Low-Maintainence, or Just Lazy?

I consider myself to be a no-fuss kind of girl when it comes to my looks. I don't wear a lot of -if any- makeup, I tend to wear my glasses rather than my contacts, my hair is usually in a ponytail, my nails are pretty short and (due to my job) usually coffee stained, and my most common outfit is jeans and a tshirt of some kind. What's funny is that I've been this way for about 6 years. I've had this mentality since before was married, and long before I became a mom, so I know that that's not really a factor. Don't get me wrong, I like to get dressed up and wear heels and makeup and nail polish and all that, I just don't see the point of putting so much effort into it every morning, when I could be getting an extra 30-45 minutes of sleep instead.

Lately though, I've been looking at recent pictures of myself and wondering, "What will my kids think when they see these? Will they think I was dowdy, or just practical? Will they call me lazy, or will they appreciate that I was focused on more important things than my looks?" It's been nagging at the back of my mind a lot. I suppose what's really bothering me is that I don't want to appear lazy. I want to look as happy as I feel, and I recognize that clothes have a lot to do with that, as do hairstyles and the like. I don't want to "let myself go" just because I'm a mom, but I don't want to err in the opposite direction and become too absorbed in my outward appearance. I want to take good care of myself, and I want to feel as good about the outside I'm presenting to the world as I do about what's inside. I want my daughter to grow up wanting to emulate me, and I want the "me" she tries to emulate to be worthy of her admiration. I don't want her to obsess over her looks, but I want her to learn good habits and a healthy dose of self-respect, and the best way for me to teach her is through my example.

So, to kick-start my image-revamp, I recently got my hair professionally colored for the first time, and I let my stylist cut it in the style she thought best suited me and my lifestyle, too. I've been slowly buying clothes that fit and flatter my post-baby body, and I'm making healthy diet and exercise changes too, so I'll feel better about my figure. I was blessed with good enough skin that I still don't feel the need to wear a lot of makeup, but I'm going to make an effort to take good care of that skin so that it ages well.

I'm not going to get all dressed up to run to the grocery store, and you won't be seeing me in heels when I take my toddler to the park, but when you look at me now you'll see a young woman who is confident enough in her own skin that she doesn't feel the need to cover it up. You'll see a woman who knows how to dress her body, but isn't extravagant or obsessive. You're going to see one hot mama ;-)