Hello dear friends! It's been a while since I posted on the blog. Lots of life events were going on that deterred me from dedicating the due time to posting consistently. If you follow me on instagram (@richatiwari81), you'll know that I recently shared some happy news on the personal front: I'm expecting baby #2! So you can imagine why I became distracted away from the blog. I wanted to focus on myself for a little while and at the same time, lots of personal and work travels kept me quite busy!

Anyway, happy to say I'm back and inspired to post again! I just came back from an amazing trip to Hawaii and will be sharing a travel post on that soon (where to go & what to do if you're traveling with kids while still wanting to enjoy yourselves as adults!). I've got a few pregnancy fashion posts coming up soon on work-, party-, and weekend-style as well. So stay tuned!

This is an outfit post from my Hawaii trip. Achieving comfort without looking like a beached whale starts to get more and more challenging once you reach the third trimester of your pregnancy. You're lugging around a heavy weight around your mid-section and you don't feel all that glam. But I find that ASOS has some pretty good maternity clothes which still help you achieve that comfort combined with an everyday style factor. This loose top is super versatile - you can pair it with distressed jeans and sneakers to get a sporty look. Or you can throw on a pair of heels (yes, I am still wearing heels at this stage! I can't let go of my heels!) and a cute purse and make it look a bit more dressy. Needless to say, this top is a wardrobe staple at the moment for me!

Top: ASOS Maternity | Jeans: Zara | Crossbody bag: Fendi | Shoes: Charles & Keith |
Bracelets: Nakamol | Watch: Kate Spade 

2013 was quite a year of changes for me. I'm not just talking about events that took place. I'm also talking about the physical changes that occurred with me. I went from being a fit runner who could climb all 86 floors of the Empire State Building at the start of the year to someone who was waddling through the streets of New York by the end of it. My pregnancy was thankfully a relatively easy one but I knew I would have to wave goodbye to my routine of intense workouts for the next several months. And so my journey of an expanding waistline began...and with that, the challenge of still achieving put-together and stylish looks.

Here's a chronological recap of my looks from when I was about 4 months pregnant (and not quite showing yet) to 3 months post-pregnancy (where I'm still trying to shed those nagging pounds gained during the pregnancy)!

"Save the Date" invitations sent out in the shape of a boarding pass

I had my baby shower about a week ago. All I knew was that it was to take place on a Saturday afternoon. My sister and some dear friends handled the rest of it - everything from sending out the invitations (I just provided the guest list), planning the theme, figuring out a venue to setting up decorations. Being a bit of a micromanager and someone who can't help but get involved in planning things, it was really difficult for me to just take a step back and have everyone do the rest. Ever since the baby shower planning had started, I would keep asking Shruti, "So, how's the planning going? Do you need help? Is everything under control?" Luckily, she just chose to ignore me and as you can see from the pictures below...everything came together beautifully and I had the BEST time!

Left: Nails painted different shades of blue. Right: Baby pictures of myself and my husband along with books for the baby (Dr. Suess and a Thai lullaby book)

The venue was a surprise for me. I was led to believe it was taking place somewhere indoors. My husband was in on the scheme as well. As he accompanied me in the cab to what I thought was the baby shower venue, he made up some excuse about having to pick up something from a friend's place first. Well, that the venue ended up being at that friend's outdoor terrace! Everyone yelled "Surprise!" when I arrived, and then the party started! I loved the theme that Shruti and my friends came up with - all about travel to different countries. Given how much my husband and I enjoy traveling and experiencing different cultures and are constantly planning our next trip, the idea was perfectly appropriate! The cake pictured a cute little baby sitting on a globe with the words "Arriving First Class". The party favors were adorable luggage tags in the shape of sandals, and the food was from different countries (Indian, Thai, Mexican, and Italian). I also received the baby's first books to start his reading collection - for example, Dr. Suess's "Oh The Places You'll Go". How apt! Even the games were centered around the theme of travel, languages, countries, etc. I was so genuinely touched by all the little details that the party planners thought of and the work they put into planning this. I'm so happy I got to enjoy a special occasion in the company of amazing people on a beautiful summer day outdoors.

Perhaps my days of traveling might be put on hold for a while...but hopefully, not for too long. This baby's gonna be a globe-trotter, if I can help it!

Now that I’m almost 8 months into my pregnancy (the post where I first shared the news here), I can say with a fair amount of experience that shopping for clothes while pregnant is a pain in the tush! The initial four months were easy enough because I hadn’t gotten that big (“the barely there bump”). Months five to six started to get trickier but I still managed (“the cabbage-sized bump”). Months seven and eight have gotten increasingly more challenging (“the “giant watermelon bump”). Looking fashionable while pregnant is hard work, y’all! The problem I’m facing is that I absolutely dislike what I see in the maternity stores – the clothes are often overpriced ($150 for a pair of maternity jeans? Really?), ugly or ill-ftting, or too focused on accentuating the baby bump to the point of tackiness. And believe me, I’ve checked out a lot of maternity stores to explore my options!

So what’s a mama-to-be to do? Well, I have basically taken to finding my own solutions. I don’t believe in spending a bomb on clothes that I’ll only be wearing for a few months. Instead, I’ve chosen to create looks using what I already have in my closet (granted that only 10% of my clothes fit me right now!) and buying pieces from stores I usually frequent - Zara, F21, H&M, Old Navy (not a huge fan of their maternity clothes except for their maternity skinny jeans), and Joe Fresh, to name a few. My tactic has been to buy clothes from these stores that are a couple sizes larger but that still fit decently well. Skirts with elastic waistbands, maxi dresses, and loose flowy tops have become my go-to pieces, allowing me to be comfortable without (hopefully) looking too frumpy. Later, I expect to incorporate these pieces into my post-pregnancy closet as well.


Here are some of my looks over the past few months. I will be sharing more of my pregnancy fashion adventures in future posts so keep checking back! :)

Left: At 4 months, wearing a loose Zara top and an Express skirt with elastic waistband (original post here); Right: At 4 months, wearing a maxi dress from F21 (original post here)

Left: At 5 months, during my trip to Miami (original post here); Middle: At 6 months, with the hubby on trip to Norway; Right: Most recent picture at 7 months (original post here)

How MIA have I been lately? VERY. With all the travels I've had this year so far (Miami, Chicago, DC, Thailand, and Norway!), the blog seems to have taken a backseat. Admittedly, that's not the main reason that the blog has suffered a bit. On the personal front, my life is about to change in a dramatic way. If it hasn't been obvious from how I look in my Instagram pics, it will be when you see my pictures below....

I've debated how and when to share this news on the blog. Telling friends and family in real life is one thing but to announce it on a public forum such as a blog is quite another. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was - call it Indian superstition or whatever. But the blog has always served as my platform for capturing and sharing important events in my life. And so, it's with a great sense of joy and excitement that I share the news that I'm expecting! 

I'm already in my third trimester at this point - 29 weeks along! How do I feel? I feel excited. I feel love. I feel scared. I feel overwhelmed. I feel fat. I feel beautiful. I feel hungry (A LOT). But basically, I take each day at a time...reveling in this time of my life when I can still do whatever I want pre-baby, experiencing the joys and trials of the pregnancy itself, and preparing for when the baby will come into the world and turn it all around in a different yet wonderful way.