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!