Shopping for my Tween Daughter

by brandyellen // April 23, 2014 // No Comments

The time has come, that time when your child no longer accepts and adores your clothing selections for her. Yes, I firmly believe it happens to all of us. We all have been at that stage where the clothing choices our parents made for us would make us cringe and argue the fact that we are now too old to have our Mommy or Daddy buy us clothing. I remember being that age and I was a nightmare, I am sure, now I get to relive that stage with my oldest, which is nearing middle school age and is ready to show her true personality through clothing choices.

There are some limits you can place, as the parent, on your tweens or teens clothing choices and here are some that I have placed with my own daughter:

Halter tops are unacceptable as they show off too much skin for every day wear outside of the beach or pool.
Be appropriate in your choice of graphic tees that spread a message, make sure the messages on graphic tees are age appropriate and school acceptable.
Choose a variety of clothing so that you can dress appropriately for the weather.

My daughter’s current obsession is with printed leggings, she just adores leggings with a matching graphic tee shirt on top. I have recently noticed that rue21.com has a wide range of tween and teen clothing options for any picky dresser. There is a LOVE graphic tee that I know my daughter would totally wear, unless I bought it that is. Parenting gets more difficult as you head into the age of teens picking their own clothing, you must ensure that they are allotted their independence to choose high waisted jeans if they so desire but limit their clothing to age appropriate messages and ensure they cover their body fully. My rule is, the less skin showing, the better.

Shopping for tweens or teens really can give one a headache, it’s no easy task, but if you set rules and boundaries from the beginning; yes that means dressing them appropriately when you are the one choosing clothing from day one, then you will find their clothing choices will continue to be appropriate well into their teen years. Support your tween and teen in their individuality and remember; life is far too short to spend it arguing about matching clothes; let your child’s clothing be their artwork.

Shopping for Jeans That Fit your Style

by brandyellen // April 16, 2014 // 1 Comment

After giving birth to three children, I have found that my body took on a shape of its own. No longer do I have this pre-baby body that can fit into any style of jeans and it’s frustrating at times. Up until about two years ago, I wasn’t too keen on shopping for anything except comfy clothing. It seems, even though I had given birth, I wanted to stick with maternity style clothing. It was comfortable. It meant I didn’t have to try on clothing and look in mirrors. It was a safe choice.

The problem is; I love jeans. I adore bootcut jeans the best and I wouldn’t be able to gain that confidence back that everyone loves about me, unless I started to wear those beloved bootcut jeans again. I have a variety of shoes that suit jeans more than those comfy sweatpants type outfits. I wanted more, for myself and for my children. I needed to lead by example, and so it came to me one night, I needed to start looking for some womens jeans that fit the body I have today.

Once I made the decision to look into womens jeans versus comfy clothing, I found out that shopping for jeans really isn’t that difficult, or painful. There are a wide range of designer jeans for any body type these days; it’s simply a matter of owning your body type and knowing what designer jeans will work for your shape. I personally love the bootcut jeans; there is nothing sexier to me than looking in the mirror at myself wearing that style of jeans with my favorite black leather heeled boots and a sweater style top. Sure, I don’t look like a teenager, but I am a thirty-two year old woman, that is what I am supposed to look like.

Far too many of us females get caught up in what we looked like pre-baby years and that, my friends, is no way to live your life. I say to you, make a decision to love your body, own it and find that style of designer jeans that works best to uplift your confidence and accept your post-baby body. Just because you have had a child, doesn’t mean you can’t look stylish or sexy!

Make a Book About Your Favorite Person and You Could Win $2,500 from Blurb

by brandyellen // April 13, 2014 // 1 Comment

(This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.)

Blurb wants to meet your favorite person and in turn you could win $2,500! All you have to do is make a book about a loved one filled with all sorts of kind words, creativity and insight, and if selected, you could win $2,500! For every book you make (there are seven different categories, so seven different chances to win) you will receive a 30% discount on the printed product. With so many special people in your life (Hint: Mother’s Day is coming!), why not make a book for a few of them! With that much love to share, everyone is a winner!

Go to Blurb to check out the details of the contest to see what the categories are and when the entries are due. The 30% discount on My Favorite books will be applied at checkout when you use the promo code: MYFAVORITE.

Would Would Brandy Do if she Had a No Limits Shoe Shopping Spree

by brandyellen // April 9, 2014 // 1 Comment

Just the other day I was thinking about how I haven’t purchased myself clothing in forever. Occasionally I do receive a gift card to get some clothes and then I spend that on myself, usually shoes. This got me thinking, what would I do if I had a no-limit shopping spree for my favorite wardrobe item … shoes?!

First off, why do I love shoes? Because they always fit just right no matter what. I can get tall shoes to be a tad bit taller and I can get flats that allow me to stay at my 5’6″ level. It’s great to see the new shoe options out there in the world these days, such as the gladiator heels shown below. Aren’t those some pretty nifty, shiny heels? I could see myself wearing this to a blog event, such as coverage for a movie or a special NYC event. Surely I would tower over many people, but my feet would gain some pretty awesome attention.

Gladiator Heels

Maybe on this particular day I wouldn’t want to tower over everyone and have so much attention brought upon myself, so maybe for a special event I would go with the privileged heelless shoes, these wouldn’t bring me as much attention, wouldn’t make me so tall and could share my love of art. I am all about artistic talent and clothing or shoes being a way to express ones self. These magazine print privileged heelless shoes would so fit the role of me expressing my love of art.

Privileged Harting Magazine Print Clear Oxfords

The next shoe style option that is available these days and seems to be getting more and more popular are the wedge boots. Wedge style shoes are actually the first heel-like option I let my daughter wear. I wasn’t quite ready to push the idea of having my tween walk around with heels on, but I wanted to allow her some shoe freedom and so wedge style shoes made sense. There are so many wedge style shoes, I hadn’t a clue. I happened upon the below wedge style boots and fell in love! What would you think if you saw me walking into an event with these babies on?

Pink Wedge Shoes

Well I think out of all three options I shared, the first option is the one I would love to wear on a night out or an event for my business. Either way, I wonder, which shoe you would choose and why?

Do tell me in a comment below; if you could shop for shoes and have an unlimited amount of money to spend; what style would you envision yourself purchasing?

All In Due Time, They Do Sometimes Need You When they Get Bigger #tweens

by brandyellen // March 28, 2014 // 1 Comment

I am often found sighing in disbelief at how big my daughter is now, she is into those tween years and she no longer thinks the hairstyles I used to do in her hair are cool. Apparently “cute” is no longer the proper term to refer to a hairstyle either. The cuter it is, the worse of an idea it is; at least according to my tween daughter. It amazes me at how fast she has grown, both in height and in intelligence. This girl is beyond her years in comprehension and most times I wonder if she is one of those “old souls” type of people, she really is a spitting image of me on days she wears her contacts. Whenever my daughter speaks, she seems to truly have taken in most of my positive mindset and that makes me so proud to hear and see.

With all of this being said, it seems that no matter how fast our children grow and no matter how much it has saddened me that my idea of those pig tail braids in her long hair are no longer her preference for hairstyles, there comes a day when your child will indeed want or need you again to help. That was us this past week. My daughter finally needed her Mama to assist in her hair obsession ways. Sadly, I think I created a straightened hair monster, but she wanted and needed me to be her assistant in the mornings for before school hair styling time and that my friends warmed my heart up just a bit.

Even in their Older years, Kids Need their Parents Help

So remember, when you think that your kids have outgrown some things that they loved as younger kids, that there may just be a day when they come to you needing you for something else or something similar. Hang on parents, our kids do still need us, even in their older years! Be patient, they will come to you.