Hearts, But Make It Winter

Sweater (also comes in red!) - LOFT / Coat and Boots - J.Crew / Jeans - Madewell / Bag - Tory Burch / Sunglasses - Amazon

Yaaaaaaay, winter! Said no one in February ever. 

I'm not here to complain about winter or anything, because it hasn't even been terrible this year. It's really just that I finally understand what parents have always talked about when they said winter was a tough time to be home with your kids. If we're home too much, Mia starts to get a little squirrelly. She wants to be out and about, no matter the weather! 

Over the weekend we didn't have a ton of plans, so to get Mia out of the house we ended up taking a long walk to Half Acre Balmoral brewery for lunch. You might wonder why we're always taking our baby to breweries, but hear me out. When you are a new parent bars basically disappear from your life, but a brewery is a kid-friendly way to get the bar experience. You can enjoy a drink, but without the loud music or people who are overconsuming. While we were out last weekend, the whole brewery was full of parents and babies or young kids. There was even a set of parents with a brand new (I'm talking a month old, tops) baby introducing the baby to their friends! So cute. And every time we go it's like that. I once saw a mom toting a huge bin of legos into a brewery along with three little boys, clearly intending to stretch out the visit as long as possible. 

We personally love Half Acre because the food is so good in addition to the beer, and they change the menu all the time. If you go, I personally recommend going on a Sunday for their brunch menu - their breakfast sandwiches are always so good! 

Okay, are you ready to talk clothes now? I still get dressed like I always do, but between Mia, the weather, and the current number of hours of daylight I've been having a tough time actually taking pictures of my outfits for you. I'm so glad I managed to take pictures of this outfit though because I have some awesome pieces I want to talk to you about! 

The Sweater 

I usually am SO TIRED of sweaters by this time of the year, but this fall/winter I unintentionally ignored my sweater collection because I was so excited to have button-downs back in my life again (since I was pregnant last fall). Remind me again next year to wait on sweater season until January, since you know, it sticks around until May. 

I also am loving sweater season because I have been in sweater-shopping mode, so I have a few new options in my closet and am not just rotating through the same three every week. This heart textured sweater is so fun. I love that it works for Valentine's Day, but it's so subtle that it will work for the rest of winter too. The slight puff shoulder is also giving me life. While the sweater can go sweet depending on what you wear it with, that detail in the shoulder makes it work for a slightly edgier outfit too. Is this edgy? Okay no but you know, it's a hint of edge and that's just about as far as I go. 

The Boots

Did I want to wear snow boots with this? No, I would have much rather added a pair of mules! But you know, Chicago's icy sidewalks didn't quite allow for that shoe choice. That being said, I'm so happy to have these fur-lined hiking / snow boots in my life. They are slightly elevated over a typical snow boot, which makes me more excited to pull them out. I've been wearing these almost daily for walking Mia to daycare, and they are so freaking comfortable. Not to mention beautiful in person! Mia also tries to put them in her mouth every chance she gets, so I think she's pretty into them too. 

The Hair

Not to toot my own horn here, but was I having a particularly good hair day when we shot these photos? I think it's because I finally got rid of my hair brush after FIFTEEN YEARS. Yes, you read that right. I'd had my hairbrush literally since high school. It was basically completely coated in products and falling apart. I finally decided to make the switch to this one (2 inch size), and my hair has been looking so good ever since! More volume, shinier, and less weird bending at the ends. If you've been holding onto something like my hairbrush just because it still works, you don't have to! Go get that new hairbrush (or you know, whatever YOUR hairbrush is) and don't look back. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 

Sweater (also comes in red!) - LOFT / Coat and Boots - J.Crew / Jeans - Madewell / Bag - Tory Burch / Sunglasses - Amazon

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Tee - Gap / Maternity Coat (sold out!) - Old Navy / Maternity Leggings - Blanqi / Booties - Steve Madden / Earrings (similar) - BaubleBar / Necklace - Stella & Dot / Bag - Tory & Burch

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you're feeling loved today <3 <3 <3

We took these photos over the weekend during a surprise snowstorm (or at least, it surprised us!) and it ended up being too cold and windy and wet to take any more photos than this or to take my coat off. You know, gotta protect that little baby! But just know that this tee is supposed to be for nursing, but it has a wrap front that actually stays closed over my cleavage and isn't too too deep. Plus it's not one of those weird nursing tops that definitely looks like a nursing top with slits in the sides or a weird opening in the front, I think this is something you could wear anytime. Oh and it's only $25 - win!

Tee - Gap / Maternity Coat (sold out!) - Old Navy / Maternity Leggings - Blanqi / Booties - Steve Madden / Earrings (similar) - BaubleBar / Necklace - Stella & Dot / Bag - Tory & Burch

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A Little Pink for Valentine's Day

Maternity Tee and Coat (sold out noooo!) - Old Navy / Sweater (similar) - LOFT / Maternity Leggings - Blanqi / Boots - L.L.Bean / Bag (similar here and here) - Sole Society / Necklace - Target

I'm 38 weeks along this week - nine and a half months!! We temporarily thought we would be inducing next Monday and I was starting to get really excited about meeting baby girl, but we ended up not being able to get a spot. I guess we'll just keep waiting and see when she decides to make an appearance. You know, like every other baby in history ;) I've been feeling pretty uncomfortable for the last few weeks - I just don't think my torso is long enough to accommodate this little girl! But I still feel like I don't look as pregnant as I thought I would - I always figured my belly would be a lot bigger! (Jeff is at least humoring me by agreeing with that opinion haha ;) I just feel like people still don't always realize I'm pregnant! I literally was talking to a coworker last Friday about how I wouldn't be at an upcoming event, and he thought it was because I was taking a vacation. Like, no buddy, my maternity leave starts in a week ;) It probably doesn't help that it's sweater weather, all of the layers tend to cover things up. 

This is the time of year when I start getting bored with outfits in general (I'm pretty sure last February through April I just cycled through the same five sweaters every week) but having my maternity mix and match wardrobe of tees and layers is helping a little. A little pink and white are feeling perfectly pretty as we lead up to Valentine's Day. 

I'm not super into the holiday, and always struggle to decide what to do. I loved when we had a cute neighborhood restaurant across the street from us so we could just slush over there (usually in terrible Chicago winter weather) and escape all of the crowds and fighting for cabs and whatnot. This year, we're going to go a little low key - Jeff is going to be cooking something at home on Valentine's Day itself, and we'll go out to dinner the next night instead. That is, as long as we don't have a baby by then! 

Are you into Valentine's Day? Have any fun plans?? 

Maternity Tee and Coat (sold out noooo!) - Old Navy / Sweater (similar) - LOFT / Maternity Leggings - Blanqi / Boots - L.L.Bean / Bag (similar here and here) - Sole Society / Necklace - Target

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Blushing

Sweater - J. Crew / Coat - One Madison / Jeans (almost identical) - Madewell / Boots - Kaitlyn Pan / Bag (similar here, here, and here) - Sole Society / Earrings - BaubleBar

Another day, another inappropriate pair of shoes for the weather. 

Jeff and I went out for a little afternoon date over the weekend, and I honestly couldn't handle planning another outfit around snowboots. I actually hadn't been outside all day and was remembering that the sidewalks had been nicely shoveled the night before when I selected this particular pair of boots. Ummmm, mistake! I did, however, discover (while not trying to fall down) that I don't need to be quite so freaked out about wearing these boots in the snow or rain. They're actually made out of microsuede, not actual suede. I have no idea what that is, but apparently it still looks amazing despite how many slushy puddles you've carefully tiptoed through. Plus they're less than $100! 

I also decided to pop on my new favorite sweater again, but this time I wore it backwards. Err, forwards? Anyway, it looks just as cute with the deep v in the back as in the front, and it's fun to see how different it looks - two looks in one!

Something I didn't worry too much about? My hair! I made it amazingly crazy/curly/messy for my Shaun White costume on Friday night (which by the way, did anyone else see his big win??), slept on it, sprayed in a little dry shampoo and it wound up like this. Say what?! Do I always need to just have really weird day one hair to have great day two (and even day three) hair? I mean, I'm willing to give it a try ;) 

Anyway, between watching an incredible amount of sports and and The Bachelor, I'm very busy and can't spend any more time rambling. Here's hoping you have a great (Valentine's) day!!

 Sweater - J. Crew / Coat - One Madison / Jeans (almost identical) - Madewell / Boots - Kaitlyn Pan / Bag (similar here, here, and here) - Sole Society / Earrings - BaubleBar

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Blushing

Coat (on sale for over half off!!) and Sweater - J. Crew / Scarf (similar) - Hinge / Jeans - Gap / Booties (other colors available here and here) - TOMS / Earrings (similar) - LOFT (a gift!) / Necklace - Stella & Dot / Bag - Tory Burch

So first, I wanted to apologize for continuously sharing this scarf, because it's old and unavailable. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! The thing is, I share things I really wear on this blog, and I really wear this scarf all the time.

That being said, I've done a little research, and have found some other adorable striped blanket scarf options for you that I hope will make all of your scarf dreams come true. This one and this one are probably the best but aren't available through my widget! Here are the rest:

Okay, and then next up, this sweater. I told you in my budget post yesterday that it was so good, and seriously, it is so good. The length is long enough to wear with leggings but not too long (because oversized sweaters that are too long can look awkward!). The fabric is insanely soft, it's more of a thin fleece than anything else. And I love the wrap detail. There's lots of wrap sweaters out there right now, but I feel like a lot of them hug the body awkwardly and aren't very flattering. Not this one! I swear, I put it on and thought I had dropped ten pounds. It somehow hugs and skims at the same time.

Oh, and I'm actually wearing this sweater backwards here. Whaaaaat?! Yes, that's right, it's reversible. I wore it as a deep v (sans tank - oh dang weekend Kristina!) here, but would definitely turn it around to have a higher neckline in front and lower back for work. I actually have a history of reversing tops that weren't meant to be reversed, so I'm really loving that this top works both ways.

And yes, it was weekend Kristina who took this look for a spin. We went out on Saturday morning to celebrate a friend's birthday at Brickhouse, and wound up at an all-you-can-drink brunch where they didn't kick us out after two hours. Seriously, we were there for over four, and they dropped off a full bottle of champagne for us right before the brunch hours ended. It was a bit of a dangerous Saturday, made worse by the fact that our waitress dropped off a round of birthday fireball shots for us at noon, topped with mini cupcakes! I mean, I don't actually know the last time I took a shot, let alone at noon. I couldn't say no to a shot that came with a cupcake though, of course, so it was a bit of an interesting day ;) I managed to not spill on my sweater though nor did I post anything too embarrassing to Instastories, so we're calling it a win.

Coat (on sale for over half off!!) and Sweater - J. Crew / Scarf (similar) - Hinge / Jeans - Gap / Booties (other colors available here and here) - TOMS / Earrings (similar) - LOFT (a gift!) / Necklace - Stella & Dot / Bag - Tory Burch

Linking up with Trend Spin Linkup.

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