Wedding Wednesday: Wedding Week Reflections

       I can't believe it's finally here: I'm getting married this week! For my final Wedding Wednesday post before the wedding, I simply wanted to share a few reflections for how I'm thinking and feeling during this notable week. 

Wedding Wednesday: The Full Story of Ryan and I Met.

      I've shared before on my blog and Instagram that Ryan and I first connected by matching on the dating app Hinge in February 2022. But I never took the time to share our full story with more details. I thought this would be fun to do for today's Wedding Wednesday post!

May 1st 2022

Wedding Wednesday: Our Proposal Story

      It's finally time to recap in the best moment of my life in full detail on the blog! I shared a brief engagement announcement blog post a couple of days after the proposal, but I wanted to have the time to fully write out the full story with all of the little details. This is also the first blog post of my Wedding Wednesday series! I've enjoyed seeing other bloggers do their own versions of Wedding Wednesday series for years and have dreamed about the day when I would be in that life season to document on my own blog!

     This blog post turned out to be quite long! I wanted to include all of the special little details; partly for you to enjoy, and partly for my own memory. But this post truly is special, because Ryan wrote his own side of the story for it! I'll share my version first, and then stay tuned at the end for his.

We are ENGAGED!!!!!

       I cannot believe I get to share the most happy news of my life with you on the blog today! It did not feel real typing out the title for this blog post. (Yes, five exclamation points in the title were 100% necessary!)

     

A Different Type of Moving Announcement!

     I've shared a lot of moving related announcements on the blog over the past decade. In fact- the whole idea of starting this blog was kind of based on the idea that I had just moved far away for college, from Maine to North Carolina! And in the years since college, there's been many more long distance and local moves within the various places I've lived for radio jobs. 

      Today's upcoming moving announcement isn't related to school or my career. I'm not leaving my current radio job, nor leaving the Virginia Beach area. It's a local move from one apartment to another. But it is a very big deal, and something that I might not have expected I'd decide to even as recently as a couple of years ago. On July 8th (this weekend!), I'll be moving into my boyfriend Ryan's apartment! 

This picture of Delilah in my apartment always makes me smile!

Relationship Monday: 2 Resources That Finally Changed My Mindset on Dating.

       Long time, no Relationship Monday post! I used to share these a few times a year but haven't written one now for about two and a half years. A lot has changed between my last Relationship Monday post in Summer 2020 to now. I've moved cities and jobs, seen life pretty much go back to normal post-2020, made a lot of new friends and started my social life over again in my new city, and possibly most excitingly- I've been in a happy long-term dating relationship for almost a year! I haven't wanted to blog much about my relationship with Ryan in the first year. It's been kind of nice to keep a lot private and special for myself! Waiting so long to have something so good has made me want to soak it all up and treasure it. 

      But for now, at the very least I feel ready to write about the mindset change I had with dating at this time last year. Winter 2022 brought a wakeup call for me with how I viewed dating. And there are two specific resources that I can really credit for helping me change my mindset! If you've also been single for a long time and find yourself getting bitter about the current dating culture but do very much want to find love and a relationship, perhaps both of these things could be helpful to you as well! 

      I should also note- I am a Christian and very much believe in God's plans for our lives, including our love lives! But with that said, I do also believe that God gives us the tools we need to make things happen in our lives. It took me a long time to realize that for a lot of people, God doesn't just magically make the right dating partner appear in life at the right time. Sure- some people are lucky enough to have an amazing meet-cute situation straight out of a romantic comedy to meet their person. And that's great for them! But that is not the reality for most single people navigating dating as an adult post high school and post college. Dating is usually a good deal of work, even as a Christian. And that's okay! I have grown to hate the phrase that's something along the lines of "Love will happen when you least expect it and don't look for it." Uhh.... nope! That was actually the opposite for me. Love finally found me when I was actively dating and "looking for it" as much as I could. 

      

Relationship Monday: Single in a Pandemic.

     The idea for this blog post has been on my heart for a few months now, but I was hesitant to write it until I felt ready. Let's get real about the thoughts and feelings behind being single during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Relationship Monday: 3 Things to Remember When You've Been Ghosted.

    Ghosting. It has to be one of the most popular dating terms of recent years. The official dictionary definition is to "end a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all forms of communication."  Sadly I think it's a safe assumption that most millennials that are actively dating (or I guess really anyone dating) in the last few years has experienced this a time or two.

      I unfortunately went through it again myself just a few months ago. Once the feelings of surprise and hurt had started to fade, it dawned on me that this might make a great Relationship Monday topic for the blog! I've written before about finding contentment with singleness, using dating apps as a Christian, awkward first dates, and many more relevant topics. But I haven't chatted on here about ghosting before- that's changing today!

Relationship Monday: 10 Great Things About Being Single in Your 20s.

     Last year was the year that I truly fell in love with life as a single 20-something woman! Loving my single life doesn't mean that I still don't desire to fall in love and get married in the future- but what it does mean is that I'm truly content in the season of life that I'm in, and excited about what's still to come while it's just me, myself and I! I wrote a blog post last year titled "How I Fell in Love with Being Single", and today's blog post is kind of the one year follow up to that!

Relationship Monday: Things to Remember After a BAD First Date.

     Time for another Relationship Monday post! Thank you all for your kind comments and DMs after last Monday's post about using dating apps. It is so fun to hear y'all's thoughts whenever I share my own views and experiences on dating and singleness, and I'm so glad last week's post resonated with a lot of y'all! Today I'm chatting about something that can often happen when using dating apps (or not as well!) - having a bad first date, and things to do and remember after one.

Relationship Monday: Why I'm Glad I Gave Dating Apps Another Try.

     Happy Monday and happy July! I've been sharing different monthly series blog posts on Tuesdays of each month this year, but for July the monthly series will be on Mondays- I'll be sharing a new Relationship Monday post each week this month! I've always enjoyed writing these in the past, and I haven't shared any in the last several months which means I have lots of post ideas now! I thought I would kick things off by taking a little dive into why my views on dating apps have shifted again in 2019. 

Summer 2019 Q&A + Life Update.

    A couple times a year I enjoy sharing updated Q&A posts on the blog! You guys always send me such fun and creative questions to answer, and it's a fun way to share a little more about myself on here. As always, I loved the questions for my summer Q&A! I also got a lot of questions regarding a life update that I shared in this blog post, and I'll address all of those similar questions with a little update at the end of the post. So grab your glass of wine or a hot beverage of choice- and let's chat!

Happy Valentine's Day! Here Are My Favorite Relationship Posts...

     Happy Valentine's Day, friends! Whether you're single, dating, engaged, married, or even getting over a recent heartbreak... I still hope that today is a great day for you. Eat something sweet, and wear something pink and red and/or with hearts!! Tell someone that you love them- even if that's a friend or family member!

     I feel really lucky that 2018 (shortly after moving to Virginia) was around the time that I got into the most positive mindset of my life about being single. I stopped playing the comparison game against friends who were dating, engaged, or married, and have instead tried to make a genuine effort to have a heart of thankfulness for my current state of life each and every day. With that said- that hasn't not always been the case for me! In college, I struggled so much with being single, and I had a few rough Valentine's Days in those years. In college (I think especially if you live on campus like I did), it sometimes feels like a world of its own, and it can start to seem like everyone around you is doing something that you're not. For me,  it always seemed like everyone else on my small campus had a Valentine or was in a relationship. (Obviously this wasn't the case- but I'd throw these giant pity parties where it would seem that way!) Basically, I really struggled with contentment in singleness in my college years, and I so wish that 24 year old me could have said something to 18 or 19 year old me about finding joy during that season of life, even without a boyfriend!

     Anyways- here on the blog I enjoy writing about dating and singleness with my ongoing Relationship Monday blog series. I don't have a certain Monday of each month that I post these... I just kind of share them when I feel inspired! I wasn't able to get up any new relationship content for today on the blog, so I thought that instead I'd share a round-up of five of my favorite relationship related blog posts from years past!!

{Photo originally from this post}

Relationship Monday: A Year Without Dating Apps.

     One of the most popular blog posts on Southern Belle in Training (of all time) was one that I wrote almost three years ago, entitled "A Christian Perspective on Tinder." I had been on Tinder and Bumble for a few months at that point, and just thought it would make a good blog post topic to share some of my thoughts about dating and faith. I had NO idea how much that post would resound with people! (True story: I still get emails from people who found my blog from that post.) My story with dating app usage and how I view them in general has changed a lot since I wrote that blog post. Partly because this year I've finally become happy with being single, and partly because I've had a lot of time to analyze the negatives and positives of my dating app experiences. so in today's Relationship Monday I'll be sharing what life has been like since I deleted all dating apps off my phone last year!

Relationship Monday: How I Fell In Love With...Being Single.

     Relationship Monday is back!! For a couple years now I've loved writing these posts, however I only write them when inspiration for relationship-related topics strikes. Sometimes I'll write a few in a short amount of time, and other times it's months and months before I feel inspired to talk about relationships, dating and singleness on my blog. I'm pretty sure the last time I wrote one of these was this blog post written last winter, when I still lived in Vermont!

     Anyways, my inspiration as struck yet again, and I'm thrilled to be sharing some thoughts from my heart with y'all today. Ready to find out how my contentment with single life went from 0 to 100? Let's go!

Relationship Monday: Valentine's Day Prayers for you Future Spouse.

     Happy Monday and Happy Valentine's week! Today's Relationship Monday post is taking a more faith-based route than some of the past posts in this series. After this post topic popped into my head last week, I did a poll on Instagram Stories to see if y'all would be interested in reading. Surprisingly, most of you answered "yes!" - so here's today's blog post. I always feel like my faith posts here on the blog give you more of an insight into the real me, and I hope you enjoy my thoughts on this topic, as it is one that is quite meaningful to me and has been for many years now!

Relationship Monday: Finding Joy in Singleness During Engagement Season.

      It's been a long time since I've written a Relationship Monday post. When I introduced this on the blog in February, I saw it being a monthly, if not bi-monthly post series! What I quickly learned with the nature of these types of topics though is that you can't force inspiration for writing about things like dating and relationships. The desire to write about this either hits or it doesn't! The last Relationship Monday post that I wrote was in May, and it was one of the most personal posts that I've ever shared on my blog! I guess after sharing all of that I needed some time away from sharing about this subject of relationships. Anyways, today's post topic has been on my heart and mind for quite some time now, and I knew that the timing was right to bring back Relationship Mondays to the blog! Will it become a monthly series again as I intended? I have no idea!! I'm going to keep sharing these posts only as inspiration hits. 😊 But inspiration is definitely hit this month, so let's get into it!

The Ideal Work to Date Night Look.

      Versatile outfits are a girl's best friend for weekdays! In the adult world, date night (or after work drinks with girlfriends) often happens after a long day at work, and you might not have time to swing home and put on a whole new outfit first! Where I'm working on developing more of a social life in Vermont this fall, aka becoming less of a hermit after work and instead getting out and spending time with new friends (and dating too!), I wanted to share what I think would be the perfect work to date night look for early fall.

Photography by Amanda Rose Photography 

This post contains  affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Southern Belle in Training! 

Top c/o // Blazer {similar here} // Jeans {my favorite jeans} // Shoes // Purse // Sunglasses {Mine are a dupe, designer version here}// Earrings {from store in my hometown, identical version here} // Silver bracelet c/o // Tassel Bracelet {similar here} // Ring // Lipstick c/o // 

     Here is the look all set for work- and yes, I really did wear this to work the day Amanda and I took these photos! (Except instead of these nude heels, I wore my favorite brown flats, since radio is a super casual work environment). If you do work in a more business casual environment, you could swap out skinny jeans for a pair of dark skinny dress pants and the look would still be great! A dressed up camisole top under a statement tweed blazer makes a great option for a workday look. This outfit made me feel poised and powerful both on-air and at my desk! I did keep the long tassel earrings on for work again since my job is casual, but if you work in a more formal environment, maybe try a pair of chic studs instead.

     And now the workday is done- it's time for date night or girls' night! Take off that blazer and let those shoulders breath a bit! The embroidery on this top is gorgeous and it needs its own moment to shine. I love my new Tory Burch Parker tote- it was a birthday gift from my parents (Thanks mom and dad for reading my wishlist posts here on the blog! 😊) It's the ideal work bag, but also not too corporate looking, so you can take it out to a restaurant or bar for Happy Hour after work. 

     What does your ideal work to date night outfit look like? Are you also a fan of outfits that easily transition from the office to play? 

     Hope that y'all are having a great week! Tomorrow is this month's Radio 101 post on the blog- catch up on last month's here in the meantime! I think y'all will really like tomorrow's post- it's a question I've gotten asked all the time since starting work in radio. 

     God Bless,

      xoxo Annaliese (or Charlotte XO on-air!)

      

Relationship Monday: What I Look For In A Guy.

     Welcome back to the next installment of my Relationship Monday series! If you missed the intro to these posts, 1-2x monthly going forward I'll be sharing blog posts about some topics that are a bit more nitty gritty than my fashion content. It's been on my heart for a long time to write about things related to relationships, so welcome to my Relationship Monday series! This is my chance to write about anything related to dating/singleness/guys, and especially how faith plays into all of this.

Relationship Monday: So...I'm Single.

     I've been absolutely LOVING reading y'all's repsonses to my blog's very first reader survey (there's still time to take it if you haven't! Take it here!!). I'll be going over the results and plans for moving forward in Wednesday's post, but something that has already stuck out to me so much is that y'all really want to see more personal blog posts, in addition to my fashion posts. So today kicks off the first post in a new Monday series: Relationship Mondays! I won't be sharing these posts every Monday, as I do still enjoy posting fashion content on the first day of the new week. But expect to see these posts on Mondays hopefully 1-2 days per month (with fashion posts on other days those weeks).