Cardigan Empire

Salt Lake City Fashion Stylist

Beauty-full Tuesday: Yours, Mine, Ours

If you don’t read this beauty-full post from Meredith of Yours, Mine, Ours, you’re going to regret it.
 A lot of people say they have no regrets. 
I say baloney.
 I regret the times my sarcastic big mouth hurt someone’s feelings,
all those teen-aged fights with my mom over stupid things,
& all those days I skipped flossing (just had a root canal. not my fave.).
…

 I also regret all the moments I wasted dissing my pre-baby body.

What the heck was I complaining about?? 
After 9 months of pregnancy, 25 hours of labor, & 13 months of round the clock nursing,
I finally realized how good I had it before.

 I had my son almost 2 years ago & I still think of my outer beauty in three segments: 

Before Baby (I miss you!!), Preggo (don’t remind me!!), & After Baby (deflated-ville!!).
For the last 23 months I’ve been in a state of denial: 
It has to go back!
The stretchmarks everywhere, saggy tummy skin, and sad sad chest area have
got to be some sort of trial period cosmic joke. 
…
Well, a few months ago I had another flash of realization:
If I didn’t start enjoying what I had now, I was just gonna look back and regret this time too.
So I’m working on it. And it’s going OK so far.
Some days are better than others, but for the most part, I’m feeling good.

Almost like my old self even.

When my son/any future kids I have grow up, I want them to know I never regretted having them. 

That yes, their arrivals changed me. But that overall, I was changed for the better.

If I can teach them that, I’ll definitely never regret it.

Feed me fashionably fresh

Beauty-full Tuesday: Tieka of Selective Potential

If you haven’t met her yet, may I recommend a visit with Tieka of Selective Potential
Two years ago, I huffed and I puffed.  My bathing suits hid under towels.  My clothes bunched or stretched where they should have draped or hung.  I was uncomfortable with my body.   According to my BMI (body mass index), I was numerically overweight. It was an unsettling feeling and something that was holding me back from feeling like ‘myself’.  I decided to make a change. I started a weight loss program and six months later, I had lost 35 pounds.

Physically I had found myself, but it took my brain a lot longer to catch up.  Mentally I was still ‘chubby’ or ‘overweight’. So I started researching personal style, found fashion blogs, and immediately started mine, Selective Potential. It took hundreds if not thousands of photos of myself to realize I was ‘beautiful.’ I had been ‘beautiful’ all along, but seeing myself through a different lens with a fresh outlook helped me to see, the real me.  And the real me, plus of minus 35 pounds is, was, and always will be beautiful.

Feed me fashionably fresh