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Approximately $68 later, I’m wondering, “WTF”. Turns out my cute find was $30! Is it just me or does that feel like a lot for a Target dress?!

Back at HQ I try it on and fall in love. It’s a keeper. $30 be damned. Planing to wear it Sunday at SL and T’s sister birthday. And don’t worry, it looks much cuter on.

I feel as if I can’t commit to posting regularly, and it’s really making me angry. Here’s the excuse. There was a huge winter storm that hit Kansas during these past few days. We got up to 12 inches of snow. It was major. And I had to work more than 12 hours covering the heavy snowfall and updating people on road conditions. It was super overwhelming. But, now I’m super happy that it’s over and done with.

Now this outfit comes pre-winter storm. CP and I were strolling the park and I was breaking in my new booties. I fell in love with their color almost instantly. It was a nice change from black and brown bootie craze. So hello to the wine.

Also have you noticed the purse. OMG to die for. I love.

Outfit: dress from Target, purse and booties and justfab.com, necklace from Forever21.

Feel free to click on the month to be taken to the original post!

I do have to come clean, I didn’t have any outfits for January and February, so I substituted them with a couple outfits from March and April

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

And don’t forget that:

Happy 2013!

Z

Pearl and gold vermeil earrings bought in Istanbul.  Gold necklace bought on Portobello Road, London.

Target GO International dress.

-k.

My favorite part of the weekend is Sunday, specifically late morning.

My ideal way to spend a late Sunday morning is brunch, a good farmer’s market, and thrifting. That sounds like an ideal way to spend any morning actually.

I go to LA a lot. Sometimes twice a month. Long story (extremely) short, long distance relationships are hard. But spending a Sunday like described above, even if for that one day, makes it feel like real life. When I am in LA, I like to partake in old married couple activities. I love going to the grocery store, cooking, going to the movies, having game nights with friends; it makes the short visits seem more real, rather than spending the day at Disneyland or cramming in every possible activity that by the end of the weekend, you felt like you didn’t spend any quality time together.

This day though, this was a good day.

And then we ate our farmer’s market fruits, pita, hummus, cheese, and sliced meat off a cutting board. That alone made it a great day.

Now that you feel sympathetic towards me and my first world problems, do me a solid and enter my Crossroads sponsored giveaway! <————-Click there!

//Dress: Target // Boots: Thrifted via Crossroads // Bracelets & Ring: Forever 21/The Icing //Necklace: Pac Sun //

I need to ask you a serious question. How many pairs of ankle boots do you have to have before you   officially have a problem? Specifically, black ankle boots. After picking up these babies at Crossroads, I may now have four pairs of black ankle boots. Four doesn’t seem like that many, but when they are all black and people cannot tell them apart, it may be a problem. It may be a problem I don’t think will stop anytime soon.

I am getting more and more comfortable taking my outfit photos in public instead of hiding in alleyways. I feel like they come out more natural and I move around more, so instead of Ugly Mug getting frustrated because he is taking the same photo fifty-four times, he get’s frustrated because I won’t stay in the same spot for more than fifty-four seconds.

“Take a picture of me eating a sample!” Oh, blogger life.

Yes, I will get a new purse! Ok, that was a lie. I am a one purse woman, honestly. It’s too much work to switch between two purses.

How many purses do you regularly use?

All photos credit of Ugly Mug Photography

// Follow Seeking Style //

Bloglovin’ // Facebook // Twitter

Today Tamera (AKA “Le Mer”)  is our new “Spotlight on You” participant.  Tamera has been one of my biggest blog supporters and she is the photographer behind my lovely pics!  She approached me about being featured and of course I said yes!  Here’s what  Tamera had to say:

“Always wonder who takes those wonderful Grown and Curvy Woman pictures? Well, me of course, Le Mer! (LOL) Being on this journey with Georgette has been so fun and exciting. I’m so ecstatic about the notice and success of the blog. Can you believe my pictures for “Perfectly Pleated” were featured on WordPress  “Freshly Pressed”?!

I may not be “grown and curvy”, but I have learned great styling tips and am venturing out the box more. I was so excited when I found this colorful, floral maxi dress at Target for $8 (YAY!). Since I’m short, I generally have issues with maxi dresses being too long and dragging on the floor. This dress fit me perfectly and I liked that it accentuates my baby curves!

Big thanks to Georgette for trusting me with taking her pictures.”

Tamera is one of the most sweetest  people I know. She’s always has my back and I’m proud to call her a friend!

If you would like to be featured in “Spotlight on You”, please submit 1 or 2 pictures with a blurb about your outfit to ebdiva08@gmail.com

*Disclaimer: Any and all photos submitted will be used for this feature only. They will not be used inappropriately or as other content.*

Shoes-Lucky, Bag-Tracy Reese, Dress-Isaac Mizrahi (thrifted), Belt-Banana Republic (thrifted), Sunnies-HOH, Necklace/ring/watch-vintage, bracelet-Bfrend

Hope you lovelies had a fab weekend!

xoxo,

AVC

]]> http://grownandcurvywoman.com/2012/08/24/spotlight-on-you/ Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:59:59 +0000 grownandcurvywoman http://grownandcurvywoman.com/2012/08/24/spotlight-on-you/ TGIF everybody!

Today I’m starting a new feature called  ”Spotlight on You!” which will highlight  my lovely readers!   A few days ago, I received an email from Selah with a picture of her wearing her first maxi dress.  I had replied to one her comments that I wanted to see when she finally wore a maxi dress and she remembered!  Selah’s  willingness to move outside of her comfort zone and embrace herself  inspired me to start “Spotlight on You”.  So with no further ado, here is Selah!

“I was unsure of the maxi dress.  Long dresses seem so formal, probably because the last time I wore a long dress was at my wedding.  Then I read somewhere (on a fashion blog, I’m sure) that maxi dresses are great because they’re cool enough for summer and you don’t have to shave your legs.  SOLD!I hunted for a long time for the perfect maxi dress.  I stumbled across this one on the clearance rack at Target.  It’s a Liz Lange Maternity, but I loved the color and the crisscross diamond design, so I tried it on.  It fit perfectly except for the length.  I fixed that by cutting 3-1/2” off the bottom.  The knit fabric doesn’t fray so I just left it raw.When I wore it my little boy said, “Mom, you look as beautiful as a queen,” and kissed my hand.  You have to love a dress that gets that kind of reaction!”

Selah you look wonderful and your son is such a sweetie!  Thank you sharing this with me and  allowing me  to share it with readers. If you would like to be featured in “Spotlight on You”, please send a picture and a blurb explaining why you decided to try something new to ebdiva08@gmail.com.

Check out my FIRST video below! Have a great weekend!!!

►

Dress: Target (here)

Don’t forget to swing by tomorrow for a full on freak out session at the cutest thing you will ever see.

Ok so lets just get to the info and pics everyone’s been weighting waiting for (I just can’t stop writing about weight!)

Now the funny thing is my trainer Danielle did measurements this morning (they are slightly different areas that are measured) and I have lost 13.2 inches since I started working out with her.  Just so you all know 4 of those inches were from my neck! holly shit, did I have a rippling beast of a steroids man neck before?  For real, If I ever get fat again I’m requesting now that EVERYONE who reads this has an intervention with me!

                                                     June/August/October

You can see how unhappy I was when you look at the first photo in both sets.   Looking at the current photo’s you can see just in my posture how much more confident I am.  I’m so much happier, healthier and am way leaner!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has given their support, read the blog, worked out with me or forced me to do burpees, passed on recipes, and just continual encouragement, because of you I found it in myself to stay motivated these past few months.  I worked on being active 5 days a week.  I counted calories, I set goals for myself and met many of them such as fitting into my target dress and I still have goals to work on (come on 14 lbs),  I’ve learned to enjoy jogging-at least when I’m running with buddies and learned to love going to the gym again. 

I will be continuing on my weight loss journey over the next few months.  I would still like to get down to 140 lbs which is only another 14 lbs so I know I’ll get there but the biggest goal for me is to have defined arms and continue working out 5x a week.   I’m so much more confident in my skin now that I don’t think there will ever need to be an intervention.  I will be coming up with some new goals in the next few weeks to continue working on fitness.  Hope everyone will continue to read my posts then!

Current weight:155 lbs

that is +1 lb. 

I did not work out while I was in Jasper!  The only time where I could have fit in a run, I decided to nap instead since I’d hardly slept.  We did however walk for 2 hours while we did a scavenger hunt all over jasper.  My team did cheat and drove for at most 10 minutes but I don’t think it was that much since Jasper is so small.  So back on track yesterday morning by hitting the gym first thing in the am.

It was one of those weeks where life gets in the way of achieving all the goals you set out for yourself.  Let me refresh your memory on what my goals for last week were:

1) to run 25km

2) to pack and have ready to grab quick 100 calorie (or less) snacks

3) to exercise for at least an hour

I only managed to fit in time to run 19km, but hey at least I got in 19km.  I did pack up a bunch of 100 calorie snacks such as canned pears, grapes, hard-boiled eggs and containers of veggies.  My last goal was to exercise for an hour a day and I didn’t really keep track of if I achieved this or not!

This week I am setting some different goals since my running buddies Aline and Jill are both out-of-town and I’m not sure if I’ll get in as much running with out them.

1.) To attend 3 different fitness classes at Spa Lady.  I haven’t check out a few and would like to see which ones I’d enjoy

2.)To run 15km.  I plan to just do my run in the trailer park 3 times this week to reach this goal.  Maybe I can get Ryan to join me again!

3.)To make the yummy Veggie soup that Kira taught me how to make! It’s super healthy and so good.  It’s also easy to freeze and nice to have something filling and healthy that’s easy to grab and eat!

This could also be a hard week to count calories… today I turn 27.  Does that mean my metabolism slows down even more today? shit. Any who I know Birthday (Week) means dinners and lunches out with family and friends, and usually a couple extra bevies here and there.  So it’s even more important for me to get to the gym every day and get a good workout in.  It’s early-ish, 8:25am, I’ve been awake since 7:30am… who the hell gets up that early 1) on their bday 2) on a day they can sleep in? yes, it’s obvious the answer is me, but it’s cause I needed to pound out this blog and get my smaller sized ass to the gym asap so I can have dinner at the Pasta Kitchen this evening! 

  I have a few weeks until Jill and I are done with the “set” time of this weight loss journey.  I have more pictures to come: before, during and current. Me in my target dress and who knows what else! I also plan on continuing this blog after October 31st because I do find that it helps motivate me to get to the gym and work towards the goals I set since I tell all of you about them.

outfit details: dress is from target via ebay; yellow wedges are fluevog; bag is kate spade; belt and vintage slip under dress are thrifted

song inspiration: “this charming man” by the smiths.  an oldie but a  goodie.   man i wish i could have seen them live before they broke up.

his latest one features owls. his most famous one features 15 or so yard flamingos.

my problem for the day – can i still wear nylons in spring? ‘rules’ are meant to be broken, right?

dress: target.
tights: target.
shoes: peep-toe nude platforms (steve madden).

jordan in her pretty floral dress and pretty-in-pink cardie. just plain pretty!

and, introducing… literary intern, Melanie! she loves punk music, and has the best shoes. she’s just plain adorable and can pretty much rock anything. her style is the most eclectic out of us three, because one day you can see her in her beat-up converse, and the next she’s in her michael kors platforms.

Target has some really cute dresses that are knit on top with thick elastic around the rib cage or natural waist, and either knit or cotton for the bottom.

Both from Target. Left is from fall (doesn't currently fit); Right is from this spring (currently fits).

These are super cute, and I’ve wanted to buy about 100 more (there are REALLY cute ones in the kids section too!), but as it turns out – some of them aren’t flowy enough to accommodate my expanding belly. So I decided to make my own.

Dress Ingredients: Husband's old work shirt, knit fabric (extra stretchy for my current figure!), elastic and optional pattern (for knit top)

First things first – lets get this knit top out of the way.

I still haven't mastered the art of knit hems, so the neckline was a little wormy. My solution was to add a couple of pleats, I think it did the job.

McCalls 6031

I used the top pieces from this knit dress pattern for my dress. You could use any dress pattern that had separate top and bottom piece – depending on where you want the waistline to sit. I wanted mine up high since I actually have no waist right now.  If you’re a seasoned sewer, you might not even need a pattern for the top part, I mean, depending on your talent, and how fitted you want it to be!

In a previous life, these pieces were sleeves

This picture above is one of the sleeves, seam ripped and cut in half. Brian’s shirt fit when I put it on, but I wanted room to grow, I’ve got two months left! So I decided I would add a couple of inches to each side – which really came out to about 8 extra inches, but that’s ok. The dress won’t be tight! Most of you wouldn’t need to add the extra panels so you can skip this step. Just lay the shirt out flat, and cut across from underarm to underarm – so you have just the body of the shirt. Seam rip the pocket off if there is one. Sometimes I like to resew them on when I’m done.

Close up. Don't judge my lines. Have you ever tried to sew elastic? Yeah. It's not pretty.

Here is a close-up of the top and bottom sewed to the elastic. 

The bottom was so large that I had to gather it before I could attached it to the elastic. Each is sewed on twice for reinforcement. 

The Dress, on the tiny manne.

The dress, doing it's job.

My mom reminded me (after I finished) that I need extra fabric in the front lengthwise to cover my belly! Thank you mom, but I took care of that one! I rarely re-hem the men’s shirts that I restyle – so it was already super long in the front (and back) by default (because I’m lazy). 

Matching brooch.

I can’t wait to wear this ensemble! Spring is *almost* here!

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