Unravel Me-Inspired Outfit

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Wow, it is COLD in Indiana.  Absolutely frigid.  The perfect weather for eating soup, drinking coffee, or cuddling up under a blanket!

Today's post is an outfit inspired by Juliette from Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi.  Juliette is an interesting character--she can't touch anyone without the risk of them getting hurt, or worse, killed, so she needs to cover herself from head to toe. 

In the book she has a pretty kick-butt body suit designed for her.  It serves multiple purposes and helps ensure that no one around her gets hurt.  Because a bodysuit like this isn't very suitable for everyday clothing, I decided to design an outfit for Juliette as she goes out on the town.  Something that she can wear that is body appealing (she has a killer body!) but keeps everyone safe.  And on the off chance that she and character Adam ever got to go out on a fun date, this would be a great outfit for her to wear!

Pretty chic, right?  Let me explain each piece:

• The jumpsuit is a one-of-a-kind piece.  And it's a more wearable version of a bodysuit.  I love the bright, bold color.  I think blue makes everything look more sophisticated.
• The black gloves and head scarf obviously keep Juliette covered but also give a sophisticated, vintage vibe to the look.  Can't you just picture her and Adam driving around?  If only they had such freedom...
• The black boots hold the outfit together and of course keep Juliette's feet covered.  Gotta keep that girl covered up, right?!

A lovely outfit for a girl that is probably more concerned about her threat to the world than her beauty.  But she deserves to be beautiful, too!

Interested in any of these pieces?  Check them out here!

Let's Be Real...and Relaxed

Hey, readers and fashionistas!  Ok, I rarely get "deep" on this blog, but let's take things just a little deeper than my typical book/fashion posts.

Let's backtrack a minute to New Year's Eve...the night that everyone posts photos of themselves with their loved ones.  And I always join in, too.  Even if we're staying at home (and let's be real here...with two little ones at home we are staying home a lot!), I dress myself up and take some selfies with the family to post.  This year, around 6 pm I said to Luke, "Well, I guess I better go get dressed for our New Year's Eve photos."  And you know what he said?  "Why do that?  Just stay comfortable." 

So I did. 

I stayed in my gym sweats and my youth group volunteer sweatshirt and I. was. so. comfortable.  I mean it felt so nice to put my hair up in a messy bun and just relax with my family.

Now let's fast forward to the present.  In my last post, I closed by saying that a Valentine's Day outfit was coming up...and that was my every intention.  I knew the date outfit I was wearing for my lunch out with Luke and was excited to share it.  So when the time came to get all "dolled up" for the photos, I found myself kind of tired and just wishing instead that I could just play with my boys and take it easy.

And that's what I did. 

I stayed in comfy clothes and felt so relaxed and at home with the family.  And none of us minded.

So, no Valentine's Day outfit to post.  And you better believe I didn't post any comfy selfies of myself (ha!).  But it was so nice to stay relaxed all night.

What does this mean?  Not too much.  I'll show outfit posts down the road, especially for holidays, and I'll dress up for holidays in the future.  But in the meantime, it just felt SO GOOD being me, at home, with my boys, no obligations.

So who else dressed down this past weekend?  Or who wish they had?

REVIEW: Unravel Me

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Man, this weekend we had BEAUTIFUL weather in Indiana!  I took my boys to the park (the park? in February?!) and they LOVED crawling and running and sliding all over the place.  I so needed that for my soul, and I feel completely refreshed in starting off a new week!

Today I'm reviewing Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi.  But before I jump into it, can we just talk about Mafi and her husband Ransom Riggs for a minute?  I mean, talk about a dynamic duo!  Those two would be a BLAST to have over for dinner.

I read Shatter Me, the first in the Shatter Me series, which follows Juliette and her "gift" of being able to kill with her touch.  Unravel Me is the second in the series and picks up when Juliette finds safety with others like her.  So let's jump right in!

 

• Dystopian
• Second book in the Shatter Me series

The Gist:
Juliette is now at Omega Point, an underground sanctuary for people like her, people with gifts that set them apart.  It's also the headquarters for the rebel resistance, and Juliette finds herself in the smack dab of the plans to take down Warner and his father.  Juliette isn't comfortable with the new population and desperately wants to be with Adam alone, but this is a new environment that she won't be able to escape.

What I Loved:

• There was so much character development in this second installment.  I felt like we moved past just Juliette and Adam and got to see so much more into Kenji, Castle, Warner, and even Warner's dad.  I loved digging deeper.
• I love Mafi's writing style.  Although not as many strike outs in this book, it is nevertheless filled with such beautiful writing.  Mafi's words just flow together like they were meant to be.

What I Didn't Love:

• This book is L-O-N-G...I think it's like 465 pages.  And there just wasn't much action involved.  A lot of internal thinking...like A LOT of internal thinking, and that just wasn't enough to keep me turning pages quickly.  Took me awhile to read the book.
• I just didn't like Juliette very much.  She was moody, antisocial, and a loner.  I wanted to scream "You can't put everything into Adam and give nothing to anyone else!"  A tragic case of girl who falls in love and drops everyone else.  So Juliette's storyline just dragged on to me.
• In other words, I just needed this book to move faster.  I needed the characters to get out of Omega Point earlier and move on toward the action.

I will definitely finish this series, but this book was a little too stagnant for me.  Ready for an exciting end to the trilogy!

Juliette wears this awesome spandex suit for most of the book...can't wait to show you my inspiration for it!  And a Valentines Day outfit coming, too!