2010--Let's Start with an Award and a Look Back...

One of my resolutions is to get on top of any awards that are given to me from other bloggers. It is a really nice thing, and while I take every single award seriously, I find if I don't get to it RIGHT AWAY, it falls through the cracks. NO MORE!!! :) Thank you to the wonderful Eleanor, et. al, over at the very cool Shopping the Closet blog for their interest in me and my blog. So sweet, and your words about my blog and my kids were just perfect as a pick-me-up this week. :)

So here goes:

1. For all my goings on about being a native of Northern Virginia (as much as any of us can claim it), I was born elsewhere, in a small town in California. Yes, teeny-tiny. The big time there every year is a carnival and parade they have in June. It is an absolutely stunning place, really close to the ocean, and the people are super-friendly, but it is not typical CA. It is more typical Missouri than anything else. Definitely nothing like Northern Virginia. My relatives are all still there, so I do get to go back, but it isn't my home and hasn't been for a really long time.

2. I also lived in Germany as a small child. I learned German and English at the same time, which bizarrely makes me "bilingual." Supposedly if you learn two languages that early in life you never lose either language, you just fall out of practice. What's even weirder is I will sometimes think of a German word for a word, instead of the English word. I also dream in German, too. And when I was in the Netherlands, Dutch sounded very interesting to me, because it is a combo of English and German...or at least that is what I think it sounds like.

3. I HATE driving. Like DETEST it. I will only drive if I really have to, or if I have someone in the car for me to focus my attention on (while keeping my eyes on the road). I used TO LOVE driving, but slowly, and surely, the aggression of this area's drivers (not necessarily natives of this area, there are a lot of transplants who came here after college) chipped away at my patience, and now I try to either have others drive me or I walk. Isn't that terrible?

4. You all have already heard about my BIG OLE Don Henley crush, but I didn't tell you that I found Phil Collins cute, have I? Yeah, I know. There are others. I will wait till the next "spill your guts" award to tell you more of these oddball crushes I have had.

5. I am attracted to shiny things, just like a magpie.

6. I love my kids, clearly, but I don't really have a saint's patience, so sometimes when I get exasperated with them, I put them in their cribs, walk away, and take 5 whole minutes to collect myself. It has made a world of difference. At first I got really upset at myself, but then I started reading that other mom's do this too, and I felt better. So here I am to tell you all that if you are mom, it is okay to do similar. (I don't leave the house, I literally just go into the next room and wash my face or something...)

7. I am keeping the ruffled Carly dress. I said I was going to return it to keep the money, but my husband says my legs look nice in the dress and says that if the dress makes me feel good, then I need to keep it!!! YAY! Love it!!! :) Plus, he loves LEGOS. Teehee.

Now it's your turn...I am tagging:

1. HeidiG. at Head to Toe with Heidi, my girl numero uno!

2. Drewablank at This, That, and What Not...I miss seeing her and this blog allows me to connect with her at least a bit!!!

3. Slastena at About All and Nothing At All...SWAK to a new mom, I obviously was there when I started my blog, and she was there for me back then...

4. Ema at My Closet, My Baby, and I...such a cutie with a great sense of style!

and in honor of her 1 year blogoversary:

5. Chanel Fashionista at Chanel Fashionista...this isn't because I won a gift today, but to say thank you for a great year!!! :) But thank you for the gift, so very cool!!!

There are so many others, and I love to spread the wealth, so the next time I win an award, I will nominate a whole new crowd of blogs.

Now, let's move onto the Year Behind Us, aka 2009:

I started this blog on January 15, 2009, when I was four months postpartum. It is January 1, 2010, today, and I am now 16 months postpartum. Heehee.

In that time, my style, my body, and my life have changed for the better, completely due to this blog.

I am going to give you an overview of my "style transformation" as I like to call it in a bit, but I want you all to know that as of today I am THREE pounds away from my goal weight. YAY! So over the last nearly twelve months I have lost nearly 25 pounds of baby weight (that doesn't include what I lost before I started this blog).

My life, well, clearly I enjoy spending time writing on blogs. I have two substantive blogs, and two other more utilitarian blogs (one for polyvore and one for selling clothing). I have learned in this year that not everyone is going to like me, not everyone is going to like my clothing choices, and not everyone is nice (that was really hard for me to understand). But I did also learn that there is a great amount of amazing folks out there...and I am fortunate enough to have most of my blog audience be these really awesome folks. You all humble me daily when you turn out to cheer me on, talk with me about really random stuff, appreciate our shared obsessions with J. Crew or Boden, and be my best bloggie friends ever. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.
My style? I started this seriously only thinking three or maybe four people would want to talk with me about my style. My early blog followers (Maggy, swak for being one of the very earliest) really really kept me going. Fashion on this postpartum body was very hard to find...some days I was SQUEEZING into something and feeling terrible about it. But then by spending time over at other blogs and seeing what others had to offer, I found some pretty darn awesome looks. There were some clunkers along the way (HeidiG., lame outfit???) but the vast majority were just somewhere in between, perfect mom on the go wear...not mom jeans territory, but you know, this mom is giving it some effort today.

But who does a let's start the New Year post with just "okay?" Nope, not me.

Here are my FAVORITE looks from this year. (I don't have the photos, many are stored in my external hard drive, so you will have to click over to see my choices...plus that keeps it mysterious.) :)

1. 1/15/09--First outfit ever, and even though I was 25 pounds heavier, I think I did a nice job of finding an outfit that looked good with my momma curves. (Featuring the Merino Wave Cardigan.) Oh, and, my goodness, CW IS SO TINY!!!

2. 2/1/09--The day I really played with color. Bright, saturated yellow with a tomato red turned out to be a nice combo. Plus my hair is the winter red, and I now think I like my winter red. (Which is taking longer to appear this year.) (Featuring the amazing Sybil Double Cloth Coat.)

3. 2/12/09--Shimmery in February. I wore this to dinner with my husband and babies. I had lost some weight and I was thrilled by how well the outfit turned out. Still am... (Featuring the Maggie Peacock Jacket.)

4. 3/8/09--Teals and Browns make a nice combo, who knew? (Featuring the merino snow leopard Tartine cardigan.)

5. 3/27/09--Florals and Citron are good colors for my skin tone. I am not sure this was my most popular outfit, but I like the way I looked in it. (Featuring and Ann Taylor Loft Floral Print Top.) Rex's fashion? Hmm... :P

6. 4/30/09--The Cerise Pants (the bright red ones) come out to play. They are bright, but they work with the mix of grey and white. (Featuring the Cerise pants, heehee.)

7. 5/5/09--Tonal Olive...worn to a movie. Wasn't sure but I liked it. Got back from the movies and something like 20 of you had commented you loved it. SCORE!!! :) (Featuring the Olive Victoria Cami.)

8. 6/4/09--Very controversial but this is the ruffled cotton sateen dress in dark mushroom. I liked it and so did many of you...but this may be one of the first time I realized not everyone likes what I feel comfortable with...one of many to come. Smile. I do want to point out that I feel confident that this is a good look for me, and I feel like that is HUGE. (Featuring the Ruffled Cotton Sateen Dress...natch.)

9. 6/11/09--The day I wore some Boden. Love the tunic, love the citron and brown combo. Still love them and will wear the same pieces next year, regardless if they may be a bit loose. :) There are always tailors. (Featuring the silk tunic from Boden.)

10. 9/7/09--I liked the looks from the summer, but I didn't LOVE LOVE them enough to make this list. So onto September I go. This was the day I showed the outfit that I wore to go to the White House in...with my fabulous bloggie friends. Very ladies who lunch, this get-up. (Featuring the Twist Sash Dress.)

11. 10/2/09--Ooh, purple and yellow. Yes, the perfect pencil skirt in plum...nuff said. :) (Featuring the perfect pencil skirt in plum.)

12. 10/7/09--This was the post on the amazing on-line personal shopper I have. She found this dress for me, and when I got it, it felt like I had met my clothing soul-mate. (Featuring the shimmer paisley lawn dress.)

13. 12/3/09--I felt like a Parisian lady in this get-up. (Featuring the vintage tiered fleur top.)

14. 12/12/09--Oh, these pastels plus a punch of yellow? Lovely. (Featuring the Winnie Coat.)

That is all for now. And here is to a whole new Year. Thank you, all. ;)