Playing Dress-Up: For My Birthday!

January 27th, 2010 - filed under: The Fashion » Playing Dress-Up

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I’ve been on bed rest going on 6 weeks now, and let me tell you, I am cabin fevered! Putting on a dress and going out to dinner for my birthday was a huge treat. 29 years young (so happy to be here) and 33 weeks pregnant (also so happy to be here) (though it certainly limits one’s outfit options).




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Apparently I only wear high heels twice a year : for Damian’s Birthday and for my birthday. What can I say? I’m 6’1” – I don’t need the height! And I have no experience walking in heels, so I just sort of wobble around and try not to totter over. It’s pretty ridiculous, but I have fun with it!




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  • Black Flowered Dress: Ancient. A relic.
  • Black Long-Sleeved Maternity Shirt: secondhand by Gap Maternity
  • Maternity Jeans: secondhand by Old Navy, dyed darker by me
  • Red Faux-Patent Heels: secondhand
  • Necklace: my wedding rings on a rope
  • Bracelet: a cheap chain necklace
  • Black Cardigan: secondhand by Banana Republic
  • Scarf: handmade by my wifey
  • Gloves: I got these at Urban Outfitters like 5 years ago for $2
  • Purse: from Herbivore



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  • Melisa

    You look gorgeous! Happy birthday. :)

  • http://tabularasahealth.com Hope Hughes

    You look beautiful!

  • http://www.erinuminn.blogspot.com Erin

    I know how the options get fewer and fewer throughout pregnancy, but you look fabulous! A fun, comfy dress with jeans is always perfection.

  • http://hautemacabre.com Samantha

    I just realized that in all the years that I have known you, this is the closest to a natural hair color I’ve ever seen!

    And, goes without saying, but I shall say it anyway – YOU LOOK GORGEOUS!

  • http://thegreengeek05.wordpress.com Courtney

    I am totally with you on the heels! I’m tall enough without them, I don’t need to worry about falling over. Looks like you were ready to go out and have a blast! I hope you did!!!

  • http://flightsofthevalkyrie.blogspot.com/ Valerie

    You look amazing!!!

    Being only 5’3″ I’ll take all the help I can get vertically. However, I am all about comfort so I never wear heels, therefore, I wobble around in them as well. I am tempted to pair down my collection because they are so bad for you and I don’t wear them that often. But I am a self-proclaimed shoe whore!!! I can’t help myself I love shoes! Although I never spend more than $30 on pair (except my running shoes, I made an exception for those).

    So BA community what do you think? Do any of you struggle with this dilemma? Do you keep a few basic pairs, or is your closet brimming with shoes?

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    Thanks everyone for all the sweet comments! It’s nice to hear at this stage of pregnancy, when various body parts are in various states of discomfort and disrepair, haha. Not that I’m complaining – I looooove being pregnant!

    @ Samantha – *Close*, but definitely not natural. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go natural. =D

    @ Courtney – Yay for tall girls! And thanks, I did have a blast!

    @ Valerie – I don’t have a large collection of shoes (compared to most), but I do have a *treasured* collection. I buy only secondhand which makes it tough, and on top of that my feet are HUGE, so finding shoes is HARD. I’ve spent upwards of 2 years searching for the perfect pair to fill some niche, so when I find them they are like gold to me. Totally precious. So, for me it’s more about quality than quantity in my shoe collection. I do have a small cache of heels that are more for just gazing at than using. I definitely understand why some women are such shoe fetishists!

  • Lynn D.

    You look great! Where did you go for your birthday and how was the food?

  • Christa

    Any tips for dying your jeans darker? And to echo everyone else out there – you look fabulous!

  • Lisa Hoffman

    My goodness!!! You look sooooooooooo beautiful!!! And what a fantastic outfit you put together. Hope you had the very best birthday ever!!

    I too am interested in dying jeans. I have some old favorites that I would love to perk up!

    Cheers,
    Momma

  • Leah

    Hooray for tall girls!!! I’m always immediately excited to encounter women who are 6 feet (like me!!) or over. Heels make my back hurt, but sometimes I wear these sexy boots that I bought, like, 10 years ago. They have square toes and I luuuurve them.

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Lynn D. – Thank you! We went to Blossoming Lotus in NE Portland, it’s the only quasi-fine-dining spot in the city. =D Portland does vegans right, but it’s pretty much all comfort food and ‘family food’ and easy/cheap stuff. So Blossoming Lotus is quite the treat. I got a ‘four cheese’ lasagna served over a bed of kale, mmm. Others got a cuban black been quesadilla, a BBQ tempeh and cornbread platter, a seitan pepper steak, and more. We all tasted everything and all of it was DIVINE!

    @ Christa (and Lisa) – Yes! I use Rit dye you can get at the drugstore. It’s petroleum based but I figure it’s still better to spruce up the clothes you already have, than to get rid of them and go out and buy new clothes. A quick dye job can turn an old pair of jeans into a ‘new’, chic-looking pair in a snap. And it’s CHEAP. Some tips:

    To get that nice dark denim wash which makes jeans look so new and posh, I use black dye, NOT the ‘dark denim’ color they sell.

    I always do it in the washing machine as opposed to a bucket (directions for both on the bottle)

    I always use hot water and always add the salt, which is optional.

    Use cleaned and thoroughly rinsed clothes (detergent residue can interfere). Wet them first.

    Dye won’t take as well to synthetic fabrics, or anything shiny. But it’s awesome on cotton, denim, hemp, etc. I mostly do jeans but have done skirts, tops, sweaters, all sorts of stuff.

    Use more dye than they recommend. It’s worth it to get a good solid stain.

    You can mix colors to customize.

    Good luck!

    @ Lisa Hoffman – Thanks Mamma! It was a wonderful birthday and made all the better by your card and package! Talk soon!

  • Deanna

    I LOVE that dress! You are pulling off pregnancy with style and conscience :)

  • ellie

    you look so good! i’m also a tall gitl (5 10) but i love wearing heels and the ones you are wearing are so cute!

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Deanna – Thanks darlin’! This dress has served me so well for many, many years. =)

    @ ellie – Yay for more tall girls! And good for you for embracing it with heals!