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For-Real Maternity Clothing That’s Worth The Splurge

April 7, 2014

Yes, I try to stretch my "regular" wardrobe as far as humanly possible while expecting…but still: sometimes it's fun to go to a for-real maternity store and splurge: my friend Katie and I went out to lunch the other day and couldn't resist a stop into Destination Maternity, where I discovered this obvious (for me) must-own and these really really very good shorts.

The key: as much as possible, make sure those splurge items are pieces that you'll continue wearing long after the baby arrives; in other words, simple, classic shapes that will look just as chic (albeit a little looser) a few months down the line.

Some personal favorite pieces, above.

P.S. These aren't all A Pea In The Pod; I don't know why it's coming up that way. Click through the images for brand info and pricing.

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SNAPSHOTS

Weekend Snapshots: Rainbow Eggs & Interviews Edition

April 7, 2014

First thing's first: if you entered the giveaway for a signed copy of the RG book (and more fun stuff, as you can see), click over to this post (or check your email) to see if you won! I still haven't heard back from a couple of winners, so I'll give it until Friday before selecting more names.

Next: Easter adorableness, oh my.

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My Looks

Now You See It

April 4, 2014

Kendrick took these photos when I was slightly less than three months pregnant - that's two full months ago - and I forgot to post them until now, and when I just scrolled back through my drafted posts and saw them I remember how I was so excited to finally be showing, and I thought I'd be all about the body-conscious outfits from that moment on straight through until the end, just because…you know, being pregnant is fun. It's fun to talk about it. It's fun to have strangers stop you on the street and congratulate you, or just smile at you, just because.

Except…I'm sort of not about those outfits, not like I expected to be. I'm bigger now than I was when these photos were taken, obviously, but still at the point where I can hide the fact that I'm expecting if I want to. And I've been sort of surprised by the extent to which I've been going for outfits that are less "hello-I-am-pregnant" and more…normal. Which for me means: loose and layer-y and not hello-I-am-pregnant at all.

Surprising, I guess, because the reality is that this is probably (not "definitely", but probably) the last time in my life I'll ever be pregnant. And going into this, I was so excited about it and so looking forward to everything that came with it that I really anticipated wanting to wear dresses or shirts that effectively showed off what was going on as much as possible. I kind of wanted to…you know…make a big deal about it, even if only through wearing baby doll dresses, body-hugging tops; styles that I wouldn't ordinarily wear.

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Just A Little Encouragement

How To Write A Book (Or, More Accurately: How I Wrote A Book)

April 3, 2014

Illustration (and an early RG cover idea) by Katie Rodgers

Let me start by saying that I have been "writing a book" for most of my adult life. How many of these books have I finished, you ask? Up until a few months ago…none. Or…one, actually, but it was so terrible that I don't think it counts (it was an attempt at a girl-moves-to-LA-and-makes-poor-dating-choices rom-com thing that ended up being just sort of an accurate reflection of my actual poor dating choices at the time and was thus less "oh how cute and entertaining" and more "oh Jesus, that's sad").

When you want to write a book - and that's probably the one thing that I have wanted most in the world for as far back as I can remember - it's always there with you, that nagging sense of incompletion and guilt. "Today," you say to yourself, "is the day I start writing for real." You make promises to yourself that from now on, you'll write ten (or five, or two) pages every single day, and then…you don't. Life gets in the way. Years pass, and your book is still sitting there on your laptop, unfinished, and now transformed into a source of anxiety rather than something you're excited about.

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DIARY

More August Due Dates

April 3, 2014

You know how we have something exciting coming our way in August?

Well, now I have another big project due around that time, too.

Coming from Running Press in Fall 2015: book No. 2, Carrying On. (The manuscript goes in at the end of the summer.)

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Lifestyle

A Million Little Questions

April 2, 2014

One especially interesting aspect of this whole book-writing process has been how many tiny things there are to learn. There are big questions, of course - like how to write a book proposal at all, or how to get it into the right hands once it's written - but there have also been a million smaller ones that I never anticipated. (I was nervous about all of them, just so we're clear; Ye Olde Type A tendencies have been out in full force for the past several months.)

As an example, I didn't know whether I should be sending my editor chapters as I finished them, or whether that was annoying and I should just send her the whole thing when I was done (the latter was preferable, as it turned out - at least for my editor). I didn't know whether it would be helpful if I bounced ideas back and forth directly with the illustrator so that other people didn't have to act as a go-between (apparently that's a big "no": it's the art director's job to liaise between the author and the illustrator).

Basically, I didn't want to be a pain in the ass. At all.

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Best

My Website Was Stolen By A Hacker. And I Got It Back.

April 1, 2014

***   ***   ***

For several days last week, RamshackleGlam.com - the domain name that I have owned and operated since March of 2010 - did not belong to me, but rather to a man who goes by the name "bahbouh" on an auction website called Flippa.com, and who was attempting to sell off the site to the highest bidder (with a "Buy It Now" price of $30,000.00). He promised the winner my traffic, my files, and my data, and suggested that I was available "for hire" to continue writing posts (alternatively, he was willing to provide the winner with "high-quality articles" and "SEO advice" to maintain the site's traffic post-sale).

I learned that my site was stolen on a Saturday. Three days later I had it back, but only after the involvement of fifty or so employees of six different companies, middle-of-the-night conferences with lawyers, FBI intervention, and what amounted to a sting operation that probably should have starred Sandra Bullock instead of…well…me.

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Baby

Ramshackle Glam: The New Mom’s Haphazard Guide To (Almost) Having It All…On Sale Now!

April 1, 2014

It's here!

In celebration and enormous thanks for all of your support (which is the reason this book exists in the first place), I'm giving away three Thank You Packages.

The packages will include a signed copy of Ramshackle Glam: The New Mom's Haphazard Guide To (Almost) Having It All, as well as a few more of my favorite things: face products from Simple, an Archipelago Cucumber candle, a Nissa Jewelry cigar band and first-knuckle ring, Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Gloss in Red Door Red, and a few more fun surprises.

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