After quite the hiatus, the podcast is back with new episodes and I felt I needed to acknowledge the recent climate and how the fashion industry affects it. 

The Inevitability of Getting Older

If 25 is a quarter-life crisis, 26 is a prelude into the late-twenties apocalypse, during which time you find yourself fighting the monsters of questioning your career, your future, and every decision you've ever made. Oh and don't forget the dreaded insurance! I'm pretty sure there is a circle of hell in which you're stuck searching for your own insurance on a loop.

Surprisingly, the enemy of age wasn't always considered such a foe. As a growing child I looked at adulthood with wistfulness, something that exuded sophistication and happiness and everyone got what they wanted, because that's what happens when you're an adult, right? (I know you are very much laughing out loud at this point. Don't worry, so am I) Cut to roughly fifteen years later and instead I find myself looking back at my youth with the kind of wistfulness in my eyes that our parents had when they would inevitably tell us about "the good old days." 

It's not that I miss my adolescence. In fact, I'm quite glad it's been left behind, as it hurt in the ways only adolescence mixed with a touch of mental illness can. The thing I do miss is the simpleness of it all. The feeling that you had all the time in the world and that anything could be solved with some Dashboard Confessional and the latest episode of The Hills. Sometimes the tiniest bit of regret creeps in for not living more freely during this time, and now that I can actually live freely in the name of travel and adventure and experience, I'm held back. Held back by the commitment of a full time job, responsibilities, money, and okay yeah, maybe some fear.

And so I wonder and I dream. I think we have a tendency to romanticize the things we haven't done, and to the world that can look like unhappiness. But does it have to be? Can it be okay to be in the present and still do a bit of longing? The thing is that I'm terrified of the future and so I get stuck in the past, in a maze of nostalgia and what ifs. But I don't think it has to be a bad thing. In a way I think it moves me forward, plucks me from my comfort zone and forcing me to live- because as much as we may want otherwise, we're always running out of time. 

Or are we? 

It's a slippery little slope, but contrary to belief, we don't have to have it all figured out yet. Maybe one day. 

The Art Of Getting Dressed

It's the part of our morning we've come to know so well: teeth brushed and coffee sipped, it's time to get dressed. So we open the closet door with the last bit of sleepiness in our eyes and wonder "what am I going to wear now?" Or, if you're like me, you'll know what you're wearing already, picked out and ready to go, but the end result is the same. We get dressed. It's the one part of our day that we know will happen, and it's one that can have the most meaning, even if we don't mean for it to.

Thoughts On Fashion Week

In 2016, Vogue published a piece that began as a Milan Fashion Week recap and somehow turned into a rant on bloggers infiltrating Fashion Week. In even 2016, the word 'influencer' wasn't as widely used as it is in 2020, so I can't exactly blame them for lumping bloggers in.

However, there is a difference between a blogger (do we even call ourselves that now? Or is it just the content creator? Either way) covering Fashion Week and an influencer covering Fashion Week.

A Note On Hauls And Influencer Sustainability

"Hey guys! I'm doing a haul today..." If you've been on YouTube or Instagram Stories in the past few years, you know this intro like the back of your hand. The coveted "haul video" has been a content creator staple since the early 2010s, and we've eaten it up. But as the knowledge on sustainability grows, so does the realization that maybe the haul isn't what it's cracked up to be.

The Best & Worst Trends Of The Decade

I have to say that researching this post and looking back on all the trends we've cycled through in the last ten years was SO FUN! Most of what I found was from the later years of the decade, so that's what you'll find here. But there are a few from the early days!

How Blogging Changed My Thoughts On Fashion

One of my biggest influences has always been fashion. The playing of trends and patterns and creating new outfits inspires me, as well as the whole of fashion. I'm continually wanting to learn fresh things in the industry and I started blogging so I could teach y'all what I learned. 

So has blogging changed my perception of fashion & style at all? 

How Instagram Is Killing Fashion (& The Environment)

Scroll through instagram for any number of time & you can guarantee you'll see influencers wearing & promoting fast fashion brands. We've just covered why fast fashion should no longer be our first choice and instagram culture certainly hasn't helped anything. 

The Athleisure Epidemic: Is it Acceptable In Every Day Life?

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I saw a tweet the other day that really ground my gears, probably more than it should have but what can I say? I'm fired up about style. 

Why Caring About Fashion Isn't A Bad Thing

There's this long-standing myth that fashion is frivolous, & if you care about it you must be vapid and one dimensional. It may not be as bad as it once was, but I still see it. The truth is, there is so much more to fashion than just fashion shows & shopping, especially in the haute couture world. And don't even get me started on personal style & why it's important. 

On Faith & Mental Illness

The first time I went to a Christian based therapist, I was freshly home on a university ~sabbatical~ trying to understand why my brain was working the way it was, (read: it wasn't) & I was willing to try anything I could get my hands on, & I'm a Christian so obviously a therapist with the same values will be of great help to me, right? 

As I sat on the stuffy couch, trying to explain things as well as my jumbled mind could, I realized I was sorely mistaken. 

WHY WE'RE SO OBSESSED WITH HALLMARK FILMS

I recently saw an instagram story questioning our love for sappy, sometimes not the best acted out hallmark Christmas films. (I’m lookin at you, Christmas at Graceland) 

No matter how cheesy, how bad, how insanely predictable they might be, the general American population (okay, maybe mainly the girls) eat. it. up. 

MENTAL HEALTH & THE HOLIDAYS

The great Meredith Grey once said (oh, how I miss the Christmas episodes. Where are they Shonda) "It’s an urban myth that suicide rates spike at the holidays. Turns out they actually go down. Experts think it’s because people are less inclined to off themselves when surrounded by family." 

LET’S TALK ABOUT JAMEELA JAMIL AND DIET CULTURE

I’ve never watched the good place (I know... don’t @ me) but boy do I know who Jameela Jamil is, if not from gifs and commercials then from her recent Instagram posts condemning the sensation of the ~detox tea~ that so many celebrities & content creators have been promoting this past year. 

GETTING POLITICAL: WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME? IS THERE ONE? (+ MY NEW FAVORITE SKIRT)

In the recent months (read, years) it seems Facebook has been less meme sharing & more political arguing that has made many abandon the social media platform altogether. In a climate with rising tensions & head-scratching positions, the question 'when is the right time to get political' is on everyone's minds. 

IN DEFENSE OF THE UNANSWERED TEXT

I was recently listening to Candice King & Kayla Ewell’s podcast (I’ve been getting into podcasts & I love) and they were chatting about the pressure to always be available and the expectations of sending that text back. I've always been an advocate of technology; it keep us moving forward & there can be a lot of good in it. But with that good also comes the assumption that we will always be there to post on social media and answer texts and phone calls and be ~on~ 24/7. 

GETTING OUT OF A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

Earlier this year I published a piece on loving your body & the fact that it’s not always a thing. I talked a bit about my past eating disorder & how it’s affected me. Toxic relationships with food might be one of the hardest things to get out of, only because it’s ~always there~. 

WHY I'VE STOPPED WEARING JEANS

I used to be a jeans kinda gal. In the summer, of course, I'd stay as far as humanly possible away from them, but otherwise I loved a good jean. They were comfortable and I found wearing them to be a luxury, of sorts. But what happens when you feel you've outgrown them? CAN you outgrow a style? These are the questions I've been pondering since I found myself wearing a jean less & less often, instead favoring dresses and the ~kae staple~ of a denim skirt.

THE REVIVAL OF THE ROM COM

It seems that good old romantic comedies have become few & far between nowadays, a fact lost on me until it was pointed out by the internet, and then I realized OMG IT’S TRUE WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE ROM COM. 

HAIR

Coco Chanel said it best: “a woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.” I’ve been through many-a hair cut in my life, beginning with the first time I cut it short, maybe in eighth or ninth grade.