Graphic Print Critter

I wasn't joking when I said I was wearing a ton of stuff from the Men's department- WHY would I pass up this sweatshirt?! I'd be a crazy person if my new utilitarian-slouchy dressing didn't include a little bit of pizzaz. Can a varmint on a sweatshirt really be considered pizzaz? Whatever, I'mma roll with it. 

What a nice week it's been so far! The calm before the storm of tomorrow's Thanksgiving celebration with our buddies has been a series of puttering to the store for small forgotten food items, hunting for more forks (because nobody wants to eat turkey with chopsticks), and extra tummy time to encourage scooting. Anytime I try to put Violet's little knees tucked under her hips, she stiffens into a plank and I end up wheel-barrow lifting her legs. It cracks me up everytime! I know she'll figure out the physics in her own time, but the fun of doing my best to help her out only to have it hilariously backfire is filling my days with a lot of laughs. 

Duuude.

I've been really out of my own blogging loop for a while. I've been sort of keeping up with some reading, mostly keeping in touch through Instagram, but what I've gathered is that Capsule Wardrobes are "in" and they're filled with neutrals and stripes.

Well, I guess I've been accidentally capsule wardrobing for a really long time, then.

I'm taking the capsule-chic one step closer to lazy and have been doing two things with what I've been wearing lately. 1. Replace a lot of dead and dying clothes (China water is really mineral-y and makes clothes crunchy and gross much more quickly. Goodbye, old worn out favorites) with pieces that are a little oversized, since my intention is to be pregnant on repeat and knock out the whole "let's have lots of kids" thing bing bang boom style. And slouchy/ comfortable works in pregnancy, post-partum, and toddler chasing. 2. I'm buying the bulk of my new favorites in the men's section. Been doin' that since my belly got big, like here, here, here.

A Weekend Non-Adventure

Over last weekend, we had the opportunity to join several Expat teachers affiliated with the university (all from other departments- what fun to meet new people!) to go visit a "new style" modern village made up of agricultural zones, manufacturing, and new style homes.

Shoulda been interesting to see the new model of modern China.

Nope.

Our time in this village (and more power to them, I really hope they continue to receive encouragement and support from the government and society- some sort of sustainability measures should be encouraged) was not spent actually experiencing or understanding what's really "new" and "now," but rather we spent 3 hours walking through building after building of displays of what agriculture and day to day life was like 40 years ago (It looked the same as one might imagine farming in China in 1874 to look like). With creepy wax mannequins. And taxidermied animals everywhere. Not tremendously informative or interesting, but it was nice to spend a little time with new friends. Silver linings and all that junk.