ONE & DONE | 35 Dresses We Can't (& Won't) Wait to Wear

A floral + striped frock star from RW&CO.

Originally posted in The LOOK

There's something that happens once you have kids. Okay, there are a lot of things that happen once you have kids. But specifically, there's this thing regarding invitations. In my early 20's, I'd get invites to weddings and be like, 'Awww, seriously? Another wedding??' I'd look at my summer calendar and all of my weekends would be completely booked up with wedding after wedding which a) got very expensive, hence taking away all the money I'd been saving for fun things like shoes (but what should have been a down-payment on a house) and b) took away all the precious time I could have been spending at a friend's cottage or at the beach or going to clubs. When you're young and single, you get invites to fun parties all the time and you can't possibly appreciate it. Or at least I didn't...

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SHADES OF BLUE

Rebecca Taylor Resort 2016 - via Rebecca Taylor

Originally posted in The LOOK

I want to be cool like Cara Delevingne. I can totally appreciate the black-and-white badness of so many of the Instagram feeds I follow. But if I want to stay true to myself, I cannot wear black and white all the time. I just can't. I don't care how fashion-y you are - it's just super depressing. So as I do with almost all things in life, I go to Beyoncé for guidance. She just posted a teaser campaign for her new Ivy Park line and while it's of course almost all b&w, I spy a little bit of blue in there. An ode to Blue Ivy maybe? But still...if Queen Bey says blue is cool, then I feel safe in saying that even if you only buy black, even if you like to go full-blown grayscale, even if you just can't with colour, blue is the new black. From soft serenity to deep blue denim, check out all the super pretty blues flooding into stores now. Need that ruffle romper. Freaking over those fringed pumps. Coveting those cute Kismet dresses. How about you? Are you feeling blue, too? 

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3 Ways to Wake Up Your Winter Wardrobe

via RStyle.me

Originally posted in The LOOK

This happens every year. Each January, I'm struck with an insatiable appetite for change. And while we haven't had to endure a super tough winter this year, I'm still ready to switch things up. Since I can't grab the next flight to Cabo because my kids would miss me, I'm relying on my wardrobe to help me get through the rest of winter. I've been wearing black and grey nearly exclusively for the past month. Why? Well, my warmest parka is black. My fave furry trapper hat from ALDO is black, too.  I've been wearing only black pants and leggings because, well, I ate 3 boxes of Turtles over the holidays so they're the only ones that fit. 

While black is always in style, too much of it gets tired after awhile. If you're feeling black & grey fatigue, too, here are 3 easy ways to wake up your winter wardrobe right now...

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GYM CLASS HEROES

Instagram via @basebodybabes

I just looked up lethargic in the thesaurus. Slothful. Somnolent. Spiritless. I'm trying to figure out what word would best describe me for the past 7 years. It's not that I haven't been active because I have young kids, so that's impossible. But let's just say that I used to be really active, really toned, really strong. And then suddenly, I wasn't. I worked out at least 3 days a week, quite religiously in fact, for most of my life. And then suddenly, I didn't. I used to feel like I was missing something when I didn't exercise because I craved it. But for the past 7 years, I honestly just wasn't interested at all.

Turns out my total lack of motivation coincided directly with having kids. And while having babies provided loads of convenient excuses, I realized that my reasons for not working out had morphed from valid to ridiculous. With a 5 and 7 year old, I found myself still saying things like 'I don't want to mess with their schedules,' or 'I'm just too tired.' I work from home. They're at school all day. They sleep like rockstars. Like I said: ridic.

This past fall, that all changed. I decided it was finally time to get to the bottom of things. And by bottom, I mean my own. My formerly perky, well, everything, had begun migrating south and it wasn't even winter yet. I'd been making a monthly donation to my gym for the past 7 years but only ever went a handful of times. Still, I refused to give up my membership because it felt exactly like that: giving up. But I finally did. Turns out breaking up with your gym is a lot like quitting a job or ditching a bad boyfriend - sometimes you have to leave to find something better.

In September, at the urging of a fellow mom, I reluctantly signed up for a Bums & Tums class at a local community centre. Despite the cringeworthy name, the instructor more than made up for it. Every Tuesday, I'd meet my friend for our weekly B&T and found myself, for the first time in 7 years, actually enjoying a workout. Then another mom and I decided to try bootcamp. So every Thursday, we had a date at the XTreme Fitness Torture Chamber where Pedro threw tires at us until we begged him to stop. And somehow, I found myself hate-loving it. Before I knew it, I'd done 4 straight months of consistent workouts and I hadn't once made an excuse. For the new year, I've signed up for an evening pilates class while my son does ball hockey in the gym next door (no mom guilt - yay!) and two lunchtime B&Ts. I haven't felt this good, this strong, this healthy since my pre-baby days. 

After all these years, I finally figured out the 3 things I need to stay on track with my workouts. (If you're feeling similarly derailed by your lack of motivation, maybe these will help you, too)...

35 Reasons to Love Winter White

via RW&CO.

Originally posted in The LOOK

There comes a time in every person's life where we're forced to grow up. Whether it's living on our own for the first time, having a massive work crisis, or raising kids, life has ways of showing us how capable we really are. My fashion awakening came when I realized that I could wear white. And not just a white t-shirt but all white, head-to-toe. I started one summer with the purchase of a little white dress. I loved this dress. Like wanted to marry it. And then 5 minutes in, I spilled a smoothie all over the front of my would-be spouse. I was like, 'Shoot. I should have known. I'm so clumsy. I, of all people, cannot pull off a white dress.' But then I realized, 'I have a washing machine. I have a Tide stick. I think I might even have bleach. I can handle this.' We had a summer like no other, me and that dress. And then I got pregnant and it didn't fit anymore. But that dress changed me. Sniff. It really did. 

I don't spill as much as I used to. I count on my kids to do all the spilling for me. But white remains one of my favourite colours (or non-colours) to buy, both for myself and for my kids, even though everyone swears its impractical. Solid white can be bleached or Oxi-Cleaned or put out in the sun to brighten it up. And it's so much less moody than black. 

I'm sure you know by now that it's encouraged to wear white after Labour Day, but how much do you actually wear it? Whether you opt for bright white or cream, or even a mix of the two, white has this subtle way of brightening up your complexion and your mood that few shades can. And as the snow starts to fall, I can't think of a better way to embrace winter than with a chic white coat, a cozy cream cable-knit sweater or even cool white runners. And if you're worried about them being impractical, don't. You're a grown-up. You can handle this.

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