Rules and Regulations

It feels really good to be back here blogging and having conversations about life with y'all. I do love me some NaNoWriMo, but I had so many ideas and so much happening that it was hard at times to not update to keep my faithful readers in the loop.

FIRST THING'S FIRST, the most exciting news, I got a job as a freelance writer for The Magazine. That's right. I'm about to be paid for writing things. I'm going to cross the line between, "I'm going to be a writer" and "I write for a few magazines." You know how awesome that is? REALLY AWESOME. The fact that it's for kids makes it even more cool. My first assignment is to write a list of the top ten teams of superheroes. How cool is that?! That is the line between pretension and success. Between talking big and playing hard.

SECONDLY, Jill and I have made up a big system to help me get on the physical fitness track. In three weeks of November alone I lost 6lbs! Basically, my secret is every single weight loss tip you've ever heard. I work out a minimum of 3x a week, alternating between running and yoga to keep it interesting. I eat healthy 6 of the 7 days as much as I can, but I have a cheat day/meal once a week. I drink water and snack on veggies and whole grains and blah blah blah. I have weekly weigh ins and we're taking pictures once a month to photograph the process.

Either way. I know you all didn't come here to read about my writing or my goals, you probably came here to check out my sweet style.

So here it is. Recently, I worked for 9 days in a row, but in between, I got to head into Toronto to see some of my friends, FINALLY. It was a night of magic (literally, we went to a charity magic show) and Thai food, and staying up really late only to get up early.
All the outfit photos were taken by my darling friend Josh, who is as excellent a photographer as he is a quoter of things, a finder of good deals and an eater of delicious foods. Thank you Josh!

Blazer: My mom's closet.
Crop Top: Forever 21
Jeans: Forever 21+
Necklace: Forever 21
Boots: Aldo
Bag: Matt and Nat "Karen O" bag

Notes on this outfit:
I know there are certain fashion rules that some people like to abide by. As a current 'plus-sized' or as I say, curvaceous lady, I feel as though sometimes more of these rules are supposed to be applied to my body. Supposed to be are the three key words there.

Among these rules are the idea that I'm not supposed to wear cropped tops or jeans that aren't dark wash. Part of the reason I love outfit (besides James Dean's beautiful face being right next to my boobs) is because it flips the bird to both. I know what my body looks like, and I'm dressing how I want to, not to disguise it.

This is important to me right now because one of the things I've been fighting lately is being able to like myself at the size I am while still being on a self improvement path. It borderlines on hypocritical sometimes... It bothers me to read profiles of people who have lost tons of weight in Women's Health or SELF and they're suddenly buckets happier. I'm sure when I get where I want to be, I'll be happy as hell, but I'm going to still have moments of wobbly insecurity, just like always. This is a band aid fix for confidence. I won't be a gung-ho-calorie-counting-perky-as-hell chick. I will still eat whole eggs instead of just egg whites.

I'm getting really off track here but the point is that...I know I'm not unfortunate. I have lots going for me. (If you're staring at my ass in the second picture instead of reading this, I don't blame you.) But it's hard to find an identity or a home for yourself when you're still traveling down the road.