The Terrific Twos

The Diva turns two!!!

Two years ago today I posted my very first blog! And my, she is growing quite nicely. 

This year I’ve made myself post on a regular basis. I’ve made myself post more about the events I attend. 

My first year I stressed and panicked over content. This year I’ve pushed my anxieties aside. 

I go to alot of pretty cool places. I’m literally ‘Living La Vida Diva!’ Not everyone may even know they exist. By blogging about them I’m taking my readers along with me. I want to inspire readers to check out these events themselves. 

Of course everyone with a two year old likes to show them off. So I’m ‘showing off’ some of my favorite blogs from this past year. 

The Love Desserts and the Celtic Festivals were two of my favorites. I love my Scotch-Irish heritage almost as much as I love sweets. 

I shared the struggle I feel each time I go home to visit.

Anything that involves shopping is also an immediate favorite. I was fortunate to attend and blog about several events at Southpark Mall in Charlotte. Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Lilly Pulitzer and Banana Republic have each provided me with opportunities to bring my readers into their stores with me. 

This year brought my first chance to be a social media Influencer. 

Banana Republic invited me to ‘Find my Perfect Fit.’ This brought about the most difficult yet most rewarding blog I have written. I was worried about how I would look in the pictures I was posting of my body’s most troubled areas. I was worried about how I was representing such a well known, highly respected company. 

I chronicled my Pants Journey and it became one of my favorite blogs. 

This year also brought about my first blogger ‘collab’. 

@Reaganmyownworld and I teamed up to bring our readers the newest pieces of Target fashion.

My little blog is continuing to grow. We are growing together. And I look forward to everything we experience in the coming year. 

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Can I wear white pants?

I’ve recently decided to take the plunge and look for white pants.

I’ve accepted the fact that with my body type (short and dumpy) this is going to be a struggle.

Leggings are out of the question. Thin white material on dumpy legs is not a good look.

So my requirements are thick material and inexpensive. Being the “mess magnet” that I am, I know wearing white is risky. So I do not want to invest a lot of money into something that could possibly be ruined so easily.

My first stop was Walmart. $7.97 for white jeggings. Perfect! Until I tried them on.

Big noooo. Tooooo thin. Showed every lump and bump.

On to Target. I tried a pair that was the perfect thickness but they were plus sized and I’ve lost a lot of my “dumpiness” last year. Perhaps a cropped pair from the Denizen Levis line. Those are a definite maybe.

My next stops were Macy’s and Belk, but their options were a little pricier than I wanted to go. JC Penneys only option was in Jr. sizes and that’s just not going to happen.

On to Kohls where I found a pair from the brand Elle that I liked, but they were a size too big. The price was $48, but they were on sale at 25 percent off.

Old Navy nailed it. Their Pixie pants in white were perfect. They’re priced at $39.94 so I’m waiting for them to go on sale before I get them. I also got the Denizen Levis cropped pair from Target.

So the answer is YES!!! Yes, I can wear white pants. Anyone can. You just have to keep trying on options until you find the perfect pair!

Got Soy Milk?

After being a vegetarian for over 20 years I’ve never had the urge to be vegan. This girl loves her cheese!! But after hearing some of benefits of going without dairy I started reading up on the subject.

Two of the benefits that interested me were the clearing up of my skin and my sinuses. I’ve battled issues with both a lot in the past few years so I thought I’d give it a go in an attempt to breath better and have clearer skin.

I came upon the So Delicious 21-day dairy-free challenge. After reading all the comments from converted vegans I thought I’d try it.

What did I have to lose?

I never realized how much dairy I consumed daily. I’ve never liked milk, so not drinking it was no problem. But the cream in my coffee, the cheese on my salads and my veggie chili, the butter on my potatoes … wow. I soon realized this was going to be harder than I thought. I replaced my coffee creamer with almond milk or coconut milk. I have yet to find a non-dairy cheese I could stomach so I just avoided my favorite food of all … pizza. And ice cream. I tried various soy, almond and coconut based ‘ice creams’. Again I was not satisfied so I just avoided both.

After the first week I noticed no changes. Week two passed also without any change in my skin or sinuses. Everyone was telling me to just give it up. Even in the last week I persisted. Day 20, I turned down pizza. Even tho’ I knew I would be returning to dairy in the next couple of days. I insisted on following through.

After my challenge ended I did not immediately gorge myself on pizza and ice cream as I’d envisioned. Eventually I ate pizza and ice cream just in moderation. I no longer use dairy creamer in my coffee and I leave the cheese off most of the meals I’d normally consumed it with. Although dairy-free didn’t help my issues I’m sure many benefit from it. I now consume less dairy for caloric purposes.

There are some great dairy alternatives out there. And most stores have their own ‘store brand’. I now consider myself a partial vegan. Anyone else have any success with going off dairy?