Fall Uniform is Back- Cable Knits & Blanket Scarves

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Fall is in full bloom here in the Bluegrass, and I have been LIVING IT UP in sweater weather! To me, a perfect fall day is where I can dress in layers, whether it be a vest and sweater, or a thick blanket scarf and chunky knit pullover and boots.

I have been stocking up on the chunky knits and turtlenecks over the last couple of weeks, ESPECIALLY the cable knit sweaters! There is nothing classier than a thick cable knit sweater layered over a button down, or under a vest. Add an oversized blanket scarf (see this post for ideas on how to style it!), and you’ve got my basic fall and winter uniform. OH, and if you’re looking for the perfect fall tote, you should definitely check out Barrington Gift Bags. SUPER roomy inside–I basically have to worry about it becoming too heavy before I worry about running out of room–and with several small pockets inside, I can keep my most important things organized without going on a search and rescue mission to locate them :D.

Yes, it’s been almost half a year since I last blogged, and I did not plan on taking such a long break, and really, I did not plan on taking a break at all! I thought that once school let out for the summer, that I would be free as a bird to spend my days lounging at Starbucks or by the pool, typing away blog posts.

Obviously this did not happen.

I can’t really pinpoint just one reason for the lack of blogging over the past several months, but in reality, when does life ever have just one thing going on?? I spent a good deal of my summer at Starbucks *shocker* lesson and curriculum planning. Like, no joke, that was pretty much my entire summer, and let me tell you, I have had SO much less stress this year as a second year teacher with being more prepared. You might remember that this past year was my first year as a teacher, and it was the most amazing/terrifying/satisfying/heartbreaking/everyemotioninthebook type of experience! I’m sure at some point I’ll tell you how my first year went, but even now I am still trying to process and reflect on the past year!

SO without further ado, a few things I’ve learned these past several months:

1) Maintaining relationships takes EFFORT, but they’re worth it!
Girl, if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that relationships take effort. Maybe not all relationships, such as friends based on a common interest but nothing deeper…You probably have a couple of friends that share a similar interest in flee market shopping, or have a weird obsession with bows, but they may not be the friend you would call when your boyfriend breaks up with you, or if your parents are going through a divorce.

The kinds of relationships I am talking about that take effort are relationships with your family, be it your siblings, parents, spouse, children, and relationships with your close friends. ESPECIALLY if there is distance involved! If you work or are a mother, you know how busy life gets, and before you know it, it’s been weeks or even MONTHS since you last checked in with your best friend or sister! You didn’t mean to let so much time pass, but life always gets in the way. What I learned this summer was if I wanted to keep a friendship alive and healthy, I needed to be aware of time passing and making sure I took the time to call (yes, call) and catch up. Didn’t need to be a super long conversation, and many times it was just a quick 2-minute call just to say “hi” or “I’m thinking about you”. Back in high school and college all I had to do was stop by a locker or walk across the hall to catch up– SO easy and required little effort! But as an adult with a husband and a job, and many of my friends getting married and living in different states, keeping up with everyone actually needed to be scheduled in my planner just so I made sure to make time. And you know what? It made me look forward to those scheduled phone calls or FaceTime dates! This isn’t to say that I’m omgSObusy that I can’t do anything without making an appointment, but it kept me from taking relationships for granted, and helped me to make them a priority. And if I don’t put it on my phone, I will forget, so that was ANOTHER reason for putting reminders in my phone :D.

2) Take time for yourself, to recharge.
I have always considered myself to be an extrovert who couldn’t say no to anything, and my husband will back me up on this one, but it got to the point where I was over-committing and filling up my week with activities that I never really had more than a few moments to myself except for bedtime. Not a great way to stay productive, and I ended up feeling a little burnt out. This happened most during the school year, and let’s just say that I barely made it to summer break with my sanity in tack! So what did I do? I started going to Starbucks…a lot! Even with people around and music playing, I could still pop in my headphones and tune everything out, getting lost in a book, or even lesson planning. I’d sit outside on the porch, by myself, even if it was only for 15 minutes, before making dinner. And on weekends? I would leave a weekend a month where I didn’t commit to any outings with friends, JUST so I could relax and be in the moment. The couch and Netflix have become my best friends, and I am SO not ashamed to admit that we have frequent dates :D.

3) The world will STILL go on if you don’t post an outfit selfie everyday!!
Many of you might relate to this one–if you’re on Instagram like me, it’s FUN to post what you’re wearing, and yes I’ll admit, definitely a confidence booster when I see how many likes I can get from people who like my outfit! But it got to the point that unless I could post an outfit that day, everything else came to a halt. Like, I’d skip workouts just to make sure I could post at this particular time to make sure I got x-amount of likes. Pathetic, I know. Or when I did workout, I’d feel guilty (yes, GUILTY) for staying in workout clothes all day and feeling like my day was completely wasted for having not posted an #ootd that day….And I could have been the busiest person running errands, lesson planning, etc., and I still would have felt like I had achieved nothing that day. Or it was too dang hot/rainy to make the effort to get dressed in big-girl clothes, and I’d be mad at the weather.

Seriously, Whit, what is wrong with you??

So I gave it up for a week, and then some–didn’t post anything, really didn’t scroll through my feed, and let me tell you, it was LIBERATING. I was able to refocus my attention on what really mattered, and get a much needed reminder that Instagram and the web are not everything—and they are certainly not a realistic presentation of life. I know I’ve frequently touched on this in the past, but every now and then I need a reminder to not get too wrapped up in the carefully curated world of filters, perfect angles, and x-amount of likes and comments. Because ten years down the road, am I really going to be agonizing over the fact that I didn’t fix the chipped toe nail polish before posting a #shoefie (that’s “shoe selfie” for those who don’t know 😀 )?? Of course not, and neither will any of you.

And that’s how it should be.

Well ladies, I did not intend for this post to be long-winded, but it feels good to get it all out there. 🙂 I’m sure many of you can relate to some of the things, or maybe you’ve been learning some things of your own!

I’d love to hear from you, and as always,