Hi everyone, I’m still here; I’m just trying to get my life together. I spend most of my days searching for and applying to jobs. Honestly, when I’m at home, it’s difficult for me to get dressed. Not physically, but mentally. Most days I sit at my desk, writing cover letters and tailoring my resume, and I do it all in my pajamas. When you have no job and nowhere to go, it doesn’t really matter what clothes you put on. So, I spend most days in PJs or yoga pants. When I’m not doing that, I’m either babysitting or volunteering.

I’ve noticed the time that I really enjoy getting dressed is when I volunteer. I spend one day a week at a public health organization that I admire and wouldn’t mind becoming a permanent part of someday. On those days, I get to dress in my office clothes.  I even brush my hair and put on makeup, two other things I never do when I’m at home all day!

This has made me realize how my identity as a professional really defines my style. When I was in grad school, I wasn’t quite sure how to dress because everyone was so casual but my warbdrobe consisted mainly of office attire. When I’m at home, unemployed, I feel useless so I don’t even bother getting dressed. But when I’m working (especially in an office setting) I’m in my element and, aside from following whatever dress code they set forth, I dress the part. My closet is full of pencil skirts, trousers, high heels, and cute tops. Since I don’t have an office to wear them to these days, they get tucked in the corner of my closet, along with my self-esteem. I’m sure something will come along eventually, but until then, I’ll just have to admire my clothes that make me feel the most like me from afar.

Here are a few photos that I’ve taken on my phone from my volunteer outfits. I’ll try to get real posts of them up soon but for now, bathroom pics might be the best we’ll get:

I took some of my babysitting money and went shopping with my friend at the outlet mall (wow, do I sound like I’m 15 years old, or what?). I bought the dress in the above photo from Loft Outlet, which I wore this week to volunteer. I also bought a few pieces that I think will make for good interview attire, if I could ever get one! I also got the casual dress below from Banana Republic Outlet. I plan on wearing it this weekend to a friend’s birthday celebration where we will drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of food from trucks!

Finally, Nick and I are seriously getting our butts back into shape. We’ve started a strength training program together, consisting of a lot of lifting of free weights which makes me feel a little awkward but really empowered at the same time. I have to admit that I love it. It’s my favorite type of work out so far, and I’m getting more comfortable with pushing myself to do more (safely, of course). I took a photo during our last workout, but it’s really blurry because I had just worked my chest and tricepts, so my arms were shaking a bit when I took it. Oops. I’m definitely going to feel that later!

Me, being all badass with the free weights at the gym!

So, that’s been my life lately. I’ve worn a lot of cute outfits that I want to put on the blog, I just have to get it together to take/post pictures. Soon, you guys. I promise!

Photo 1: Pants, Shoes, & Jewelry: Old Navy | Blouse: Gap | Sunglasses: Target
Photo 2: Dress: Loft Outlet | Shoes & Necklace: Old Navy
Photo 3: Dress: Banana Republic Outlet | Shoes: Target

Linking up with A Pocketful of Polka Dots & Charming Lucy

Y’all, I literally snapped these pictures right before the sky dropped with rain and hail. There isn’t really anything special about this outfit except that I wore it, and I knew that if I waited until another time to take photos they wouldn’t happen. So, in an effort to remian true to myself and what I want my blog to be, I braved Mother Nature’s fury to show you how I wore a cardigan with a cute dress that’s perfect for working in an office in the summertime. I chose a burgundy cardi over a black one to break up the monotony and I chose a cardi over a denim jacket because I wasn’t sure what the dress code would be in the office I wore this to. Turns out, it’s super relaxed.

I wore this outfit to my first official day as a volunteer with a public health organization in my town. I’ll be hanging out in their office about one day a week, helping with their social media campaigns and toolkits. I’m actually pretty excited about the work because it’s really interesting and I have a lot of ideas. And you never know, it could lead to a full-time position! I do feel bad, though, because I think I scared an intern into thinking there will be NO. JOBS. when she’s done with school. She has a year left in grad school (she’s basically where I was last summer) and is thinking of moving to the area when she’s done because she’s from out-of-state and says she likes it here in NC. When I told her it has been almost two months since I graduated and haven’t found anything yet, she looked a little wide-eyed and made a comment like, “oh, great.” I tried to reassure her that our fields are different and the work we each want to do is different, so she shouldn’t use my experience as a gauge of whether she’ll find something.  I hope she believed me because it’s true. I’m very picky specific about what I want to do, but I’m sure she’ll be just fine!

Dress: Target | Cardigan: Old Navy | Shoes: X-Appeal | Charm Necklace: Target | Long Necklace: Stitch Fix

I’d love to hear your experiences with volunteering. I’ve volunteered with several different organzations and I’ve found it more rewarding than I originally thought I would. Where have you volunteered and what kind of service did you provide?

How gorgeous is the beading on this tank? I fell for it as soon as I saw it. It’s a little heavier than a normal tank with all the beading and it *kind of* feels like I’m wearing a suit of armor (or at least that chain/mesh hand glove they use at restaurants when cutting meat), but it’s so pretty.

I wore this outfit for dinner at our house. Nick invited his coworker and coworker’s girlfriend over for dinner because they are in town from Argentina. It was such a fun night, and I really enjoyed learning about their culture. It’s so different and yet so similar to our own here in the U.S. It also made me realize how much I miss speaking Spanish and learning about other cultures so I might start taking some classes and make more of an effort to immerse myself so that I can be fluent again. It’s true that if you don’t use it you lose it. Stay in school, kids.

Cardigan: Banana Republic | Blouse: search for sanity via Nordstrom Rack | Crop Trousers: Karen Kane via Stitch Fix | Shoes: Old Navy | Jewelry: Old Navy

I’m finishing up my Master’s program in May and with graduation comes a new job and… office wear! As crazy as it may sound, I’m actually really excited about getting back to working a 9-5 and wearing my pencil skirts on a regular basis. Office wear is much easier for me than casual wear, and I’ve talked a little bit about how difficult it was for me to figure out how to dress for graduate school. I worked in an office for about 6 years before going back to school, so I have a lot of practice with office wear. Plus, I’m really comfortable in it. All that to say that I’m starting to put together more work-appropriate outfits because I’m on the hunt for a real job, a career. This outfit is really simple: black shirt, black skirt, textured blazer and fun, sparkly shoes. It makes me feel like a realtor, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not what I’ll be doing.

How cute is this little doggie necklace? It was a birthday gift from a friend; they know me so well!

And here’s the fun one: Maybe I’m a plane?

Top: Old Navy | Skirt: Target | Blazer: Banana Republic | Shoes: Fioni via Payless | Necklace: gift

Happy Monday! I’m back to school/work today after an entire month off, but this is my final semester as a graduate student (and as a graduate assistant for my professor) so I say bring it on. If all goes to plan, I’ll graduate in May and I must say that I. CANNOT. WAIT. As crazy as it may sound, I’m ready to get back to the 9-5 grind and, more importantly, to start making a difference in the health of the population.

So, my pants were part of the Mad Men collection that Banana Republic put out a few years ago. They don’t photograph very well, but I thought they were so cool when I saw them in the store. I’ve since seen some similar cropped trousers in stores that are houndstooth or some other similar pattern but I think these remain my favorite. You can see a sort-of close up below. Even though you could pair just about any color with these pants, I decided to pair them with this jeweled cardigan I recently purchased on sale at Target. I love this shade of blue but I don’t wear a lot of it. I’m liking how well it looks against my porcelain skin 😉

Blouse: Old Navy | Cardigan: Target | Trouser: Banana Republic | Shoes: Anne Klein via DSW | Necklace: gift from a friend

Linking up with More Pieces of Me | InDUFFinitely Me | Mix + Match Fashion