Coral Dresses & Sunday Soup

What makes you happiest on the weekends? Is it getting out and pushing your limits exercising, staying inside trying new recipes and relaxing, getting away for a few days to a new, fresh location? I feel like I don't necessarily have a favorite type of weekend...I do know that all of my weekends involve cleaning. I'm such a neat freak, and so I like to start fresh no matter what every week, and that includes catching up on laundry, cleaning the floors, cleaning the kitchen, etc. etc.

 

This weekend, we went to cheer on our neighbor's kiddos in their soccer games, and took our puppy to explore one of the local county parks/beaches. Today we slept in, went to church, and made some yummy soup for lunch. Pretty lowkey overall. I alternated between wanting my weekends to be intensive spurts of productivity and just wanting to relax and stay in so that I'm refreshed for the week ahead.

 

Today I wore a coral lace-type dress that I picked up from Ross (London Times?), and a ruffled cardigan (also from Ross). These light grey suede heels are ones that I ordered last week during a Charlotte Russe online sale-- they were ~$15!

 

 I tried to take a family photo before taking some of my own photos, and my husband and puppy decided to play chase instead! #puppyproblems :)

xo,

Shannon

Pintucked shirts & Puppy kisses

As I've talked about a little bit before in my blog, right now is a time of major transitions in my life (professionally). I feel that as women it can be very difficult for us to find the right balance between our home/personal life and our professional life, and recognizing the different times throughout the course of our careers that that balance will not be even...sometimes it will be a 70%/30% divide or vice versa. And it's been very challenging for me to understand how I want to structure that balance for myself.

 

I've found that sometimes, as one-half of a married couple (where my partner also has a demanding, location-restrictive career), I often feel like I am less flexible in my options than I was at an earlier point in my professional path. Unless I'm comfortable living apart for awhile, my transition and ability to search for careers is geographically limited by my husband's position. I'm not going to lie, I definitely find that frustrating. But at the same time, I do want us to stay together as a family. Most of my work to date has been academic/research-based, and I'm often surprised by how many women in my career field place their work ahead of living in the same state/area of the country as their spouses. If that's the right decision for them, then that's certainly the right choice. But for me, I would be miserable living without my husband for 5-6 years at a time, even knowing we would be together in the future. I married him because I want to be with him...because seeing him every day makes my world brighter, and because doing things for him brings me joy and fulfillment (moreso than I experience in my profession). It's a tricky balance.

 

In conjunction with those thoughts though, my professional struggle has more to do with finding the right position where I can find happiness in a career, which I haven't found (to a great extent) up to this point. I've been challenged, I've felt accomplished at times, I've felt like I've learned things...but truly happy at work? Not really. If I could go back to meet my 18 year old self, the single most important thing I would tell her would be to follow her own happiness. To follow the things that bring you joy outside of what you think people want you to do/feeling like you should make people proud/seeking prestige. If you find your happiness, who gives a sh*t what other people think? ;)

 

On that note, I went along with my favorite fashion theme today. I just love the feeling of a pretty feminine top and a flirty a line skirt. I'll switch it up one of these days...

 

My top today was from Lauren Conrad's line for Kohl's last summer-- I love all of the peasant tops that come from her collections. My grey a line skirt is a recent Charlotte Russe acquisition, and my shoes I just found at Ross (they're Calvin Klein) and they're so comfy!

 

Stella (my puppy) wanted to get in on the action too-- as usual! :)

xo,

Shannon

Peasant Tops & Circle Skirts (Pt. II)

So I've had Invisalign (the clear plastic braces) for about three months now, and it's been kind of a weird experience. I had braces when I was a little girl, maybe 9-12 years old...and over the past decade or so, my teeth have shifted a lot more than I've liked. I was excited to get Invisalign and it was something that I took a lot of time to decide to do. I have a fabulous orthodontist, and I do recommend it as an alternative to braces--particularly cosmetically--but I haven't loved the experience so far. Today I had to go in and get IPR which is this process where they file down some of the spaces needed between your teeth where they are too crowded and need room to move. It was weird.

 

But...I'm excited to head into this four day week and get back in the swing of things! Today I wore a peasant top that I got on sale at Kohls a few months ago, a tan circle scuba skirt from Charlotte Russe, and my tan strappy heels from Ross. Did you all find any good steals over Memorial Day weekend?

 

 

 Little fluffy girl settled down on the rug in front of my mirror-- how adorable is she? I'm too obsessed with my puppy!

 

A few other photos from this weekend! :

 

 

 

These are from an interview on Friday, Sunday church, and outings to the country here in Maryland.

 

xo,

Shannon

 

Grey Skirts & Puppy Chews

My hubby and I just got back from a mid-week date at our favorite Mexican food restaurant here in Maryland. After spending most of my life in California before we moved out East, I've had such a hard time finding Mexican food that tastes as delicious as it does back there. But, I do really like this restaurant...their sopapillas especially are just to die for. So now I am full, and tired, and ready for a good night's sleep before a busy day tomorrow. 

Stella decided to try to attempt eating the heels off my shoes as I was walking around today. She's a goofy little puppy, and while sometimes she can be frustrating (like when she pulls all the toilet paper off the roll and tears it to shreds), I love her feisty, loyal personality. We had fun down at the beach today and as always, had some fluffy snuggles.

Today I wore a black/white checked blouse from Kohls, a grey scuba skirt from Charlotte Russe, and another pair of nude heels from Ross (I seriously love Ross shoes). TG *tomorrow* IF!

xo.

Shannon

Mid-Week Slump: Floral Skirts & Fluffy Dogs

To be honest, this week has not been my favorite, and my sleep schedule has really been suffering. Once I get off a good rhythm, I have a hard time getting back into it and my body seems to default to its night owl status. I'm happiest when I have an 11 pm - 7 am schedule or so, but naturally, my rhthym tends towards 2-3 am - 10 am...which leaves me feeling so completely behind by the time I wake up! I'll be working on fixing that this week!

Today I went with one of my favorite older pink floral skirts (I actually got this from the Burlington Coat Factory), a pintucked crepe blouse (F21) and my gold heels again (F21). Simple, twirly, comfy...all of my favorite sartorial adjectives at once. My puppy, Stella decided to plop down as I was taking photos, which I loved because I'm always trying to take more pictures of her and she's always like "mom, no, play tug of war with me!"

xo,

Shannon

Mondays: Black Lace & Beef Stew

Surprisingly, I was actually really looking forward to this Monday, and getting a fresh start for a busy week. Unfortunately, after tossing and turning all night long and a few nightmares, I overslept and woke up less than refreshed. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. 

I felt like I had no idea what I wanted to wear today, so I just want with a simple and easy outfit that still managed to look cohesive. This comfy black lace elastic-waist dress is one of my go-tos to just toss on (same for the nude heels). I picked this dress up at Marshall's this previous Fall for around ~15 or so, and wear it all the time.

After leaving for the day and getting things done around town, I ran a few errands and came home to arrange some flowers and make a crockpot stew for dinner. Below I've shared some of my daisy arrangements, and the beer-based beef stew that we'll be eating later today! It's a recipe from the Pioneer Woman, whose cookbooks I just adore. I've never actually seen her show, but I love her recipes because they're all so savory and the cookbooks have bright, colorful pictures that are easy to follow. 

This Morning...

Back at the house arranging blooms and cooking stew with my little helper...

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

xo,

Shannon

Sunday Post: Comfy Dresses and Light Reading

It seems like I've been a weather girl lately on my blog, but I'm really ready for the sunshine to come back---still more rain today! 

Today, I slept in a little bit later than I planned, but my husband came in and woke me up with breakfast in bed. Whenever it feels like I haven't made the best decisions in other areas of my life, I remember how thankful I am to be married to such an incredible and selfless person. I'm really appreciative to have met him and that he wanted to keep me around for the rest of his life!

We slept through the time of our regular church service, and so we ended up at the "traditional" church service at our home church today. I actually really really enjoyed attending-- it's nice to switch things up sometimes, maybe meet people you wouldn't otherwise and hear messages that resonate with different aspects of your life.

After that, I ran a few quick errands around town and spent some much-needed time at Barnes and Nobles. I picked up a sassy chick-lit book called The Knockoff, about a fashion magazine editor and two other historical fiction mysteries, so I've got a nice little stack to read throughout the upcoming week.

Today I wore a Sonoma Style green slub-knit dress (from Kohls) with black fleece leggings and nude quilted boots (from Charming Charlies). Normally, I like to dress up a bit more on Sundays...but I was running behind and my puppy was being a handful this morning, so this is what I went with for today. She also really wanted to play tug of war with her toy when I was trying to take pictures, so for the most part they turned out pretty blurry. #professionalphotographerdefinitelynotmycareerpath

xo,

Shannon