So Long, 2017, and Thanks for Exactly One Thing

It's become almost de rigueur to hate on 2017, and as much as I hate following fads, I can't deny that this year was rough. The never-ending parade of celebrity deaths that everyone bemoaned in 2016 gave way to a cascade of sexual-assault revelations that showed the world just how ugly male privilege can be, and Tr*mp's incompetence as President has overshot even my most pessimistic 2016 expectations.

Deerly Beloved

PEOPLE. I am so excited right now! As I type this, my parents are up in the air, on their way to Chicago for an indefinite period of time. By the time you read this, they'll be here! And Jeff and I couldn't be happier! It was such a blessing to have them with us when we brought the baby home from the hospital, and since they left, she's grown and changed so dramatically that she hardly seems like the same person.

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.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Every time I leave my apartment and see these tulips, they brighten my day immeasurably. I always point them out to Jeff, and insist that he express adequate appreciation of their glory before we continue on our way. (Usually it goes like this: "Jeff, aren't those the most beautiful flowers ever?!?" *silence* "Jeffffffff!" "Yes, they're fine.)

Wardrobe Remix: Lavender Vamp

After eight years in Los Angeles, land of year round perfect temperatures, it's taken me a while to readjust to the idea of seasonal wardrobes. And since we don't have a cedar closet like the one I grew up with for storing off-season clothes, I've mostly just pushed my sundresses to the back of my closet rather than packing them away entirely.

Weekend Update

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you might've noticed that updates have been a bit thin on the ground for the past couple of weeks. What can I say? Life comes at you pretty fast sometimes, and truthfully, it's been a little hard to sit down and write a post about style when it feels like the entire planet is imploding.

Since I haven't wanted this blog to be a giant Debbie Downer, this means I have loads of half-written screeds against the Muslim Ban/non-intersectional feminism/anti-science people sitting on my computer, waiting till I find a way to frame them constructively. (I'm also sitting on one very silly story that feels a little too out-of-touch with reality to post, but I'm hoping I get there soon!).

So, rather than forcing myself to write something that doesn't feel right, I thought I'd give you a little update on what I've been doing since the New Year started.

Wardrobe Remix: Bernie Dexter Veronique in Oranges

Among other things, in 2017 I'm working on appreciating what I already have, rather than going out and buying new things all the time. To document my efforts, I'm launching a new wardrobe-remix series on the blog, where I put a new spin on pieces I already own. My oranges-print Veronique dress from Bernie Dexter was the perfect first subject for this series, since I've had it for almost a year and was recently tempted to buy the same print in a long-sleeved shirtdress version. (I resisted! Geef me compliments.)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Nicole)

News flash: I'm slightly Bernie Dexter-obsessed. (Well, this isn't so much a news flash as it is a confirmation of something that's probably pretty obvious from my love affair with the Kelly dress, the Chelsea cut, and this red gingham number.) I've had my eye on the Winter Wonderland print for ages, and had already decided that this was the year I'd finally nab it when Bernie released the Winter Wonderland Nicole dress. The timing couldn't have been more perfect: here in Chicago, the cooler weather seems to have finally settled in for the long haul, and I've been thinking about beefing up my winter wardrobe. I think we all know where this is going…

On the Road

At this point, I probably don't even need to tell you how much I love the Kelly dress from Bernie Dexter. It may or may not be impossible for me to blog about this style without waxing poetic, but I'll try to keep a lid on my fulsome praise today, and instead focus on the important business: food!

Saturday Night Fever

While my heart belongs to the Kelly dress forever, I do recognize the value of expanding my Bernie Dexter horizons. The Saturday Night dress intrigued me for a long time before I finally took the plunge. I liked the neckline and the way that the straps balanced perfectly on Bernie's shoulders in all her photos, but underbust seams and I haven't historically gotten along, so I held off. When the McCall's print popped on Zulily a while back, though, I threw it in my cart alongside the Antonella.

Since I'm trying out a new style, I figured I'd also try out some new poses.

60 Things That Make Me Happy

Ever since I was about 11 or so, I've kept a journal. In addition to documenting the mundane, one of the things I've always liked to do is to make lists. I'd make lists of favorite names and words, or of things I wanted to do before I turned 30, or my particular favorite: lists of things that make me happy.

In the spirit of my pen-and-paper journal habits, I thought I'd list my top 50 things that make me happy at this moment, and share my top 10 happy outfits.

Wishlist Wednesday #15

Whew, I've really been falling down on the wish list-creating job. Between Eating All the Things, super-exciting blogger collaborations, and my tikitastic new dresses, I've just had so many things to blog about, and haven't quite been able to fit a wishlist post in. However, when I saw some of Bernie Dexter's new releases, I had to showcase my favorites in a wishlist post!

The Life Aquatic

My love for the Kelly dress from Bernie Dexter is intense. I've lavished it with fulsome praise here on the blog on several occasions, and showcased its magical powers of flattering literally everyone with some of my blogger/Facebook friends. In a word, I'm obsessed., to the point where I have to exercise extreme self-control not to buy it in every single print Bernie releases.

Sometimes, these apparent victories of self-control are just that: apparent. I'll pass on a new print, congratulate the hell out of myself for being prudent, and then BAM! Regret hits me like a ton of bricks once it's too late to just buy the darn thing. Such was almost the story of the Kelly in Blue Water print, but (spoiler alert), this tale has a happy ending!

Kellys for All!

It's only a slight exaggeration to say that the Kelly dress from Bernie Dexter broke the retro-style internet. (Ok, it's a large exaggeration. Bear with me!) When the Kelly in the Kitchen dress first popped up for preorder on Bernie's site, it inspired quite a lot of excitement, for several obvious reasons:

1) It's a shirtwaist dress with no buttons!
2) The print is absolute genius, and just look at the colors!
3) A culinary-themed dress with a full, gathered skirt and classic 1950s silhouette is almost too perfect.

When these dresses started to make their way to their new homes, the reaction on social media and blogs was instant, near-unanimous love. I've written before about what makes the Kelly my favorite Bernie Dexter cut of all time, and if you look in my closet, you'll see four of them. For now.

It seems that Bernie knows how perfect her creation is, since she's released the Kelly in numerous other colors and patterns. And after seeing so many people rocking the living daylights out of their Kellys, I've come to a surprising conclusion: this dress looks good on everyone! To prove this point, I asked Sara Lily, the epic mind behind In a Nutshell…, to help me put together a post showcasing the OG Kelly In the Kitchen dress on ladies of all heights and sizes. Without further ado, here are just a few lovely ladies (and me!) totally slaying in their Kellys!

Baby Back Blues

Sometimes, you just need to get the heck outta Dodge, which is why Jeff and I sometimes opt to drive out to a delightful barbecue joint outside even the most generous definition of Chicagoland's borders. Since we're planning to pay a visit to Baby Back Blues BBQ today (and might be there even as you read this!), I figured the time was ripe to post about our last expedition to Joliet, Illinois.

I was heartless enough to make Jeff take this photo in the middle of J.C. Penney's, but not heartless enough to drag him into the mini Sephora boutique behind me.

Hot Hot Hot!

Just in case you missed all of my recent complaints about the unbearable summer weather, let me alert you to an important fact: it is hot in Chicago. Disgustingly, humidly, sweat-through-your-clothes-immediately HOT. For reasons that now seem incredibly silly, I decided to tough it out this summer and go without air-conditioning. Those reasons included the following:

1) We don't own an A/C;
2) It would cost a fortune;
3) We'd have to call our building manager to install an A/C
4) We have lots of fans!
5) We survived unbearable heat last summer.

This is clearly not how next summer will go. When it's this hot, I don't want to do anything, even things I typically love. Cook dinner? You've got to be kidding me! Take a walk? Um, maybe in October. Wear my favorite dresses? Absolutely not -- I don't want them to get sweaty, and I don't want to be uncomfortable, either. This last one has led me to finally embrace a major trend in the retro-style world: wearing my dresses as skirts!

Birthday Shenanigans 2016

Summer birthdays are a mixed bag. On one hand, I've never had to go to school or take an exam on my birthday, which is a significant plus, and I share my birthday with one of my favorite historical events. On the other hand, it is always approximately eight thousand degrees on my birthday, and generally pretty humid to boot.

This year's birthday was no exception to the rule. It was too hot to dress to the nines (i.e. in a full skirt with epic petticoat underneath, and properly styled hair), but on the bright side, it didn't thunder or rain on me! I'm calling that a win.

Rainbow Row

It's been hot as blazes in Chicago for the past couple of weeks, so I've been a bit hesitant to break out the petticoats and go full-on cupcake. I am the world's biggest baby when it comes to tolerating extreme temperatures. More accurately, there's an approximately five-degree band in which I am happy and comfortable. If the temperature dips below about 65, I shiver and complain. If the temperature goes above 70 (75 with no humidity, max), I melt, complain bitterly, and refuse to do anything useful. Of the two extremes, though, I'd pick the dead of winter over the dog days of summer every single time. (Yes, even a Chicago winter.)

This is why there's been such a dearth of poofiness in my outfits lately. Instead, I've been wearing skirts and dresses that look cute sans petticoat.

Ellie Cupquake Photoshoot

In my ongoing quest to write about the exciting parts of my recent existence, today's post takes us back to the end of May, when I met one of my pinup-style idols and did my first-ever photoshoot!

On Ethical Shopping, Part II

Way back in February, I shared some of my thoughts on more ethical shopping practices, and publicly committed myself to a more ethical approach to buying clothing. I'm happy to say that I've been largely successful at adhering to the principles I outlined there. While I failed at my no-buy month, I've kept to my plan of shopping with small, largely female-owned businesses, supporting domestic clothing manufacturing, and working towards lasting body confidence rather than buying new things to try to feel pretty. I'll write about my journey to body acceptance soon, I expect, but for today, I want to tackle two issues that didn't come up in my last foray into the ethics of clothes consumption: the environmental dimension and sizeism.

Before we dive into all of that, here are some photos of a dress that I can genuinely feel good about owning. It's the Kelly from Bernie Dexter in leopard print, it's made in the USA, and it's available in XS-4X. In these photos, I'm wearing it with ancient combat boots from Buffalo Exchange and leggings I borrowed from my little sister.