The Story Behind The Robe

I thought long and hard about what to name my blog.  I want it to best represent me, my life and what I am passionate about.  

Since getting married back in 2009, it is safe to say that throughout this past decade I have undergone many transformations.  I started off as a newlywed, settled into a career as a history teacher, I loved to travel, shop, be stylish, get my hair and nails done on a regular basis, decorate - the list goes on. 

Then...I had children. 

After a long and hard struggle with a nasty thing called infertility, I am humbly grateful to say I am now a proud mother of four amazing children, and one precious angel in heaven, all of whom fought along with me to achieve this life together.  After my kids were born I knew I wanted to stay home with them while they were babies.  

I still love all of the same things, but my priorities have shifted.  So, in comes "The Green Robe."

My husband is a swim coach, and after one swim meet one of the away teams left a green bathrobe in the girls locker room. That green bathrobe ended up in his lost and found for over two years. One day, my husband came home and said, "Hey, do I have a present for you!" He gave me the lost-and-found, nothing-special-yet-very-warm-and-super-soft emerald green robe.  

I wore that robe EVERY SINGLE DAY the first year after my oldest son, Greyson, was born.  It's been puked on about a million times, has had poop on it, dog hair, tears, boogers - you name it, it's been on the green robe.   Meanwhile, back at work, the seniors at my high school did staff superlatives for their yearbook and voted yours truly best dressed.  Many of my colleagues found this quite humorous and one even protested - they knew I was home wearing a stinky green bathrobe every day, how does that constitute being best dressed?!

So the moral of the story is, yes, I traded in my high heels and stylish outfits for a lost and found bathrobe.  However, it is the "outfit" I am most proud of to date because of what it represents.  

My vision and intention for this blog is to show you both sides of me, Nicole, the mom in The Green Robe.  I'm obsessed with being a mom yet have still not let parts of my old self go.  I still like to look nice, feel stylish, decorate my home, cook great dishes, stay healthy and fit, and craft away for parties. 

Sometimes I am showered, many times I am not.  

My biggest pet peeve with blogs and Instagram is I always think to myself, "Yeah, great outfit, but I cannot chase down my toddler in the library parking lot mid-tantrum in those shoes with a bouquet of hydrangeas gracefully spilling out of my designer tote bag!"  You with me?!  So throw on your robe and join me if you'd like some realistic tips on the ever-so-exciting task of balancing motherhood with all of the other crazy things us ladies love to do!