Romper Love

Another one of my favorite things to wear in the Fall are rompers!

 

For some reason, I like wearing them more in the Fall than I do in any other season. Maybe because I like layering and layering and layering, and I like the long seamless look that rompers provide to break up all the many layers I put on top of it.

 

I also like how rompers are thigh length--I have short legs so I like to wear shorter length shorts/skirts, as I feel like it makes my legs look longer. However, I also do not want to look like I'm just walking out of the house wearing just a t-shirt...lol. So I like that rompers appropriately allow for this kind of look. And since they're shorts (as opposed to a skirt or dress), it keeps it casual in a dressy kind of way. It also allows me to run around and play with/pick up my kids without having to worry if my stuff is gonna hang out if I bend over!! LOL ;p

 

 

I found this romper earlier this season (around Sept or early Oct maybe?) at Forever 21. I had to get a Medium--the small wouldn't fit my hips. I like the fit around my waist, but not loving it at the top. It's loose and doesn't fit my arms or bust area so it makes it look waaay to big for me! But thanks to my favorite sweater (H&M from like 5 years ago--maternity gift from my bestie, thnx bee!), I was able to pull it all together and "hide" the looseness that's happening at the top. But don't get me wrong! The romper is really cute on its own! It's also 3/4 sleeve so very appropriate for this time of year (especially with the 60 degree weather we've been getting here on the east coast!). I would just try it before you buy it.

 

 

Can we talk about how good my photographer was doing on this day?! She was on top of her game. Lol! --thnx Kimbo :p

 

I need to shout out these boots really quick--because they haven't been getting enough attention from me. Lol! They were only $10 at DSW! Very cute and very comfy, but honestly, I do not wear them enough!
 



 

Side note--I've been living in this hat for the past few weeks now! I never thought I'd fall into the wide-brim fedora trend, but look at me now. Lol :p Never say never!

Hope Fall is treating you all well. :)

 

Until next time,

6 Ways to Avoid Burnout

 

Sometime last week, the thought of writing this blog post came to me--probably in the midst of running my kids back and forth between school and daycares, going to work, and running around Baltimore for work events. It's certainly very very challenging to be a full time mother, housekeeper, worker, and friend all at once. I constantly struggle with the balance of my time--between work, my social life, my love life, my career, (this blog!), and being there for my kids. With "so much to do and so little time," it can be easy to get burnt out. And since this blog is partly about balance, I was inspired to write this post for you!

B A L A N C E . . . it's something I have committed to working on every. single. day. It's taken a lot of time and a lot of effort to try to achieve a "well balanced life," and while I am still on my journey to finding it, here are some things I've learned:

1.  Time management is everything! I've learned to value my time more. At home, there are a million things I could be doing, and choosing wisely is key!! Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize! Trust me, I hate coming home to "more work" as much as the next kid, but the truth is--the dishes have to be done and the clothes have to get washed. And unless you can afford to have it done for you, you have to do them yourself, Superwoman. But during the week when I come home, I don't want to spend the only 2-3 hours I have each night with the kids doing housework. So I started looking at my time, rather than looking at the tasks. Instead of going down my list of chores, I give myself a time limit to do them. My week-night schedule is now limited to 45 minutes of chores TOPS when I get home. I've acknowledged that not everything will get done in one day, and I've learned to be okay with that. Whatever I can get done in that time will get done, and what is not done can wait until the next day. This has forced me to prioritize my chore list better, and do them a hell of a lot faster too! But the biggest benefit is that it ensures time with my family and for myself every night. This may not work for everyone (some people can't go to sleep with a messy kitchen--I get it!), but it works for me! I used to not be able to sleep until the job was done. I got over that quickly once I realized how much time I was missing with my family. That was more important to me...which brings me to my next point...
2. Think about what you really want and need. Is what you're doing really worth your time? Are the people you make time for really worth your time and energy? Or are there more important things you'd rather be doing? This speaks to your career aspirations as well. If you get that job you've been dreaming of, will you have to make any large trade offs for it? And will those trade offs affect anyone else that's important to you? My time is very valuable to me. And as I make my decisions day by day, this is one that I put a lot of thought into. I am your number one people-pleaser, and what I needed to learn was that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. I had to figure out what was most important to me and determine if my trade offs were worth it or not.
3. EAT. Seriously. Eat. Have you ever had something big that you were working on and you spent so much time working on it and focused on it, you go a whole day without eating anything? It's like the moment you get busy, adrenaline rushes in and you forget all feelings of tiredness, pain, and hunger! Make time to eat...and eat well! I just recently switched my diet to being...well lets say 80% of my diet...all organic foods. (Hey, all about the balance, right?!!) Not only have I lost 5lbs in two weeks, I find myself more focused, more efficient, and constantly eating!! That is...constantly eating throughout the day to keep my metabolism going. Workout too. Even if you walk at least 30 minutes a day, every little bit helps. Taking care of yourself physically will definitely help you mentally as well. Keeping a well balanced diet and exercise routine, I stay energized and it forces me to do the next thing:
4. Take a break! Walk awaaaayyy--just walk awayyyyy! :p But really. Walk away from your desk if you need to. Has anyone ever told you to "take a chill pill"? It's because you really need one. 1) No one wants to be around a grouch, and 2) You won't be able to do anything to its full potential if you don't take a break! Are you a stay at home? Call someone and have an adult conversation at some point during your day while you're at home with the kids. Nap. Read. Watch a show or a movie. It's important for your mind to rest. I was told once before--we are not superheroes (as cool as it would be to my kids if I was one, I am not.), and we need to learn how to take the cape off.
5. Prepare. Staying prepared saves you from so much stress! I learned the hard way. HELLO. I am your number one procrastinator!! I used to have a magnet on my fridge that said, "I'll procrastinate later." :p Yup, that was me. Until I had kids. And until I was put into a role at work where I couldn't be! Life was teaching me a good life lesson. What takes you 5 minutes to do the night before will save you 10 minutes in the morning! Getting things ready while your mind is active is much more efficient that trying to get things ready while you're just waking up and probably rushing.
6. Last but not least, turn it off. I attended a woman's conference this past week and one of the speakers talked about how we now live in a 24/7 society. She mentioned in the past how TV stations used to turn off at a certain time at night so that people could sleep. Nowadays, you not only have the option of watching TV all night, but you can get on social media, play games, text/chat with people...all from the palm of your hands, and at anytime, 24/7. While it's good to stay connected, it's also good to disconnect. After Thanksgiving, I plan on "fasting" and getting off of social media until Christmas. As much as I'm nervously anticipating it, I'm also looking forward to it! See ya'll lataahhzzz ;) (jk...I will most likely still post on here.)

All in all, these are just some things to keep in mind while we try so tirelessly to save the world. I think it's important for everyone to find their own ways--as I said before, what works for me may not work for the next person. But the key is to make the time to not lose your mind! Do what makes you happy, fulfill your purpose, and do it with passion, and you will always feel blessed. :)

Until next time,

Holiday Green

One of my favorite colors this season has been dark green. I have never been a green kinda girl, but something about that color makes me feel classy and elegant. (Which is a hard feeling for me to come by nowadays as a mommy of two! So let me live.) I also love to wear this color over the holidays as a non-red holiday option. Not that I have anything against red...red is just your typical "holiday" color, aaaannd let's just say I like to go the non-traditional route sometimes. ;) #rebel (Not.)

Anyway, I had time this weekend (shocking!) and I thought I'd play around with this dark green top I bought from Express earlier this year. I guess you can say I did a form of the day-to-night concept with a dressy/day/work look, then a keep-it-casual look. Really I just couldn't make up my mind on how I wanted to style it, so I did all three! :p (Imagine how my mornings are like!) So here it is three different ways!

This is an easy wear-to-work outfit (holiday season or non-holiday season).....that will likely be on repeat over the next few months for me. The shirt is one of the Portofino shirts from Express. These dress shirts are so comfortable--I could buy them in every color! I've listed a few of my favorites at the bottom of this post. I have two, this dark green one and one in burnt orange and can pair them with anything (dress pants, jeans, skirts, etc.). Love em!


















Last year I splurged a little bit and bought this faux fur vest from Francesca's and I LOVE it--but I don't wear it enough! So I feel like I need to get my money's worth and wear it as much as I can...but that just ain't happening...I just don't go to enough cool places to break out my faux fur. Lol! So anyway, I'm constantly on a hunt to find casual outfits that I can make using this vest. Yanno, working around my accessories. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Aaaand just in case the vest was "too much".... :p

By the way...this is the first time I did a photoshoot with my kids around. It wasn't easy trying to keep them busy and out of my photos! I broke a sweat!!
And I may or may not have let them eat a jar of cookies to stay still................

Alas--gotta have the gold!

Hope you enjoyed! I hope to post more non-red holiday looks for you soon, so stay tuned for that!

As promised...my fave portofino shirts out right now:

What Went Right?

As I was driving to work one morning, I was listening to the radio--Christian rock, for my positive vibes in the morning--and they mentioned a thought that really resonated with me. She said, "Everything could always be better." They went on to discuss how and when that thought comes into our minds, and it's normally when something goes wrong that we end up telling ourselves, "It could be better." But what if we told ourselves that all the time--even when things go right?

The reality is this: When something goes wrong, we accept that it happened and that we can't go back to change it. Then we analyze how it went wrong and what can be done in the future so it doesn't happen again. But when something goes right...typically, we pat ourselves on the back and don't think twice about it.

The idea they were sharing is this: When something goes right, analyze why it went right and what can be done in the future so it can happen that great again or even better.

In my world, I don't do that often enough...but it makes so much sense! I spend SO MUCH TIME focusing and analyzing what goes WRONG in my life, and spend SO MUCH ENERGY trying to fix it, and I spend so little time on what goes right. And I wonder why I'm so stressed out sometimes.

There will be many times in your life that something doesn't go your way. It may rain on your wedding day, your client meeting may not have gone as well as you planned, you may bomb a job interview, you may flunk a final test, you may not get into the top college on your list, you may lose a friend, your relationship may end, your marriage may be failing...life tests us too many times, in too many ways. And although I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, I also believe we all have a part to play in our journeys. And don't get me wrong--it is important to look back at the things that have gone wrong and look at how to better the situation going forward. The thought here isn't to stop that, it's to apply it to the good situations in our lives too. My team at work "debriefs" after large meetings to address what went wrong and what went right, and the information that comes out of it is always so helpful. I admit, it hurts when you have to accept that you can't go back and fix things (especially when it could've been so easy of a fix!), but now, that one easy fix becomes top-of-mind for next time, and your meetings after that will get closer and closer to flawlessness. (Cue Beyoncé.)

Relationships and marriages are the tough ones. You know that "new" feeling at the beginning of a relationship? That fun little honeymoon stage? That fun little temporary honeymoon stage? How great it was, right? If you took a minute today to look back at how and why you and your significant other started, what do you remember? Really focus on it. Block out the thoughts of "well it was great, we used to do this and that, and feel this way...but this led to that, then that happened, and it was because he/she was like this to begin with in the first place, and now it's all gone down the drain." Yeah don't do that. Think about how you used to show your love. What made it all work? What did you do to make it all work? Why were you such a great pair for each other in the first place? Too often, we wait until things go wrong in our relationships to start asking ourselves these questions. If we keep these thoughts at the top of our minds all throughout, and work to figure out and remember how our relationships work, we eliminate the guessing game if it breaks. You can't fix a car if you don't know how an engine works. If we never look at why something went so right, when it breaks, we don't know how to fix it because we never knew how it worked in the first place.

I just wanted to share this thought with you. It was a great piece of advice that I was fortunate to hear at the right time. Be blessed and happy Friday!!