LILLY PULITZER SUNSHINE SALE: Winter 2023 Sale Dates! 🌴🌸

      Starting off a new year my favorite way... with Lilly Pulitzer sale news!! The next Sunshine Sale kicks off this Thursday! (Yes- starting midweek this time!)

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:

2022 Apartment Christmas Tree + Decor!

      I'm a bit belated in getting this year's apartment holiday decor blog post up, but even though it's late I couldn't skip the tradition to document it on my blog. Here are a few snaps from my second Christmas season in my little Virginia Beach apartment!

Stroll Through Colonial Williamsburg at Christmas.

      Williamsburg is one of America's most historic towns, and (without traffic) it's under an hour away from where I live! Christmastime in Williamsburg is especially charming. There's something special about a very classic and historic area being decked out for Christmas. Most of the buildings within Colonial Williamsburg participate in an annual wreath decorating contest. All of the materials and decorations for the wreaths have to be naturally sourced, and things that would've been around in the 1700s. So that means no Christmas lights, modern ornaments, or tinsel! Instead, you'll see lots of pinecones and sticks, fruit, shells, and more natural items. You can read more about the history of the wreath contest here!

     I had to share some festive photos with you from a recent day trip to Williamsburg a couple weekends ago. I feel extra lucky this season as I also got to go back to Williamsburg for another day trip this past weekend, so I got to see all of this twice! 

My Summer of Sickness: Why I'm Glad to Live Near Patient First Urgent Care.

This blog post is sponsored by Patient First Urgent Care. Thank you for supporting the brand partners that support Southern Belle in Training!

There's no doubt in my mind that 2022 has been the best year of my life. Honestly, I think it'll be a hard year to top this year in my future. But even in the best of years, there are some lows to balance out the highs. And for me, all of the lows of 2022 seemed to be of a medical nature. I feel thankful that none of the medical situations I had this year were anything life-threatening or too serious. I didn't have cancer or a chronic illness, and I didn't need any surgeries. (For that I am so, so thankful!) But even less serious medical related things can still be a pain to deal with and can be both time consuming and expensive. In 2022, I missed three and a half weeks of work between various illnesses and dental work. Woof!

       Let's recap my medical events of 2022. First up, I had my first-ever root canal in April, and the healing from it took longer than expected. I thought I'd be good to go within a few hours after the procedure, but I had a lot of swelling and pain and was out of work for a few days. (Root canal recovery + talking for a living at my day job = doesn't mix well.) Covid came for me at long last in September. I managed to dodge it for two and a half years, but it finally got me. I feel very thankful that I had a fairly mild case, but I still had to miss a week of work for my quarantine. But the worst medically related thing of 2022 for me? That would be the mysterious (non-Covid) respiratory infection that I had in the height of summer. In today's blog post, I'm going to tell you more about that experience, as well as how visiting a local Patient First Urgent Care Center a week into being sick finally helped start turning things around for me.