Boots and Burgers

 This post contains affiliate links Hunter Boots Trina Turk Dress (From last year but similar here) J Crew Striped Tee BB Dakota Coat (From last year but love this one) Celine Bag MAC Ruby Woo Lipstick Since I started blogging, I've had my ups and my downs. I've had periods where I consistently posted, was lucky to attend some great events, and worked with brands on partnerships. And I've also had periods where I've gone completely silent and dropped out of site with no word to my followers. I'm embarrassed to say that I've done this more than once, and I've dared to suddenly reappear (just like I'm doing right now) and attempt to get right back into the swing of things. In the time that I've been away from the blog, we made it through the senior year of high school, we took our family vacation to Washington D.C., I finally finished the long-term engagement I had been working on with a customer for over 4 1/2 years, and I was offered a new role at work. I've gained some more weight, I have more gray hair since I've been growing it out, both D and I have had some health scares, which, thankfully, have amounted to nothing, we moved A away to college, D started a new job, one of our doggies had a very scary injury but has made a full recovery, and I've been traveling even more often for work than I did last year. After posting this at the end of last year, I didn't think I would be traveling as much this year. Little did I know how intense my travel schedule was going to grow this year. Instead of supporting only one large customer, I'm now supporting several in the southwest, so I'm jumping all over the place. In the time that I've been away from blogging, I've noticed a trend from some of the bloggers who I follow. I'm seeing more of the real world creeping into blogging and Instagram, and it's delightful. However, at the same time, I'm also seeing blogs that are so heavily curated, photographed and edited that it's abundantly clear that they are no different than reading a glossy magazine. Personally, although I like the pretty pictures, I want to see the whole picture, which includes the laundry piles and the unmade beds. What does this mean for me and my blog? I'm just as guilty of trying to always show the pretty and the good and glossing over the ugly or the bad, and moving forward, I'd like this blog to represent a picture of my entire life, good and bad, pretty and messy, but I'd also like to have it serve as a reminder to me that even in the midst of the messy, life is good. I have so much to be grateful for, and I never want to lose sight of that. I hope you appreciate a shift in my content and that we can start to get to know each other a little bit more as I share more.

 This post contains affiliate links

Hunter Boots

Trina Turk Dress (From last year but similar here)

J Crew Striped Tee

BB Dakota Coat (From last year but love this one)

Celine Bag

MAC Ruby Woo Lipstick

Since I started blogging, I've had my ups and my downs. I've had periods where I consistently posted, was lucky to attend some great events, and worked with brands on partnerships. And I've also had periods where I've gone completely silent and dropped out of site with no word to my followers. I'm embarrassed to say that I've done this more than once, and I've dared to suddenly reappear (just like I'm doing right now) and attempt to get right back into the swing of things.

In the time that I've been away from the blog, we made it through the senior year of high school, we took our family vacation to Washington D.C., I finally finished the long-term engagement I had been working on with a customer for over 4 1/2 years, and I was offered a new role at work. I've gained some more weight, I have more gray hair since I've been growing it out, both D and I have had some health scares, which, thankfully, have amounted to nothing, we moved A away to college, D started a new job, one of our doggies had a very scary injury but has made a full recovery, and I've been traveling even more often for work than I did last year. After posting this at the end of last year, I didn't think I would be traveling as much this year. Little did I know how intense my travel schedule was going to grow this year. Instead of supporting only one large customer, I'm now supporting several in the southwest, so I'm jumping all over the place.

In the time that I've been away from blogging, I've noticed a trend from some of the bloggers who I follow. I'm seeing more of the real world creeping into blogging and Instagram, and it's delightful. However, at the same time, I'm also seeing blogs that are so heavily curated, photographed and edited that it's abundantly clear that they are no different than reading a glossy magazine. Personally, although I like the pretty pictures, I want to see the whole picture, which includes the laundry piles and the unmade beds.
What does this mean for me and my blog? I'm just as guilty of trying to always show the pretty and the good and glossing over the ugly or the bad, and moving forward, I'd like this blog to represent a picture of my entire life, good and bad, pretty and messy, but I'd also like to have it serve as a reminder to me that even in the midst of the messy, life is good. I have so much to be grateful for, and I never want to lose sight of that. I hope you appreciate a shift in my content and that we can start to get to know each other a little bit more as I share more.