Y'all, it has been cold here in the southern part of the country! While I'm glad to have plenty of opportunities to wear my sweaters, I can't remember the last time I had to layer a sweater. It's been so cold that our dress code at school has been relaxed, and we've been able to wear jeans the last week. I have not worn a skirt or dress since the start of the year, and that's saying something.

This is a smaller outfit roundup because the last two weeks have not been full weeks due to severe weather and MLK Day.

The only thing new in this outfit is the jeans, and I'm still not sure if I like them. I wanted to give the baggy jeans trend a try since it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but I'm just not sure if it's for me. I don't hate the way they look, but they feel so weird. It was like I was wearing boy jeans! I also have no idea how to style them. I honestly felt a little lost in them - like, where are my curves?!

Anyway, I decided to go with this tried-and-true green leopard-print sweater. I had to go back and put something under it, though, because it was no match for the wind that day. I decided to do an extra bit of styling and layered a black turtleneck, which is a bit hard to see in the picture. Then I half-tucked the sweater and added a belt.

I could not decide on shoes so I went with my black Chelsea boots. They're not terrible, but I don't love them either.

The day of love will soon be upon us! So the time to start planning your outfit is now. Valentine's Day is on a Wednesday this year, which means most of us will be spending our day working. Maybe you'll have a nice night out with your significant other after or do something with your girlfriends. However you plan to celebrate, my inspiration for this year's Valentine's outfit ideas was all about that day-to-night transition. Or, you know, something that's work appropriate but also cute enough for a date.

I decided to break this year's post into categories: tops; dresses, skirts, and pants; and shoes and accessories. You'll find a range of Valentine-appropriate color combos focusing mostly on hues of pink, red, and purple.

Bonus - everything on this list is school appropriate! You know I don't miss a good opportunity to dress up.

Chiffon Blouse - I love this style of blouse. It can be dressy or casual, so appropriate for all kinds of occasions. I really love this dusky purple, but it also comes in two shades of pink and red that are also pretty.

Hot Pink Heart Sweater - Nothing says Valentine's Day like hot pink and hearts.

Heart Cardigan - This cardigan gives me a retro vibe.

Heart Print Long-Sleeve T-Shirt - If you're looking for something more casual, check out these printed long-sleeve shirts. There are ten versions to choose from, but I really like this one with the touch of leopard print.

Love Graphic Tee - These short-sleeve love graphic tees are a good option for warmer climates.

Casual Pink Striped Dress - This would be perfect for teachers. Just saying.

Heart Print Peter Pan Collar Dress - This dress is so cute and comes in three other colors.

Sleeveless Floral Print Dress - I actually own this dress, and it is perfect for Valentine's Day.

Slip Skirt - Y'all know slip skirts are my jam. This one has got a Queen of Hearts vibe that I love.

Tulle Heart Skirt - If there was ever a reason to wear tulle, Valentine's Day is definitely it.

Red Bow-Knot Pants - You can't go wrong with red pants, and these ones with the bows have so much personality. They also come in fuchsia, hot pink, and satin wine.

Pink Slingbacks - I'm not a big fan of slingbacks, but they're super trendy right now, and these pink cap-toes would be a nice finishing touch.

It's the last reading roundup for 2023! At first glance, December was a lean month for reading. Only four entries for this post, although three of the four are series so multiple books are involved. I DNF'ed a lot of books in December. I've also got quite a few that I started and will go back to later to finish, but this post is all about the books I did read, so let's get to it!

Author: Barbara O'Neal

We'll start with my final One Woman Book Club pick of 2023. This book was amazing. It's the first I've read by this author but not the only book by her on my TBR list. "This Place of Wonder" was a good choice to end the year with. It was a beautiful story about how endings can pave the way for new beginnings.

Augustus Beauvais was a famous chef. He and Meadow built not one but two empires as well as a family, but their 20-year marriage did not survive Augustus's wandering attentions. Their split led to Augustus's first child, Maya, cutting ties with him altogether, resulting in a stronger relationship between August and Rory, Meadow's daughter and Augustus's stepdaughter. Despite no longer being married, Augustus and Meadow continue to work together and even rekindle their romance in the midst of a family crisis, despite Augustus now being involved with the much-younger Norah. When Augustus dies, seemingly unexpectedly, it throws all four women in a tailspin as they struggle to find their ways forward.

Author: Aisling Cousins

This was a really quick series to read. It's certainly not the best thing I've ever read, but the idea behind the story was interesting even if the execution wasn't the cleanest, especially in the conclusion, which felt too easy for the conflict.

Ember and her twin brother were stolen at birth by a human organization trying to recreate magic in the non-magic population. At the time when their powers manifested, Ember's brother was rescued, leaving her at the mercy of her captors. Eventually, she, too, is rescued and learns that she is what's called an Anchor, a rare manifestation that gives her and her bond group access to almost unlimited power. But the quickly realize that the organization that experimented on her as a child aren't the only monsters out there.

Author: Heather Long

I started this series but decided not to finish it. This isn't my first time reading Heather Long, and I find that she tends to draw out stories for longer than I want to be invested in them. That's not saying you shouldn't give them a shot. They're just really long.

Anyway, KC is a famous rock star who wants a taste of normal. So she convinces her bandmates to take a break from touring and enroll in high school. Obviously, they can't just go to any old high school so they enroll in an exclusive prep school, but it's not all fun times.

Author: Frost Kay

This series should look familiar. It made my list of 10 best books and series from 2023. This is a series of reimagined fairy tales that are much different than anything I've read before.

The first three books are a reimagining of Snow White, except there is no Snow White. Instead, the female lead takes on the role of the huntsman. Tempest is the first-ever female hound and catches the eye of the evil king. In an effort to hold him off, she accepts a mission to dismantle the Dark Court that she believes has been poisoning the kingdom, but what she finds there leads her to change her mission to take down the monarchy. In the next three books, the main character shifts from Tempest, although she's present in each. "The Beast" is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Jack and the Beanstalk mixed in. "The Hood" is a reimagining of Robin Hood with a female leader of the merry men, and "The Wolf" is a mix of Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella.

It's been awhile since I did an outfit roundup post, but to be fair, I have been off for almost three weeks. These outfits are all from before or during Christmas break, so not all of them are outfits I wore to school, but they are all outfits I would wear to teach in. Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to share some teacher-appropriate winter outfits now that we're entering the coldest time of the year for my neck of the woods.

Another outfit with my new boots! This sweater is no longer available, but I found two similar options that I might actually like better than this one. I wanted to wear it over leggings, but it wasn't quite long enough for me to be comfortable wearing it out in public, so I swapped to skinny black jeans. The brown combat boots help pull out the earth tones of the sweater and balance them with the darkness of the jeans.

And here's a closer look at the boots.

The start of a new year is always a good time to reflect on not only what worked for you in the previous year but, perhaps more importantly, the things that didn't work.  Unfortunately, my goals for last year didn't really pan out. I wanted to start back using a blog schedule, try a new recipe every month, and start back doing yoga twice a week. I did okay with everything the first half of the year...then I started TAPP.

I feel like I'm blaming everything on my teacher certification program (TAPP), but  it really is the reason for so many things having been put on the back burner. Unless you've been through TAPP or are currently going through it, you just won't understand the amount of extra it's added to my life. That said, we have finally moved into the most important portion of the course - the part that will determine if I pass or fail, as it were. While the enormity of that is pretty daunting, it's actually freeing up quite a bit of time for me. Everything leading up to this point has been homework, stuff I had to do at home, usually on a weekend. This is stuff that I'll be doing at school for the most part, and with the exception of a few of the requirements, it's stuff I'm already doing.

All that to say I'm feeling a bit more confident in my ability to be successful with my goals for this year.

My biggest goal for 2024 is to get the blog back on track. I don't want to treat it like a job because it isn't one, not really, but it is something that I really enjoy doing. I already mentioned that I tried to implement a blog schedule last week, but it honestly got a bit overwhelming, especially once I started TAPP. So this year, instead of trying to pre-schedule specific topic-based posts, I'm going to focus on quality. So for 2024, my goal is to write one meaningful blog post a week. Part of that goal is narrowing my focus down to the things that are most important to me in this season in my life, so expect to see more book and reading-related posts, teacher-related posts, and budget-friendly finds of all kinds.

I feel like this next goal is something that I've already gotten better at, but I still want to write it down for myself. I want to do a better job of leaving school at school. I spent years working at home, so it's been hard breaking the habit. I won't lie when I say that I often prefer to plan in my home office. It's a space that is wholly mine and where I am most comfortable. I also like my desktop computer much better than a laptop, which is what I have for school. So I'm pretty confident in saying that I'll never fully break the habit of planning at home. However, I can do a better job of not bringing home work to grade. So that is my goal. This year, I will do as much grading as possible at school and only bring home grading when there's no other option.

Yoga is another goal from last year that I'm bringing back for 2024. I'm actually not changing the goal any from last year -- yoga twice a week. I need a way to hold myself accountable, but I don't really know how to do that. If you have any ideas, please share!

I have two more goals for 2024. One is to print out photos from the last several years and put them into photo albums or scrapbooks. That used to be a really big and fulfilling hobby of mine, and I'd like to have physical evidence of the life I've led with my family. The other is to take more videos. I take a ton of pictures, but I rarely take videos. At the end of this year, I want to be able to put together a video highlight reel.

Happy New Year! Man, 2023 went by in a flash, especially the last half. Looking back on the year, I can say that I survived my first year of teaching and am half-way to being fully certified. I did not accomplish any of the goals I set last January, but we're not going to focus on that.

My teacher certification course started in July, and from that point forward everything in my life has kind of been revolving around it. The course itself only meets in person once a month, but there is so much homework. Because of this added pile of responsibility, I had to cut back in other places, and the main place that suffered was the blog. 2023 saw a total of 70 blog posts, which is about half of what I posted in 2022.

Thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this whirlwind of a year...especially the last six months or so.

Page views were definitely up, as were the number of post comments. Granted, a lot of that is due to one post, which I did not anticipate blowing up the way that it did, but I'm not complaining. Also up this year is my email subscription list, which you can join here.

Okay, let's take a look at the top ten posts you guys responded to the most.

10. What I Read June 2023 - This was, I think, my biggest reading roundup for 2023 with 16 books, but looking back at the actual post, I labeled quite a few of the books as flops and decided not to continue on with the series. That said, one of the books from that month's reading made my best books of 2023 list.

9. Monday Motivation - This was actually my first post of 2023. It was nothing special - just a weekly update about what was going on in my life at the time and an inspirational quote.

8. My 22 Favorite Purchases of The Year - The title says it all for this post. It was a round-up of my smartest purchases for 2022...and other than the planner, I still use everything on this list!

7. 10 Casual Winter-to-Spring Outfit Ideas - I'm surprised that this is the only clothing-related post to make this year's most popular posts list, but if only one was going to make the cut, this is a good one.

6. If I had a Book Club: 12 Months of Reading with Mommy the Journalist - I feel like I've been talking about my One Woman Book Club a lot the last few days, but you guys liked it last year, too, it seems.

5. Weekly Wisdom (Formerly Monday Motivation) - In February I decided to shift my Monday Motivation posts to Sunday and renamed them. This was the first such post. All I can figure is that you guys liked the inspirational quote I chose to go along with it, because otherwise it really wasn't anything all that special.

4. An Honest Review of Lash Princess False Lash Effect Mascara - I tried that viral TikTok mascara and shared my thoughts. Ultimately, the mascara wasn't for me, but it's got tons of 5-star ratings on Amazon.

3. Monday Motivation - The number of views this post has truly astounds me. It feels very exaggerated for what the post actually is. I think it's another case of y'all really liking the inspirational quote.

2. What I Read January 2023 - January of last year was full of good books for me, and two of the entries from that month made my best books of the year post.

1. An Honest Review of Lume Deodorant - This post single-handedly drove traffic for the blog for most of the year and is officially sitting in the number three position on my most-viewed posts for the blog's entire history. Wow!