A Non-Fashion Bloggers Journey | Building My Postpartum Wardrobe

This is my current wardrobe in it’s entirety. 

I have excluded workout clothes but since the purpose of my journey is to move away from fitness clothes those don’t count and my workout wardrobe could use an overhaul of its own but that is for another day. 

As you can see I have 3 tops, 2 bottoms, 4 pairs of shoes and 3 newly acquired pieces a dress, a romper and a denim jacket.  Of these items I could do without 2 of the tops and 2 of the shoes they have basically been included because I have them, wear them or they serve a purpose like the sandals for the beach or camping. Currently I have 12 items. 

My goal is to build a wardrobe with 30-35 pieces that I really love and that I feel good in right now. As I write that 30-35 makes me feel anxious after living for the past 15 or so months with only a max of 20 items in my wardrobe but I know that if I could have a bit more diversity I would feel so much better.

Most days I turn to workout clothes basically out of convenience because they are what I have more of and what are honestly clean. When you have three small children its very unlikely that you are able to re-wear things like jeans and sweaters because they end up with food and dirt on them on a daily basis and then there is laundry for five people – don’t even get me started. 

So now the question is what do I really need? What is my style? What color palette do I want? 

So tell me what do you think ever wardrobe needs? Where do you shop? What are you loving right now? 

Currently | 1.24.18

This year has started off with a lot of changes for our family and myself so we are just trying to find our groove. I have plans to share my intentions for year and will do so when I get a minute to myself to just write or rather type up my notes (psst did you know I hand write about 60% of my blog posts first?) Anyways until then I thought I would share a Currently post with you and I hope that you share below something you’re currently doing/eating/watching/looking forward to/reading/loving. xo.

Doing: Worrying about flu season and earthquakes because anxiety sucks. Also feeding people constantly. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. When I am not cooking or putting together a snack for the big people in my family I am nursing the baby. It’s feeding time all day long around here. Beyond the feeding I have been working to declutter our home and make it a space that we all love and are comfortable in especially since Neil is now working out of our bedroom. 

We started the year off with a trip to the coast for Neil’s birthday. Then I had week of solo parenting while Neil went out of town for work. I had my parents here for a bit so we did a lot of running around with them.  Now we are finding our groove. 

Eating: This month we tried Sun Basket for the first time because they finally have a plant-based box! We LOVED all three recipes (see recipe 1 and recipe 2) that we tried and can’t wait to buy our next box.  I have also been eating my weight in Oat Mama bars because they taste amazing and have been keeping my milk supply going strong. Although I made the mistake of letting Edith try one of my bars and now she wants to eat them all. Some other yummy things I have been eating can be seen here, here and here.

Watching:  I am still slowly re-watching Grey’s Anatomy again because I am one of those people who loves to re-watch shows over and over. Neil and I have been watching Top Chef and 9-1-1. If you were a fan of Third Watch you might like 9-1-1; it’s not completely the same but similar idea where it follows paramedics, firefighters, cops and also includes 9-1-1 operators. 

Looking forward to: The summer, the passing of flu season, feeling prepared for an earthquake. Also on a happier note seeing friends this weekend and hopefully writing a lot this weekend. 

Reading: I am still working my way through The Danish Way of Parenting* Life has been a bit crazy these past few months so my reading has kind of dropped off – except for the hundreds of children’s books I read every week. If you are interested in what books we are reading as a family I will be sharing more on our Naturally Family Instagram

Loving: I am loving that we haven’t had a snowstorm this year (cue storm to happen now- lol). I am loving that my husband now works from home. We are still finding our rhythm but having the extra hours with him is pretty amazing. What can I say we hate to be away from each other. 

What are you currently doing, thinking about, watching, looking forward to, reading and/or loving?

As always this post is inspired by Sometimes Sweet.

2018 Travel Guide: Birthday Celebrations in Long Beach Peninsula


Happy New Year! 

My blog vacation ended up being a little longer than I had planned due to some changes at home but I’m back! While my blog vacation was on the longer side I have to say our family getaway far too short.

We kicked our New Year off with a surprise birthday trip for Neil to the Adrift Hotel in Long Beach, Washington and a visit to our favorite Oregon city – Astoria. 

This wasn’t our first trip to the Long Beach Peninsula and it certainly won’t be our last. The first time we ever visited Long Beach was nearly five years ago when we first moved here. A friend from Vermont who had lived in the Portland area told us how they would head up to Long Beach, Washington and drive on the beach. We had never driven on the beach before so on our first trip to Astoria we crossed the bridge and headed to the beach. This was our first trip to Washington state, first trip to Astoria, first time driving on the beach and it was also the first time we came across the Adrift hotel. It would be almost 2 years later before we would stay at the Adrift but once we did we knew we would stay there again…. even if it took 3 years. 

So why the Adrift Hotel? 

First, location, location, location. The Adrift Hotel is located just across the bridge from Astoria, it is located on the beach which means some rooms have a beach view and you can easily walk or borrow a bike and head to the beach. Secondly, it’s incredibly family friendly with it’s suites but it is also fun and modern for friends and couples are looking for a little getaway. One of my favorite features is the style which is a mix of modern, vintage and nautical. Also there are bikes, movies and games to borrow as well as a game area on the second floor which was a favorite of my littles. 

 

Lastly, the food. Pickled Fish is a located in the Adrift Hotel and it offers some really great food. They also are great about accommodating vegan, vegetarian and gluten free diets which is hard time find on the peninsula. On this visit we enjoyed brunch for Neil’s birthday which included this tofu rice bowl, the hash sub tofu for the eggs and crispy potatoes. If you’d rather bring your own food you’ll find a mini fridge and microwave in your room and down in the lobby there is complimentary tea, coffee and flavored water. You can also find lots of snacks, drinks and treats like these amazing coconut caramels that I had and wish I could remember the name of because they were amazing. 

After brunch we took a quick visit down to the Discovery Trail to check out the ocean but this was short lived as the rain quickly came. 

We checked out of the Adrift Hotel and Astoria to take the kids to the Astoria Column, out to lunch at Buoy Brewing and to my favorite Scandinavian store Finnware.

Check out this post from our 2016 visit to Astoria for what to see and eat as well as our stay Adrift’s sister hotel Ashore. Also this post from our first stay at the Adrift Hotel for Neil’s birthday a few years ago. 

Thank you to Adrift Hotel for our stay. We enjoyed ourselves and can’t wait to return. While this stay was complimentary as always all opinions are my own.