Looking Back at 2014

This year was marked by several huge transitions–being pregnant, moving into a new house, and becoming a mom.  Pregnancy and being a mom made quite an interesting year for dressing myself.  With those two major transitions I felt like I was rebuilding my wardrobe, at least in part, TWICE this year.

Thank you for being along for the ride and for your encouragement and kind words as I worked through the awkwardness of dressing a growing bump and (still) figuring out a new wardrobe as a nursing mom!

Favorite Outfits

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 
6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

Clearly I love blazers.  And olive jeans.  Don’t let anybody tell ya otherwise.  ðŸ˜‰

P.S. See ALL outfits from 2014 on one page in the Facebook gallery.

Favorite Posts

Favorite Purchases

Turns out that two of my favorite pieces from the year are maternity wear.  They’re just so comfy!  I still wear the jeans because they’re low panel and are very similar to the waistband on non-maternity jeggings.  I would still wear the shorts if it weren’t winter.
I wasn’t sure about the H&M top because it was 2x more expensive than anything else I bought that day (during an “operation nursing-friendly tops” shopping trip).  But it’s the biggest winner of them all.
And big thanks to Fran for the tote rec!
Favorite Gifted Items

bag  |  taupe booties  |  leather skirt  |  tan booties  |  mustard scarf
These are pieces I’ve received for free, either because a store gifted them or I purchased them through something like a gift card or store credit.  Specifically when a company offers to send an item, I either try to choose something that’s already on my wish/needs list, or I take it as an opportunity to experiment to grow my style a little.  Out of my top 5 favorites above, 4 of them were already on my wish/needs list–a diaper bag, taupe and cognac booties, and a mustard scarf.  These 4 fit the bill wonderfully, and I’m very grateful to have received them.  
The leather skirt was one of the experimental choices.  I didn’t think I’d use it much, but I wanted to give it a shot.  Turns out I love it!  
Biggest Clothing Challenges
  • Finding maternity skinny jeans.  The distressed skinny jeans above are low panel and only worked for me during early pregnancy.  I managed through the pregnancy without a pair of skinny jeans that I loved, in large part thanks to it being summer.  Even though I’m not currently pregnant, I’m still on the hunt so that I won’t have to go through the stress of finding good jeans during future pregnancies.  
  • Finding worthwhile maternity clothes, period!  Ugh.  It was kind of stressful in the midst of it all, but I came out of it being able to create a maternity capsule wardrobe.  Hopefully that will make things way less stressful in the future.  
  • Not being able to use a large percentage of my closet for most of the year!  And I’m even now still adjusting with breastfeeding in the mix.  
  • Not having my clothes in my closet.  We moved into a new house when Addie was only 2 weeks old.  It wasn’t until last week (4 months later!) that we set up the closet in our room.  Our clothes were hung in other rooms in the house and partially still packed in boxes.  Mad chaos!  
Now that I’m looking at the year, that all does seem kind of crazy.  Pregnancy, needing a nursing-friendly wardrobe, and having my clothes scattered all over the house and still partially packed up–yeah, lots of transitions.  How I managed to get dressed at all is beyond me!  (Not really…it wasn’t that bad.  Just seems chaotic when you step back and look at it all at once.)  
Features Launched
Favorite Emails
I was going to go through all of the emails you guys have sent and pull out my favorite ones, but I just couldn’t choose.  Please know that I’m really grateful whenever any of you takes the time to let me know how this blog has helped you.  It’s one of the main reasons I blog, and on days I wonder if it’s still serving its purpose, it’s encouraging to get an email or comment from one of you saying that it is.  
Thank you for sharing how your style journey has been!  Cheers to a new year!
previous post
next post