Sparkle and Shine

I can’t believe Dressember is almost over! That means my pregnancy is drawing close to its end, too, which is starting to be a welcome thought. I figure if this kid just holds out until next Saturday, then he can come whenever he wants. But I really want to go on vacation with my husband’s family the 1st-4th, so I don’t want him to be TOO early. Haha! Just a week or so.

And can you believe it’s almost 2014? Crazy. I didn’t make any resolutions last year, and this year I think my only resolution is to stick with Paleo. I haven’t been eating clean during the holidays, and I can definitely feel it. I wake up so groggy!

Of course, some people might say that’s just the last few weeks of pregnancy, but until I’ve been eating clean for a week, I can’t fully agree. I just know the symptoms I’m having only came back when I started eating cookies and chocolate and dairy again, and I didn’t have them when I wasn’t eating those things! But I am willing to admit the last few weeks of pregnancy obviously do come with downsides. Mostly soreness, and lack of sleep due to the frequent need to pee during the night.

I recieved this gorgeous sequin clutch from Winky Designs last week JUST in time for Christmas, but since we had a crazy busy week (full of family visits!) I didn’t get to photograph it with my Christmas outfit other than a quick Instagram in the church bathroom, ha! So I decided to style it a little simpler, how I’ll most likely be dressing for New Years Eve. (Right now, all of these pretty sparkly clutches are 25% off. Just in case you need extra justification to get yourself one. Y’know.)

I think this clutch has the perfect amount of sparkle (it’s covered in sequins, so… obviously I love it), and I adore the fact that it’s got gold, rose gold, and mint colored sequins instead of just being one tone. Plus, it’s big enough to fit everything I need, which is a huge plus with clutches! Most of the ones I have only barely fit my wallet and my phone, but this one holds my wallet, phone, glasses, mints, lipstick, and keys with no problem at all!

And another fun little detail, it’s lined with mint green satin in the exact color I used in my wedding. Not that it was designed specifically for me, but I love that color, and it was a nice little surprise.

Winky Designs also has a great collection of fashion watches for sale: I really love the Sweet Dreams collection (a splurge, but a good watch is worth it), because I’m not so good at the whole stacking arm-party thing myself, so to have a watch that basically IS an arm party is perfect. Right now, they’re offering my readers 10% off with the coupon code ECCENTRICOWL13, so if you see anything you love, snatch it up now!  I just can’t get over how pretty this clutch is. I might actually just start using it as my daily purse, since the strap on my current purse is getting incredibly worn. Plus, who doesn’t want to carry around a gorgeous shiny purse everywhere? It’s a fun way to add sparkle every day.

Seeing as how it’s the holiday season, my husband consented to letting me wear heels for Christmas Eve. If you didn’t read about it, I quit wearing heels a few weeks ago because I sort of may have twisted my ankle and fallen while wearing heels in our gravel driveway and scared him half-to-death. It didn’t do any serious damage, other than scuffing up my knees a bit, but better safe than sorry!

These heels are the ones I wore for my wedding. It’s the first time I have worn them since then, surprisingly, and I think after Asa is born I need to pull them out more often. They’re really comfortable, and so pretty.

Do you guys have plans for New Years Eve? I think we might do the entirely nerdy thing and have a Lord of the Rings marathon. Of course, we’re leaving for a four-day vacation with my husband’s family (30 people in one giant house at the ocean; it’s going to be epic) on New Years Day, so we probably won’t stay up ALL night, but we can get at least two movies in before the new year, right?

Target maternity dress | Macy’s heels (old) | Leaf Pattern earrings c/o Oasap | Sequin clutch c/o Winky Designs

I can’t believe it’s almost 2014! So many things happened this year, and I never did a recap. Haha, I’m so bad at that. But so many things will be happening next year, too! Namely, a certain little baby will be born (you guys, I only have 16 days left until my due date. That is INSANE.) and I will be getting used to a whole new stage of life.

I have three New Years resolutions:

1. Read my Bible more. I don’t mention faith here a lot, but it’s pretty important to me, and I have to be honest in admitting I tend to forget to read on a daily basis.

2. Nix all dairy, sugar, grains, and legumes for at least one month, but ideally until my birthday in April. Basically, be eating 100% clean Paleo. I probably picked the most difficult first month of the year ever to do this, because for the first four days I’ll be on vacation, and all of the lunches and dinners are being made to share by siblings. But of those five meals, I don’t think there are any main dishes I can eat. (And I’m not refusing to eat these foods just because I think I need to diet. Eating those four food groups mentioned gives me terrible heartburn, headaches, indigestion, gas, grogginess, irritability… the list goes on.)

And then, of course, once I have the baby, our church rounds up volunteers to bring new parents meals… and I’m not sure how that all works! I feel bad asking people to bend around my food restrictions, but whatever I eat, the baby will be getting in some respects through breastfeeding, and he’s basically doomed in regards to lactose and sugar because both my husband AND I are intolerant and allergic. I want to keep any sort of food-related complications while nursing to a minimum! And just… generally start motherhood out as healthily as possible.

3. Be an awesome mom. Obviously, this one’s going to be easy. Hahahaha! (Okay, that’s not a real actual resolution.)

What about you? Any resolutions for the new year?

I hope you are all having a fabulous end of your year, and have a happy Monday!

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