The Capsule Wardrobe Concept + My New Post-Baby Body

I have been working my way through all of the old episodes of The Lively Show. I highly recommend it. Yesterday I listened to the episode featuring Caroline Rector of Unfancy - her minimalist fashion blog where she shares her approach to a capsule wardrobe and the resulting outfits. I am so inspired and am definitely going to give the capsule wardrobe concept a try!

Sunglasses|Urban Outfitters // Top|Target (old) // Necklace|Chewbeads // Jeans|American Eagle // Shoes|TOMS

WHAT IS A CAPSULE WARDROBE?

To quote Caroline, "Simple definition? It’s a mini wardrobe made up of really versatile pieces that you totally LOVE to wear. For Unfancy purposes, it’s a 37 piece wardrobe that includes tops, bottoms, dresses, outerwear, and shoes."

Each capsule wardrobe is for one season; every three months she swaps pieces out for a new seasonal wardrobe.

WHY AM I DOING IT?

I recently had my own accidental capsule wardrobe experience during my pregnancy. I purchased a limited number of maternity pieces because I just couldn't justify spending a bunch of money on pieces I would only wear for six months. In addition, we lived in my husband's parents' basement for several months during our transition from TN to NC and my wardrobe consisted of what I could fit into a couple of suitcases. The combination of these two factors forced me to keep things super simple.

I loved it. I made very intentional purchases knowing that I wouldn't be buying many maternity pieces. Before I bought an item I made sure that I loved it and was pumped to wear it frequently. The resulting small wardrobe made getting dressed so easy and I almost always loved my outfits because they were always comprised of pieces I really really liked.

WHY IT IS GOING TO WORK FOR ME:

I  still have about 20 pounds to go before I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, so I still can't wear the majority of items in my closet. This means that I already have a bit of a post-baby capsule wardrobe going on, but have to select my current pieces from among all my pre-baby pieces that I like but are too small for me at the moment. Every once in a while I optimistically attempt to wear a favorite pre-baby piece, and every time I dejectedly hang it back up.  It's not super great for my already delicate body image.

I am going to box up all of the pieces that are too small for me at the moment which will allow me to focus on dressing in a way that flatters my current body.

MY SPRING CAPSULE WARDROBE PLAN OF ATTACK:

I am a little behind on my spring capsule wardrobe (for April - June) since I just decided to do this yesterday but whatevs, I'll make it work.

I'm going to follow Caroline's rules:

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Her criteria:

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And her rule of three for adding variety:

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I really like Caroline's style and it is surprisingly similar to mine - classic neutrals with fun accessories to add interest. I am really digging her spring 2015 capsule wardrobe.

I am so excited about this new approach to my closet! I have been struggling a bit to dress this new post-baby body of mine. This is really going to help me focus on what I can wear versus all the pieces I can't.

Life Lately

Happy Friday! This afternoon we are heading to Boone, NC to visit some good friends and go to BANFF Film Festival. Then tomorrow Lillian and I are heading to Asheville to stay in a mountain cabin with some of my college girlfriends for a fun baby shower/reunion weekend. Hope you have a great weekend in store for you as well!

My "Oh hey, Friday!" five:

1. The nursery is ALMOST done! I just have to get my shit together and finish putting stuff up on the walls. I'm quite pleased with everything so far. I made that fun bunting recently and I must say, I don't hate it.

 2. Lillian has some mad neck strength going on lately.

3. The goodies in the gift bag for to the mom-to-be in Asheville:

I tried to come up with stuff that I would have been excited to receive at my showers six months ago: 

- A handmade teething necklace from the Etsy shop Stitching to Craft. I ordered one for myself too, oops. (It came with a surprise keychain.) I was having a hard time deciding which colors to choose for her, so I went with her wedding colors from several years ago. Wedding colors are usually a safe bet, right?
- A Babies R Us gift card. We were so thankful for all the gift cards that we received at our showers. We ended up buying a lot of the more practical stuff on our registry ourselves.
- Never used socks, mittens, and pacifiers that I was going to pack away. Hey, why not? It's always fun to have plenty of cute little things when opening a baby gift.

4. I reused wrapping from one of my showers to wrap her gift. Reduce Reuse Recycle!

I chose the cheesiest bag I had, she will appreciate it.

I like to make my bows by hand. Plus bows can be freakin' expensive, dude! I usually just browse through Pinterest until I find one that I like. They're usually pretty easy. I used this one this time.

5. Dexter and I spent the majority of the afternoon yesterday walking around the backyard with a very cranky Lillian. He's been working on this hole when we're not around to scold him. He's quite proud of it.

Dexter so loves Lillian. We have to watch him closely when he's around her though, he wants nothing more than to lick her face and can be pretty sneaky about it. She does not approve.

5 1/2. I've always disliked those stick figure families people put on the back of their cars. Turns out, they are putting your kids in danger! So go take them off. Now.

 Happy weekend!

Red Lipstick Has Magical Powers

I LOVE red lipstick. So glamorous. So feminine. So classic. And at the moment, red lipstick helps me feel sassy despite the fact that I'm nowhere close to having my pre-baby body back and don't feel comfortable in most of my pre-baby clothes.

I used to feel awkward in red lipstick. I loved it on others, but felt like there was no way I could successfully rock such a bold lip color. Then one day I just said "Fuck it!" and there was no going back; I had experienced the magic firsthand.

Red lipstick is perfect for those moments when you feel like you need to up the ante a bit. It was always my go-to in Nashville when friends would text me at 4:30 all "Let's meet up for drinks on our way home from work!" and I would feel frumpy and stale in my business profesh outfit that I had been wearing since 6:30 that morning. I knew I could just bust out my red lipstick and BAM! I would feel instantly sassy and ready for drinks downtown.

I recently stumbled upon an article declaring this to be the perfect red for me, so I figured what the hell and immediately ordered it on Amazon Prime (the ultimate enabler for my love of small, fun impulse purchases) and two days later, ta da!

Ding ding ding!!! Winner winner chicken dinner! It is the perfect true blue-red that I have been searching for. You can also see me wearing it in a couple of pictures here.

And yes, I am wearing my sleeping kid in the above pictures. Just keepin' it real, guys.

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I am way more excited about this than I probably should be, but it is THE PERFECT TRUE RED on me that I have been searching for for way too long. I am PUMPED!

I wore it to brunch the other day and suddenly my yoga pants and unwashed hair felt almost glamorous... almost.