Summer Recap

I had meant to post this on Labor Day, but extreme exhaustion hit on Monday night (read: I passed out on the couch) and yesterday the computer was hijacked all night for a Fantasy Football draft. So, two days later, I'm reminiscing about my summer. Back in March, after a particularly warm day in New York City, I wrote this post about my wishes for the summer. So, looking back, I wanted to see if I did them.

Cheap Bib Necklaces

I've been dying to get a bib necklace for weeks now. Yes, I'm late in jumping on this trend. Maybe it's my new love for colored jeans that is inspiring me to add even more punches of color to my wardrobe. Or maybe it's my denial that the summer is coming to an end. In any case, my mission to find bib necklaces has led me to two places: JCrew and Forever 21.

JCrew has some really beautiful bib necklaces...

Let's Be Real With Ourselves

There was a great article in the New York Times published a few days ago that really struck a chord with me. The author, Janice Min, the editor of Us Weekly talked about the ridiculous standards that women are held to after they give birth to bounce back to their old body.

The Beyonce's and Heidi Klum's of the world have changed everyone's idea of what happens to a woman's body after giving birth so much so that when it doesn't happen right away, people will knock that woman down. We are so hard on ourselves. Sure, celebrities' bodies bounce back, but that's because their career is based on their looks. They have nannies to care for their babies while they go to pilates class.

In the real world, its much different. Once your child is born, it takes weeks and weeks to not have a "baby bump" any more. Not to be too technical but after birth, your uterus is still large enough to accommodate a child. Not to mention, all of your internal organs need to migrate back to their proper place.

Its hard to go out in public with a newborn baby when it looks like you're still pregnant. People stare at you like something doesn't add up.

One of the saddest things about this lack of confidence is that I don't have many photos of myself with Landon right after he was born. I felt I was too ugly or too fat in every picture and would delete them. Out of the hundreds of photos I added to Facebook after Landon was born, there were maybe a handful of photos of myself. Sure, I loved to show off my adorable son, but in reality, I didn't want anyone to know what I looked like post-baby. I was too ashamed of what my body looked like and I didn't want people to criticize my photos behind my back.

Once I stopped breastfeeding, my weight skyrocketed because I still had the appetite of a nursing mom but without the actual act, the calories had nowhere to go but to my belly. People who hadn't seen me since I had the baby would tell me how great I looked. But I would pout inside, thinking that they were lying.

I wish I had the confidence to just get over these feelings of sadness and uncertainty of my body. I hope we can change our standards and opinions of moms and just let them recover at their own pace.

Welcome to Wanderlust Wednesdays

I decided to make my blog more structured in an effort to stay with it and so I don't run out of topics! As you all know, every Sunday I do a Sweet Tooth blog. So now each day, I'll dedicate my post to a certain theme. I decided to make Wednesdays "Wanderlust Wednesdays." 

wanderlust-n. a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about 

(source: dictionary.com)

Each Wednesday, I'll bring you a new place that is a favorite of mine. Since I work in New York City and live in Hoboken, it'll be mostly New York and New Jersey-based, but when I travel, I'll be sure to post about my favorite places in those locations also.

So, to introduce my Wanderlust Wednesday posts....a place that has been near and dear to me for a few years: Jacques Torres.

Book Review-Where We Belong

Emily Giffin is one of my favorite authors. Her books are fun and hard to put down. They are usually cute and romantic, but do have some sort of tough issue for the main character to work out. Bartek calls her the "Taylor Swift" of books. I guess he's kind of right.

image from Macmillan

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Turtle Cupcakes

I haven't posted a Sweet Tooth Sunday in so long. Between our move to our new apartment, being busy with work and utterly exhausted, and having a broken computer, it's been impossible! But I did make some sweet things over the past few weeks...one of them being Landon's birthday cupcakes! I saw these great turtle cupcakes on Pinterest and I had to make them. We did a little "Under the Sea" theme for his birthday and had some really awesome balloons for him...but it was the cupcakes that were a hit!

Duchess-Inspired Shoes

Ever since I saw this photo of Duchess Kate at the Olympics, I've been dying to duplicate it. The look is just so clean-cut and polished...and I guess it doesn't hurt to have a team of hair stylists and makeup artists to pull the whole look together. The thing that most drew me to this outfit is the shoes. Kate is always in wedges and they look so great. They add height without the teetering instability of regular heels.