How was everyone’s weekend?

Mine was a great mix of fun and productivity! I shot four outfits on Saturday afternoon—three of which will be hitting the blog after Thanksgiving as they were holiday looks (!) and one I’ll try to post relatively soon as it was a new installment of What I (Actually) Wear to Work. It was really cold when we were shooting—like 35-degrees cold!—so I forgot to accessorize some of the looks since I was just so happy to be back in the warmth (I changed in my apartment between outfits). I’m slightly annoyed with myself for not putting on the jewelry I had planned—but, hey, that’s just real life.

This week is going to be crazy busy and am so glad Thanksgiving is the light at the end of the tunnel—anyone else excited for a couple of days off to practice gratitude with friends and family? Not going to lie, I’m also really looking forward to putting my Christmas tree up in my apartment! In the past, I’d used all my ornaments from childhood, but at the end of last season, I stocked up on gold and red ball ornaments so I could “redesign” my tree, so to speak, this year. I’ve been Pinterest-ing a few ideas and will share the finished product once it’s (lit) up.

It’s been about two months since I filled you in on my life lately, so I thought it’d be fun to check in!

MY OLD NAVY OBSESSION /

Until this year, I hadn’t shopped seriously at Old Navy since the heyday of the Fourth of July flag shirts. When I started  consistently spinning and hitting up Orangetheory three or four times a week, I realized I needed to build out my activewear wardrobe. As much as I love Lululemon, I’m not made of money, so I tried a few crop pants and workout tops from Old Navy and ended up loving both how cute the pieces are and how well they work for actually working out.

The past month or so, I’ve been on the quest to find the perfect work pants since the ones I have are nearing the end of their useful life. I loved the Ann Taylor side-zip ponte leggings (seen in this post), but they changed the material this year and so they aren’t as work-appropriate. So I ordered the Ann Taylor Ankle Pant, the Banana Republic Sloan Pant (I was a huge fan of these before I discovered the aforementioned AT pants), and the J Crew Cameron Pant in Four Season Stretch. I liked them all, but ended up returning them all because I discovered Old Navy had a great ankle pant at a fraction of the cost! These ankle pants in black are perfect for everyday workwear—they don’t sag throughout the day, look super polished, and the petite length fit me great.

I also grabbed a few other work appropriate pants for the days when I want to have a little more fun with my outfit—like these velvet black floral pants (similar to the ones I owned last year!) and these beautiful gold jacquard pants, which look way more expensive than they actually are. I bought the velvet pants in the petite length—I’m 5’4″—and the jacquard ones in the regular length since they don’t come in petite. Even though they were too long, the fabric makes it easy to tuck the excess length under until you have them to the perfect length for you—no tailor required! For size reference, I buy an 8 in Old Navy pants, regardless of the length.

When I was in Old Navy making a return this weekend, I found these beautiful glitter and velvet heels which are going to be perfect for the holidays—and at $35, are a complete steal! They’re super comfy, too. I found they run true to size. 

DEALING WITH FLIGHT ANXIETY /

It’s no secret how much I love to travel—and many of adventures involve a plane as the primary mode of transportation. Up until late 2016, I never had bad flight anxiety. Sure, turbulence made me slightly nervous, but I didn’t really think twice about it once the bumps had subsided. On my way to New Orleans last year, we hit particularly rough air and it was one of those times where even the most experienced flyers were white knuckling their arm rests. When we were back on land, I didn’t think too much of the flight and certainly wasn’t anxious to get on the return flight home—or so I thought. While the return flight home wasn’t terrible, it seems as though with each passing flight, my anxiety on airplanes gets worse and worse.

I’m fine when I’m at the airport, but once I’m in my seat and we’re taxiing for takeoff, my heart rate starts to skyrocket. I don’t relax until we hit cruising altitude and the flight attendants start moving around. Even still, I am constantly on-edge for unexpected bumps. Surprisingly, I’m not super nervous during landing—mostly because I’m so excited that solid ground is in my future. Also surprisingly, I’m not worried about terrorism, I’m worried about our plane crashing because of turbulence or a mechanical error—which rationally, I know is dumb since commercial airlines are statistically the safest form of travel.

I’ve been trying to get over this anxiety since I do love traveling so much. I’m always more relaxed once I’ve had a pre-flight drink, but sometimes I travel for work and can’t drink before an important presentation/meeting or it’s one of those times when I simply don’t want a drink. So instead of knocking one back before boarding, I’ve been focusing on breathing, repeating facts about how safe it is to fly in my head, and relaxing—instead of tensing up—when we hit turbulence. I also always try to sit in an aisle seat since it makes me feel like I’m more in control—even though I’m really not, hah!

Have any of you dealt with or overcome flight anxiety? If you have, let me know any tips you may have for keeping my heart rate down in the friendly skies!

GOING THROUGH THE BLOG ARCHIVES /

Since the redesign, I have been going through all of my 600+ posts to set the featured images up in a way that ensures they aren’t duplicated elsewhere in my post. Through this process, I’m revisiting posts I haven’t seen or read in years. It’s been so cool to look at my blogging journey this way—I am really proud of how much I’ve improved since I first started nearly four years ago.

During this process, I’ve also been making some older posts private. Why did I ever think it was a good idea to post some of those photos?! I’ve hidden old outfit photos I feel no longer reflect my style (or should have never been posted in the first place—yikes!), old DIYs that are subpar, posts that added no value. I haven’t deleted anything off my backend so that I always have the whole record of TOT, but I think cleaning things up on the front end from time to time is important—especially if it’s no longer representative of my brand.

Besides being embarrassed for my former self, hah, I’ve realized that I’m really proud that I hold myself to a certain quality standard. Now, if I shoot an outfit and don’t like how the photos turn out (i.e. their blurry, I don’t like how the clothes look on camera, the background is weird), I don’t post them. If I have a really good idea for a post, but it’s going to take me at least two weeknights to write the content, I’ll spend the time instead of rushing to get something up just for the sake of posting. And if I don’t have high quality photos for a post, I hold off on posting it until I have the time to take the necessary images. But, I wouldn’t have ever gotten to this quality standard unless I’d gone through the process of learning how to blog—so I’m really grateful for the entire journey!

A LIVING ALONE UPDATE /

On Thursday, I will have lived by myself for three months! I absolutely love living alone. Since I’m so busy during the week, it’s nice to come home to a quiet apartment after a long day and not have to worry about whether someone else is cooking in the kitchen or watching TV when there’s something I want to watch. And, because I am a neat freak, I love that when I clean my apartment before I head out on a trip, it’s always just as clean when I come back. (Can you tell I’m a bit of a control freak?)

The biggest downside to living alone is that it is very expensive—my rent went up $500/month and now I pay for all my utility bills solo. It’s definitely doable for me, but I’ve had to cut down in other places to make sure I can pay my rent on time. I’ve only been lonely a couple of times—mostly on a weekend night when I’m hanging out at home and wish there was someone else to watch a movie or drink a glass of wine with—but to be fair, you I also sometimes felt that way when I had roommates if they were out and about or out of town.

It’s on my list to take some pictures of new additions to my apartment since it’s been a while since I shared any—stay tuned! (You can see my home decor posts here.) The next big thing I want to add to my apartment is a new dresser—I love the idea of a green lacquered one, so if you see any good ones, send them my way!

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That about sums it up for me—I’d love to know what’s going on in your life lately!