Happy Monday before Fall Break! I'm not usually one to count down to a break, but, then again, I've never worked directly with kids before, and I am most definitely in countdown mode.

This past week was just a crazy as I imagined it would be, which is why I did not have any posts last week other than my start-of-the-week motivation post. I had a workshop on Tuesday, and all of seventh grade went on a field trip on Thursday. We ended up having to do a re-test on our novel due to a technical glitch, and we did not get any of the writing that I had planned on done.

This week won't be much better. I have an all-day training on Tuesday, and Friday is a half day, meaning I have three full teaching days...but at least one of those days will be dedicated to watching the movie version of the novel we just finished, and to be quite honest it will more than likely take two full days to watch the movie and do the activity to meet the standard we're covering. I hope to get at least an hour's worth of writing in for the week, but that's probably me being overly ambitious. In all actuality, we'll probably only get to do some type of writing on Monday, but it can't be our only focus because I've got to set them up for the activities they'll do while I'm out on Tuesday.

Anyway, that's what I spent a good portion of my weekend doing - planning for this chopped up week. I also got all of my grades entered for report cards. The first nine weeks officially ended last week. Our school does a parent pick-up for report cards, so I'll have to stay late on that day.

Also this weekend, we got some cleaning done and added a few fall decorations in among our regular decor. Sadly, the majority of my fall stuff is in a box that hasn't made it into this house yet, so it'll be Fall Break before I really get to go all out. We did watch Hocus Pocus 2, though, and baked some jack-o-lantern cookies. Our new neighborhood has lots of trees so we're really getting to experience the fall of the leaves for the first time in several years. Alexis loves it. And our weather actually feels like fall, which never happens this early in the season. It's not sweater weather by any means, but I can wear jeans and not feel like I'm having heat stroke.

Well, that's pretty much got you caught up. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Welp, it's Monday again, folks. I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend. My weekend was very productive. I put together the final test for our novel unit, organized the comprehensive review we'll be doing for it, and started planning out the pacing for a new reading program I'll be using with one of my classes. I also got caught up on my grading and got everything entered into the gradebook. This week ends our first nine weeks, so I definitely needed the uninterrupted time to get that done.

This week is going to be pretty hectic. Monday we're starting a new grammar unit on sentences and will be doing a comprehensive review of our novel. We'll also be getting back on track with our writing assignment, which we've been postponing due to other things. On Tuesday I'll be out of town for a workshop, so I've got some assignments to help reinforce the skills we've been working on over the last few weeks. The unit test is on Wednesday, then on Thursday we're taking a field trip to see a play about Ruby Bridges, the first black student to attend a desegregated school. Friday will be a writing day.

Next week we'll be doing a lot of writing and watching the movie that goes along with the novel, and then we'll get a week off for Fall Break. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting down the days.

That's it for me this week. Y'all keep me in your thoughts because this week is going to be insane. Have a good one!

The South has had its first taste of fall, and it has been wonderful. Lower temperatures and humidity and a refreshing breeze to top things off have made the last several days pleasant. We all know it's not going to last, of course, and highs for later this week are expected to be back in the 90s, but it's been nice to pretend for a few days. Granted, it's not been cool enough to bring out anything remotely resembling a sweater, and I'm still gazing longingly at my boots, but I have been subtly shifting my color schemes to reflect the season I want to be in.

Here are seven outfits I've worn over the last couple of weeks to work, meaning they are classroom-approved. For reference, I'm 5'2" and weigh around 145 lbs. I typically wear size small or 6 in clothes and size 7 in shoes.

I picked up this dress from a locally-owned store and haven't been able to find it anywhere online. For local folks, it came from The Barn. I swapped out the included tie sash with this wide woven belt and decided to play up the sunshine tones with my yellow wedges.

I used to have a dress with a very similar pattern, but as I lost weight it stopped fitting well, so I donated it. I really loved that dress, so when I came across this one I was excited. It's got several colors in the pattern you can use to coordinate your shoes, but I chose navy. These are those flats that I own in a bunch of colors. They're comfortable all day, so long as you don't run (long story). The dress has cute flutter sleeves and pockets.

This skirt is so perfect, y'all. It's fully lined and has an elastic waist. I wanted to wear this maroon blouse to help pull out the flowers from the print, but you could easily do all black.

If you guessed these were another of the Old Navy OG Chinos, you'd be correct. I like this color a lot and was pleasantly surprised that they matched the pink tones in this blouse so nicely. I'm not totally satisfied with my shoe choice, but I wanted comfort over style this day.

Okay, so this blouse exceeded my expectations. I really like this type of shirt because it's easy to dress up or down. I chose this color because it's perfect for my school colors, so I can wear it on school spirit days when I don't feel like wearing a t-shirt. This day I wore jeans, but I will definitely be wearing this with skirts and slacks, as well.

It hasn't been that long since you last saw my favorite dress ever, but this is the first time I've worn it to school, so I had to document the occasion.

This is probably my favorite transition outfit formula. It works with pretty much any color bottoms, but I especially like olive for fall. My shoes have a bit of snake-print on them to add a bit of pattern mixing to this outfit. It was actually cool enough for a light jacket this day, so my dark denim jacket was the perfect finishing touch.

Another weekend has come and gone, and sadly it was nowhere near long enough. I spent at least half of it sick with a stomach virus that's been going through my students. Thankfully, though, I seem to have avoided the worst of it.

Last week was a pretty frustrating week, and it was really easy to get fixated on those frustrations, but when I forced myself to decompress, I was able to focus on the bright spots from the week. We started our first essay topic, and my kids actually like the topic I picked. In fact, a few other ELA teachers have asked me to share it with them, as well. For the classes that made it past the initial task of choosing a setting, I got to really see their creativity for the first time this school year. It was truly the best part of my week.

We're going to finish up our novel this week, which I'm excited for. It's been a mixed bag with all of my classes, with one class really getting into it and giving me the discussions I was aiming for and one not being invested at all. But I'm not that worried about if they didn't enjoy it, because it would be literally impossible for me to choose one book that fit every students' interests. We're also wrapping up our folktales unit, which I've enjoyed immensely) and moving on to a unit that will focus pretty heavily on conflict and motivation. I'm not super excited about the particular short story that's included with this one (I feel like it's overrated), but at this point I don't have another that I'd rather do instead.

In other news, Chris and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. It was very low-key, just dinner out at our favorite steakhouse. I'm planning on doing a few 10 year anniversary posts this month, so stay tuned for those!

That's going to wrap it up for me. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

 These are some of the things that have been making life just a little bit easier for me these days.

*This post contains affiliate links.

The Teacher Planner - If you've known me any length of time, then you'll know that I live by my planner. Always have, so when I decided to pursue teaching, I knew I needed to find the right planner to meet all my planning needs. And this is definitely it. I love how it's broken down into monthly, weekly, and even semester(ly?) planning. There's a place to keep up with contact information, passwords (because let's be real - we all have way too many to memorize), and it's even got a built-in grade book for an all-in-one experience.

Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm - Burt's Bees is my favorite lip balm of all time, but now that I'm working outside of my house again, I need more than a chapstick. I am in love with these tinted lip balms, especially the Hibiscus color. It's the perfect natural shade for my complexion and so much more hydrating than regular lipstick.

Rainproof Tote Bag - I've had this for a few years now, but it's really been getting put to good use the last couple of months. This bag has a pocket especially for a laptop, as well as a zippered pouch in the middle, pockets for pens/pencils and your phone, and plenty of room for my planner, workbooks, and papers that  need grading. I really love that I can fully zip the entire bag closed so that when it rains I don't have to worry about everything inside of it getting ruined.

Zak Insulated Tumbler - I use this tumbler literally every work day for my coffee. I've got a 40-minute drive every morning, and my coffee is still hot/warm (depending on if I drink any while I drive) when I get to work.

Old Navy OG Chinos - These are my preferred work pants at the moment. I own them in navy blue, black, gray, and pink. The elastic waistband makes them ridiculously comfortable without being frumpy (I was surprised by that!), and they're easy to wear rolled at the ankles or straight depending on your preference. They work with both casual and dressier tops, as well as a variety of shoes.

Publix Apron Meals - I'm not going to lie, as much as I like to cook dinner and eat together at our dining room table, I don't love the prep work that goes into some of my favorite meals. That's one of the best things about shopping at Publix, though. The meat counter always has put-together options that I just have to throw in the crockpot or stick in the oven. And I've yet to be disappointed with something we've tried.

Aveeno Positively Radiant Skin Brightening Daily Face Scrub - Aveeno has become my go-to skincare brand since I turned 30, and this face scrub has quickly become an integral part of my daily routine.

Suave Wave Mousse - I have been struggling to find a styling product that's light enough for my hair texture but that actually does the job I'm looking for. When I saw this on the shelf, I decided I had nothing to lose, especially since it costs less than $5, and I've been so pleased with the results. First of all, it has yet to dry crunchy, even on the days when I probably use too much. It also air dries pretty and is the easiest product to restyle that I have ever used.

Happy Monday, friends. It was a rainy, wet, and dreary weekend in my neighborhood, but I'm not really complaining. We may have had a short work-week, but it felt longer than a five-day work week! Mostly because we had testing all week for math, reading, and language, so the kids were beyond restless by the time we got to Friday. Let's just say it made for a long week, and I was not turning down the opportunity for a lazy weekend.

In other news, we're almost finished reading our novel, and by some miracle of fate we've stayed on track with it in every class. So we'll have a final assessment in a couple of weeks, then we'll get to watch the movie adaptation and do a comparison activity with that, and finally they'll do a creative project on one of the characters.

We'll be starting narrative writing this week, which I'm kind of excited about. I've got what I think is a fun prompt for the kids, but I really never know what they're going to respond to, so we'll see.

Fall Break is in a few weeks, then we'll swap gears for the second nine weeks. I'm not teaching a novel unit for this one, but we will be dipping our toes into drama with The Monsters are Due on Maple Street and A Christmas Carol. We'll also read The Smallest Dragonboy. There are some other smaller things we'll do in conjunction with each of those selections, as well. We'll also move into expository (explanatory) writing, and I have what I hope will be a fun project for them.

The only other thing of note from last week is that we filmed the first episode of the student morning show. It felt a little weird to write scripts after four years, especially since our stories aren't exactly 'news,' but that's actually a nice change of pace. Less stress, if you know what I mean.

Well, that's pretty much it for me. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Despite being incredibly busy and having to adjust to a new all-around schedule, August was a good month for reading. The final books of two series I'd been waiting on released, I discovered a crossover series from an author I really like, and learned that two series I'd been interested in are finally complete. I also reread another of my favorite series, Seraph Black by Jane Washington, and started a couple of other books that have been on my TBR for awhile.

Gallows Bridge (The Harlequin Crew book 5)

Author: Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti

I had been waiting awhile for this one to come out. I really enjoy this author duo, even if mafia/gang stories aren't my favorite. All of the characters in this series are morally gray, except for the true villain. He's 100 percent evil. Book five picks up right where book four ended, literally. The five main characters have to come up with a plan to finally take out Sean, who is like a dang cockroach and just keeps coming back. His obsession with Rogue is scary, to be honest, and his master plan to 'break her' is psychotic. Side note: they changed the covers, so this one looks dramatically different from the first four.

The Death Witch (The Coven: Fae Magic book 4)

Author: Chandelle Lavaun 

She did it again! Wow, what an ending to this season of The Coven Saga. I can’t wait for the next season to start. Truly, this is one of those situations where it's hard for me to give a synopsis without giving away spoilers about the rest of this season and the series as a whole. This season focuses mainly on Saffie, a fae-witch who was cursed in 1693 as part of a larger plan to eventually face Lillith, the fallen angel who's set on destroying the world. If you want to read this series, you need to start at the beginning with The Lost Witch. There's a prequel novella that you can get by joining the fan group.

Aria (The Happily Never After series book 3)

Author: H.P. Mallory

I'm honestly not sure why I let so much time pass from when I read book two. Maybe because the series wasn't complete yet? Anyway, I really do enjoy fairy tale retellings. This series has all the leading ladies of my favorite fairy tales, with each book focusing on a different one, although this one had the star of book two pretty heavily featured. Anyway, in this interwoven tale, there are ten 'chosen ones' who will one day unite to protect the world from the horrors of hell. Aria is Ariel, the little Mermaid. In this version, she's been cast out by her power-hungry father, Triton, and is living with her aunt, working to keep monsters inside a trench that's started to break open. When she rescues Captain Hook from a kraken, everything changes, then changes even more when she meets the human prince with whom she's now engaged.

Author: Alex Lidell 

This series read a lot like the Power or Five series, also by Lidell and one of my favorites of all time. It all made sense in the final book when there was a small crossover with one of the characters from that series, which made me want a follow-up book or series really badly! When Sam accepts a job to steal a mysterious object, she has no idea it will land her in a reform academy for supernaturals. She knows she's different, but she had no idea she's a witch. The last witch in existence, to be exact, and a coveted 'weapon' for both the shifters and vampires.

Broken Bonds and Savage Bonds (The Ties That Bond series book 1 & 2)

Author: J. Bree

This is a series that I've seen recommended over and over, but I've held off on starting it because it was incomplete. Well, the final book comes out at the end of September, so I decided to dive in, and I've enjoyed the journey so far. At the time of writing this post, I've read all of the books available, but I only finished the first two in August. Oleander (Oli) has been on the run since she was 16, but now her Bonds have found her and dragged her back. What they don't understand is that she wasn't running from them; she was running to protect them from the same evil that held her in its tortuous grasp for two years.

Back to school has always been the unofficial signal that fall is just around the corner. Add in the fact that Labor Day is celebrated as the last hurrah of summer, and it's time to start thinking about autumn fashion choices. But if you live in an area that doesn't see fall temperatures until Halloween at the earliest, dressing for fall is easier said than done. Luckily for you, I am an expert on the month-long transition period from summer to fall-ish.

For me, it's all about color, shoe choice, and strategic layering that doesn't add any actual warmth to your outfit. I'll show you what I'm talking about in this edition of real outfit roundup featuring eight outfits I wore to work. For those of you just tuning in, I just started teaching seventh grade English Language Arts, so my weekday style is a direct reflection of that - professional but casual and easy to move around in.

This skirt should be familiar to you since I wear it all the time. For this, I decided to keep things really simple and chose this lavender t-shirt to complement the purple tones in the floral pattern. I chose these braided sandal heels to elevate things a bit (my feet did not thank me the next day).

These navy blue pants are another of the Old Navy OG Chinos, and they're just as good as the others I've shown on the blog. I topped them off with this pretty embroidered blouse I got in my Wantable box, then finished things off with my star sneakers. They didn't really match, but I needed comfort over style this particular day, so it is what it is.

I had a professional development workshop this day, so I got to dress down. I'd been dying to wear this coffee t-shirt with my floral combat boots, and since this was the first day of September, a.k.a. the beginning of fall, I figured this was the perfect time. The boots are from the kids shoe section at Target. I wear size 5 in little girl shoes.

Happy Monday, and Happy Labor Day, friends! Did you know this is the first three-day weekend I've really had since leaving the TV station? I mean, logically, I've still gotten all the same holidays over the last four years or so, but when you work at home and make your own hours, it doesn't really feel the same. After a month of working set hours five days a week, I was ready for this three-day break!

That doesn't mean that this first month of teaching has been bad. Quite the opposite really. I'm enjoying it a lot, even with all the meetings and trainings I've had to attend during my planning period. I think I've finally found a rhythm with each class, and I've rearranged my classroom (hopefully for the last time) to better fit that rhythm.

We've made it halfway through our novel, The Westing Game, and have read two short stories - Seventh Grade by Gary Soto and The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. We've been focusing on plot and just started conflict, and we've finished our first grammar unit on the parts of speech (we're doing an escape room activity with that this week that I'm pretty excited about).

We have covered the writing process, but we have not started any in-depth writing yet, but that's coming in the next couple of weeks. There's a specific program the school uses that I needed to get up to speed with before we can dive into that process. We'll be starting with narrative writing before turning our focus onto expository (explanatory) writing, which is where I excel at thanks to my background in the news industry.

In other news, my husband's building for his shop has finally come in. Once he's got it all put together, we'll get a lot of extraneous stuff out of the house, which is pretty exciting. That'll mean the laundry room will be more functional, and we'll be able to finish the guest bedroom. I'm also hopeful that we'll be able to get the shoe shelves installed in my office so I can stop digging through the bins I've been storing them in every morning!

We've been fighting some sinus and allergy issues over the last couple of weeks. Chris ended up getting bronchitis, so it's been kind of rough. The worst night, I ended up not sleeping at all and missed my first day of work. Alexis has avoided it, thankfully. There's a pretty bad stomach bug making the rounds right now, too, and I've been keeping my fingers crossed we all avoid it, as well.

I'm finally starting to feel more balanced with my sleep schedule, so I think this month will look a little more like what you're used to from me with the blog. I've got several things in the works already, so I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things of regular posting. I'll have my monthly reading roundup for y'all this week as well as another real outfit roundup. I'm also putting together a list of favorites from the past month and starting to look at fall trends (even though here in the south we've got another month of summer to get through at least).

Well, that's going to do it for me. I hope everyone has a wonderful short week!

Typically, I write this post at the start of the day as a way to kick off the work week with some positive words, but that obviously did not happen this morning. Any other day, I would have just said 'oh well' and not done one for this week, but it has absolutely been a Monday. You know what I mean. A Monday that does everything in its power to start the week off on the wrong foot.

Surprisingly, I had picked this motivation before my Monday went off the rails. It's uncanny how spot-on this particular bit of wisdom turned out to be.

First, Alexis had a bit of an unexpected meltdown at school drop-off. There's really nothing quite like sending your upset child into school and leaving for work to set the tone for your day. And it was quite a day. I'm not sure what had gotten into the students, but whew! I think we were all glad for dismissal to come.

However, I learned while working at the TV station to not let other people's actions define whether I have a good day. All I can control is my own reaction, and I've gotten pretty good at adjusting my sails to accommodate the winds of the season over the years. So while this Monday was not what I would call a good day, it wasn't what I would call a bad one either.

On the bright side, after feeling under the weather for the past few days, I finally feel like I'm on the other side of this late-summer cold I've been suffering. I was pretty miserable on Thursday and Friday and spent most of the weekend resting. My husband has also been fighting similar symptoms, but thankfully Alexis hasn't had any issues.

Things with school and teaching are going nicely. We're getting into the meat of the novel we're reading this semester, and we're starting to get more serious about grammar. Soon, we'll introduce writing into the mix so we can start focusing on those skills. ELA covers a lot of ground, to be sure, so I've no doubt we'll stay busy all year.

I'm still getting into the swing of this schedule. I am most definitely not a morning person by nature, and my night owl tendencies have not been easy to break. So regular posting is still a goal I'm working toward for the blog. I hope to have mastered my sleep schedule within the next month. I know that sounds like a long time, but this is a really big change for me, y'all!

Anyway, that's gonna do it for me. I hope everyone had a good Monday and an even better rest of the week!

Welcome to another edition of Real Outfit Roundup. For those who are new to the blog, this is a series I try to bring you every other week. It's been thrown off-schedule recently because of some big life events but should be back on track now. Anyway, this is a twice-a-month post in which I share the outfits I've worn in real life along with my thought process behind each of them, honest reviews of each item, and links to shop exact or similar pieces.

Moving forward, these are going to become very teacher/business casual centric. In case you missed the news, I have started teaching middle school English Language Arts, which requires me to dress more professionally during the week. So there will be more work-wear pieces included in these, specifically when it comes to bottoms and shoe choices. However, you can still expect to see my love of patters, especially florals, and my personal style reflected in each outfit I do share.

School has started in my neck of the woods, and I've been working for almost a month now. So this is officially my first teacher-centric outfit roundup post.

This was one of my teacher in-service/planning days before school actually started, but I did still have to dress professionally. I really love these tank dressed by Time and Tru at Walmart. They're thick enough that they're flattering and don't show a lot of lumps, etc., but they're still cool. When the weather eventually cools off, they'll be easy to throw a jacket or cardigan over and style with flats, sneakers, or even boots. This is the orange mango color.

I wore this for Open House when I met some of my students. My pants came in my Wantable box, and I love them so much. They are extremely comfortable and very professional. My blouse is from Old Navy and one of those that can work in all seasons by changing up the colors you pair it with.

This was the first day of school. I wanted to feel like myself while still being able to move about freely. I'm not 100 percent in love with my shoe selection. I think I would have liked it better if I'd worn my dark green sandals instead or even my yellow wedges, but it's not the worst combo in the world.

Alexis's dress has a really sweet space pattern on it, which is perfect for this moon and stars-loving girl. There are a few more patterns available, but this is a dress style that's always available in multiple options.

So Alexis and I unintentionally matched several times during the first week of school, but this is probably my favorite instance. This green skirt is seriously a fave. I wore a dark denim jacket over my t-shirt while I was at school, but I had to remove it when we went on our afternoon dog walk. This t-shirt is from the juniors section, so I recommend sizing up. The color is yellow chamomile.

Alexis's skirt is so cute and has built-in shorts underneath. It's also the perfect length and comes in a bunch of patterns.

This is the outfit I second-guessed the most. I love gray pants, but I have a really difficult time styling them. Always have. But then pretty much everyone I crossed paths with liked this combination, so I guess I didn't do too badly this go 'round. Anyway, this pants are the OG Chinos from Old Navy, and I can't recommend them enough. The come in a ton of colors, and you're really going to enjoy that stretchy back waist. My sneakers are a pair I've been wanting for years, but finally bit the bullet on for school. I ended up getting these from the kids section because they did not have my size in the adult version. For those interested, I wear size 5 in girls shoes.

This dress is the perfect teacher dress, especially if you move around a lot during the day. It's so flowy and comfortable. It also has pockets! It comes in several patterns and color choices.

This skirt is no stranger to the blog, but it is the first time I've worn it in a professional setting. I kept things simple with it, though, and just picked a pale pink t-shirt and my triple knotted slides. This is the same t-shirt as the pale yellow one earlier in the post, so I recommend sizing up. This is the pink starlight color.

And last but certainly not least are these fan-favorite goldenrod linen pants. Literally everyone I talked to the day I wore these asked me where I got them. When I tried them on in the store, I was really surprised at how much I liked them. And they worked so nicely with my Kindness Matters rainbow t-shirt. I kept my shoes simple with my basic brown flat sandals. Sadly, this color is no longer available, but the style of pant is, and there are quite a few color options to choose from.

Happy Monday, friends. I apologize for missing last week's post, but some things happened that impacted pretty much everything, and I wasn't ready to talk about it. But, in true life fashion, sometimes you have to address things before you're really ready, and although it has been a week, I find myself in that situation now.

Most of you already know that over the summer I accepted a teaching position for seventh grade English Language Arts. When I accepted the position, the plan was for that to be my primary employment with my role at the magazine changing to only encompass the local editorial content, thus becoming a part-time job instead of a full-time one. However, since I made that announcement at the end of last month, things have changed pretty drastically.

At the beginning of this month, I fully resigned from my position with Wiregrass Parents and its parent company, Keep Sharing LLC. It wasn't an easy decision by any means, but after a lot of thought and discussion with my loved ones, it was the best decision for me and my family.

Some things happened over the last four-to-six months that put me in a position I truly could not stay in. So in the end, I kept a promise that I made to myself four years ago when I left the TV station, a promise that I had been breaking for quite awhile. I'm not going to go into specifics about what was going on behind the scenes. I'll just leave it at this: sometimes being passionate about what you are doing isn't enough, especially when you're in a position in which you feel undervalued and unsupported. At the end of the day, when I had thought those two words - I quit - I didn't feel sadness. I felt a great weight lift off my shoulders, a weight I didn't realize had gotten so heavy.

Don't take all of that to mean I did not enjoy the last four years providing this much-needed resource for my community. I did. I put a lot of work into building this, and I am truly proud of the service I've been able to offer local families. I'm even more grateful for those businesses and individuals who've been a part of the journey, especially the moms who have allowed me to share their personal experiences with the Wiregrass. I have learned a lot about motherhood through each of you, and I'm so glad I was able to share your stories for the time that I did.

This past weekend, I performed my last task as publisher of Wiregrass Parents. It's kind of poetic that I ended my tenure with this publication on the same issue that I started, the August back-to-school issue.  I was not given the opportunity to write a final Publisher's Note to say goodbye, so this blog post is serving as a stand-in. As to the future of the magazine, I can't answer anything specifically other than to confirm that there are no plans to cancel its publication at this time, and I hope you'll all continue to support it even though you'll no longer see my name in its pages.

As for me, teaching is taking up my full focus, and no one is more surprised than me at the ease with which I've transitioned into this new role. We're two weeks into the school year, and I'm honestly enjoying every second being able to share my passions with these students. It's not easy by any means, but nothing worth doing ever is. My only hope is that I'm able to make a worthwhile impression on these kids while I've got them. I want to encourage them to aim so much higher than they think they're capable of reaching. I want them to realize over the course of the year that there's rarely only one way to accomplish something. And I hope, more than anything else, that they'll all come to believe that each of them has a story worth sharing and that it's best told using their own words.

One chapter of my life is ending. It didn't last nearly as long as I was expecting it to, but this is certainly not the end of my story. I'm excited about what this new chapter will bring, and I hope you'll all stick with me on this new journey.

Have a wonderful week!

Let me start this reading roundup by saying that I read a lot more than this post is going to reflect. There was a lot happening in July, and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. When that happens, I have a hard time starting something new, so I spent most of the month re-reading the Gamer Girls series, which I’ve talked about a few times on the blog over the past couple of years. It’s one of my favorite non-fantasy series and exactly what I needed in my life in late July.

That said, I did read four new books in July. Three of the four were fantastic, but I would recommend all four. In fact, one of the books on this list is one of the best books I’ve read all summer and all year.

I'm also pretty excited about what I'm reading for August - Gallows Bridge (the final book of the Harlequin Crew series by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti), The Desert of Glass (sequel to The Last Monument by Michael C. Grumley), Aria (book 3 of The Happily Never After series by H.P. Mallory), and Book of Black (by Holly Black). I'm also waiting with baited breath for the final book in  Chandelle LaVaun's The Coven: Fae Magic series, The Death Witch, to come out. I'll have to do a quick re-read of the first three books to refresh all those particular details before I dive into that one though.

Alright, here are the four books I read in July 2022.

Author: Colleen Hoover

Sometimes the perfect relationship is only perfect on the outside. This book explores that from several angles but all through the eyes of one woman, Lily. Lily grew up watching her father abuse her mother and vowed she would never find herself in the same situation as her mother. After high school, she heads off to Boston for college, then stays to start her career. Then she meets Ryle, who is everything she's ever wanted, but their idyllic relationship doesn't last, and soon Lily finds herself in her mother's shoes. Plus, her first love re-enters her life unexpectedly, throwing another wrench into her life. This book will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. Parts of this were extremely hard to read, but it was very poignant overall. And if it wasn't obvious from what I've already written, there is a very big trigger all throughout this one.

Author: Marie Benedict 

Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors of all time. Anyone who is a fan of the mystery writer knows that she went missing for 11 days in the 1920s. No one knows what happened during that time, though many have speculated. This book is an imagined story of what could have happened before, during, and immediately after Mrs. Christie's disappearance. This is not the first book I've read that speculates on those mysterious 11 days, so I had high expectations. Sadly, they weren't met. That's not to say this book was not good, because it was! But it did not stand up to The Woman on the Orient Express, which I enjoyed immensely. The way this book was structured was also a little odd for me, and at times quite frustrating.

Author: Gary D. Schmidt

Holling Hoodhood's teacher hates him. At least, he thinks she does. All because he's the only student in his class who doesn't leave at lunch time on Wednesdays, meaning she doesn't get the afternoon to herself. At first, she's got him cleaning erasers and other chore-type activities but eventually they start studying Shakespeare during their extra time together.

This was the best book I read this summer...and it's for middle school! Seriously, though. This book took me through the full spectrum of emotions. There was one scene that made me laugh so hard, I had to put the book down for a minute. There were a few that made me cry. And throughout it all, you watch this seventh grader grow and take his first steps into manhood. Even though this book is set in the late 1960s and touches on several big events that happened during that time, namely the Vietnam War and Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, it deals with issues that are still relevant in today's world, especially when it comes to relationships. I highly recommend everyone read this book, no matter your age.

Author: Paige Crutcher

Persephone May has never belonged. She's spent her entire life trying to hide her unruly magic and find a place to finally call home. When her magic causes a very public scene, Persephone finally accepts her one friend's invitation to come visit her on the island where she lives. Except Wile Isle isn't an ordinary island. There, Persephone discovers she's not alone in her magic, but she also discovers she's the only hope of breaking a century-long curse.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. However, I thought it was uncommonly dry-witted for a book about magic. It was kind of like A Discovery of Witches meets The Starless Sea for me.

How is it August already?! Summer seemed to go by extra fast this year, and I'll be honest with y'all. There was quite a bit we didn't get to do this year. I'm a little bit sad about that, but the reasons we didn't get to do those things are actually good ones. We moved into a house that feels a lot more like home for our family, and I accepted a new job.

Speaking of that new job, I've spent the last two weeks going through orientation, district-wide training, and a bunch of meetings to prepare for the new school year. Tuesday is the first day back for kids, and I'm as ready as I'm going to get. Alexis is excited to start at her new school, too, and I think she's going to have a really good year.

We spent our last weekend of summer not doing much of anything. It's been go, go, go for awhile now, and both Alexis and I needed a weekend of rest and to get our sleep schedules back on track. I also spent some time making sure I've got everything I need for the first week in place.

I've got a few things to do for the magazine this week, as well, but it's not intense. In fact, I'll probably get most of it done before Wednesday. It's mostly just getting everything set up for the next issue. Then the next week will be when most of the editorial stuff happens. Distribution will happen sometime soon, but I'm not sure when that will be exactly.

Well, that should have you caught up with what's been going on in my life. I promise that I'll find a balance between everything once we get into the swing of school, and you'll be able to expect more regular posts again soon. I hope everyone has a good week!

I feel like I've really dropped the ball on these outfit roundup posts this summer, but it's just been such a crazy few months, y'all. Between moving, the magazine, and preparing for my first year teaching, I've been spread pretty thin over the past couple of months. And to be perfectly honest, I haven't been super focused on putting together photo-worthy outfits...especially since we've been having one of the hotter summers I can remember.

Anyway, these outfits date back to the first of July, but there are days-long gaps between some of them for various reasons. I also probably can't tell you what all I did on some of the days because, well, there's been a lot going on this month, and it's all a little jumbled. So bear with me while I try to get this straight!

This dress was also included in my teacher shopping post. We had a school registration appointment for Alexis to go to that morning, then I spent a little bit of time in my classroom, before coming home to do some magazine tasks and work on some pre-planning stuff. The first day of school is next week! Anyway, this dress is incredibly comfortable. I think it looks like a newspaper that got smudged by the printing press. I was undecided on the shoes I wanted to wear so just kept it simple with black Converse.