by Joey | Oct 21, 2015 | Throwback
When Kristina blogged about this Old Navy dress, I didn’t hesitate. I immediately ordered it. I’ve never done that before–ordered something a blogger suggested. But it seemed so easy! And hey, it was on sale. Win-win.
Okay, story time.
When it arrived, I couldn’t wait to wear it. I had plans to go out to see Who Rescued Who with ATA that night, the perfect opportunity. This little number was going out on the town! Oh, yes!
I slid it over my head, my arms outstretched. And then…it stopped. The rolled up sleeves wouldn’t go over my elbows, and I couldn’t put my arms down. Now, something you might need to now about me is that I’m not necessarily claustrophobic, but if I can’t move my arms or legs, I panic.
I yelled for J. I need your help! I tried to stay calm and trotted out into the hallway, dress half on, underwear exposed, arms halfway up.
He was on the couch, turned around and laughed. You’re ridiculous. He started to get up, but he wasn’t moving fast enough and panic started to settle in.
Get me out! I need to get out! I…I…I…I can’t breathe!! Before I could stop myself, I was in full blown panic attack mode, sobbing and all. Because I was stuck in a dress.
I couldn’t get out of the dress fast enough. Chuckling, he moseyed over to me and pulled the dress up over my head.
See! I yelled. A T-shirt wouldn’t ever trap you!
And that, my friends, is why I’ll never be a fashion blogger.
Because I get stuck in my clothes.
by Joey | Oct 20, 2015 | Throwback
My junior year of college, one of our friends confided in me that he’d bought a ring and was proposing to his girlfriend. Instead of feeling happy and excited, I was overwhelmed with jealousy.
It didn’t matter that we were only twenty years old, but my boyfriend and I had been together for 4.5 years, and I thought it was only fair that I get a proposal, too.
It was like a switch had been flipped. Suddenly, if it wasn’t a proposal, I was miserable. I was poison. Toxic. I missed out on every experience because I was too busy pouting over something that in the end wouldn’t matter.
He didn’t propose until spring 2009. One year after college graduation. And the moment he handed me a ring, the switch turned off. It was like I woke up from this haze and realized how much time I’d wasted being miserable over something that I knew would eventually come when the time was right.
Despite how isolated I felt, I’ve learned in the last 6.5 years that I was definitely not alone in this feeling. My self inflicted misery might have lasted a little longer than most (cough, thanks husband. I kid…sort of), but apparently a lot of girls can relate to the all consuming impatience that I felt all those years ago.
I watched many of my friends get engaged. I stood at their sides when they tied the knot, a diamond embarrassingly lacking from my left hand. With every wedding, every holiday, every gathering, the questions and comments flooded in, fueling the fire. You’re next…or are you? So, when are you getting married. …tick tock tick tock tick tock.
I felt this enormous pressure over something I had absolutely no control over. It didn’t seem to be enough that J and I had gone through hell and somehow still survived. It didn’t matter that we were 100% committed to each other. I needed a piece of jewelry to validate our relationship to the world.
A few weeks ago, while on a coffee date, a new friend confided in me, sharing her feelings on her situation. Suddenly, I was sitting across the table from the twenty year old version of myself and my heart instantly recognized that suffocating, uncontrollable impatience.
Well, she asked. Do you have any advice on the situation?
I wish I did. I wish I had the magic words to make that feeling evaporate from her heart, from your heart. But I don’t. All I can tell you is that in the end, it doesn’t matter. The moment J handed me a ring, the evil sitting in my soul deflated in a single, relieving breath. I instantly regretted it all. I think back over every event, every date, every supposedly fun outing that ended in all consuming sobs, and I want to shake the former version of myself, telling her to just let it be.
Try to be present in the moment. Celebrate your relationship in its current season. You don’t get this time back. I missed out on the last two years of our dating relationship because I was blindly trying to navigate it to the place it was already heading. Instead of speeding up the process, I missed everything in those last moments of our journey.
Don’t be like me. It feels nearly impossible to just trust timing, I know, but take it from me there’s no going back. I’m not proud of the person I was in that season of my life. But I learned the lesson so hopefully you don’t have to.
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by Joey | Oct 19, 2015 | Throwback
I hit Target the other day (are you even surprised?) and saw that the Airwick fall scents were on sale for $4.99 (two inserts and a plug in). I didn’t even think twice, boop boop boop, in to my basket went three different packs, thank you very much.
When I got home, J and I were in a hurry to pop out for a much overdue date night (thanks to my sweet bosses who insisted they treat us to dinner one night this weekend) but while the hubs took the pup outside, I ran around the house switching the warmers out. And then I forgot all about it.
We walked over to Tupelo Honey (I’m still in awe of the fact that we live somewhere that we can walk to date night. I think living in Buies Creek has scarred me for life). It was absolute bliss. It’d been entirely too long since we’d purposely gone on a date. We put the phones away, shared a bottle of wine, ate incredible food (I had the maple glazed salmon which oh my gosh yes yum!) and chatted about all things life. Our walk back home was almost freezing. I loved it.
We raced upstairs, and when I opened the door to our apartment, fall smacked me in the face! Bliss!
Since the weather and our apartment were reflecting the wonderful season of fall, I was inspired to rock a casual fall makeup look on Sunday! Bring on all the golden shadows and berry lips!!
Fall is here, friends!!
by Joey | Oct 16, 2015 | Throwback
(This is a subscription service, however, you can skip or cancel at any time!)
This week flew by, right? Or is that just me? I swear I operated on practically no sleep (I’m sure my husband is rolling his eyes out there somewhere) for the first half of the week. Which would probably explain why being in bed by 8:50 earlier this week caused me to over sleep the next morning. Why does that happen? The more sleep you get, the more sleep you need. Go figure.
I’m still settling into my new groove, trying to follow my own rules. I’ll admit that I don’t quite have it down yet, and I did have some work to finish up a couple nights this week. But I am starting to get a handle on things. I felt exponentially less overwhelmed all week, so I guess we’ll call it a win.
A few things I learned this week:
I need to get better at giving myself grace. Lindsay’s post partners really well with my overwhelmed post from earlier this week, and really resonated with me.
How to remove denim stains from my purse. Alanna shared her secret, and you won’t believe it! I saved one of my beloved Coach bags with this tip mere minutes after reading her post!
That I desperately want to travel to Australia. Kristen’s 9 Reasons to Visit Australia (and reasons not to) just solidified that fact.
That I need to hire Sara Kate to come dress me. Her outfit post from the other day left me sa-wooooooooning.
The good, the bad & the ugly of Paleo. Kait stripped it all down and told the honest truth about her adventure with the Paleo diet.
I’m doing my best to allow myself some grace this weekend, so I’ve worked my tail off trying to set Saturday up as a do nothing day. What are your plans for the weekend? What were some of YOUR favorite posts from this week?
*this post contains affiliate links.
by Joey | Oct 15, 2015 | Throwback
Running a business + working full time means that I don’t have time to be lazy, uninspired, or to procrastinate. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, but the other side of that coin is to just come to a full stop, ignoring all responsibility. Let’s not let that happen, okay?
Your space matters. Where do you get a majority of your work done? Is it where you’re meant to get work done? See, for me, I have an office, but I was doing most of my work at the kitchen bar on on the couch. Inspiration and productivity came to a full stop whenever I was in my office. I couldn’t figure it out since I practically lived in my office in Buies Creek. Then it dawned on me. My desk was facing a wall. Talk about feeling closed in. I did some rearranging and boom! Productivity returns!
Cut out distractions. I work from home the first half of every day. It’s such a blessing but only if I actually utilize the time I have. While I do a pretty great job not falling into the Netflix trap (Netflix is for getting ready and evenings only), my phone has become my #1 nemesis. I have a hard time not answering phone calls when someone I love calls me. I read every text that comes through. I’m tempted to scroll instagram, which only opens a whole new can of worms. So when I sit down at my desk, I turn my phone to airplane mode. I crank out so much work just taking away the option to be distracted by my phone. It works wonders, people!
Hold yourself accountable. Besides being distracted by my phone, I was falling even further behind because what would happen is I’d read every message that came through, reply mentally, then forget all about it. I turned read receipts back on in iMessage. While everyone hates read receipts, it encourages me to only look at a text when I have the time to reply. It’s also eliminated my desire to run to my phone when it pings (after work-from-home-hours, of course).
Plan ahead. I plan what my workday should look like from the night before, putting the most important tasks at the top. Knowing exactly what I need to work on when I wake up each morning takes making any decisions out of the equation. Eliminating that decision eliminates the desire to procrastinate. I find that I procrastinate the most when I can’t decide what to do next. I go a step further and schedule the time that I’ll complete each project. iCal and the Simplified Planner come in super duper handy for this.
I think we all have it in us to be productive and successful, we just have to find the recipe that works for us! I’m constantly experimenting, trying to find the perfect solution to every time-wasting problem. What are some of your tips and tricks for being super productive?
Have a productive Thursday, friends!
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