Wedding Weekend

This weekend a close friend of mine got married in West Chester, PA. It was a gorgeous wedding with tons of personal details and touches. I was lucky enough to read during the ceremony, so I wanted to look really nice. I wore a black dress that I got from Simply Be about a year ago maybe? It is the only thing I have ordered from there - and I really like it. Nice quality and cut. I don't know why I haven't ordered anything else from them yet, maybe soon. I was also wearing some amazing shoes - however, I didnt take any outfit shots! I am a terrible blogger, I know. The pics below are candids.

I have been really into make-up lately. For this look I went pretty dramatic/evening - black eye liner, false lashes, oxblood lips. It felt like a lot of make-up for me, I think it turned out pretty well though.

Don't I have good-looking friends!? Do you like to go dramatic with make-up for special occasions? What do you do?

Megan

Faux Leather

Last weekend I was in Pittsburgh visiting my family. It is a bit colder up there than here in Virginia, so I got to break out my favorite fall jacket. It looks leather, but it is not. I would love a real leather jacket, but I have found them to be way out of my price range. Especially if you want to get something a little trendy - I can't be spending $200+ on something I won't love forever.

I found this gem at Traget last spring, it was end of season, so on sale. Oringally $40, I got it for $15! Here it is paired with a pair of black skinnies, wedge sneakers, and chevron top - all from ModCloth.com. The top is a bit oversized (ModCloth is still working on consistent sizing in it ever-growing plus section). It had a chest pocket, but with it being so big, the chest pocekt ended up halfway down my body - so I just used a little seam ripper and took the pocket off. Now it is a blissful tunic/tent.

I like the look better with the jacket zipped up, but wanted you to be able to see the shirt below.

Feeling Fall

Look at me! Making a post! Hooray!

My sister just sent me these maroon ModCloth tights. In the past, it has been hard for me to find plus sized tights in colors other than black. When I received these in the mail I was super excited, but then thought - what do I wear them with?! A floral dress that I have with maroon in it seemed maybe too matchy (still might give it a shot). But another pattern looked too busy. I flipped through my dresses and came across this navy one. It's from Macy's about a year ago, pretty sure I paid about $20 for it. Then I had to find a cardigan. I landed on these dark teal one from ModCloth. I paired the whole thing with my leapord flats.

Lots of colors, but since they are the same tone, I felt like the worked together nicely. A study in fall shaded. (oh and sorry for the bad picture quality, had to use my camera phone)

 

 

Have you been feeling fall-inspired in your clothes lately?

 

 

Megan

All quiet on the Megan front

Here is where I make more excuses for not posting, they include: not having a camera for a while, my computer crashing, being busy with work, etc.

I also think my lack of posts has something to do with the fact that I haven't been feeling like a fat-acceptance diva lately. Although my weight has been relatively stable since I began this blog (I think, I do not weigh myself or get weighed at the doctor's office) my feelings about my body/weight have been, well, meh.

Sometimes it is just exhausting to keep fighting and pushing up against all the messaging out there about how fat people are unhealthy, unattractive, and unlovable. I really wish I could find an in-person fat acceptance/fat postive community to be a part of. My blogs help, but seeing an awesome hot fatty in real life might be inspiring as well. Any readers out there in the DC area?

Making something public that is difficult for me helps to remove shame and/or stigma. I know this is a bump in my life-long body acceptance journey and I wanted to share it. I plan to be back this week with some outfit posts!

How do you keep postive when so much pushes back?

Megan

Casual Friday

So my new school is pretty casual in general, but I am trying to stay on the more professional side. We could wear jeans any day, but I am going to stick to Fridays. I got this striped shirt at Land's End recently on major sale for about $5. The cardigan (a new favorite) is the same from the last post, it was only $5 also at JCPenny. I like pairing the orange stripes with the neon edging on the cardigan, I felt like it gave it some personality. Oh, and if you see me wearing jeans, they are these ones from INC, cause they are my only pair of jeans. Hey, if it ain't broke?

Return of the Mac

Heeellllloooo! Sorry for the long time between posts! I always hate it when my blogs don't update regularly, and now I have become what I hate. For those of you who don't know, I am a teacher. This year I am coming off a leave of absence that I took to earn my masters degree full-time last year. So basically, I have not had a regular 9-5 job since June 2012. Getting back into the swing of things, including a school and grade level change has pretty much put me on my ass. But I have returned!

This past weekend it was ideal weather in DC and I just had to be outside. Some friends and I decided to walk around the Congressional Cemetery, which also doubles as a dog park. It was interesting, J. Edgar Hoover is buried there. I have been looking for an occasion to wear new shoes that my sister got me from ModCloth for my birthday, high-healed sneakers. I hearts them. I got the cardi from JCPenny's and the top is from Kohls - both part of my back-to-school shopping day. The jeans are INC from Macy's.

 

 

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to attend a bride/bro shower for my dear friend Josie. It was basically a couples party that involved hamburgers, spiked lemonade, miniature pies, and flip-cup. A recipe for perfection. I wore a blue knit shirt dress that I have had for a long time from Macy's. The bride, Josie is on the left and her sisters are Maggie and Emily to my right. Good looking family, am I right?

 

 

Promise I'll post again soon! Besos!

 

Maxin' all cool

So for my birthday my mom, sister and I went to the mall to go back-to-school shopping, just like it was 1998. I am starting at a new school, teaching a new grade level and generally I am trying to up my professional-dress game. Someday, I would like to mentor and coach teachers, so, dress for the job you want and all that. We hit up Kohl's and JCPenny's, I was pretty pleased with the plus-sized offerings at both stores and there were great sales. I got this dress below at Kohl's on sale for about $15. It is on the casual side for work, but is perfect for date night, running errands, etc. I loves it.

I was also really feeling my make-up. Just felt all dewy and youthful.

Fat and Sexy

My friend Lynne is getting married and last weekend was her bachelorette party - what better time to wear a tight dress?! This was a liiiiittle outside of my comfort zone for a night at the bars, but after a lil' self pep-talk and a tumbler of champagne, I just went for it. Plus, everyone else was wering fun, tight, sexy dresses and I didn't want to be in another cotton, black A-line number that I wear to the grocery store. Honestly, dressing overtly sexual as a fat woman can invite heckling or unwanted comments about your size, but I am trying not to let fear of how others perceive me determine my life. This dress is from Lane Bryant a while back.

I put down the towel

After my post "Put down the damn towel" I was determined to get some pics of me cover-up free and here they are. I am wearing a Land's End bathing suit, I really like their suits. I feel a little vulnerable doing this, but I just keep thinking about how inspired I was by The BIG Girl's Code pictures - hopefully I can do that for someone else. Self-love and body-love, one bathing suit pic at a time!

I love being tan

Man, I love being tan. I know it is so bad for me, but I just can't resist laying in the sun all day at the beach. The hubbs and I had a wonderful trip -  we spent most of out time lounging by the ocean or pool, but also took a day trip to Isla Saona and spent an afternoon on dune buggies.

My sister let me borrow this dress for the trip, it's from Target and over a year old. The hubbs loved it, he told me to ask my sister if I could keep it. One of the things I love most about being tan is not need to wear any make-up. In the picture I am 100% natural and loving it!

Oh, and please excuse the lower picture quality. Our camera battery died on the first day of the trip and I forgot to pack the charger - so we relied on our iphones and bought a disposable camera. Remember those? Kodak fun-saver, felt like we were living in 1998!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vacation station

Hello from the the Domincan Republic!

Just wanted to put up a little update since it has been almost a week since my last post. The hubbs and I are having a great time, sunning, drinking rum, swimming, and just relaxing! I have been snapping lots of outfits and some cover-up free pictures, so expect some posts at the end of this week!

Besos!

Running errands and Anniversary dinner

So this first outfit I wore just running around. I got this shirt at Land's End, not something I would usually pick up but it was on major sale and the print was really cheerful. The pants are black jeggings are Jessica Simpson from Macy's. The g-g-g-gorgeous Coach purse was a gift from my sisters when I graduated from grad school this past May - it's the prettiest color, somewhere between coral, orange, and red.

It was also the hubs and I one year anniversary, already! We went to Cookology for a cooking class. It was fun and really yummy - we have some leftover brownies in the fridge with chili pepper ganache that I looking forward to enjoying again tomorrow. I wore this ModCloth dress that I have had for a while with a pair of gold flats from DWS.

Is it too early in my blog to rant?

So, like I mentioned, I was in Ocean City this past weekend and we went to a club, da club as 50 cent might say. Anyhow, nightclub situations can be tough for a fat woman - I am supposed to hide my body and be ashamed, not shake it like a polaroid picture and drop it to the flo'. I have always loved dancing and usually just surround myself with a group of friends so I don't have to interact with potential jerks.

That said, I have not come away unscathed in the past. I don't think I can tell you how many times a guy started to dance with me, then look over his shoulder to his friends and laugh - he was dared to dance with the fat girl. I have been heckled and pointed at. I wont say that those incidents aren't still hurtful, but the sting it not so sharp. I now know that my worth and that stranger's opinion of me have nothing to do with each other. Haters GON' HATE, you know.

This weekend, however, my hater was different, she was a female in a group of females, pointing at me and disapprovingly. She was commenting on how my bra was showing (ahem, for the record, I was wearing the cotton black dress from my double date post with a smokin' royal blue bra underneath. When it showed it was cute and intentional. Also, we were at a bar where the floor was sand, there were literally people in bikinis and flip flops there. We were not in the Vatican.)

I don't know if it's this blog, working on the fat bitch ecourse, the 3 shots I had, or what, but I was NOT having it. So I approached the girl and shouted over the music "CAN I HELP YOU?" Again, due to shots, not my best line, but, hey, I said something. She looked away indignant, but I was boiling mad. I told my girlfriends who helped me glare at them until they skulked away.  I don't know if this is the most positive/admirable reaction, but it felt like growth for me because in the past I would have taken that comment to heart and probably let it ruin my night.

But this just left me wondering - how can we, as women, build each other up? I think I know why that girl needed to tear me down, she was probably feeling uncomfortable in her own skin and I was an easy target. It took me almost 30 years to understand that love begets love, joy begets joy, and beauty begets beauty. How can younger women, who are fighting the tidal wave of the media, see the beauty in others so that they may better see the beauty in themselves?

This whole experience brought me back to a meditation class I had attended a few years ago. The instructor asked us to shine light, energy, and love to each and every person we know, one-by-one, and then to expand that love to our street, town, state, country, continent, hemisphere, to the whole world. While listening to him describe this exercise I got increasingly nervous - this is going to drain me! Give away all my energy!? What will be left for me?? At the end of that hour of radiating love, I floated out of that room on a sunny cloud of happiness. Sharing  joy, spreading love, wishing happiness, rather than draining me, had filled me so full.

Loving others is loving yourself, loving yourself is loving others. How can we spread this?

Put down the damn towel!

So my friends and I (hubbs had to work) went to Ocean City, MD for the weekend and it was glorious - day of beaching followed by a night at Seacrets - Ocean City's classiest nightclub. When I went back to look at the pictures we had taken, all I could see what that blue towel I had grabbed, out of habit, to cover up with for the photo. It is so distracting and deprives all of you a fantastic view of my strong, dimpled, thunder thighs (I mean, if given the choice who wouldn't want to make thunder!? It's pretty much like I am Zeus.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently started following an awesome Chicana feminist on Tumblr - The BIG Girl Code - who posted some gorg photos of her in a bathing suit - color me inspired!

 

 

The hubbs and I are finally going on a honeymoon to the Dominican Republic (one year later) so you can anticipate some cover-up free photos!



Double date

The hubbs and I went out to dinner last night with our friends Brandy and Charlie. Brandy is a professional photographer (check her out at Modern Toile) and she helped us create a wedding album and get some prints made - we should be getting our hands on them soon! As a thank you, and for fun, we wanted to take them out to dinner. We went to Vermillion in Old Town, YUM.

I got this black dress below in four colors from Lands End. Its a cotton jersey, pretty much like a tshirt. It's a classic cut for me - fitted at the bust, empire waist, flows out. I do most of my shopping online and when I see a dress with this type of cut, I know it will look good before I even try it on. This black one I dressed up with a belt from Forever 21+ and my ever-present black, peep-toe ModCloth flats. I swear I have other shoes. Oh, and the clutch is made of cork and is from ModCloth a few years ago.

Same clothes, two ways

So last night the hubbs and I had to run a bunch of errands. We ended up at both Target and Kmart and I couldn't pass up perusing the plus size sections at both stores. I scored this black t-shirt at Target for $10, and this tribal print skirt at Kmart for $13 - not bad for a whole outfit! I styled it two ways, with the shirt out for a more casual/day time look, the other with the shirt tucked in and belted. Which do you like better?

 

 

I am pretty excited about these cheap finds. I don't think I would ever thought to check Kmart before. Do you have favorite spots for cheap finds?

 

Fat bitches unite!

One of my favorite blogs - The Nearsighted Owl - has created an eCourse on how to be a fat bitch. I am on week 3 and so far I am loving it!

You might be thinking - fat? That's not a very nice word. I have to say, this type of language is new, and not yet 100% comfortable for me either.

Let's stalk about that 3 letter, extremely loaded word, F-A-T. I remember in 2nd grade Tim Chiapetta said I was fat while we were lining up for recess. I told my teacher Mrs. Nelson and got what I wanted - Tim was in trouble and had to apologize. HA! Take that Tim.

Looking back, there are so many flavors of messed up in that little scenario. Where to start? First off, I was fat. I was a chunky little 8 year old (cute as anything, I might add). Why was it so hurtful that Tim called me exactly what I was? Well, because being fat has become associated with a host of negative things - lazy, smelly, dirty, unkempt, unmotivated, having "given up", dumb, the list goes on. So what Tim called me fat, he wasn't simply noting the amount of tissue on my little belly, he was proclaiming my status as person. Well, none of that it true. Fat is a simple adjective that describes, literally the fat on my body. Some people have a little, some people have a lot. Rachele, from Nearsighted Owl puts it perfectly:

     "The word fat needs to be separated from the assumption that someone is unkempt, lazy or less- than. That is a meaning that was taught to us and reinforced so money can be made and bigotry could be justified."

 

 

So there you have it, I am reclaiming fat, because you know what? I am fat. I am also brunette, short, curly-haired, kind of bossy, funny, and generally adorable. Exhibit A:

 

 

 

I would not advise you to go around and start calling people fat. You have to be in the right place, with the right people and say it with love. Like, "Look at those adorable fatties wearing mini-skirts!" If you say it in a mean, hurtful way, I will know, I will hear you, and I will come bop you in the nose. 

 

Check out week 2 of the eCourse for more about reclaiming the word fat.

Saturday fun-time explosion

Saturday was nice and sunny so I finally got to take advantage of the pool at our new place with some friends. I wore my new swim suit from Land's End. It's a one piece that I got on sale. Here are pictures of me in a bathing suit, embracing body love by putting them on the internet!

My gorgeous friends - body diversity is wonderful!

That night we grabbed dinner and drinks at a place nearby. I wore another peplum - I just can't quit them! This one is from Macy's and I belted it with a belt from Eloquii that I got when they were going out of business for $5. My shoes are little peep toes flats from Modcloth.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Here we go!

Welcome to BodyLoveFatshion

This is a part of my body love and acceptance journey. I plan to use this as a place to highlight fatshion, self-acceptance, health at every size, anything positive, empowering, and hopefully delightful!

Tonight was date night with the hubbs. We moved into a new place that is only a 10 minute walk from shops and restaurants so tonight we went over there for dinner and drink. Helloooo margaritas and guac!

I apologize in advance for the extremely low quality of the pics here. I guess cell phone pics won't work for this venture!

                                           I am very into berry lips right now.

Adorable new peplum top from Modcloth.com Hard to tell, but there is a bow on the back. Also, INC jeans from Macy's. Gold woven flats from DSW.

Peplums just hit me in the right spot. Tight at the waist and then flows out.

And why on Earth would a cupcake be fat free??! We didn't eat cakelove tonight, but I have had it before, yum.

I hope you keep checking back to BodyLoveFatshion!