Life Update: My Next Career Chapter Begins!

      Popping in on this Tuesday morning with a little life update: I am starting a new career today!

2022 in Review: Highlights From My Year.

      Time once again to write my most favorite blog post of the year. This year's edition of the post is extra special, as 2022 was by far the best year of my life (so far). This year held so many precious memories and amazing experiences! Let's recap:

Fall 2022 Work Outfits.

What I Wore to Work: February 2022.

       Oh goodness- I am feeling so over winter fashion and ready to full break into the spring section of my closet. It's felt like a very long winter in Virginia Beach. While this past week has brought some really nice mild temperatures, the first three weeks of February were all very cold for the most part. Winter fashion has never been my favorite, but this year I've been especially uninspired with winter clothes. I feel like next year I might have to really overhaul this part of my closet- ha! 

      Anyways, here are my work outfits (and one airport outfit) from February: 

What I Wore to Work: January 2022

     Oh my gosh- was this month like the longest January ever for anyone else?! I honestly didn't think there would ever be a January longer than 2021, but I think this year might actually have it beat. After an unseasonably warm December, January in Virginia was both cold and snowy. Brrrr! I also knew more people than at any point in the pandemic who had COVID this past month, which kind of added another layer of uncertainty and frustration to the month. 

      Kind of continuing with how I felt at the end of last year, this month I still felt very "meh" about a lot of things in my closet, and a lot of the work outfits I put together this month. Winter fashion is just not my favorite- what can I say? The first outfit below with my snakeskin midi skirt is probably my favorite one that I wore this month.

2021 in Review: Highlights From My Year

     Time to share my very favorite annual blog post of the year! Even though I always title these posts "Highlights from My Year," technically they recap both the very high highs and some of the low lows as well. Everything that I want to remember in years to come- good and bad! (With a focus overall on the good though. 😊) I honestly mainly write these posts each year for myself first and foremost, as a journal entry to look back on in years to come. 

      I always write two Year in Review posts on the blog at the end of each year. The first one that I always share is the one you're reading right now, Highlights from My Year, which recaps the year in my personal life and career. The second is always The Year in Blogging, which recaps everything Southern Belle in Training related like my favorite outfits and favorite blog posts of the past 12 months.

     Buckle up- in addition to this being my favorite post of the year to write, it's also normally the longest post of the year! 😆Haha!! Without further ado- here's my 2021 in my personal life.

What I Wore to Work: December 2021.

      This post is going to be very short in comparison to most of my monthly work outfit round-ups, because I'm publishing it pretty early in the month! I leave tomorrow to go home to Maine for Christmas for the rest of the week, and for the last week of December all I have planned on the blog are my annual Year in Review posts. So today was the day for me to share this months work outfits, even though December is only like halfway done- ha! Also- can you tell that I upgraded my phone halfway through this month? I can totally notice a change in photo quality on some of these!

     This December in Virginia Beach has been unseasonably warm. There's been multiple days in the 70s (!!), a ton of days in the 60s, and I think the coldest highs of the month have been in the 50s. My type of December!! I'm so here for this. 

What I Wore to Work: November 2021.

     Time to recap November work outfits! I have to be honest- I was not as consistent this month at documenting work outfits like I normally am. Part of that is because I was out-of-office for six weekdays this month (between traveling to Nashville for work, a long weekend for a wedding, and Thanksgiving). It was also a month where I just didn't feel very inspired with most of my everyday looks, if I'm being honest! Spring and summer fashion is more my thing, so I think it's normal for me to feel a little uninspired as the weather first turns colder again. But anyways, here are the outfits that I did snap photos of this month: 

Radio 101: Music Row Live During CMA Week in Nashville - 2021 Recap

      Earlier this month, I had the work opportunity of a lifetime. My co-host, my boss and I traveled to the home of country music, Nashville Tennesee, to broadcast live from Sharla McCoy's Music Row Live event during CMA Awards Week. I documented the trip in real-time on my Instagram Stories, but I've been wanting to share a more in-depth recap of everything here on the blog.  I've been working full-time in radio for four and a half years now, but this was the first work trip that I've ever had the chance to go on. And what a first trip it was! 

What I Wore to Work: October 2021

      Another month of work outfits has come and gone! This is the first month that I've started to get a little taste of the fall season in Virginia Beach. The first half of the month was still very warm. I was still on the beach in a bathing suit right through mid-October! The past week especially it has been getting a bit colder, but it's been beautiful fall days in the 60s and 70s. I'm hoping this type of weather will last way into November! 

     Here are this month's daily work outfits. Enjoy!

What I Wore to Work: September 2021

      Here are this month's work outfits! While there usually are warm days in Virginia in October and November, September is typically the last very hot month. To take advantage of this, I wore a lot of summery Lilly Pulitzer pieces for the last time this year, and all my favorite sandals! As always, you can find my work outfits linked on my LIKEtoKNOW.it!

What I Wore to Work: August 2021

     It feels so good to be back sharing a month's worth of work outfits with y'all! I skipped the month of July as it was a whirlwind month with wrapping up at my old job, moving and unpacking in Virginia Beach and starting my new job. Things definitely feel a bit more "normal" being able to document my work outfits for the blog again. 

     My work style hasn't changed too much at my new job. Radio is overall a casual industry, and I do tend to dress up a little more than needed for all the jobs I've had. It was a hot month here in Virginia Beach, so I tried to wear a decent amount of summer Lilly Pulitzer pieces and some of my other favorite summer dresses and tops! As always- outfits are always linked on my LIKEtoKNOW.it page!

Virginia Beach Move + New Job Q&A

     It's so great to be back with a new blog post today after taking most of the month of July off! While I do take the occasional few days or week or so off from blogging, taking the past three weeks off was the longest blogging break that I've done in years! But it was definitely necessary with all of the craziness that was my July 2021 so far.

What I Wore to Work: June 2021

     My summer clothes have been out in full swing with this month's work outfits! I'm loving all of the dress and skirt opportunities. Summer fashion just makes me so happy! It's been a pretty standard month of weather for June in Charlottesville this year- lots of hot and humid days with a few cooler ones mixed in randomly. As always, I share all of my work outfits here on my LIKEtoKNOW.it! 

What I Wore to Work: May 2021.

       Lots to cover today: my May work outfits and a round-up of Memorial Day Weekend Sales! April and May are definitely some of my favorite months out of the year for work outfits. I just love spring fashion so much! May has been the busiest month that I've had in a long time, thanks to the fact that I'm now fully vaccinated. I went to bed later than I prefer to a lot of nights this month, so you'll notice that I had more very casual or athleisure outfits for work than normal. Ah well! 

10 Things to Do For Professional & Career Development.

      Last month marked four years since I entered the workforce full-time! My professional career thus far has been entirely spent in the radio industry, which definitely can be a bit unique compared to other career paths (even others in communications and media). But one thing that working in radio does have in common with any full-time job? The ongoing opportunity to advance your career and professional knowledge by seeking out career development and networking opportunities! 

     While employers in some industries are really intentional with paying for or helping their employees seek out professional development education opportunities, that isn't the case at every job or company. I'm a firm believer that there are always things that you can be doing on your own to help yourself network with those in your industry, or gain more knowledge about your field. While not all of these are free ideas, a lot of them are! Since I know most of you aren't in radio, I am going to try to make sure most of these ideas aren't just things that would apply to the radio industry. Most of these are things that I have done (a couple I haven't gotten to yet)... but out of the ones that I have done I've found them to be very beneficial!

What I Wore to Work: April 2021.

       Happy Friday! Welcome to this month's work outfits. Spring is definitely here in Charlottesville. It sure is nice to be able to wear dresses and skirts without tights again. As always, I link either exact or similar details for all of my monthly work outfits on my LIKEtoKNOW.it profile, so be sure to follow me there if you aren't yet!

What I Wore to Work: March 2021

      First off- can we take a second to appreciate that it's now been a full year of living and working in the pandemic?! Whew. It was both the fastest and the slowest year of my life- I'm sure a lot of you would agree. Although still physically going to work during COVID has had its pros and cons (it was a bit nerve-wracking in December when we started having cases at work), overall I am thankful that I've still had a reason to get up and get dressed to leave the house five days a week. I think that was good for my mental health this year!

     Here are my work outfits from this March! You'll see in the first photo that I broke a fashion rule that I normally do observe... which was wearing an all-white outfit before Easter! 

What I Wore to Work: February 2021.

     This has been the most wintery month ever in the almost three years that I've lived in Charlottesville.  I've never seen so much snow and so many consecutive days of freezing cold temperatures in a one month period in Virginia. Brrr! I have to be honest- the weather and some other things this month made it tough for me to get excited about my work outfits like I normally do. You'll find more than a few days in the outfits below where I just threw on snow boots or UGGS, a sweater, jeans and called it a day. But, I did try to look semi-cute for at least a few days of the month, and I'm already more excited for March work outfits!

What I Wore To Work: January 2021.

      Here's all of my work outfits from the first month of the year! It has been a snow-less month in Charlottesville, but it has still felt very much like winter. The first half of the month was pretty mild, but the last week or two have been pretty cold. This has been one of the harder months of the pandemic so far for me- between the cold weather making it hard to do safe activities outside, and the steadily rising cases in my area, it's easy to feel discouraged some days. But I'm hanging in there! I hope you are too.