Chic Shoes

“The fact is, sometimes it's really hard to walk in a woman's shoes. That's why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun.” –Carrie Bradshaw

Shoes are just so wonderful because no matter what size my belly grows to, my feet stay the same size. So far they only swell a little if I’m on them for hours at a time but for the most part, I’m still wearing my four inch heels!

Because there’s such a vastly wide range of prices of my faves (most of them grossly unattainable but too fabulous to omit from this post), I’ve picked some splurges and steals.

Here are the major, major splurges:

Manolo Blahnik Jeweled Metallic Slides:
These $935 shoes are perfect for a night out on the town or the trip home from the hospital after Rob's here(just kidding)!!!




Christian Louboutin Miss Boxe Wedge Pumps:
These are so incredibly fabulous because you could wear them with anything!! With the right skirt suit, you could even wear them to the office... where you'll be working overtime if you want these $700 beauties :)



Giuseppe Zanotti Black Suede Jewel Detailed Sandals:
Wow. Wow. Wow. These are my faaaaavorites!! And at $1,300 a pair, I will just have to admire them from a distance :)



I realize those price tags make those shoes pretty ridiculously unnatainable for most of us so here are some of my other faves:

Guess Nazir Sandals, $66 at Macy's.com-- I really love these, the Zebra makes them chic and trendy and the touch of blue piping that outlines them makes them fun and flirty!



Chinese Laundry.com Money Maker Shoes $119-- If you're feeling really brave, these 5 inch heels would be so fun for a night out! Not recommended for weak ankles :)



Not Rated Inked 2 $60, Zappos.com--I love these because they're a neutral color yet the detail makes a huge statement!! They would look cute with a dress or dressy shorts. Love them!



Weekly Womb Workings coming soon!

Week 29: Face Faves

With my belly growing at an amazingly rapid pace, it’s becoming increasingly harder to feel cute when I feel like a beached whale …. sooo I’ve been focusing my attention to the top and bottom of my overall look (top being makeup and bottom being shoes). This week I’m going to highlight some of my favorite bronzers, eyeliners, eye shadows, etc. Next week I’m going to talk about SHOES!!!! (Thank goodness my feet haven’t swollen up like little sausages yet.)

Eyeliner: right now I’m really into liquid eyeliner for a number of reasons. One, it is too hot in the summer for a pencil; the color just seems to melt right off my face. Two, a little goes a long way and three, once you learn how to put it on correctly it works great for day or evening looks. The downside is that it is a challenge to put it on without looking like you applied it during an earthquake. My favorite brand (and I’ve tried LOTS) is Chanel. A lot of the cheaper choices dry and crack but this one goes on super smooth and stays until you wash it off.


Bronzer: A must must must have for summer. Yes, tanning beds are bad for you. Yes, spray tans stink (literally). But that doesn’t mean you have to look pasty all summer – pregnant or not. My favorite, most natural looking bronzer is by NARS; it’s called The Multiple in South Beach. It’s a color stick that has a great shimmer to it and glides on very smoothly. It gives the most beautiful, dimensional color to your skin, I use it everywhere … eyes, lips cheeks. !


Eye shadow: The BEST summer colors, hands down are brought to you by Christian Dior in Tropical Light. This is a pretty pricey pallete but I’m here to tell you, it’s worth it. The colors are bright, beautiful, shimmery and can light up any face. It also stays all day without primer and can be applied darker for evening if desired. I get so many compliments on my eye shadow every time I wear it and I just cannot say enough good things about it.


Lip Gloss: The best plumping lip gloss is Buxom by Bare Escentuals in Bambi. I’ve looked high and low for the perfect petal pink color and this is it. The texture is also fabulous; it’s not sticky and it doesn’t sting so much that it dries your lips out after it wears off.


Weekly Womb Workings:

Having a baby prematurely is frightening, no doubt. But due to the impressive advancements of medical technology, if Rob was born this week, he'd have a 9 out of 10 chance of survival, which is seriously great news. Other awesome developments:

His brain can now control his breathing and body temperature. He can also cough and yawn (as evidenced in the 3d ultrasound pictures)!

His skin is looking less wrinkled as he packs on the pounds. He’s now storing up on the energizing and insulating “white fat” he'll be born with (unfortunately, white fat is not energizing and insulating for Mom!).

And speaking of energy, my little meatball is on fire these days. I’m feeling all sorts of kicks, punches and elbows, especially when I’m lying down. It’s an amazing feeling except when I'm trying to sleep at 3 a.m.
This week Rob is a little over 15 inches long—about the length of a loaf of bread—and weighs about 3 pounds, as much as a Macbook Air laptop, which I’ve had my eye on since my computer crashed last week.

Week 28—Hellllooo Third Trimester!

Here we go! This is the last leg of the Mt. Everest Journey my body will undergo in order to produce our little being. Before the horror stories of the third trimester come to life, I wanted to document all the wonderful things about pregnancy before I’m too huge, hot and miserable to remember how much fun I’ve had the first two-thirds of the trip. So I’ve decided to do my top ten favorite things about being pregnant:

10. Good Skin: After the ultra hormone-induced teenage acne of my first trimester and after the lizard skin (see week 23 for details) of most of the second trimester, I am finally enjoying the pregnancy glow look and I love it!

9. Expectant Mom Parking Spots: I’m not going to lie…before I got pregnant; these parking spots always irritated me. I thought to myself: “don’t pregnant women need exercise?” Well, now that I’m 7 months pregnant, it’s June in Houston, my lower back hurts all the time and it’s becoming increasingly harder to breath due to my lungs being smushed by my uterus, I TOTALLY understand the parking spots and I’m very thankful for them : )

8. Feeling Him Kick: There’s really no explanation for this one, if you’re a mom, you know. If you’re not a mom it’s pretty hard to describe and explain but it’s the coolest, most wonderful feeling in the world!

7. Baby Showers: I love a good party and all of my baby showers have been a BLAST!!! It has been so much fun to get together with friends and family who love and care about us so much. I know after little Rob gets here, our visits with friends might be a little more sporadic so it’s really great to visit everyone before the real chaos begins.

6. Sucking In (or lack thereof): It seems like I’ve been sucking in since the second grade so after I hit the twenty week mark and had a little baby bump, I decided … what’s the point of trying to suck in? I’m embracing my expanding belly and letting go of trying to hold it in (which is basically impossible at this point).

5. Shopping for Baby Clothes: All I have to say is keep me out of Baby Gap!!!

4. Decorating the Nursery: I’m having the best time putting everything together for baby Rob’s nursery! It’s such a cool feeling to wash, fold and organize his clothes and try to imagine what he’ll look like sleeping in his crib.

3. The Ultrasounds: This goes without saying, but the 3d ultrasound was the most amazing experience of them all. The detail in the pictures and the ability to see his features is just incredible! When I feel like I still have a long way to go before I meet him, I can look at the pictures and see his little face.

2. Having such a sweet husband to experience the journey with me: I must say that I feel beyond blessed to have such a wonderful, caring and supportive husband. He has been so excited from day one and has gone to EVERY Doctor’s appointment with me (I don’t expect that to continue as I’m approaching my bi-monthly appointments, he does have a job, after all). He’s up for anything, whether I’m craving ice cream or exercise. He’s also there to offer a backrub every night which has been a lifesaver lately as the baby is getting bigger. Thanks honey!!!

1. My favorite thing about being pregnant is the fact that I’m growing a life inside of me! I realize that millions of women have babies everyday (and before I got pregnant, I really didn’t think much about it) but when it’s your body and your child, it really sinks in what a miracle it is. One day early in my second trimester, Carlysle came home from work and we exchanged the usual “Hi honey, how was your day?” And I thought for a second, smiled, and said “It was wonderful! According to this book, I made Rob’s brain, eyes and started on his lungs today!” It’s just amazing to know that I’m growing a little human inside of me.

Week 27: The Fuzzy Math of Pregnancy

Okay if someone asks you “how many weeks are in a month?” Wouldn’t you reply with “four?” Well, I’ve always thought there are four weeks in a month, give or take a few days here and there. A woman’s gestation period is 40 weeks long—so that’s 10 months right?? I’ve always wondered why people say you’re pregnant for nine months. For example, next week I will be 28 weeks pregnant (7 months pregnant) and I have 12 weeks to go (3 months left) for a total of – drum roll please—10 months! Okay, enough of first grade math lessons and onto the fun stuff. I recently had maternity pictures done by Maddie Dean Photography and they turned out great! I couldn’t decide whether or not to have them done. After all, pregnancy seems to make every branch of your body puffy, not just your belly! But I figured this is a pretty special time in our lives so why not, I didn’t want to regret not having them later. It was a pretty funny photo shoot, I was almost 27 weeks pregnant and my belly is obviously not nine-months-preggo-huge yet so before every picture Sarah, the photographer, would say “okay ready? 1, 2, 3 PUSH OUT!” And I would push out my belly as hard as I could while trying to maintain a relatively photogenic appearance despite the fact I was trying to look like Bubba with a beer belly! It was the first time I’ve ever “pushed out” in a picture rather than sucked in.

Weekly Womb Workings
I’m not sure if I’m pregnant with a baby kangaroo or a baby human… these kicks are getting intense!! He’s already started to throw temper tantrums; when my bladder gets full he starts kicking A LOT—I think that’s his way of saying “Mom, give me more room in here!” This week he’s about 15 inches long and a little over two pounds. His taste buds are very developed now and he actually “tastes” the amniotic fluid so he’ll be semi-used to the foods I eat when he begins to nurse after birth. His hearing continues to develop and he can now recognize voices and sounds he hears on a regular basis.