I learn and find so much during the week working with clients or chatting with people! I want to share it all immediately, but we all know how that goes – head down, looking at the phone and telling people, ” Hold on! I just need to finish something real quick!” Ha! Anyway, last week’s share was so fun, I’ve decided to do it again. I also really wanted to share what COVID taught me after feeling so discombobulated at the beginning of this school year. Plus, this format really works for me. I hope y’all like it as much as I do!
Last week, I worked with 2 clients who are headed back to the work place. “Work attire” looks very different post COVID. It’s sooooo much more casual! Yay, to a degree. The only problem is pre-COVID work wardrobes are now too dressy, so here we are trying to find new, more casual clothes in a world that has very little inventory. BUT, we did find these pants! They have stretch (need I say more?), and you can wear them dressy (with booties or heels) or casually (with flats, sandals, or sneakers). They come in classic, petite, and tall!
You could also wear them with these darling clogs I keep recommending because they give you height but are still flat! You know why I keep recommending these clogs? A lot of the styles and cuts of denim (ahem straight leg, cigarette leg, mom jean) and pants need height for a more flattering look. BUT, who wants to wear a heel after we have just spent an entire year in sweats and slippers -ha! That’s why I love clogs. They give you height, but they’re not a heel. Basically, they are a solution to a fashion problem.
I bought a black and cream ruffle tank and a bow tank at the beginning of the summer from Anthropologie and wore them non-stop all summer long. They worked because they were plain enough to wear with everything but were enough of a cute statement on their own. Anthropologie came out with a few new tops just like this for the fall/winter (here, here and here). I’ve been telling my clients all about them because you can wear them casually and to work! And if you look good in yellow, here -you’re welcome.
Also, did you see that one of my favorite day to night and summer to fall transition tops is on sale?!
I did a really fun Zoom call this week with my friend Haley Baker’s (@haley.m.baker) FASTer Way VIP group. If you need a FASTer Way coach, there’s nobody better to have in your corner. Haley is THE NICEST person EVER. Anyway, it was fun to get to chat with her clients!
Of course, they wanted to know what the trends are for the fall (because who doesn’t, we’ve all been stuck in our homes not really seeing what’s out there). Here’s the short list:
- Clunky soled shoes (any shoe that has a thick sole, it could be on a Chelsea boot, a sandal or a sneaker)
- Prairie anything (I’m sure there’s a better name for this trend, but honestly this descriptor leaves no question in anyones mind… amirite?) think prairie dresses, smocked necklines, billowy sleeves, ruffled collars
- The midi length
- Knit sweater vests
- Quilted anything (jackets, tops)
- Puff sleeve
- Ruffles, bows and hearts
- Chelsea boots
As for jeans, pair whatever jeans you want with one of these, and you’ll be on trend. So, skinny jeans are a-okay.
I’ve shared this best chocolate chip cookie recipe a lot recently. I guess we all feel like a chocolate chip cookie. I wonder why? Ha! These ones are truly the best.
Speaking of food, if you’re gluten free and you like pizza, you’ve gotta check out this pizza! It’s amazing! One reader recommended getting the plain version and adding the good pepperoni from the deli on top – genius!
Now, to what I really want to talk about…. what COVID taught me.
You know how I was telling you guys that I felt discombobulated at the beginning of the school year? I guess I thought things would go back to a somewhat normal state once the kids were back in school. Then, the kids went back to school and things still didn’t feel normal and the world just seemed kinda crazy. A lot of my little securities (the things that make me feel safe) or things I relied on as normally understood “knowns” in life were no longer there or they had been rocked.
A pastor I listened to compared his feelings of the present moment to that of starting middle school, when the sweet years of elementary school abruptly stop and you are now forced to deal with the reality of the lack of innocence that middle school brings. All your childhood knowns and securities are no longer there. Doesn’t it feel like that right now?
Then, I noticed that I kept looking back on pictures of the kids or pictures of trips and thinking, “I wish we could go back to the good ole days.” It’s like I’m grieving my pre-COVID life or something. Is it just me?
Here’s the beautiful thing I’m learning (well, it wasn’t so beautiful 2 days ago when I was feeling all of this really hard -ha!)– I realized I was relying on a lot of things in this world to make me feel safe and secure. Just as long as things were a certain way, I was good. I guess as the verse says, I had built my house on shifting sand not on rock (Matthew 7:26), not on God who is the only constant in life and where true security and safety comes .
Click here (you can click the link on your phone and go to verse of the day on Tuesday) to listen to Pastor Joshua Symonette from National Community Church talk about how he compares his feelings right now to middle school.
That’s what COVID and struggling have taught me recently. What about you?
