect; one was a little small and will have to be resold) for a grand total of $55 shipped, but I’m fine with the price in this case because I’ve also sold multiple items (for maaaaajor profits because they were all bought for super-cheap at Goodwill or thredUP–that link gets you $10 off your first thredUP purchase and gives me $10 credit too), and I somehow have a loophole in my brain about spending a little more than I normally would on something I really love if I’ve already paid for it by clearing more items out of my closet.

I have to admit: I’m loving this FB sale site business. In the case of sites like the Anthro one, everyone is so motivated to stay on the site in good standing that there’s very little chance of shipping/mailing fraud. And, in the case of the local swaps, I like that I can check out the Facebook pages of the sellers if I have any concerns (I actually have never bought anything from anyone that worried me, but I like that I have the OPTION to stalk them first :)).

And there you have it, folks. A very colorful outfit. A date night recap. And a tip you may or may not thank me for later.

Never let it be said that I don’t do eclectic. Because I most definitely do.

Are you guys Facebook swappers too? I feel like–at least around here–it’s taking over garage sales and Craigslist as the preferred method of selling something that’s worth the effort.

How are your #3week50bags challenges going? Did you think I forgot? I’m actually going to be posting an update on mine on Friday. I’m a little off the pace, but I’m hoping to catch up today and tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Category Archives: What I Wore Wednesday

Boho Kimono

I’ll Anthropologize ahead of time…