Over the past few years, I've found Target to be more hit-or-miss for me when it comes to clothing, but I swear that their women's shoe selection keeps getting better and better every year! I wanted to get up a quick post to share a few of my new favorite styles (all under $50!).
New year = new goals! I'm excited to share my 2022 resolutions with you today, as well as my word of the year. And we will also check in to see how my 2021 goals turned out. (Spoiler: although I didn't share it publicly in last year's resolutions blog post, my top resolution for 2021 was to move and get a new job. CHECK! 😊)
Happy December! I wanted to share this casual holiday look with y'all today, and a few thoughts about this holiday season being a lot more normal than 2020. So much to be thankful for and excited about this month!
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!
At the end of 2020, I was invited to become a Sarah Flint Brand Ambassador. I was previously familiar with Sarah Flint shoes (they've been worn by some big names like Meghan Markle and Lady Gaga), but I didn't actually own any for myself as they are at a high price point. When I was invited to join the Brand Ambassador program, I was really excited to finally get to try and style a pair of these shoes, and test them out to let you know an honest opinion of them. Now that I've had my pair for a few months and worn them a good bit, I'm excited to share this review and a special Sarah Flint discount code with you today!
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As the title of this blog post says, the hunt is over! I've been searching for a basic but chic shirtdress to have a closet staple for the last two or three years, and I'm so excited to finally share this one with you today.
My blogger friends Nicole from What Nicole Wore and Cara from Caralina Style both shared blog post versions of the 10 Unpopular Things tag that started on Facebook a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed reading both their posts to see which of their list items I agreed and disagreed with. I thought thought it would be fun to make this a post on my blog too- I can't wait to see which of my list y'all agree and disagree with!
Hey Friends- happy Monday! Yes- I did say happy. 😊As stressful as these times are, I'm still trying to make it a good start to the week.
I've been continuing doing my Wednesday Midweek Ramblings blog posts, where I share little weekly updates about how things have been going. But for today's blog post I wanted to get a little more in-depth then that- with how I'm really feeling and doing with everything going on. My radio co-host Marc also had a health scare last week where he thought he might be positive for COVID-19, and honestly I'm still processing all of the emotions with that, too!
In the spirit of November, let's chat Thanksgiving! I think this outfit would be perfect to wear for a Thanksgiving meal, and there's a high chance I might be wearing something similar next Thursday. I also wanted to share my Thanksgiving plans for this year with y'all, since they changed a few weeks ago!
It's been far too long since I've done a PR package review on the blog! Over the last month, I've received some wonderful spring mailers from brands that I love, so I wanted to share and review them for you today! Here's my usual disclaimer about PR reviews if you haven't read one of these posts before: nothing that I'm featuring here today is sponsored! I simply like to share and review the packages that I get sent by brands for blogging. 😊
Fun fact: the pictures in today's blog post were taken way back in October! (As you can probably tell from the green grass and green trees behind me.) Fortunately, this dress is an easy one to transition into winter outfits, so I still wanted to share this look with you today. I'm also sharing today about a fun blog series idea that I'll be launching in 2019!
I think this is the first time that I've ever done an entire outfit of gray and pink, but I'm kind of liking the end result! I think this was a really fun color combo to wear for fall- a bit different than the usual earth tone colors that are popular in fall, but pink and gray still totally works together. I bought this dress at LOFT a couple of months ago and I just love it! There is a subtle leopard print in the fabric, but it isn't overwhelming. This is a perfect versatile fall/winter dress. It's actually what I'll be wearing to my work Christmas party later this week! I'm going to pair it with tights, heels, and a sparkly necklace instead of the pops of pink like I did in this outfit.
Switching gears- I wanted to share one of my ideas for blog content for 2019! The start of a new year is a perfect time to try something new when it comes to what's on the blog. All throughout 2019, I'm planning to do a different monthly series one day a week here on the blog. This is inspired by the moving out-of-state blog post series that I did last spring! I had so much fun writing those posts, and over the past few months I've realized there are a lot more topics that I'd like to go in-depth on with y'all. I decided Tuesday will be the day for these posts, and each month the topic will change! The first Tuesday series for January will be sharing a tour of my Virginia apartment- I'll share a different room each Tuesday during that month. I already have series topics picked for February and March as well! I'm excited really excited about this! Since this is my 6th year blogging, it's so important to me that I keep challenging myself as a blogger and finding ideas for content.
One last note not related to today's outfit or future blog content- thanks to everyone who checked in on me and sent such kind messages after I shared on Instagram Stories yesterday that I was in a weather related car accident! I will share the full story of what happened in Wednesday's post, but for now I am just so touched by everyone who reached out! I'm thankful I am okay and that there were no injuries- accidents are always scary. No blog post tomorrow as having that happen this weekend shook up my schedule a bit, but I'll talk to y'all Wednesday!
TGIF my friends! Today I'm sharing what might be one of my favorite fall dresses ever in today's post! I'm also sharing an announcement related to upcoming holiday content on the blog- I'd love your thoughts on it.
In just a couple years, Shein has quickly become one of my top online retailers to shop at! I first started shopping there during my junior or senior year of college. At first it was just a destination that I'd buy really trendy pieces at (things that probably wouldn't be in style six months later), but I think in the last couple years that they've really upped the quality of products on the website! The items with slightly higher price points ($25-40) usually are very well made and have a nice fit. I've become so impressed with many of my recent Shein purchases, that I now rarely shop at fast fashion retailers like H&M and Forever 21.
This gorgeous floral bell-sleeve dress might just be one of my very favorite Shein purchases! I ordered the M (I'm normally an S in other retailers, but always order M at Shein), and it fits live a glove! It stretchy and so comfortable, and I think the length and bell-sleeves are so flattering! The best part about this dress is the fabric won't wrinkle! That's what makes this a perfect pick to pack for Thanksgiving travels next week. You won't have to worry about ironing or steaming it after it comes out of your suitcase! This dress is 100% coming with me on my Thanksgiving trip.
Shein has given me a discount code for y'all to use on their website!! If you decide to buy this dress, that'll make the already under $30 price tag even better! Use code HIMISSALK20 for 20% off your purchase.
Now for a brief update on holiday content on the blog. Drumroll please.... I've officially decided... not to do any gift guides this year! I know, I know... that's like breaking the blogger code of ethics to completely bypass Christmas gift guides right? A few weeks ago on Instagram Stories I did a little survey asking about what types of gift guides y'all wanted to see. So many of you responded with creative answers, so I really hope I'm not letting you down too much by deciding not to do them. There's a few factors that inspired my decision.
First and foremost... they take a lot of time to put together! Probably 2-3x the amount that it takes me to write any other type of blog post. Assembling the images of all the products and then making one large graphic takes a lot of time. And time is something that I don't have a ton of right now! Work has been absolutely insane lately, as what I thought would be a few days of filling in on my station's morning show has become a few weeks. In addition to work changes, I've had very full weekends (and have more on the way) and I'll be out of town for the next two weekends, so I have to really maximize the more limited time that I have to work on my blog.
Secondly... in addition to being time consuming to make, in past years I haven't seen the commissions that I'd like to be seeing from gift guides. (If you're not familiar with blogging affiliate programs - I use affiliate links in my blog posts to make commission on purchases made through my blog links!) Over the years, gift guides have never a high source of income for my blog, and with the time commitment involved I'm just not sure that it's worth it this year. Lastly- they seem to be very oversaturated in the blog industry right now! Just about every other blogger is doing many of them this season, so if you do like shopping through gift guides, there won't be a shortage to choose from!
So what does this mean for my blog in the next several weeks? Don't worry, even with the craziness at my job I'll still be blogging 4x a week! 😊I look forward to bringing you holiday-specific fashion and travel content, as well as everything else that you normally enjoy on Southern Belle in Training. If you are curious about the items that I'd recommend for gifts this year, feel free to DM or email me!! I'd love to provide you with personalized gift recommendations.
Have a great weekend! Stay tuned to my Instagram Stories tomorrow for a fun event.
Everyone loves a good business casual look, right? I'm excited to share this outfit today- most of the pieces that I'm wearing are from the fall collection at LOFT! My friend Alicia from Alicia Tenise did a recent blog collaboration for LOFT (you can see her post here), and she invited me to be in her blog post, which was a lot of fun! I wanted to share my photos from that day with y'all. I'll also be sharing a few things that I'm looking forward to this month at the end of the post!
So this sweater that I'm wearing... pretty sure it's my favorite sweater for 2018! It's so soft to the touch, and I felt so cozy wearing it! It's available in a few colors right now. I thought that the grey would be a practical shade for accessorizing and wearing with other things. The thing that really drew me to these dress pants was the tie-waist detail! The color is very pretty as well, in person it really is like a dark blue/grey shade that would look great with fall work outfits. My earrings are also apart of the LOFT fall collection. I've been a loyal LOFT shopper for years, so it was so fun to join Alicia for her campaign with them and put together this look.
Now let's chat a little bit about November! In the past, this was always one of my least favorite months. I'm from New England, and usually by Halloween all of the beautiful fall colors are gone, and everything looks dead and brown. It's bitterly cold outside, and sometimes it has even snowed by Thanksgiving! Speaking of that, Thanksgiving is also one of my least favorite holidays (Not the being thankful part! Just the traditions.) Thankfully, November is a bit nicer here in the South. This past weekend was peak foliage in the Charlottesville area, and the whole city was filled with the most vibrant trees.
Anyways, I thought I'd share a few things that I'm looking forward to this month, in the spirit of being thankful and thinking positively!
*A baby shower for someone in my small group at church *A really fun blog collaboration (where I'll get to attend a fun event in Richmond) *My mom visiting *Traveling out-of-state for Thanksgiving to visit my good friend/former roommate *Watching more Hallmark Christmas movies *Decorating my Christmas tree (I set it up each year on November 1st, but I still have to decorate it!) *BLACK FRIDAY!!!!
I'd love to know what you're excited about this month! Let me know in the comments.
Today's outfit is about as classic and preppy for fall as you can get! I'm excited to share it with you. Also in today's post I'm talking about some of the ways that I've noticed myself change on certain things in the last five years- it's always fun to do some self-reflecting.
I am loving this combination of a white cable sweater paired with a gingham oxford shirt! It's an ideal fall look. You could pair it with a pencil skirt for work or any business casual occasion, and I love pairing it with skinny jeans and metallic mules for this casual look. I also want to make a quick note about my necklace! It's a classic J. Crew Factory piece. I asked for it for Christmas a few years ago, and I remember being so excited to find it in my stocking. To this day, I still wear it at least once a week. It's the most versatile piece of jewelry, and can really elevate an outfit! Do any of you also have this necklace?
I thought it would be fun in today's post to do some reflecting! My 24th birthday was in September, but I feel like it really hit me the other day that I'm 24. Like... I've been an adult for a few years now, and I'm well out of college! When I'm by myself, I often think I feel a lot younger than I am. I feel some days liked I blinked and college was over! Anyways, the more that I thought about my recent birthday, the more I realized that I have changed and matured more as a person in the last five years than I realized. I thought I'd share a bit of that on the blog!! Five years ago, I was entering my sophomore year of college and had recently turned 19. I had been blogging for just over a year! I had just moved to Charlotte and transferred colleges. Here are some things that 19 year old Annaliese wouldn't believe about 24 year old Annaliese:
*I'll become a morning person: True story- I was one of the biggest night owls ever until January 2017! During all four years of college, I think I can count on one hand the number of times that I went to bed before midnight. I remember that I had 8 am classes for most of my senior year and it felt like torture!
In early 2017, I began a three month long morning radio internship (I needed to complete it to graduate from broadcasting school). I had to wake up at 3:15 each morning to arrive there on time! I remember how rough the first week was, but I adjusted better than I thought I would to the schedule. I moved to Vermont pretty soon after the internship ended, and the whole morning person thing stuck when I started my first job. I wasn't waking up at a time as drastic as 3:15 anymore, but I began to love waking up early and being productive before work.
*I'll still be driving the same car: This is just a funny one! I truly believed well into my college years that as soon as I graduated college and had my first job, I'd be able to lease or buy a new vehicle. HAHA! Naive little Annaliese wasn't considering things like a low entry level salary, and having to pay for rent and student loans. I'm still driving the same car I had in high school, and probably will be until whenever it kicks the bucket.
*I'd move to Vermont for a year: Oh goodness if you told me at 19 that I'd move to Vermont for a year, I would have laughed in your face! I grew up vacationing in a rural part of Vermont with my parents (about two hours away from where I ended up living in Burlington area), and my only associations of the state were memories of staying at a very rustic bed and breakfast on family vacations! At 19, I was still pretty new to living in the South, and so obsessed with Southern culture. I did end up moving North for a year, but thankfully my obsession with the South stuck around, and now here I am in Virginia!
*I'd still be single: Not going to go into a ton of detail on this one since I share more thoughts about being a single woman in my Relationship Monday blog post series- but let's just say at 19 I definitely wouldn't have believed that I'd still be riding solo. I also wouldn't have believed that as a single 24 year old, I'd actually be content!
*I'd still be blogging, and I'd have so many exciting opportunities come from it: My 1st blogiversary was on my 19th birthday, and at that point in time I was trying to squeeze in blog posts when I could with my busy college schedule. If I had the opportunity to receive a product for free to do a blog post about, I'd be over the moon! I never would have imagined that I'd stick with blogging long enough to make a decent side hustle income from it, and even get cool opportunities like attending a blogging conference and do travel writing opportunities!
*I wouldn't be allergic to cats anymore: This one is still so exciting to me! In high school (after volunteering weekly at the local animal shelter in the cat rooms), I developed severe cat allergies. After college I ended up outgrowing them, and this summer I had allergy tests to prove it. I'm now a new cat mom to my Delilah!
*I'd still have the same hairstyle: At the end of my freshman year of college, I cut about nine inches off my hair. It went from being very long to falling just above my shoulders. I started hating the haircut pretty soon after, and I became determined to grow my hair out long again. I've kept it long ever since then! I still don't dye it either. For now, I'm still very happy with my long brunette locks!
*I'd grow to be proud of being a Mainer: I was so excited when I moved South for college and got to experience a different type of culture. I'd had such rough high school years that for a long time, I associated that with everything to do with Maine. It took making peace with the past and truly appreciating the beauty of my home state to finally say that I'm proud to be a Mainer. (Still glad I reside in the South though😉)
*I'd enjoy reading thrillers: I was very sensitive to anything scary when I was growing up. To this day, I still hate horror films! For years, I really only read books for fun that were chick-lit, romance, or uplifting. Lat year I picked up my first thriller from the library, and I was hooked! The creepier and more mysterious the plot, the better. Joy Fielding is currently my favorite author for the genre.
*I'd love country music, and love working in country radio even more: During my freshman year of college I went through a slight country music phase (The prime moment was seeing Florida Georgia Line play at a bar before they made it big!), but when I transferred colleges at the start of sophomore year and moved to Charlotte, that phase quickly died. I was all about Top 40 and urban music for the rest of college. Last year in Vermont, I found myself starting to enjoy listening to the local country radio stations when I was outside of work, and realized how much I enjoyed the music! When I decided to look for new jobs, I specifically searched for ones in country radio. Now I adore country music and love my job as well!
Have you noticed any things about yourself that have changed in the last five years? Let me know in the comments if we share any in common! Or let me know if you also love a classic and preppy fall outfit. 😊
Good morning! I'm excited to share this fall outfit with you today. A lot of people think that pink is my favorite color because I wear a lot of it, but my favorite color has actually always been blue! I think that an all-blue outfit is a great fall fashion choice, and I love the items I'm wearing today.
Photography by my mom 😊
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I wasn't sure what to think of cut-out sweaters when the trend first became really popular a few seasons ago, but then I got my first one and I loved it! I'm really excited to keep wearing the blue sweater in today's post. I love the pretty pearl embellishments on the shoulders! This is a great sweater to throw on during the weekends when you want to keep your outfit simple, but also look cute and trendy.
I also love this blue suede jacket! Over the last few years, I've developed a real affinity for fall and winter coats (living in Vermont last year just fueled that!). Wearing a jacket in a pretty color is such a great way to brighten up any sort of basic fall or winter outfit. The coat that I'm wearing in today's post isn't warm enough for cold winters, but it makes an ideal fall or spring jacket! This coat has a suede-like feel to it, and when I wear it I find myself thinking of the song lyrics "Put on my blue suede shoes, and I boarded the plane" from the song Walking in Memphis! I just have to change shoes for coat. 😊
For the last few days I have been exhausted, but I think for two good reasons! You might have seen in yesterday's blog post that last week my family grew by four paws, and I welcomed home a new pet cat! It has been such a joy to finally have a pet, but it's also been a lot of work and a change to my schedule. The first night that she was home, she cried all night. She's doing a bit better now, but still meowing somewhat in the middle of the night. Today is also day five out of six for me of filling in on the morning show at the radio station that I work for, and I'm still adjusting with the really early morning wake-up time. It is my dream to someday do morning radio for my career, but I know if that day ever comes it'll be a huge schedule adjustment. I feel like I'm going to spend the later part of this week just SLEEPING - ha!
I promise I'll be a little more chatty in tomorrow's Midweek Ramblings post, and on Thursday I have a fun lifestyle blog post planned!
Hello and happy Monday! I am fresh off of a great weekend overnight trip to the nearby beautiful city of Richmond, which I can't wait to share more about with you soon! I'm so excited as I was able to shoot a lot of new blog content in both Charlottesville and Richmond last week, and I can't wait to start blogging everything! I absolutely love today's casual but chic spring look, and I'm also chatting in today's post about why parking decks are my favorite place to take blog pictures at. Today's post is SUPER photo-heavy, but I'm sharing some old favorite blog post memories!
First things first as always: outfit talk! Madewell is actually a store that I don't usually shop at. While they do have some great classic basic pieces, I think their prices are very expensive for what they sell, and I think I can often find similar items for their signature pieces at other stores on sale for a fraction of the price. (Just being honest!) Anyways, I happened to stop by the Charlottesville store a couple weekends ago when my friend Ciera was visiting, and I'm so glad I did! They had a great sale on some spring tops, and I just loved this pink striped wrap top. Best of all- it was originally $72, marked down to $20, and that day in-store there was an additional discount so I purchased it for just $10!! What a savings, especially from a store like Madewell! Surprise sales like this are exactly why I still love browsing the clearance racks from time to time. I tried to go for some "Gal Meets Glam" vibes with this outfit, by adding in my favorite embroidered mules and a hair scarf. Do y'all think I channeled a little Julia Engel at all? 😊
So this shoot was the first time that I've done parking deck pictures in Charlottesville! These were taken at the Water Street Garage, which is right by Downtown Mall if you know Charlottesville at all. (Essentially the biggest and main parking garage for the downtown area.) If you've followed me for awhile, you know that parking decks have been my favorite places to shoot at for years now! The obsession started my sophomore year of college in Charlotte.
Here's something funny- one of my Charlottesville photographers, Meredith, (who I did today's photos with), and I actually met years ago! We had mutual friends through a Christian online ministry group called Delight & Be, and when my friend Shara (another Delight friend, who is from Maine!) came to visit me in Charlotte back in 2014, Meredith came down from Virginia to meet us and spend a few days hanging out with us in Charlotte. The three of us actually did some parking deck pictures way back then (you can check out one of those blog posts way in my archives here!), and that's kind of when my obsession with taking photos on parking decks began! I kept exploring decks all over Uptown Charlotte and beyond throughout my college years- although the Midtown Target parking deck of course was my favorite, and I frequently took blog photos there for a few years. Burlington Vermont wasn't really a "hot spot" for parking decks as it isn't a large city, but I did do a couple sets of blog photos during my year there on the Cherry Street parking deck downtown!
So why do I like the tops of parking decks so much for photos? First and foremost, the views! They provide such a cool and unique look out over a city. Second, the top floor of a parking deck is generally speaking a more private and secluded place to shoot, especially on weekends if it's a deck that's mostly used during the workweek! Even if there is weekend traffic, generally speaking the cars usually stick to lower levels. Third, you can find beautiful lighting on them! With that being said... lighting can be finicky at certain times of day. It can be tough to shoot on some parking decks in the middle of the afternoon, depending on the positioning of the sun. But in the early mornings, evenings, and on cloudy days, you should be good to go, and light should be great!
One thing to keep in mind is that not all parking decks are public or city owned. One of my close friends and I actually almost got in trouble for trespassing once for going to the top of the CPCC (community college) parking deck near Uptown Charlotte! The crazy thing was we weren't even there for blog photos or anything to do with my blog! It was one night in the winter during one semester of college, and we actually just wanted to watch the stars and the Charlotte skyline from a parking deck. (Literally the most innocent thing!) A security guard ended up finding our car up there while doing rounds and almost called the cops on us- it was kind of scary. And a lesson to me for using parking decks for my blog in the future to try and stick to the public ones!
Here are a few favorite parking deck photos from North Carolina and Vermont throughout the years- these were taken in Charlotte and Greensboro NC, and Burlington, VT! I'm excited to hopefully discover more parking decks here in Charlottesville, and beyond in Virginia.
And finally- a few blog memories from my favorite parking deck of all (and one of my favorite places in the whole wide world!) - the Midtown Target parking deck in Charlotte.
Fellow blogger friends- do you also have a favorite spot that you keep returning to for blog photos?
