This edition of Steppin’ Out could also be called “All we did on Saturday was drive around and look at the price of rocks but Suzanne got a remote for her camera and also a new shirt so she took pictures anyways.”

But that’s not quite as catchy.

On Mama:

Headband – Allora Handmade
Black tank – H&M
Flowered shirt – Target
Jeans – Target
Sunglasses – The Dollar Store

Tell me the truth, the shirt’s pretty ugly, right? I think the pattern came right off my grandmother’s couch. Not even the good living room couch – the lumpy basement couch. Target also had it in blue, which was definitely less couchy, but I own TONS of blue and thought this would be a nice change. I think I was wrong.

On Caroline:

Cardigan & Dress – Old Navy
Amber teething necklace – Local (out of business) baby store

That sponsored post I did for Old Navy this week was to promote their 30% off baby & toddler sale (plus the 15% off coupon!). So of course when we were at the mall Friday for Stroller Strides I went to check it out. Both kids now have a few new things for summer. I’m such a sucker for a sale.

Little Evan was also adorable at some point, but peed through his diaper during nap and then…his father dressed him. Let’s just say he would have fit right in at Bayview with Zack and the gang – tapered jeans, popped color and all. I did not take a picture.

We suffer from a chronic case of good intentions but no follow through around here. So many plans, so little actually going places and doing things. But one of the nice things about having memberships at Mystic Seaport and Mystic Aquarium is we can go whenever and stay for however long we want. Baby having a fit? Time to go! Weather gets bad? We’ll come back some other day! Crap-ton of people who don’t understand how to not stand around yapping in the middle of the walkway and make me want to scrape out my own eyeballs with an ice pick? The walkway will still be there on a weekday! I can keep my eyes! Which is good, because they are usefully to me!

So on Saturday we celebrated yet another day of nice weather by taking Little Evan to see the boats. BOAT BOAT BOAT BOAT BOAT BOAT. The Seaport is a really nice place – especially on days like yesterday when it was practically deserted – but it is definitely a TWO PARENT ACTIVITY. There’s nothing like hundreds and hundreds of feet of open, non-guard-railed waterfront with a 6 or 7 foot drop into the river to keep you on your toes, especially with a toddler who wants to be AS CLOSE TO THE BOATS as possible.

You have seen boats advertised on television and on the Internet, but can’t find a legitimate platform to search for a boat ?  Try searching at Zeboats it features lots of boats currently for sale on the market in your area. Good tip, do  some research before purchasing a boat. You can find out everything you need to know by visiting their website.. They are always open to questions and will be glad to discuss the details of their product with you. So if you are ready to buy a boat, go ahead and check it out.

Including the boats that do not actually belong to the Seaport but are just docked there by people who own giant boats and probably wouldn’t appreciate a 2 year old showing up in their cabins shouting “HAI! HAI! BOAT! MAMA! DADA!” in their faces. So it takes both E and myself to watch him and still remain an appropriately responsible distance from the stroller so no one reports us for child abandonment.

And hey, we were in public! So everyone wore clothes.

On Little Evan:

Shirt – Gymboree, last season
Pants – Gymboree, this season
Sandals – Old Navy

On Mama:

Shirt – Goodwill, tag says ELLE
Jeans – Target
Sweater – Gap, purchased on clearance in 1998
Earrings – Gift from my sister, purchased in Costa Rica
Giant sticker on my boob – Member entrance sticker for the Seaport. Classy.

Shoes – Target, 50% off! I’ve been eying these for MONTHS, trying to decide if they were worth $20 or if I should wait for them to go on sale, as all Target shoes do. I waited. Now I’m just sorry I didn’t buy them in the other colors.

Also, if you look closely you can see my totally gross toenail on my left foot. Little Evan threw a bottle of carpet cleaner at me in the store and it landed right on my nail. It bled for hours and now it’s all blue and gray and black and it’s totally going to fall off. AREN’T YOU GLAD I POINTED THAT OUT TO YOU?

On Caroline:

Romper – Gift, tag says Hartstrings
Leggings – BabyLegs
Socks – Who the hell knows, hand-me-downs

More pictures from our fun day:

These swans are building a nest right on the main waterfront. They’re going to be really sorry when the seaport gets busy in a few weeks. But it was super cool to watch!

Little Evan steering the Amistad. Yeah, the one from the movie.

Hanging toddlers over the edge of giant scaffolding! Good times!!

I think Caroline might be interested in starting solids sooner rather than later. And for the record, NOT PEPSI. Lemonade.

Why yes, I DID dress my baby in a nautical themed outfit for the Seaport. Also, the amber teething necklace is once again working like a CHAMP, as evidenced by the happy, silly baby.

Dreaming of the day he can finally escape his horrible, mean parents for a life at sea.

Wheeeee! Date Night! Pretty good way to turn 29, even if we didn’t manage to stay up late enough to celebrate my birthday’s arrival at midnight. Please enjoy checking out your reflecting in the shine off my face in this picture taken with a flash:

On E:
Sweater: American Eagle
Jeans: Levi’s
Shoes: No idea, and E’s answer is “I dunno, they’re SHOES”
Cologne: Aqua Di Gio, which, if you could smell it through my computer screen, would make you want to make out with him immediately.

On Me:
Dress: Charlotte Russe
Jeans: Old Navy
Heels: Nine West
Sweater: Walmart (yeah, I said it)
Rosette Necklace: Allora Handmade
Bag: Epiphanie camera bag – my birthday present!

I think the dress needed a belt, but it was so comfortable I couldn’t bring myself to care if it made me look sort of wide. Also, I am sort of wide. But it’s not like anyone cared what I was wearing – they were all too busy admiring my GORGEOUS new camera bag. SO GORGEOUS. And I don’t know if you can tell (and I doubt you spend enough time examining pictures of my head to notice) but I dyed my hair for the second time this month. The last color wasn’t blond enough but THIS color isn’t pale enough. I think my mistake is I keep picking shades labeled “natural extra light blond” or “natural pale yellow blond” or “natural sort of reddish blond even though the picture on the box is not at all red”. What I really want is a whiter blond, like a less dramatic Gwen Stefani, but I’m soooo scared of the boxes labeled “cool” or “ash”. I don’t know why. It’s not like I couldn’t just dye it again if I hate it – and it would probably be better to START with the most dramatic color so I don’t end up frying the crap out of it dying it every month.

It is amazing how much I both LOVE and HATE dying my hair.

Today I am rocking the dry shampoo AND the headband, along with worn-in jeans and a sweatshirt so I can go do a little child-free shopping in comfort. I might swing by Goodwill (the closest thing we have to a real thrift store) later and see if they’ve stocked anything worth rescuing so the next time I do a Steppin’ Out I can wear something “vintage”. I feel so left out with my retail store bought clothes.

I hope you had a fantastic Saturday too! For more Steppin’ Out fun, go check out the links at Harper’s Happenings!

We are having quite a weekend, and by quite a weekend I mean dragging 2 kids all over New England doing a crap ton of shopping for house redecorating type stuff. I didn’t want to commit to furniture for this house if there was a chance we might be moving in the fall, but unfortunately E didn’t get the promotion he was hoping for and we’re here for at least another year. Which is bad for his career but good for our finances – selling right now would be a nightmare. But since we’re NOT moving we suddenly have a little extra money and a lot of extra motivation to spruce things up.

Also, new furniture always fits, unlike the jeans I tried on at Target last week. And even if I end up regretting the new rug we bought it won’t be as much as I regret the big heavy bangs I keep thinking about cutting myself. I’m so bored with this long, straight, boring mop on my head. It’s a true code red hair emergency around here. Someone hide the scissors.

Here’s what we all wore during Saturday’s shopping adventures:

Evan:

Shirt – Target

Pants – Hand me downs, I think they’re a brand from Walmart

Caroline:

Jammies – Carter’s (yeah, she slept ALL day so I didn’t bother with real clothes)

Mama:

Shirt & Jeans – Target

Sweater – Old Navy

Headband – Gussy

Necklace – Tiffany & Co, a gift from E two Christmases ago that I know he thinks I never wear so I’m proving I TOTALLY DO

Flip flops – Some beach store a zillion years ago and I am SO EXCITED it was (almost) warm enough for them!

New hair color – Feria, Pure Diamond Blond. Meh. All it did was make my roots a little lighter.

Coat – ModCloth. Isn’t it GORGEOUS? It’s perfect for spring and just so incredibly well made I die with happiness every time I put it on. I’m now totally obsessed with stalking ModCloth’s sale section.

Today we’re going to the big fancy mall in Rhode Island just in case the Apple store happens to get in a new shipment of iPads (ahahahahaha) and because they have a Pottery Barn, a Williams-Sonoma AND a Restoration Hardware. I’m going to die and go to housewares heaven. They also have a Delia’s, but I’m officially too old to shop there anymore, right? My 16 year old self is crying a little.

Only 2 of us actually stepped out on Saturday – Me and Caroline to her (attempted) photo shoot with KBG Photography – but Little Evan asked to sit with the baby while we were taking her picture so he gets to be included.

Don't mind the HORRIBLE chair - it's where to dog sits so it's reeeeeally gross.

Caroline:

Dress – Vintage from when I was a baby (I think of it as her Little Pookie dress, because of the blue elephants)(99% of you have no idea what that means)(also, I know the elephants are green but their wings are blue)(please move on now)

Leggings – Old Navy

Little Evan:

Shirt – Gymboree

Jeans & Shoes – Target

Mama:

Dress – H&M

Nursing Tank (that I was hoping wouldn’t show because I look like a SLOB) – Glamour Mom

Belt – Charlotte Russe

Cardigan – Old Navy

Ridiculous tights that only cost $2.50 so I thought I’d try them & Boots – Target

Tiny amethyst earrings – Vintage from a garage sale

Adorable poppy hair clip you can’t see – Uff Da!

Dirty old boots I couldn’t crop out of the photo – E

And a little reality check - This is what 90% of the photos E takes for these posts look like.

So about the tights. It turns out I only like bright colored tights in theory – when they’re on my legs I feel conspicuous and silly. Luckily/unluckily, I already ripped a hole in these with one of my toenails (note to self: get pedicure) so I don’t have to worry about wearing them again. I did buy nice navy blue pair that I think will feel less silly. I also won’t be wearing this dress again until I stop nursing (so, a ZILLION YEARS from now) because I have to take it half way off to get my boob out. Poor planning, Suzanne. Poor planning.