Winter Airport Outfit + Cutest Luggage EVER.

     Airport and travel style can be tricky, and especially so in the colder months. You don't want to be overdressed, but you don't want to look like a total bum either. In today's blog post I'm sharing an idea for a winter flying outfit, and also talking about my new favorite luggage, which I personally think is the cutest luggage ever. 😉 

Photography by Amanda Rose Photography

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Sweatshirt {old, similar here} // Sports bra {on sale!} // Leggings c/o {under $15!} // Sneakers // Luggage // 

     The way that I dress for flying is highly dependent on three things: my destination, amount of layovers, and most importantly, what time of day my flight leaves at! Obviously if I am flying to a warm weather destination, I'm not going to wear a huge coat and snow boots on the plane. And vice versa, if I'm headed to an equally cold destination, I won't be spotted in warm weather clothing. If I have a brief direct flight, I sometimes do like to dress up for flying. However, a long day of running between multiple airports isn't the time for cute clothing. So the duration of my flights and amount of layovers also determine how I dress! 

      And lastly- what time of day the flight is at! In college, most of my flights home to Maine were evening or late afternoon flights, so I'd have the whole day to get ready. They were also pretty short and easy direct flights, so sometimes I'd enjoy dressing up and looking nice to fly. In the past couple years, I've become more fond of 6 am flights. If you're able to get out of your home area super early, then you have the whole day ahead of you to enjoy your destination, instead of coming in super late at night! However, waking up at 3:30 am for a flight means that I'm no longer putting together cute airport outfits. I want to be comfortable and put together, but something that doesn't require a lot of effort. The outfit that I'm wearing in today's post is exactly the type of thing that I'd wear for a winter 6 am flight! These leggings are very comfortable, and they're under $15! My sneakers are super lightweight and they match a lot of outfits, and nothing beats a sports bra and cute sweatshirt combo for an early flight. 

     I've gotten a ton of questions about this luggage since I debuted it on Instagram during my Kentucky trip earlier this month. I'd had my old luggage set since middle school or high school, and it had been with me through tons of vacations and many moves back and forth from college to home. While it's still in decent condition considering how much I've used it, I knew it was time to treat myself to some shiny new luggage for holiday travels! I've seen certain luggage sets that are popular with other bloggers, but I wanted to find my own unique set. I fell IN LOVE after finding my set! Tiffany Blue is my favorite color, and it couldn't be a more perfect match. It also comes in tons of other fun colors! Two suitcases are included in the set, and they're both spinner suitcases. The suitcase that I brought to Kentucky got slightly scuffed on one of the flights, but I used a Magic Eraser on it when I got home and now it looks brand new again!



      Speaking of flying- this post comes at an appropriate time, as tomorrow I'm flying away for a New Year's weekend trip! Sadly I'm not going somewhere much warmer than New England. I'm leaving negative temperatures in Vermont for... temperatures in the teens. Whooo!! Such warmth- lol! I'm flying out-of-state to visit a high school friend who recently moved away from Maine. It's a crazy story of how we got back in touch that I hope to share soon! Anyways- this trip is going to be a true vacation for me. I'm actually taking a blog social media and blogging break for four days, something I rarely do! But it is much needed, coming out of a very busy few months on both my blog and at my day job. I need some time to decompress and refocus before starting 2018 off strong! I have one more prescheduled blog post that will go up tomorrow, but other then that this is my sign-off for the year. It will be kind of nice to be traveling and not feel the need to Insta-Story/Snapchat/Tweet everything, or lug around my DSLR to take pictures of everything for the blog. Sometimes life is just meant to be lived! 😉 If y'all are really interested in where I'm going, I can do a mini travel guide of sorts in January and talk about where I visited.



     Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog post- my last one of the year and another annual favorite for me to write!

      God Bless,



      xoxo Annaliese 

Athletic Goals for the New Year.

Photography by Deeana Kourtney Photography

Grey Hoodie // Grey Sports Bra // Colorful Leggings // Purple Sports Bra // Black and Multicolored Leggings // Pink Tank // (All items linked c/o Marks & Spencer)

     Ah- New Year's resolutions. Now that we're a few weeks into 2017, let's take a minute and re-visit this idea. As I shared with y'all in December, I impressed myself by following through very well with my resolution for 2016.  I genuinely hoped that I could go into this new year tackling my new resolution with the same type of determination and enthusiasm that I had for last year's.

     As you could probably guess from what I am wearing in these photos, my 2017 New Year's resolution involves prioritizing fitness. To give a little backstory, despite growing up as an athlete (I'm a former competitive figure skater from childhood, and I also played two team sports in high school), I fell out of the routine of making fitness a priority during my first few years in college. By senior year, I had finally found some workout classes offered by my campus gym that I really enjoyed attending, and had also figured out my own gym routine that I loved. Working out was finally a big part of my life, and it was great! But after having a serious concussion this past spring and not being able to do much physical activity for about 6-8 weeks, I completely fell out of my routine. And I'm a little bit embarrassed to say that I never got it back. Part of it might have been that because around the time this summer that I was finally feeling 100% physically myself again, I was also into the thick of my broadcasting school program, was working in retail, and was also beginning my social media job. Plus blogging! I had a lot on my plate in an ever-changing schedule, and I didn't know how fitness could play a part. 

     But it's a new year now, and I'm ready to stop making excuses. I finished my retail job in December, and for the first time in a long time, I finally have a set weekday schedule. It might be an insane one since I'm interning for a morning radio show, but it is a schedule! And that's huge for me. Now that I can plan out my weeks more in advance, I'm ready to make fitness a priority again, which is how it became my 2017 resolution.

     I looked into joining ClassPass or my local Y so that I could do fitness classes, but I am on a pretty tight budget until finishing broadcasting school in the spring. My plan is to make the most of the fitness center at my apartment complex, and utilize it as much as I can for my workouts. Since I'm just getting back into a regular fitness routine, I don't have any huge goals as of now. But here are the two things that I am holding myself accountable to for this year:

• Going to gym or doing some sort of physical activity twice a week
• Working my way up to running a 5k distance by the end of 2017

     On workout days in my apartment gym so far, I am enjoying running on the treadmill, and using the elliptical and bikes. As the year progresses, I'm hoping to find some Youtube videos or shorter workouts to do as well that will help with buildings abs or upper body strength (send any suggestions for these my way!). I'm also hoping this year to make physical activity that isn't just going to the gym a priority. I do love being outside, so I hope to do more nature walks and hikes, or maybe even get into running outside! And I love playing tennis, so I'm hoping that's a sport that I can rediscover this year.

      Of course my New Year's resolution means that I needed to invest in some new workout clothes. I was so excited to learn about all of the amazing workout options from Marks & Spencer. Where making fitness a priority again is still a newer part of my routine (and I'm also definitely on a budget right now!), I'm not quite ready to invest in super expensive workout clothing. But- I definitely did still want some new things to wear! Marks & Spencer came to my rescue. Almost all of their workout clothes are under $50, and many are under $25. Everything can be mixed and match to make lots of cute athletic outfits. The leggings that I'm wearing in both of these outfits are both very lightweight and breathable (but not see-through at all). I especially love the performance graphite print leggings - how fun are the colors in those?! Wearing a  supportive sports bra is also so crucial in helping to have a good workout, and both this one and this one that I'm wearing are supportive, and also super cute! 

     Do any of your New Year's resolutions involve fitness? How are you planning to meet your fitness goals in 2017? 

     xoxo Annaliese

      This blog post was written in collaboration with Shopping Links and Marks & Spencer. All opinions are honest and my own. Thank-you for supporting the brands that support Southern Belle in Training!