An exciting life

I know I've mentioned this before, but "The Mindy Project" is an awesome show. I think I've decided that it's my favorite sitcom of all time. I cannot get enough. I am such a sucker for the romance and the humor and the polka dots.

We all know I am a sucker for polka dots. Pictured above: Polka dots. I am a sucker for them. (Dress thrifted with growing bump in mind. Cardigan inherited. That's right -- I inherited a cardigan. It happens.)

I wore this outfit being a pregnant teacher. It is so schoolmarm, but I embraced my inner schoolmarm long ago (like way before I became a teacher actually). Schoolmarms are sassy. Schoolmarms wear comfortable footwear. Schoolmarms see 20/20 cause they wear glasses. I also wore this outfit at home watching "The Mindy Project" and eating cold pad Thai, which was so delicious. It's an exciting life I lead, indeed.

Grown up

This weekend, I had a wonderful time at a friend's wedding, and I felt very nostalgic and very much like a 33-year-old grown up person.

I met Alice when I was 22 and starting my first post-college job at a small newspaper. We were both reporters. We were both so young, and we had a lot of fun together in that small town. The two of us and two fellow reporters, Diane and Mary, made small-town living big.

Now, Alice is married. I am pregnant. Mary is a mom, and Diane, who was older than us and already a mom, has a daughter who just graduated college. Only one of us works in journalism anymore and none of us live in that small town. But you know what? We still know how to have fun!

The proof? Alice's fun wedding! We don't see each other very much these days, but I still love that girl! (Woman. Adult woman. In her 30s. That's what this whole post is about. Right. I still love that woman!)

May is a month of weddings. Robert and my anniversary is this month, and I have another close friend getting married in a few weeks! All this calls for a lot of cute dressing! For Alice's wedding, I wore a maternity dress that had teeny-tiny polka dots. (I believe some call them "Swiss dots," I call them teeny-tiny polka dots.) I had originally planned to wear my birthday dress, but I had worn it so much prior to the event, it didn't seem special, and I'm also, ahem, a bit bigger, and the fit is less awesome. This dress, on the other hand, was wonderfully flouncy. Perfect for pregnant-lady dancing!

About to pop?

I feel like if there's any time in life when you should have zero body issues, it should be when you're pregnant. You're growing a human! It's not time to worry about your waistline! But as I'm getting bigger and bigger, I'm getting more and more questions and comments from strangers, most of whom assume I'm due, like, tomorrow instead of in three months.

"You look like you're about to pop!" "Are you sure you're not having twins?" And so on. Not about to pop! Not having twins! Oh, and another thing, when they find out I am due in July instead of in two weeks, they give me this sad face and tell me how horrible it is to be really, really pregnant in the summer in the really, really hot South.

Sigh. I guess we'll see how it goes. So far, my third trimester has been infinitely easier than my first and second (when I was sick a lot). I realize I'm very early into it and terrible things could be coming my way (Swelling! Rashes!), but I'm going to try not to think about that right now. I'm trying really hard not to worry about problems I don't actually have yet. (Sometimes it's not so easy. Like when strangers are telling you about swelling and rashes.)

In other news, I bought this vintage owl pendant at an antique shop while I was at the beach. It is the cutest and the best, and I love it.

The necklace works well with my long-ago thrifted heart dress. I love this dress so much, and it covers my belly no problem (although I probably wouldn't wear it without leggings as it's a bit short now). The little cardigan is off of eBay and so are my Dansko shoes. I walked around downtown Raleigh all day in these suckers, and my feet didn't hurt at all. We were in town for a gorgeous and wonderful wedding... more on that later!

Style Icon: Albert Einstein

Mmkay, let's start with the basics: Bushy hair, bushy mustache, comfortable sweater and a pipe -- these are the elements of Albert Einstein style. 

A violin works in the place of a pipe in a pinch. A nice suit and tie is an alternative to a sweater. There is no alternative to the bushy hair and mustache. They are always, always a must.

Even in his youth, Einstein rocked the bushy hair and busy mustache, and look at that suit! Loving the pattern. I bet it's tweed.

Einstein was likely a self-actualized person -- independent, focused, full of creativity and spontaneity. You know all those blogs where they girls are looking cute on their bikes? Einstein was all over that decades and decades ago.

I like what Einstein has to say about energy, and I like what he has to say about teaching. I like that his popularity has made messy hair a moniker of intelligence.

Albert Einstein: the iconic absent-minded professor, the ultimate mustache-haver, a hero to us all.

Under the Tuscan Sun

I'm pretty much sold on movies set in Italy where the heroine finds herself. Pretty much sold. Example A: Under the Tuscan Sun. (Example B, C and D: A Room with a View, Roman Holiday and Only You.)

Woman falls apart. Woman puts herself back together in Italy. Cinematic gold. Gold, I say.

Loving It

Lately I've been loving...

1. Seeing that kooky Blue Man Group. That was a bunch of the right kind of crazy!

2. Eating homemade margherita pizza. I'm spoiled. Thanks husband.

3. Finally used pregnant-lady parking! So exciting for me!

4. Egg English muffin breakfast sandwiches with a side of strawberries....

5. ... which I enjoyed looking at this lovely, lovely view.

April accessories

What are my super-cute, kind of twee accessories of the day? My polka-dotted sneakers and apple necklace! Mmmkay, I wear a lot of polka dots because they make everything cuter (and stripes too because they make everything more classic) and the apple necklace is half ode to Snow White, half teacher pride. And there you have it, end of April accessories explained.