I wore a white silk dress by Watters & Watters. I also wore red lipstick, my hair in a bun with my mom’s veil, simple stud earrings, and a big sparkly brooch on my dress. Brandon wore his suit with a pink tie and a lily of the valley boutonniere. My bouquet was made of pink peonies, lilies, old-fashioned roses, and lily of the valley.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as My Wedding Dress | 54 comments

The result? I’m a little embarrassed to share it with you. Like I was supposed to go out and find the cool, little-known-brand. Or the respected-among-professional-insiders brand. And now here I’m all REVLON! But you know what? I tried a bunch of more expensive, more cool, more impressive ones, and I just ended up wasting a lot of money. Revlon lipsticks are awesome, as is that NP Set red from Target. And I found not just one perfect shade of lipstick, but three. Here they are:

• Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Carnation is my favorite pink.
• NP Set Lipstick in Madrid is my favorite red.
• Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Daring Pink is my favorite everyday color.

Go drugstore brands! This is the one category in which you are winning among my makeup (though sometimes mascara isn’t far behind).

Have you tried these colors? I think they’re great, but are there any other lipsticks you swear by? And do you even wear lipstick? Sometimes I think people feel like it’s a little old-fashioned, and I think I’m the only one of my friends that likes it.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as My Perfect Shade of Lipstick | 96 comments

My BMI now officially puts me in the normal weight category, which is fantastic considering that I had edged into obese territory after pregnancy. I certainly didn’t feel obese, but medically, there I was. I gained 40 pounds while I was pregnant with Eleanor, and I’ve since lost 60, making me twenty pounds lighter than my pre-baby weight.

I did it very sensibly, losing two pounds per week. I followed the Steve Ward diet, which is not actually a diet but rather a way to keep yourself on track. You just draw a line on graph paper from your current weight to your goal, eat normally when you’re below the line and watch your meals when you’re above. I’m a visual person, so the graph was immensely helpful to me. It kept me motivated when I felt like nothing was happening because I could see my progress (even before I could see a difference in my waistline). I also liked being able to look ahead and see where I’d be by a certain date, assuming I kept on track.

* Edit: I didn’t do the broccoli only thing that the Steve Ward diet calls for — that’s too extreme. I just ate a little lighter overall when I went over the line.

I never followed a strict exercise plan or diet. I went on more walks and for longer distances, and I often used a baby carrier for Eleanor instead of a stroller. I had been reading a lot about opting not to partake in the Western Diet (all of the crap that Americans typically eat), and so I was mindful about making healthier choices. These are some of the books that helped me:

• In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (both by Michael Pollan)
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Michael Pollan again)
• Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes (Mark Bittman)
• How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (cookbooks, both by Bittman)
• Jamie’s Food Revolution (cookbook by Jamie Oliver)
• Food, Inc. (documentary by Eric Schlosser)

It’s hard to change a lifetime of eating habits so I still have some work to do, but I’m making good progress. I have hardly eaten any fast food, and in fact the times that I did revert to it I found that I didn’t like it as much. Still, I’m not one to deny myself an occasional cheeseburger or pizza, so I let myself indulge sometimes. The difference is that I really do think of it as an indulgence rather than a normal weeknight option.

So that’s how I did it. I lost weight the baby weight and then some with diet, exercise, and graph paper.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Twenty Pounds Lighter | 155 comments

My Day: March 24, 2010

6:00 – Good morning! Eleanor’s up, so I am too. I change her diaper and nurse her, then put her in the exersaucer to play while I shower. Once I’m out, I let her crawl around and play while I finish getting ready.

7:30 – We wake up Brandon, then Eleanor and I head downstairs for breakfast.

8:30 – Brandon leaves for work.

9:00 – My assistant Erika is here from 9-12 three days a week. She helps me with my shop (Pink Loves Brown), but she also watches Eleanor when there aren’t a lot of orders to fill.

9:05 – I take Eleanor upstairs to get her dressed, nurse her, and put her down for a nap.

9:30 – I work. I write blog posts, respond to emails, edit photos, do shop maintenance… whatever needs to be done that day. Today I began writing a new post and also setup a little photo shoot for it.

10:30 – Eleanor is up from her nap. Today Erika has finished everything for the shop so she hangs out with Eleanor for me so I can continue working.

11:00 – Lunch for Eleanor.

12:00 – Erika’s done for the day. I nurse Eleanor, then it’s lunchtime for me.

12:30 – It’s not too bad out, so it’s time for a little walk!

2:00 – I nurse Eleanor again and she takes a second nap. I finally finish the post I had been working on (“Thinking About Food”) and publish it.

2:45 – She’s up. Not the longest nap, but not bad. I’m just happy she took one at all — she often skips the second nap. Now we play. And cuddle. And read books.

4:00 – I nurse Eleanor again.

4:30 – I’m feeling productive so I try to fit in a little tidying up. I don’t get around to everything though, including the basket of laundry that has been in the living room for the past few days.

5:15 – Brandon’s home!

5:30 – We start preparing dinner together. We’re making falafel from a recipe that ran in a recent issue of Real Simple which claims to be ready in 20 minutes. It always takes us an hour.

6:00 – Eleanor gets dinner. We’re still making ours.

6:45 – Well that took even longer than expected. We finally get to eat.

7:00 – Brandon and I take Eleanor up to bed. We change her, she nurses (again), and then she goes to sleep for the night.

7:20 – I change into pajamas, wash my face, and brush my teeth. I started getting ready so early a few months ago because I would put Eleanor down, get ready, and then go in to check on her and make sure she fell asleep. Now she goes to sleep without any problems, so I could probably start pushing this part of my day back, but it’s kind of nice to relax in my pajamas!

7:30 – I put that basket of laundry away that was on the chair downstairs.

7:45 – Brandon and I looked at a few jackets for him online and he reminded me that I needed to get back to someone via email. Back to work for a while.

9:00 – I’m sleepy! No, I can stay up a little longer. *yawn* I’ve finished up my work, so Brandon and I hang out on the couch, watching TV and chatting. I had to move someone out of my seat.

10:15 – OK, now we’re both sleepy. Good night!

I had my hair dyed at a salon, but it was not without difficulty. My appointment consisted of hair dying, drying, washing, bleaching, washing, dying, drying, and finally done.

It’s a fun color though!

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Red Hair | 217 comments

I won this award 20 years ago when I played clarinet in the fourth grade. It says:

Illinois Grade School
Solo
Music Ass’n

Do you know how funny an award that says “Ass’n” is to a fourth grader? I still think it’s funny.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Award Yourself | 43 comments

The Balch Family is set to beguile
decked out in vests of argyle
while Brandon regales
with holiday tales
they wish you good tidings in style

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as Happy Holidays | 90 comments

A touch of yellow is also permissible; Note the tie, shoes, and necklace.

(Thank you to Brandon and Ashley for obliging me in this ridiculous photo.)

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as Dress Code | 48 comments

I’ve just been uncomfortable and exhausted. My doctor thinks I’m on track to go to my due date (April 14) or longer since first babies tend to come later. Anytime after 37 weeks is considered full-term though, so the baby is officially welcome to come out anytime now! At least I know it can’t be any longer than 5 weeks at this point… and hopefully sooner.

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as Still Here… | 66 comments

I feel like I can’t get much bigger, but I know that I can (and will).

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as 32 Weeks Pregnant | 61 comments