Loosy Goosy

(Lucy goosy? Loosey goosey? None of those spelling options look right, but you know what phrase I’m going for here, right? Let’s just move along.)

(I CAN’T GET PAST IT. Googling now . . . okay, apparently it is meant to be spelled loosey goosey. It still looks wrong, but who am I to question The Almighty Google? This has been our idiomatic spelling lesson for the day. The more you know.)

After Forrest was born, I remember feeling really dissatisfied with my wardrobe. 9 months of not fitting into anything remotely normal sized, longing for the day I could wear pants with a button (but without the MacGuyver rubberband harness system—moms, you know exactly what I’m talking about), and when I finally got into some of my regular clothes, I thought, welp, these are ugly. Absence did not make my heart grow any fonder for the same old clothes I’d always had.

And like clockwork, I’ve felt the same way since Darcy arrived. I don’t know if the problem is being too tired/uninspired to put outfits together, or if it’s the way the fit of my clothes has changed (birthing hips and nursing boobs, welcome, make yourselves at home), or maybe my clothes were never that great to start with, but I’ve definitely felt bored with my closet the past few months.

So I’m trying to be more creative with my closet to make it feel more exciting to me. And I’m forcing you to watch while I bumble along. (You poor thing! The escape hatch is right up in the corner of the page, X marks the spot. I’ll wait while you scamper off to read something more interesting. No hard feelings, I understand.)

I bought this loose-fitting, blousy boho top with some Christmas money I got this year—I liked the pattern, and loose and flowy sounded rillyrilly good to me (hello, postpartum and nursing? loose and flowy to the rescue). But I quickly realized that it was harder to make a cute outfit with than I had expected. I found myself just pairing it with comfy jeans over and over, and it started to feel boring really fast. I thought I’d see if I could come up with a few different ways to wear it so I hopefully won’t get tired of it faster than it deserves. (Also, am I supposed to tie those dangly strings? They looked weird to me when I tried tying them, so I just leave them hanging, but I don’t know if I’m doing this right. Don’t laugh at me.) (Also? I apparently only have one pose, and my right hand just makes a fist constantly, I guess.) (Aaaalso? I’m obviously not real big on jewelry. Or even wearing my wedding ring, it seems.)

Option 1: No-brainer. I paired it with skinny jeans (a loose fit on top and bottom seems like a fast track to just look gigantic all over), legwarmers, and boots. Nothing fancy or tricky, but it’s a little better than the mom jeans and flats I was wearing before, I think. And don’t tell anyone, but these are my maternity jeggings. I guess I’ll just keep wearing them forever and always, because elastic waist. Need I say more?

Top: Old Navy // Jeggings: Ross // Legwarmers: Target // Boots: gift // Necklace: ebay

Option 2: Stepped up casual. Definitely still a low-key outfit, but adding the jacket, cuffing the pants, and tossing on some booties makes it a little more interesting than wearing it with just jeans, right? I hope so.

Jacket: Gap, hand-me-down from my sister // Booties: Maurices

Option 3: Playing dress up. I only pictured wearing a top as loose and casual-looking as this with jeans, but I actually think it dresses up pretty nicely with a pencil skirt and heels. I tried to keep the bottom half slim-fitting (once again, I don’t think loose on top and bottom is my friend), and I like the shape it created to have a flowy top half paired with a slimmer skirt. I think red heels would have looked better, to pull out the red pattern in the top, or a lighter shade of brown, maybe, but you can’t win ‘em all.

Skirt: Loft // Belt: came with a different shirt // Heels: Ross

Anyone else having wardrobe issues recently? I’d love to hear how you’re making one-hit wonder purchases (like my hard-to-style loosy goosy top) work for more than out outfit.