Autumn; Apparently

It's Autumn; apparently. I mean, that's what they tell me. That's what my calendar says. I guess Mother Nature didn't get the memo.                              
                                               

Ok, technically it's not Autumn for another day, and I seriously doubt the weather is going to change drastically to suit the date. I see my fellow lovelies online, looking all cozy in their over-sized sweaters and their leggings tucked into adorable riding boots. Sigh. 

I guess I shouldn't be bummed out. This happens every year. In Arkansas, we almost don't even have an Autumn. We have summer, and then slightly cooler summer. We count ourselves lucky if it gets chilly by mid-October. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. We never know what it's going to feel like on Halloween. Seriously. More often than not, our poor kids are sweating in their costumes.

Anyway, I've been trying to make Autumn-y looking outfits that I can actually wear without dying. (Ok, I exaggerate, but it is still HOT.) 

Oh, also I have nearly no budget for new clothes. I'm having to be inventive, although I don't mind the challenge. Basically I have been layering vests and cardigans over my summer dresses. Also throwing in fringe whenever I can. So glad fringe is trending right now! I have always loved it.

I have always loved belting this particular fringe vest. (I guess you'd call it a vest?) I just think it creates an interesting look and I love the shape it gives me! Sometimes my back fat tries to eat my belts, but whatever. I'm still cute!

And these ankle boots! I got these last fall and I'm planning on wearing the heck out of them this year, too. Also my cute fringe cross-body bag. I've already been using it a lot.

Wow. I've got triple fringe going on in this outfit. Is it too much fringe? No. The answer is no.

To all my fellow Southern fashionistas, stay cute. Stay cool. Stay comfortable. Be fabulous. If I can do it so can you!

Dress- Factory Connection

Fringe vest- Factory Connection

Ankle boots- local store, Charmed

Fringe bag-Factory Connection                                      

                                  Thanks for reading!

Loving Life at the Lake

My husband, my daughter, and I went swimming at the local lake today. We found a little swim beach (Yes, in Arkansas we have trucks dump sand by the lakes and we do call them beaches) that we had all to ourselves. It was such a perfect day. It wasn't too hot, the water felt just right, and we had so much fun.

I was kind of feeling myself today in my swimsuit. I hadn't planned on taking pictures for the blog. I'd already decided that it was too late in the summer for a swimsuit post anyway, but I just felt like I should. I said, "Sweetheart, wanna take a few pictures of me?"

While we were playing in the sand with our little girl and lounging around in the water it struck me how many times in the past I've restrained myself from having fun at the lake. I didn't like the way I looked in a swimming suit. I didn't think I deserved to have fun because I was fat. Even more than being fat, I was shaped funny. What right did I have enjoying my life and having fun when I had so much to be ashamed of?

I have a very hard time finding a suit that is flattering on me. During the past few years, I would either wear a darkly colored swimdress or a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt. Don't get me wrong; I still love a cute swimdress, but I was not comfortable wearing anything that didn't have a skirt attached.

My last year's swimdress, although pretty cute, was much too tight in the bust. It dug into my shoulders painfully. I went online, to Swimsuitsforall.com, which is a wonderful resource for plus-size swimwear. I found this suit and fell in love with the big, bold, floral print. I had reservations about whether it would be flattering on me or not, but I ordered it anyway.

It's not flattering, not really. The high neckline isn't supposed to look good with large breasts. I'm not supposed to wear large, bold prints and colors when I am fat. I wasn't comfortable at first wearing a suit without a skirt to hide by flat butt and belly bulge. The low back shows some of my back fat.

But it fits. It fits, it's comfortable, and I love it. Even though it should look awful, according to all the "rules", I love myself in this swimsuit.

This isn't the first time I've worn this suit; the first time was to a different beach on a different lake. There were other people there. I was afraid. As the day went on, I noticed that other people weren't even paying attention to me. They were too busy having fun. I quit worrying and started having some fun of my own. Even though this isn't a two-piece, I feel like my body is pretty much on display. All of my imperfections are visible, yet I have learned that they are part of my body. Hating them won't change them. Hating them helps nothing. Embracing them let's me live my life and have a great time at the lake.

And anyone ever is bothered by my shape, my imperfections or my fatness, they can look at this gorgeous, colorful print instead. Or they can just not look. 

I will be blissfully unaware, not giving a damn. I will just be loving my life.

Thanks for reading!

  

Everything's Illegal

When I very first started out on my little self-love journey, it began as many journeys these days do- on Pinterest. I didn't know much about fashion, and even less about plus-size fashion. I wouldn't have been able to tell you what a personal style even was. One day after pinning about a ga-jillion recipes I was never going to make, I decided to do a search for plus size outfit ideas. That's all it took. I was addicted from that day on.

I began by simply trying to figure out what would and would not look good on my body type. Now, just figuring out what my body type was was enough to give me a headache. (I'm still not totally sure. Somewhere between apple and inverted triangle...maybe?) 

Once you've got that confusing mess figured out (hopefully) then you have the pleasant (NOT!) task of learning all the do's, and the many, many don'ts, for your body type. 

When I believed that this rule stuff was really important, I seriously wanted to pull my hair out sometimes. After reading article after article, I came to realize that there were very few things I could actually wear according to the rules.

No long skirts or dresses since I'm short. Nothing too short since I'm fat. Nothing too tight that will reveal my fat. Nothing too loose because that makes you look even bigger. Boot-cut jeans only. No long necklaces because that will draw attention to by huge boobs. No short necklaces because that will make my neck look even shorter. V-necklines are best.

Then it started to make no sense at all when it all started to get contradictory. Never wear belts because that draws attention to my "problem" areas. Belt everything (high up, of course) since it draws attention to the smallest part of my waist. Long, flowy tops with leggings are best because it hides my fat. Never wear flowy tops with leggings because it makes you look like an ice-cream cone. I seriously read all of these things for the same body shape. It felt like just about everything was "illegal" to wear.

Then, I discovered some amazing, wonderful plus-size bloggers who were just doing their own damn thing, and rocking it!

Beautiful, inspirational images from blogs like Gabifresh and Garnerstyle changed my world. The whole "Eff your beauty Standards" movement came into being and opened up my eyes!

I don't have to dress according to "rules" fabricated by other people to be stylish or beautiful. All, and I do mean all, that matters is whether or not I feel amazing in it, and if I like what I see when I look in the mirror. 

Hell, how many "rules" am I breaking wearing this pretty blue maxi dress? I have fair skin so I'm not supposed to wear bright colors. I'm super short, so no long dresses. My arms are fat, so I'm not supposed to be showing those. 

What-the-hell-ever. Rules are made for breaking.

Dress- Wal-Mart

Sandals- Payless

Gold cross-body clutch- honestly had so long I can't remember

                                          Thanks for reading! 

Playing Dress Up in the City

My husband and I decided to spend two days in Little Rock to celebrate our fourth anniversary. Little Rock is the largest town in Arkansas, and we were pretty excited to be headed to the "big city".We stayed at a pretty nice hotel in the middle of the city's River Market District, and it was pretty awesome. 

We decided to start walking and simply follow our noses to find the best place to have our anniversary dinner. Of course, I had to dress up a little for the occasion.

Now, to a small-town girl like me, Little Rock is a vibrant, riveting metropolis. Why they've got some of the best restaurants in the state, along with plenty of fun bars, museums, and cool hang-outs, all within a few blocks from one of the most beautiful city parks I've personally ever seen. Seriously, the Riverfront Park is awesome. 

Needless to say, I'm in love with the place. 

I must say though, that if we ever were to move there I would have to step my fashion game up. Many of the local ladies there don't play around. I saw some of the trendiest clothes and some of the highest heels sharing the sidewalks with me. It was heaven, basically. 

We ended up eating our anniversary dinner at a place called the Flying Fish, far from fancy, but some of the best catfish I've ever had. I felt slightly overdressed for this particular restaurant, but I couldn't be happier with our choice.

I felt pretty cute in my floral dress and purple flats. It seemed a little strange to me to wear a purple necklace and purple shoes with a dress that doesn't have any purple on it. I have this annoying nagging voice in the back of my head telling me things need to "match". Whatever. Sometimes I have to tell that voice to shut the hell up.

I felt very much at home walking those fun-filled streets and seeing the sights while wearing this colorful outfit. We had a wonderful anniversary and I can't wait until our next visit to our state capital.

Dress- thrifted

Flats- thrifted

Statement necklace- Wal-Mart

Bolero- Wal-Mart

                                                          Thanks for reading!
                                                                    -Ashley

Fat Girl; Skinny Jeans

So a few weeks ago I  got my first pair of skinny jeans. I had been wanting a pair for a long while (I kind of have this thing where if I feel like other people would tell me I shouldn't wear something, I just have to go out and try it) but I didn't want to spend too much money in case I ended up not caring for them that much.

I actually tried on skinny jeans several times at quite a few places before I could find a pair that I could work with. See, I have this problem where I have a larger belly and very little fat on my legs. If I find a pair of skinny jeans that fit my waist, they looked like jogging pants on my legs.

Now, I had toyed around with the idea of just buying a pair that fit in the waist and then taking in the legs. I found a couple of tutorials on Pinterest that looked pretty easy, like this one, and I figured it was worth a try.

So I finally found a pair at Old Navy in the Diva cut that didn't have so much excess fabric flapping around my poor ankles, and I took in the legs so they'd fit. 

Now I'm no professional, but I think they look alright. Also I think I look alright in skinnies. I've heard it said many times that "You have to be really skinny to look good in skinny jeans", but that just isn't true. I'm fat, I'm totally not the "right" shape for them, but I still rock them. 

Why? Why do I do this when I'm sure there are people who see me in them and think What is she thinking wearing those? Doesn't she know she's fat? 

Because I like the way I look in them. Because I like wearing trendy stuff like any other woman. Because frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

Jeans- Old Navy
Top- Ava and Viv from Target
Heels- thrifted 

                                                        Thanks for reading!
                                                               Love, 
                                                                  Ashley

Mad About my Maxi

So I finally got myself one of these bohemian lovelies. This is the first and only maxi dress I have owned, and it makes me want to go out and buy ten more in a variety of colors and prints. Yeah, I love it that much. Like so many others, I think maxi dresses are just the bomb diggity, and little wonder why.

Madly popular in the 1970's, the maxi dress has become very trendy again these past few years. They are usually made from a lightweight jersey fabric and are extremely breezy and comfortable. This makes them ideal for hot weather. I plan on rocking my maxi (and hopefully new ones as well) all spring and summer. 

Sorry my face is covered in shade in this pic. At least I know my hat works! 

Anyway, another great thing about maxi dresses is their versatility. Dress them up, dress them down, throw one on over your swimsuit at the beach or put on some heels and jewelry and have a date night. 

They aren't just for warm weather, either. You can winterize them with some boots and a jacket or coat. Add a cute scarf and you've got a killer outfit! 

This particular maxi dress is so awesome! How killer are these stripes though? The way they are laid out and the one long line going down the center is flattering, despite me being under five feet and the dress being so long.

Another thing; I avoided wearing long dresses and skirts like this one for a long time because I am so short and I was worried about what people would think. I have since stopped caring (at least most of the time) what people think. I'm short and fat. I know I'm short and fat. Nothing I wear, flattering or not, is going to magically make me look tall and slim. So I'm going to wear whatever the hell I feel beautiful in. In the end, that is all that matters.

Thanks for reading!

Dress: Ava and Viv from Target

Sandals: Payless

Sunhat: thrift store

Flowy, Floral, Springtime

Perhaps at the end of my last post I should have said something like, "Oh please excuse me, dear readers, for several weeks while I pack up all of my family's possessions and move to a new house, unpack it all, and get my life into some semblance of a new groove."
Anyway, yeah, that's why its been a while. Moving; Ugh. At least it's over now!

Oh, for the sake of all that is dear and good in this world, please let this nasty weather we've been having for weeks be over finally! I swear, from about the middle of February until just recently it's either been snowing or raining. We've been having mostly warm weather lately, and it's been sunny about half of the time the last couple of weeks. I hope it's safe to say that that beautiful, ever-so-brief season called Spring is finally here! 

So the outfit. Yeah, this is a style blog after all. Shorts! Yes, I am wearing shorts. I am totally unafraid of wearing them and you should be, too! I prefer my shorts a little above the knee because I just can't stand any chub-rub. I actually bought these last summer, but I took the legs in a couple of days ago so it's almost like having a new pair! 

This wonderful top is from Target's new plus-size line, . I know many have been very underwhelmed by the whole collection, but there were a lot of pieces that I liked, this flowy top among them. Isn't the back of this pretty?

And yeah, my arms are a bit jiggly. Oh well. If people don't like it they don't have to look. I don't have to justify the way my body looks to anyone, and neither do you!

Seriously though, ladies; if you haven't yet gone and checked this line out, I recommend doing that. Especially if you are still in the stages of building up a good basic wardrobe, they have some great pieces that are pretty good quality in my opinion, especially considering the prices.