Ha!  Did you EVER think you’d see a title of mine with “fashion” in it?

Me neither.

But this isn’t what you think it is.

So I can admit, out loud, that I have lost quite a bit of weight.  People will ask how much I’ve lost, and I say, “not much, about 40 pounds,” and they react with bulging eyeballs and sometimes an eye roll.  It’s not that I think this is easy to do or no big deal, I just don’t think of myself as this thin person (I don’t think I’m fat, or even big… I just think I’m normal).  I also don’t make a big deal of it because I was very fit before we went through infertility, fertility treatments, then pregnancy, then nursing, etc.  Before all of that, I was consistently weighing in at 150-155 pounds for years.  So being normal/thin again isn’t new to me, but it is new to everyone who met me after the infertility hit (so all of Hottie’s work friends, because he started there after we’d tried to get pregnant for a year, and all of my mom friends, because they met me post-babies, and all of my blog friends).  I am a super woman to almost everyone we know.

But I’m not.  I’m just me.  I’m the me who throws myself into the things I’m committed to, and fitness happens to be one of those things.

I weigh 140 pounds right now, less than I did when I was very fit for years, and less than I weighed when I graduated high school.   This is by far the healthiest I’ve ever been in regards to weight, muscle tone, endurance, body fat, BMI, cholesterol, etc.  I look in the mirror and I’m happy with where I am right now, no need to lose an ounce more (I was told today by Hottie’s two female coworkers to stop dropping weight, which annoyed me but I understand it).

So with this body that has been this way for over a year now (a year ago, I weighed 153.4 pounds and was running again consistently), I have decided to start dressing like a mom who is fit and healthy, and not like a mom who wants to cover up everything.

I had to enlist some help.  I am no fashion guru – I’m far from it, actually.  I’ve never had any fashion sense at all and I’ve always been very “vanilla.”  Jeans, solid shirts and sweaters, practical shoes, etc.  In my defense, I have very limited shoe options because I’m an 11.5 narrow (and 12.5 narrow with pretty bad over-pronation in running shoes = $160 a pair), so pretty strappies take MONTHS to find.  But that’s my only defense – it’s time to step it up.

I have 2 pair of skinny jeans in my closet and it’s time to make them the norm, but what about shoes?  Ugh.  I decided to take the boys to Nor.dstr.om Ra.ck to shoe shop the other night while Hottie was out-of-town (I prepaid them with cake pops – they did great!), and I brought home two pair.  I quickly put them on with my jeans and sent the pics to my friend, Chon, who I trust immensely with fashion sense.  She gave me the green light and I wore the sneakers last night to dinner – Hottie said I looked cute.  I wore them again today at preschool drop-off and I felt very with-it, put together, etc.  I looked like the hip preschool mom, which is the goal after all  😉

I also went to onli.nesho.es.com the other night to see what kind of sales they were having and they had Frye boots as their banner ad.  I had just seen some Frye handbags and boots over the weekend at a local store so I thought this was maybe a sign.  I checked out a bunch of discount sites for the best deal (I’m not paying $400 for boots) and after deciding that yes, I do like them, I went to the store to try them on.  They are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn.  I signed up for Sak.sof.f5th emails to get a $30 off $150 coupon code – and I just ordered them today!  $170 shipped to my door (they are $370+ normally).  If they’re as awesome as I think they’ll be, I’m ordering another pair next month.  I will be all stocked up on boots after these cute little booties!

Here are the boots I just ordered – I am super excited!

So… I’m on my way to dressing more like a gal, less like a slob.  I do need a smaller pair of jeans, yes I know, Chon!  😉