the daily julie

I’m sitting here so early that the lights on our Christmas tree that are set to turn on before my husband wakes up to go to work are not even on. I’ve made some hot lemon water and chugged some Robitussin because in the last 36-48 hours, I have developed a cough that’s kept me from sleeping like at all. and 5 am is sort of that gray area... does it make sense to try and go back to sleep or should you just call it a night (day?) and attempt something productive. I don’t know, but one thing for sure is that when a toddler sneezes right on your face, you are 100% guaranteed to get whatever crud they just shared with you. 

I also just took some goldenseal echinacea tincture I had tucked away in my medicine cabinet. It’s a few years old, like maybe five, but the label said it didn’t expire until 10/2018. That must have been wrong because I promptly threw it up in my kitchen sink. into the trash mother nature’s remedy went.

How was your 2017? Mine was... okay. It had highlights for sure and my little family of four is going strong. But we weren’t left unscathed by the political and social troubles of our time. It’s only up from here, right?

2018 is going to be the year of personal growth. I can just feel it. Since having kids, and especially since leaving my corporate career, I’ve struggled with my identity a bit. Am I happy as a stay at home mom? No. Am I happy working full time and being a full-time mom? No. Why does my motherhood need a label? Can’t I just be Julie. But who is Julie? Mom? Wife? wannabe artist and model?* Ask me this time next year and I’ll tell you.

2018...  it’s going to be the year. I’ll be turning 36 and that seems like a good a time as any for self discovery. I’m looking forward to drinking more water and giving more grace in 2018. I’ll be waking up early to work out before my kids get up. I’ll be the person that meal preps on Sundays. I’ll start meditating and journaling and reading (more). I’ll stop drinking wine on weekdays. I’ll remember all my friends birthdays BEFORE their actual birthday. I’ll go to church every Sunday. I’ll paint more. I’ll keep my car clean. #goals

*Top 10 of 2017 was getting asked to be in a friend’s modeling shoot for their local business here in Raleigh. Maybe in 2018, I’ll be like the Julia Child of social media content.

Phew. Life has been busy lately. This season of life is funny. It’s like one day you wake up and you’re finally a real, live, walking, talking adult. You’re the one responsible for the mortgage, the bills, getting the children fed, bathed, and out the door, caring for the aging parents, and dealing with real, heavy adult problems. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and even easier to lose yourself in the mess of life. These past few months, I’ve been trying hard, really hard, to focus my energy on the things I can control and letting go of what I can’t. Here’s what’s making my days these days.

1. I’ve been working out 3-5 days a week at a fitness studio I bought a groupon for (Burn Bootcamp for those of you who may have heard of it). The location the groupon is for is in a part of town that’s an intersection of all sorts of socioeconomic backgrounds. And I freaking love it. Especially with the recent events of Charlottesville. It’s all women and we are fighting, pushing, and feeling like we are about to die (that might just be me), for the same thing - to be stronger than we were yesterday. Looking around the room and seeing Black, Indian, Muslim and White women high-fiving, sweating and working toward the same goal is just, well, it’s amazing. I leave those 45 minutes on cloud nine every time I go.

2. I’ve been painting. If you follow me on instagram (@thedailyjulie), you see my paintings because I post them all there. It’s taken me months to figure out my “thing.” I tried faces. no. I tried abstract blobs of color. no. i tried outer space. kind of. i tried animals. no. The winner has been bright, colorful, abstract-y floral arrangements. They are absolutely my favorite thing to paint because I don’t know how you can’t look at them and feel happy. at least I do. When I feel overwhelmed or like life is swirling a bit out of my control, I bust out my paints and lose myself in it for a couple hours. I swear I come out of the process as a new person.

As a fellow sale lover to let you know that Rag and Bone’s sale prices have nothing on the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

Now that my kids are past that “yank on anything around mom’s neck, eyes, or ears phase” phase, I’ve been super into giant, colorful, tassel-laden earrings. They are such a fun way to amp up a basic outfit or even wear to the pool with your mom-suit. 

Forever 21 has been killing in the cheap but fun earring department lately. If you’re willing to weed through the giant gold earrings that say “Baby” and the sea of fanny packs making a resurgence, you can find them. Luckily for you, I did said weeding. Shop on!

I made this pan roasted salmon with tomato vinaigrette for dinner last week. Roasted asparagus (EVOO, salt, and paprika) finished out the meal. It was SO good. I doubled up on the tomato vinaigrette so I would have extra and I used it to top my eggs for breakfast the next few days. yum yum yum.

I feel like I need to preface this post with the huge caveat that a fashion blogger, I am not. 98% of my wardrobe includes things I’ve had for years or I find at TJ Maxx so it’s usually past season. I’m just a girl, standing in front of her closet, asking herself how she can look cute while running around after two kids. This is my attempt. I’ve linked up items that are similar since finding the EXACT piece currently for sale online is probably not going to happen. But, I would even bet that you probably have some similar pieces in your closet already!

similar jeans (under $100) // similar jacket // similar tee // flats // Handbag options: Neverfull 1 // Neverfull 2 // Neverfull 3

I wore this outfit to preschool drop off and pick up and running some errands around town while both kids were in preschool. I was nervous about the open toed sandals because I haven’t had a pedicure in AGES but yolo. I REALLY love the distressed jean trend going on right now. The pendant is by an Australian jewelry designer named Samantha Wills.I got it on ebay a few years ago.

similar jeans (under $60) // shoes // necklace // similar poncho // tee // Handbag options: Neverfull 1 // Neverfull 2 // Neverfull 3 

I have been obsessed with Rebecca de Ravenel’s Les BonBon earrings. They are just so fun and make a statement. But sadly, I’m a baby mama with two mouths to feed and $295+ for a pair of earrings does not sense make.

I picked up a pair of Bauble Bar’s Crispin drops last summer. They definitely have the most variety of colors/patterns to choose from and are a wallet friendlier $48. If you squint, you can tell I’m wearing these:

I was recently adding to cart a billion things I will never buy on Nordstrom’s website and came across these ball drop earrings by Cristabelle. At $38, they are a solid Hamilton cheaper than the Bauble Bar version and along with that savings, you get an extra ball at the bottom. Making your balls hang almost as low as the Les BonBon version. The only drawback is I’ve only been able to find them in this grey/silver color. But it’s a nice neutral that will go with a lot, so not all is lost.

I feel like I’ve written this post a million times in my head but I still don’t know where to begin.

I’ve renewed my URL the last two years despite being able to count the number of times I’ve posted on just one hand I’ve decided to delete the blog just as many times. But still, here I am.

So, here’s what I’ve decided. I’m coming back. But here’s what you need to know. I’m not the same Julie I was when I started this blog. I still love fashion, food and (love to hate) fitness. I still love a good selfie and a good sale and a good laugh. But I’m different. Life does that to you. Birthing two children does that to you. Changing said life because of said children does that to you. 

Here’s where I am now (some of this you might already know... some you might not). I’ve been a stay at home mom now for 20 months. It is literally the hardest life adjustment I have made. I might get into more details down the road but suffice to say now I am in a good place. It took a while to get here. But I’m here. Happy and thankful (because of a lot of people and a lot of support). My life revolves around shuffling my kids to and fro, naptime and mealtime schedules, balancing dinner prep with clean up duty, washing and folding clothes every damn day, fitting in workouts at ungodly morning hours and trying to raise two humans to be kind and compassionate people without losing my sh*t when I get asked the exact same question for the 15th time in a row. It’s fun and it’s hard and it’s my life now. 

So, if that’s the sort of thing you’re into, then stick around. Because I’m back, bitches. For real this time.

This. This right here. It's exactly why I work so hard. 

My life. My office. My terms and my DAUGHTERS! 

So what if I got up at 4:30 am because Caroline was sobbing for "mama, mama, MAAAAAAMAAAAAAAA." So what if I had planned on going to a 6 am barre class but couldn't make it because Nora woke up at 5:15 am because she "just wanted to be with me." Being awake that hour of the day (night?) is terribly unlike her btw. 

But here I am. Right now. Getting a jump start on the day with the cutest little assistant I've ever had. 

At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.

At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.

At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.

At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed at an assignment and decided to go to art school.

At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a single parent living on welfare.

At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.

Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39, and got her own cooking show at age 51.

Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.

Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40.

Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first movie role until he was 46. He has now played over 100 films.

Morgan Freeman landed his first MAJOR movie role at age 52.

Whatever your dream is, it is not too late to achieve it. You aren’t a failure because you haven’t done what you originally thought you would do in life. You are never too old, too tired, TOO BUSY, or too broke to start either! That is a lie that will keep you from all you were created to be. Even if you’re flipping burgers, waiting tables or answering phones today, you never know where you’ll end up tomorrow.

Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it. Never tell yourself you missed your chance. Never tell yourself that you are not capable.

We had the MOST fun 4th of July. since having children. Fireworks and late night cocktails just don’t have the same effect when your kids are afraid of loud noises and get up at 7 am no matter what time they went to bed the night before. REGARDLESS, it was still a blast full of pool drinks, plenty of ocean, NO shark sightings, lots of family time, amazing food and two kids who miraculously slept every night in the room we were sharing with them. 

We spent 5 glorious days at Ocean Isle Beach, where I’ve gone with Jason most years since we started dating (13 years ago!) and where he has spent a good chunk of every summer for pretty much his whole life. And I’ll gladly go back again and again and again. 

With a view like this, can you blame me?

Having the pool is SO nice when you’re just a bit tired of the sand and salt.

Like Nora....

We rang in the 4th with good old fashioned barbecue, 35 of Jason’s immediate family members, lots of laughs and NO sunburns.

No fireworks pics because well.... No fireworks for our kiddos. To say they were NOT a fan would be a gargantuan understatement. But, I do I feel compelled to tell you about my lip color above. I was turned on to Provocalips by Rimmel by a colleague of mine. It’s billed as 16 hour, kiss proof/transfer proof lip color. I snagged two on my last Tar-jay run - the bold orangey-red color above, which is “Kiss Me You Fool,” and “I’ll Call You,” a more natural pinky color. They last forever. Like, I had to use makeup remover to get them off at the end of the day. In the link I gave you for Ulta, they are $6.99, but Target has them for $6.49 in the store. I’m totally obsessed and plan on getting every single color.

The extent of my DIY skills ends with a hot glue gun. I just really don’t have the patient for much else. But I found the CUTEST DIY for pom pom fruit on pinterest (here) and knew Nora would love it. And I don’t think pom pom fruit is readily available for purchase with Amazon Prime,  so, I did what any mother who loves her children more than she hates DIY projects would do. I gave myself a pep talk, busted out the ipad so I could refer to the step by step instructions and worked on this while the children were sleeping so they wouldn’t hear the cursing as I completed the task at hand.

It took me three tries before I had something that resembled a strawberry but once I had the technique down, the kiwi and the watermelon came together pretty easily. I knocked all three out during one episode of Orange is the New Black. These turned out so cute and I found the yarn wrapping oddly therapeutic. I plan on making some more for gifts!

similar jeans, similar top, shoes, I made the necklace :)

This mom life has me coming and going and going and coming at all hours of the day. The summer is a LOT harder because both kids are home all the time and I spend 99% of my time fishing random things out of Caroline’s mouth or fighting her new favorite hobby of pulling the vents out of the floor (I mean, really?!) and making sure we’re stocked on chocolate milk, bananas and paint which are Nora’s favorite things to drink, eat and do. in that order. The other 1% of the time, I’m running my own business, cleaning, doing the household shopping and maintaining my own personal hygiene. 

Not complaints. Just facts.

Some shopping discount codes to help ease into the week:

Extra 30% off sale at BCBG.

Take 25% off all statement necklaces at Baublebar with code STATEMENT25.

50% off sale on ADORABLE kids clothes at Peek Clothing.

50% off all regular priced clothing at BCBGeneration.

40% off all Wildfox Couture with code FOX40 at Trend Boutique.

70% off House of Harlow Sunnies with code HOHSUN70 at Trend Boutique