Bye Bye, Buy Buy Baby

Lately it seems like every other post I write is baby-related, but I suppose that comes with the eight-months-and-three-weeks-pregnant territory. I've been spending most of my free time preparing for the baby, shopping for her, and taking classes over at the hospital, not to mention trying frantically to thin my dress hoard. And since this blog is where I talk about all the things on my mind, I suppose it makes sense that right now it's riding the 7:30 express train to Babysville.

Well, that and most of my dresses no longer fit.

Memento Mori

Being pregnant in 2017 feels a little like I'm having a child in the last third of On the Beach. Even though I've literally never been more excited about anything else in my entire life, I can see the inexorable doom approaching.

And the Livin' is Easy

Well, it's finally fall, even though it's been ludicrously hot in Chicago for almost a week now. This summer was been super eventful, and it was such a nice change of pace from the first several months of the year! First, my mom came to visit, and after spending one of the nicest weekends I've had all year with her, I had two days of Trashy Diva meetups the very next weekend. I went to Vintage Garage Chicago for the first time and scored some sweet new dresses and an epic suitcase, and Jeff and I had a lovely babymoon around Chicago.

Maternity Style Hacks

When I got pregnant, I had three main goals with respect to my maternity wardrobe. First, I wanted to avoid wearing boring, generic maternity wear as much as I possibly could. Second, I wanted to wear my prepregnancy wardrobe for as long as I could, because I really like my current clothes. Finally, as much as humanly possible, I wanted to buy things that would work as well after my pregnancy as they did during. At eight months and change into this pregnancy thing, I'm pretty happy with how I'd done so far, so today I'm sharing some of the top maternity style hacks that have gotten me this far.

A Body Positivity Setback

About two weeks ago, I encountered the biggest stumbling block on my body-positivity journey, and unsurprisingly, it's pregnancy-related: stretch marks.

Lindy Bop Sale Haul

If I'm honest with you, it's been years since I thought about ordering from Lindy Bop. When I first started wearing retro-reproduction, I snagged several Lindy Bop frocks from Amazon (because free shipping > paying for international shipping). Two of them were massively successful, but I ended up selling the other two because the skirts just weren't full enough for my taste and the shelf-bust styles they offer looked a bit awkward on me. But over Labor Day weekend, I found myself unable to resist the siren song of incredibly cheap dresses in adorable prints.

Why I'm Not Buying a Travel System

It's Unpopular Opinion: Baby Edition time on Thoroughly Modern Emily! Today's topic: travel systems/infant car seats, also known as the bane of my baby-shopping existence, and why I'm not getting one. Before I get into this, though, to anyone who loves their infant car seat, please accept my apologies for what I'm about to write. But I'm 37 weeks pregnant and had all the feelings even before pregnancy hormones got involved, so I've got a lot to get off my chest here!

Purple and Gold

Maybe it's because I lived in LA for eight years and married an avid Lakers fan, but I'm a huge fan of a purple and gold outfit. Mustard yellow and purple just seem like they belong together, so when I got my hands on this new-to-me floral Modcloth skirt, I knew exactly how I'd style it for its maiden voyage.

25 Signs You're a Real Adult

Alright, who else thought they'd be welcomed to adulthood in a dramatic, unmistakable moment? That there would be a clear event that you could point to, after which you'd always feel like a 'real' adult? My dad often says that he used to think becoming an adult happened like this, but that he's come to realize that no matter how old he gets, he never quite feels like he's finished becoming a real grownup. And the older I get, the more I understand what he was talking about.

The Kindness of Strangers

Recently, it seems like I've been writing a gazillion posts about super-heavy and/or difficult things. And while I'm a huge proponent of letting yourself experience your emotions, and have been consciously trying not to shy away from emotionally challenging topics, there's been plenty of sunshine in my life, too!

Memories, Painful and Comforting

Early in my first year of college, I came across two things that have stuck in my mind ever since. The first came up in the course of reading Homer's Iliad, during discussion of Achilles; the second, I believe, in a digressive discussion of language in a novel.

Life Update: Very Pregnant

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! I've spent the past four days in an absolute whirlwind of activity: shopping for baby things, organizing her room, doing a ridiculous amount of laundry, and even sneaking in a bit of fun with my mom here and there. She heads home tomorrow and I'm already sad about it. (Jeff has stocked up on tissues in anticipation.)

The Word from the Bird

Lately, I've been on a serious true-vintage kick. I'd been searching through Etsy for a while and adding lovely midcentury dresses to my cart, but the love affair really started in earnest with my trip to Vintage Garage in May. I snagged three amazing dresses for a song and realized that there's something extra exciting about finding a unique dress with a history of its own. When I set out to narrow down my Etsy cart and take the plunge on a few more dresses, this Word from the Bird number was at the very top of my list!