Ain't No Mom Jeans

Mom Street Style - Lisa's Perfect Almost-Fall Playground Outfit: Flips-Flops and Poncho

Lisa, from Being an American Mom, sent in this spot-on Fall transition outfit.  Lisa wrote:

Your post on the Fall Nordstrom sale inspired me to go get the Caslon poncho sweater in green.  

Today it was starting to feel more like Fall here in California and I was taking the kids to the playground so I grabbed the sweater and layered it over a gray tank and paired that with my Kut from the Kloth denim crop pants that I won in your contest!  You can see I am wearing flip flops because it was in the low 70s today, but I will definitely "winterize" this outfit by wearing a long sleeved t-shirt under the sweater and boots with the jeans.  

Anyway, I loved this outfit because it was so comfortable and yet I felt stylish!  And I was chasing my 14 month old around the playground, I could run around easily.  Perfect!

Wow!  Lisa - you look gorgeous!  Love the jeans, love the poncho, love the necklace, love the flips.  This is pretty much the definition of stylish, mom-friendly outfits that we strive to achieve here on Ain't No Mom Jeans.

Nicely done, Lisa.  Thanks for sending in the pic!!

xo,

S

ps....Congrats to TheRingChronicles, the winner of our Champion giveaway!!!  Shoot us an email and we'll get you your new workin' out gear!!

 
And in case you missed it, as part of the giveaway, we asked readers to leave a comment with their favorite brownie recipe....OH MAMA.  It is quite the collection.  There are links to FAH-bulous sounding brownie recipes, a couple of actual recipes (thanks to Beth and Juliana B), and some amazing sounding mix-ins:  coffee, chocolate chips, cheesecake, mint, orange extract, pepper (Ooo....creative, Barbara H, very creative!!), gluten free options, and a bunch of shout-outs to the Ghiradelli and Duncan Hines box mixes.  Best. Giveaway. Ever.  This one will just keep on givin'.....a HUGE thanks to all who participated!!  I'm going to have a long, happy (and fattening) winter trying all of these out....

Winter Play Clothes For Stylish Mamas and Kiddos. (At Lands' End.) I KNOW, Right??

What the heck, Lands' End?  (Or, as Raines would say, "Wha EE heck??")  I thought I had left you behind years ago....back in my childhood when I would brave Upper Michigan winters in your Squall Jacket and snow boots.

I never (NEVER!!!) thought I'd be writing about you now.  Especially in a thanks-for-the-inspiration-I'm-getting-my-butt-to-the-nearest-store kind of way.

And just to clarify, I'm not talking about Lands' End CANVAS, mind you, who we've come to expect a certain level of fabulousness from....but Lands' End.  The Lands' End of elastic-waist tapered pants and sensible sweaters. 

But seriously...something is up with Lands' End.  And while their clothing collection still seems to be geared to...uh...a demographic that I don't necessarily fit...I am LOVING their winter gear for stylish mamas.

You see, I am a mama who plays.  We play hard, the boys and I.  Hailing originally from MI, I take 'em outside in rain, sleet, and snow.  And we play even harder in lots and lots of snow. ("wots and wots" says R)

So I'm loving the perfectly styled, but totally cozy warm and comfy outdoor looks from Lands' End.  If the toggle coat and hybrid winter/street boots pictured above didn't getcha....check out these harder core winter looks:

Fisherman Cable Sweater - So Cute, So Classic, So....Unflattering?

I have been stalking these for over a year now.  This Fall, THIS Fall, was the time I was going to Make. My. Move.  Fisherman sweater....you will be mine.  

Specifically, I've been drooling over both Haute Hippie's and Michael Kors' versions:

(photo credit: Saks.com)

I love the styling here.  Cozy sweater + gorgeous flowy maxi....or cozy sweater + skinny pants and lace ups? Oooo...so fun.  And these sweaters are classics, right?

But then....I tried them on. Correction:  I tried on eight.  Eight.  EIGHT, people!! Eight flippin' fisherman sweaters.  And YES - they were bulky enough to hide the pooch (mostly).  But that was kinda the problem....the bulk.

These sweaters gave me bulky shoulders, bulky arms, a large, bulky bosom (I hate this word, but really?  It fits the situation.)  Actually, that last statement summarizes the problem quite nicely:  Fisherman sweaters turned my hot-mama boobs into a bosom.  A large, mature, bosom.  

Gack.

So then I thought...would a turtleneck help?

A Truly Incredible Peel for Moms (Even Pregnant and Breastfeeding Ones!)

The list of things you can't ingest or slather on yourself whilst pregnant and nursing is endless.  Seriously endless.  I am now counting down the last few days of my eighth trimester of pregnancy (um, I just realized that's two years. . . of pregnancy. . . YIKES), clocking an additional 27 months of breastfeeding, with roughly 15 months of combined pregnancy and nursing to go, for a lifetime total of 66 months (or five-and-one-half years) of pregnancy and breastfeeding.  I repeat.  Endless.   

So. . . given the time I'm investing in procreating, and the long list of things I love but can't have (like wine, gin, unpasteurized cheese, sushi, enzyme peels and retinols), I've been trying out some alternatives.  And I'm happy to tell you that, while my attempted report on tasty non-alcoholic wine and beer came to naught (sorry, they're all terrible, so nothing to offer there), I have found the holy grail of pregnancy and breastfeeding skin care for mamas with hormonal, troublesome skin. 

The MyChelle Incredible Pumpkin Peel ($26) is indeed so incredible that in spite of having eyes in my head to see that absolutely nothing on BabyCenter's exhaustive list of skincare no-nos was whipped into this little miracle product, I talked to MyChelle reps on two different occasions to confirm that there are no toxic substances known to harm moms or babes included here.  Everything is natural and yummy and leaves a mama's skin feeling refreshed, exfoliated, and largely blemish-free, without the worry of causing birth defects or otherwise damaging your little peanut. 

I've used the Incredible Pumpkin Peel twice or three times per week for the past three months and have not had a single hormonal chin blemish outbreak, which I was plagued with throughout both previous pregnancies and for the duration of nursing and weaning (UGH! as if 20 extra pounds, a postpartum pooch and dark-circled eyes aren't enough to demolish a new mom's self esteem).  A word of caution, though--this mask is very effective, so try it in baby doses--I only leave it on for two minutes at a time. If you love it as much as I do, try buying it on Amazon's Subscribe & Save for only $18.85.

- M.

Oh, and hey!  Please don't forget to take a sec to vote for Ain't No Mom Jeans for Parents.com's Best Mom Fashion Blog award--we'd love it!  Just click the pic : ) xoxox

Reader Question: What To Wear With Oxfords?

Reader Question:

I love love love your web site. It's incredibly well written, topical, helpful, inspirational, practical... the accolades go on. My husband is a little worried because I've been reading it obsessively since I came across it a few weeks ago after Googling "wearing flats with flares" and found your post with that almost exact same title (BTW, after reading your article I bought a pair of Banana Republic flares to try out the style -- waiting for them to come back from the tailor. I lost quite a bit of the flare by shortening them so much bu
t I think they're going to look great).

My question: I bought this pair of lace up oxfords from Madewell last spring and I'm not sure what to wear them with. I don't wear a lot of flowy/girly type dresses -- I prefer tailored (I'd say 75% of my wardrobe comes from J. Crew) and more body conscious (despite remaining pooch 5-years post -- the rest of me is in good shape, I swear!). I also am extremely conscious of dressing age-appropriate. They are super comfortable and super cute so I'd like to make them work with a few options. Any ideas?

 

 

- Jodi

Mom Street Style - Catherine's Parisian Chic

 

Catherine had me at "Our family recently relocated to Paris...."

Green.  With.  Envy.   

Catherine writes:

Our family recently relocated to Paris from Austin and I was really sweating the style shift from laid-back to Parisian chic - especially as a mother of an active 18 month old. My friend (and mother of two) shared your blog with me and I think I put together a pretty good Mom uniform for the park and errands. The raincoat has a full silhouette (Joe's Jeans, very useful while I was pregnant) and skinny jeans with a high waist so I am covered bending over (Paige Premium Hidden Hills).  I paired them with some printed converse high tops and a pair of wayfarers.  My friend snapped the photo at a picnic on the Champs de Mars.
Love your blog. The information is really useful. One of my favorite posts is what to wear to meet an ex-boyfriend.
Thanks for the inspiration!

Catherine, you look ah-mazing.  What a spot-on, perfectly Parisian-chic mom-uniform. C'est la perfection, no?   And printed converse high tops?  Lovelovelovelove.  Funny....converse sneaks, trench coats and scarves where my uniform of choice the last time I was in Paris.  Nice to know that I'd still fit in. 

Catherine, thank you so much for taking the time to send in this pic and your charming note.  Pas mal, chérie, pas mal. ;)

xo,

S

ps.  My favorite french phrase is still "mon petit chou".....or "my little cabbage".  Such a charming thing to call a baby or little one.  

Want To Win A Whole Workout Outfit? With Pooch-Control Shaping Panels? Of course you do. (Sponsored Post)

Things are lookin' up, people.  I mean YEAH - it's been raining virtually non-stop for the last few weeks.  And YEAH - I'm still livin' over here in Philadelphia where I have no friends or family and YEAH - over half of our stuff is still in boxes in the basement which flooded two days ago....but UP.  UP is where I'm looking.

It must be this runner's high of mine.  

If one, can, in fact, get a runner's high from 8 minutes of running.  Which is all I managed the last time I ran.  I'm just so. darn. tired.  But still - it was 8 minutes of running.  So I'm going to call myself a runner, eat an extra brownie (I've grown fond of my pooch anyway), and keep on keepin' on.  And looking up.

Wanna join me?  'Cause I think winning a pair of shaper pants with a shaper tank and this cute little jacket would easily qualify as a runner's high and earn you a nice big brownie, too.  

We talked about Champion's fabulous shaper workout pant and tank here.  And I styled up this little jacket here.  Now all you have to do, if you'd like this entire outfit in your size, compliments of our friends at Champion, is the following:

Share or like this article on Facebook, then leave a comment telling us about your favorite brownie recipe (feel free to leave links).

psssst - to share, look for this icon at the bottom:

Winners will be chosen at random on Thursday night, September 29th.

 

What?  M is pregnant and I'm....well, I'm not.  But still.  It's been a tough few weeks people.  I needs my chocolate.

My fav brownie recipe is here, with a little of this cocoa powder mixed in (black onyx).  Only for the serious chocoholic. (Thanks, J!!)

xo,

S

*******THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***********

Congrats to TheRingChronicles!!

Thanks to all who participated....and left the drool-worthy brownie recipes....YUM!

 

5 Crazy-Cool Earrings That Are Small Enough To Avoid Grabby Little Hands

Since R was born, I've been on a quest for earrings that are glitzy enough to show up under this mass of hair on my head, but small enough to avoid the grabbing hands of the magpies I give birth to.

When the babes were tiny (aka newborns), huge earrings were not an issue.  In fact, Lane cites large, gorgeous earrings as one of her babywearing basics while trying to retain her style as a new mom.  And she's right - a gorgeous pair of earrings can do wonders for a simple outfit that is so often limited by the functionality required of baby-wearing.

(wearing: Levis plaid tank, Chan Luu wrap bracelet, necklace from Fragments, black and white Peanut Shell carrier with baby Raines)

However.  Those newborns grow, and those chubby fingers get fast. Crazy fast.  And while a simple diamond *cough* cubic zirconia *cough* stud always works, it does get old.  But lately I keep coming across some downright rockin', small-ish, yet totally cool, totally glitzy earrings that would be perfect for baby-wearing the older babe, as well as avoiding little grabby hands in general.  

Time to share. Voila...

DIY Maternity Denim Fix - or - Do It Yourself Maternity Jeans

It's shocking, I know, but these Seven for All Mankind maternity jeans have lasted me through three pregnancies PLUS loan outs, but not solely on their own steam.  In their original form, these babies were the brain child of some fabulously well-intentioned designer who had clearly never been pregnant, and were purchased by someone who had never been pregnant.  They started out in 2007 with one of those kooky, ill-conceived half panels, made out of dark blue cotton jersey that clung to everything, with a thick elastic band that cut into my bulging belly, creating a bizarre new type of waistline in the third trimester of my first pregnancy.

I was tempted to toss them whilst knocked up with numero dos, but they're the perfect kick-around, well-worn classic that's always a comfortable Sunday go-to, so I decided to work with them instead.  While I do have a sewing machine and am pretty handy, I didn't want to work with a combination of thick fabric like denim plus a super-stretchy panel fabric--seemed too tricky and too tedious--so I took them to my fav tailor and told him my plan.

  First, I purchased a belly band in my size from A Pea in the Pod in nude (I was only able to find black and  white in more budget-conscious versions, like Target's BeBand).  Err on the side of a tighter fit to make sure it's really going to hold up your pants!  The benefit of using a belly band instead of sewing up a piece of stretchy fabric is that a belly band is a tube made out of one contiguous piece of fabric, so no extra seams to irritate prego skin or interfere with otherwise smooth lines, and it's already about the right length to cover your tummy all nine months.  Then, I measured the front and back rises of some well-fitting full panel maternity jeans and let my guy run with it.  The result, $45 later ($25 for the band and $20 for alterations), is one of the best-fitting, most comfortable pairs of maternity jeans--or any jeans, really--that I own.  Voila!

For a truly adventurous and capable DIY-er, I'd go the distance and buy a pair of deep-discounted premium jeans in a size or two up from your normal someplace like Nordstrom Rack, hack off the waistband and stitch it on up--at $200 a pop, premium maternity denim hurts, Mamas, as we all know!

- M.

Oh, and hey!  Please don't forget to take a sec to vote for Ain't No Mom Jeans for Parents.com's Best Mom Fashion Blog award--we'd love it!  Just click the pic : ) xoxox

5 Fall Basics That "Work" for Work and Play?

Readers, we've been receiving more and more emails from moms about to go back to work.  While we've been meaning to do a back-to-work article for quite some time, we've been putting it off.  However, we received this lovely email from reader Cathy a few weeks ago:

Hi ladies!

First of all, I absolutely love your blog!  A friend passed it along, and I’ve gotten so many other mom-friends hooked!  And as a mainline mom, I often wonder if I might bump into Shana at the playground or other fun spots around town.  I live in Wayne with my 2 year old little girl, husband, and westie dog.  Hopefully some day our paths will cross – would love to meet you!

 

Anyhow, I’m writing in with a wardrobe question as I’m thinking ahead to fall.  I have been working from home for the last five years, and a new job includes a little more office time (2-3 office meetings per month).  I’ve been really enjoying getting out of the house a little more, but I haven’t had to think about a work wardrobe in such a long time.  I have lots of summer skirts and dresses that I’ve been able to wear to work this summer, but I need to do some serious updating for fall.  I’d like to invest in some good cross-over pieces ... things I can wear at the office, during the week when I’m working from home, or on date nights with my husband.  When in doubt, I tend to buy black work clothes (black suits, black wrap dresses, sheath dresses etc.) so I’m looking to add a little more color.  My office is business casual so it’s pretty flexible in terms of dress code.

 

Ooooo....what a challenge!!  What could one buy to spruce up their work wardrobe, add some spice to date night AND still run around with the kiddos?

Well.  After thinkin' and thinkin'...I have 5 ideas.