Happy Saturday, squad. Sliding into the weekend with a rare blog post as I’m a little backlogged on finding the time to turn all my ideas for this blog into actual posts. The one question I’ve gotten most lately from people is, “where’s your next trip?!” and I am happy to report, that other than a work trip or two to NYC before the end of the year, I will be here, at home, in the city that’s currently hosting the World Series (!). I love being on the road and traveling, but I also love being home during this half of the year. Even though I am not partial to the colder weather, I love how life slows down a little bit—especially in January, February, and March. I have less social plans and more time to cuddle up on the couch and read or watch predictable movies. And after this year—with over a month of it spent in a hotel and adjusting to a new job—I’m ready for a little recharge and routine at home.

When I shot this outfit a few months ago, it was much more seasonably appropriate and J Crew was still selling the top, but like I said—I’ve got a little bit of a backlog. But I still wanted to post these photos because I’ve been obsessed with these leopard slides I bought after seeing them on an Instagram ad. This is definitely one of those sites that ships directly from China where returns would be nearly impossible, so my advice is to not buy in excess and pick your gambles wisely. While these aren’t the best quality slides in the world, they’re on par with other $40 shoes, and took no time at all to break in. I am a true size 7 in shoes and bought these in a 37—they fit great. So, if you’re willing to take a little risk like I was, I think it’ll pay off big time. These have quickly become my go-to shoes during this transitional weather. They’re easy to walk in (I walk about a mile or so in them to and from work!) and go with just about everything in my closet.

I know I mentioned it a little back in this post, but as I think about how I want blogging to fit into my life these days, I’m probably going to drop outfit posts off even more next year than I have this year. I don’t shop as much as I used to (though, tbh, as I mentioned this week, I really need some new work clothes), nor do I want to feel like I need to shop just to create content. I’ve also realized my favorite outfit posts this year were the ones I shot on an iPhone on the fly anyway—like this one and this one. I’m thinking that’s the best, authentic approach for me moving forward—and one that seems to resonate with all of y’all anyway. I’ve gotten better at posing for these pictures over the years, but there are thousands of bloggers out there online who are better at creating this type of content—I think I have other strengths and want to lean into those more.

One other thing on my mind is that I’ve been thinking a lot about my life lately. I think I’ve lost some of the confidence I used to have; not even necessarily about body image or any of that, just the overall confidence I used to have in myself. I’ve been trying to work on changing my inner voice, reminding myself that I’ve pushed a lot on my comfort zone this year and am still settling in, and thinking about the places I really want to work on myself in the coming months, especially now that I have a little more time. (I keep going back to the quote, “It’s your road to walk and yours alone. Others may walk with you, but no one can walk it for you.”) These things are often easier to write about in hindsight, so once I have a breakthrough, I’ll share more. But life is the messy, in-between and so I wanted to share in case anyone was feeling the same way. I’ve also been thinking about the energy around me a lot lately, too—and really focus on doing the things in life that are adding to everything great I already have going on.

Whatever you’re up to this weekend, I hope you have a great one—and I hope you can find sometime to do something for you! x

*** SHOP THE POST ***
J Crew Blouse—from this spring
Old Navy Pixie Pants—the best work pants ever!
Leopard Slides
LOFT Sunglasses
Cuyana Trapeze Satchel

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Photos by Kimberly Graydon