Uncategorized

The Blazer You NEED This Fall

With fall around the corner, I have a little more than usual fashion-focused posts lined up. This is just the best time of year for fashion and I can’t help myself! Out of all the different types of clothing out there, I’d have to say that a blazer is one of my all-time favorites. A blazer can make you instantly look sophisticated, chic, and make you feel like you are a boss. I love pairing a blazer with jeans or even a dress and today I’m sharing a couple of different looks with this beautiful grey herringbone blazer I found last weekend. I’m wearing a size 2 for reference.

One other piece I am loving for a more transitional outfit are these AGOLDE denim shorts in the darker wash! Especially on the weekends, I have been wearing these on repeat with a pair of white slip-on sneakers. They do run a bit large though and I would suggest ordering at least one size smaller than your regular size.

Shop This Look:

Striped Tee Dress || Herringbone Blazer || Slip-on Sneakers (see similar options here)|| Sunglasses || Raw Edge V-Neck Tee || Grey Tote Bag || ‘Vice’ Lipstick in “Rapture” || Parker Distressed Denim Shorts

Shop This Look:

Striped Tee Dress || Herringbone Blazer || Slip-on Sneakers || Sunglasses || Raw Edge V-Neck Tee || Grey Tote Bag || ‘Vice’ Lipstick in “Rapture”

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

09.04.17

My One-Stop Shop for Style

Everyone’s style evolves over time and sometimes that means finding new favorite brands of clothing as your style changes. I can definitely say that my style has become more casual and laid-back over the past few years. If you look at some of my older posts (please don’t), you’ll see that I wore heels more often and pieces that weren’t always practical.

These days, I only purchase items I know I will wear repeatedly and ones that I know will last. A few of my current favorite brands: Free People, French Connection (always have the best sweaters), Lovers + Friends, ASTR the label, and more. There are so many more but the best part is that there is a place where you can find all of those in one spot and that is… Bevello! I’ve always been a big fan of Bevello and stop by the store whenever I’m running errands around Cameron Village. I love the style of everything they offer in their store and I love how they carry so many great brands. I went in there the other day and had to control myself with all of their fall sweaters. Note to self: It is summer until the 21st – it definitely does not hurt to prepare though!

I did, however, find this beautiful teal flannel shirt dress by Cupcakes and Cashmere. I pictured myself wearing this with booties (as pictured today), with slide on sneakers, or with taller riding boots for fall. Either way, this dress is stunning and the color is so unique. Bevello, you keep doing what you’re doing! Scroll down to see more of this outfit I can’t wait to wear throughout the next few months!

Shop The Look:

Flannel Shirt Dress by Cupcakes and Cashmere (available at Bevello) || Astrid Knot Tassel Earrings (available at Bevello) || Prentice Convertible Ankle Boot || Faux Leather Shopper || Jean Jacket

I hope you all had a good long weekend! I felt like I had never-ending to-do lists each day but I still found some time for some much needed relaxation! I also can’t believe it is September already. This month is a really busy one for me including a bachelorette weekend for one of my best friend’s, a baby shower for my other best friend, birthdays, and a few other things I’m trying to get done before the end of the year. Anyways, here is to a great (and short, yay!) week!

Thank you Cameron Village for sponsoring this post.

Leave A Comment

Lifestyle

08.24.17

Saturday Adventures with Land Rover Cary

Saturdays are, by far, my favorite day of the week. Waking up on Saturday morning with no plans except to spend time with your family is one of the best feelings. My husband, TJ, and I love to take our dog to our local park and walk around the lake to get the weekend started. This past Saturday we set off on a local adventure and tested out one of my personal favorite cars, a Land Rover Discovery Sport. First of all, I loved this car before I ever drove it. I love the size, the shape, everything. After I actually spent a weekend driving it around our town, I fell more in love with it! I was surprised to hear that the Discovery Sport’s base MSRP starts at $37,695 which makes it a fairly realistic luxury sport utility vehicle for younger families or anyone who loves luxury vehicles but doesn’t want to spend a fortune. I guess I always assumed they were similar to the price of Range Rovers but I was so wrong!

Outfit Details

Free People Festival Pier Sweater || High Waisted Jeans || Slip On Sneakers

It is the perfect sized SUV for pets (or kids), too! There are few things that Colbie, our chocolate lab, loves more than a car-ride (we usually have to only say “CR” when referring to a car-ride or else she will go wild over those words) but one of those is treats. We made sure to pack up some of her favorite Woof Gang Bakery treats which, by the way, if you haven’t taken your dog to Woof Gang Bakery, your pets are seriously missing out! The Woofgang Bakery closest to where we live is located in Cameron Village in Raleigh and is the best place to find high quality dog (and cat) leashes, harnesses, food, treats, and even a bath or grooming! Whenever we bring Colbs to the lake, she usually is in major need of a bath when we leave and Woofgang has a really convenient self-serve area for dog baths which comes in handy in times like these! I’m really not trying to get my bath tub filled with dog hairs when we come back from the lake. Whenever I’m shopping around Cameron Village, I always stop into Woofgang Bakery and create a bag of treats for Colbie to have on hand over the next couple of weeks or so. We’ve found that Colbie acts much more behaved whenever there is food around.

Now back to the Land Rover. Aside from the beautiful exterior, the perfect size (not too small, not too big), smooth ride, and the luxurious interior, there were a few extra cool features I loved. The panoramic roof and cooled front seats were two favorites that come to mind. Last weekend was a hot one so being able to quickly cool off our seats made a big difference than what we’re typically used to. The panoramic roof gave a totally different vibe than my regular car… kindof an outdoor feel, which I loved.

Needless to say, Colbie loves her Saturdays too… especially ones that involve car rides and treats. I was sad to return the Discovery Sport back to Land Rover/Jaguar Cary but I’ll be back! Next month, I’ll be testing a different type of car so I’ll report back in September! Although, I’m not so sure I can beat the practicality of the Discovery Sport. I seriously loved everything about it.

Hope you all have had a great week! IT IS ALMOST FRIDAY!

xo, Shelby

Thank you to Cameron Village and Land Rover Cary for sponsoring this post.

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

08.16.17

Blogging Tips: General FAQ’s

Grey Sweater (shop similar grey sweaters here)|| Fringed Linen Mini Skirt || Grey Shoulder Bag || Metal Line Sunglasses (only $12) || Pointy Toe Flat

This is a post that I’ve been meaning to write for quite a long time. I receive a bunch of messages from people asking me for blogging tips whether they are considering starting a blog or are a small local business looking to grow their social media channels. I love getting these messages because I remember 3 years ago I was the one messaging bloggers who I looked up to and asking them for advice. Honestly, when it comes to blogging, social media, or anything tech-related really, the learning is never-ending and “growth” is so relative. I still have so much to learn each day so I am continuously doing research online and signing up for courses online and in person to try and gain as much knowledge as I can! I hope to write more posts featuring blogging tips so if you have any recommendations for topics, let me know! For today, I’m answering some of the questions I’ve received in my Instagram messages and emails.

Q: How did you get started with your blog?

A: I remember sitting at my desk at the time (at a job that I was very unsatisfied at) a few years ago and feeling like something was missing from my life. Up until that point, I had put ALL of my eggs into the “dental school basket”. As I put more and more eggs into that basket, I felt like I needed to just fill it up even more and more until I reached my goal without even stopping to think “why am I doing this/am I meant to do this?”. For 4-5 years straight, I focused on one thing and one thing only… how can I get into dental school? I volunteered my life away at clinics, jobs, studying, etc. and slowly but surely I realized that there were other talents and skills of mine that I had been hiding. I also started realizing that the main reasons I was interested in that profession were a) the idea of being able to provide someone with self confidence with a beautiful smile and b) also the financial aspect (nobody ever says this but you know they are thinking it). I eventually “let go” a little bit and started enjoying my weekends without studying, persuing hobbies I had always been interested in (photography), stopped worrying so much about my applications and my future, started attending a local church, and started to put more of my trust into the hands of God. It was hard for me to stop “planning my future” but it was necessary.

For as long as I can remember, I had a strong interest in style. Not just fashion and clothing, but interior style, beauty, and finding ways to help with self confidence. When I was little, I was very much into saving photos of outfits in magazines (Limited Too) and creating collages of outfits I wanted to recreate. I would buy every book relating to DIY beauty at the school bookfairs and I loved reading about beauty tips and style in general. I remember my dad would find strange jars of DIY chick-pea face masks in the refrigerator I had learned how to create.

One day in June of 2014, I was having dinner with TJ and my family and I asked them, “Do you think it would be dumb to create a blog based on fashion?” They said “no, not at all” and that was what I needed to really go for it. I don’t know why I needed someone else’s confirmation but I knew that I would eventually receive criticism and judgement so I felt like having my family’s support would be helpful. Next, all I needed was a name and a website and the rest would just be learning as I go. I wasn’t sure where the blog would take me, I just knew that I needed some sort of creative and fun outlet to escape my job that was providing zero creativity.

When I was thinking of my blog’s name, I wanted it to have something to do with where I was from and also relate to style/beauty. Within minutes of thinking of “Pretty in the Pines”, I had emailed someone to create a simple logo, purchased the domain name, and asked TJ to go outside to take a photo of my outfit I was wearing to a bridal shower later that afternoon. Ever since then, I’ve been posting weekly updates on outfits I’m loving, beauty finds, home decor, travel experiences, and more!

Q: How do you get people to find and follow your blog?

A: Social media! For me, mainly Pinterest (although Pinterest is more of a search engine than a social channel), Instagram, and Facebook. Here are some ways I use them:
Pinterest: For each blog post, I make sure I schedule the best images from that post and use key words when typing the Pinterest descriptions. When I see that a pin is gaining some traction and being re-pinned over and over again, I will continue to re-schedule that pin through a scheduler app. I try to stay as active as possible on Pinterest and really look into the Analytics section to see which pins are going “viral”. It is impossible for me to get on Pinterest multiple times per day so that is where a scheduler comes in handy! Sometimes it is important to edit a specific photo JUST for Pinterest, especially a travel guide cover photo or other infographics. For outfits, I will crop the photo to be 16×9 which, for some reason, seems to work the best for Pinterest.

Instagram: Before Instagram changed it’s algorithm, it used to be easier for people to find you. However, there are still ways! Engaging through searching hashtags, locations, brands, etc. Instagram is still a great tool to drive people to your blog. Instagram stories is cool too and allows you to really tell your audience why they should go click a link in your bio. IG Stories also is a good way for people to see more of your real life and not perfectly edited pretty pics. I really love engaging with other people over IG stories, honestly. Collaborating with others (bloggers and businesses) will also help get your name out there. Tagging brands and other pages in your photos that correspond with that image is also a good way for brands to notice your image.

Facebook: Facebook is tricky and don’t take it personally when your Facebook posts don’t get a lot of likes! For your Facebook posts to get a large percentage of your followers to see it, they have to gain traction and, honestly, sometimes you’ll have to boost the posts/sponsor it to get thousands of “views”. However, Facebook is a really great way to inform people of a post you’ve just published. As people “like” it, you will notice that the Facebook post will get seen by more and more people which will help in website traffic (if they are interested in what they see).

Q: How can you make money off of your blog?

A: There are several ways that blogs can generate revenue. Blogs can be seen as an advertising space for brands and can be a good way to get their product in front of a very specific audience in a (hopefully) authentic way. As you share content on your blog more and more, you might receive emails from various brands including some who want to “gift” you products to write about and some who are offering to pay you for a specific campaign. This brings me to the first way that blogs can make money:

Sponsored Posts: It can be exciting when a company offers to pay you to feature their product in a blog post but it is super important to make sure that it is a product you would normally use and not just something you are using for money. I remember telling a company that I would write about their sunscreen in exchange for payment and, after using it after a while, I couldn’t bring myself to actually write about that sunscreen. The product just didn’t blow me away! I had to tell the company that I wasn’t going to be writing about the product and I think it totally caught them off guard but there was just no way I was going to tell people reading my blog to use that sunscreen. Be very specific when working with companies and only say yes to ones you would recommend even if they weren’t paying you. Otherwise, you lose credibility.

The second way…

Affiliate Programs: There are a bunch of affiliate programs you can sign up to use including some you have to apply for. rewardStyle and ShopStyle are two of the most popular ones. Some reward you based on the number of clicks a link got and others reward you based on the number of purchases made through a specific link.

There are other ways that bloggers can make money (such as events) but these are the two main ways that I have seen.

Q: What is your blogging “routine”? How do you manage it on top of your job?

A: With my full-time job during the week, I only have nights and weekends to work on my blog leaving little to no room for a social life except maybe on Saturday evenings. I will try to only take photos one time per week because it can be time consuming! Usually on Thursday nights or Fridays, I will plan what I will have to shoot that weekend (to be posted the following week) including outfits, products, etc. On Saturday morning, I’m normally up by 6:30am getting ready for photos attempting to be completed by mid-Saturday. On Sundays, I’ll do more organizing, planning, and going through emails (I’m trying to be better about this!). During the week days, I’ll normally work on a post after dinner. I try to post at least 3 times per week. It usually isn’t the same three days, just whenever I can make it happen. I’m still trying to be better about time management and work/life balance but I definitely still have a ways to go!

Q: What camera do you use and who takes your photos?

A: I recently wrote ALL about my camera here so you can click that to read all of those details! TJ, my husband, is the one who takes all of my photos. I know it is super rare to have a significant other who is down to do that though so I’d encourage you to look up local photographers in your area who is trying to start their own business and see if they would be able to! If you’re just starting your blog, there are also ways to just get by with a camera phone or a tripod and a camera. My photos did not always look good…. if you look at my very first post, you would be surprised! Just like most things in life, practice makes perfect.

Q: How do work with brands? Do they find you/do you reach out to them?

A: Brands can come across your blog and/or social media channels, like what they see, and then consider you for a future campaign of theirs. I was once asked to go to the Outer Banks with a company and I asked them how they found me… they said that they pretty much got stuck in an Instagram hole and eventually found my Instagram which led them to my blog. The people who are in charge of marketing for these companies have their own personal accounts on social media too so they could already read your blog! Some of the coolest opportunities I’ve gotten have been a result of me reaching out to them though. If you do enough digging, you can try and find contact info online for the right person. I would only recommend doing this though if you have a really unique idea that they haven’t heard before; otherwise, they will probably not respond.

Q: “If I am just getting started with blogging, what are your top pieces of advice for growth?”

A: If you are just starting a blog, there are a few things I would focus on: actually they all start with “c” so I am going to call them the 3 C’s… Content, Consistency, and Community, in that order. Make sure that what you are writing about is something you are passionate about. If you are not passionate about it, nobody else will want to read it. If you have great content, then focus on consistency. If you post once maybe every other week, your blog will have a hard time growing (growing in pageviews, unique visitors, etc.). If you are just starting out, maybe try for once a week and then slowly increase that. Another important factor is community. Reach out to other bloggers and comment on their posts, ask people for advice or recommendations on Instagram stories, or ask a question in your caption to start a conversation.

Hopefully this helps a little bit. If there are any other questions, let me know in the comments and I will add them to this post.

xo, Shelby

Leave A Comment

Lifestyle

08.14.17

Apartment Decor Q + A

Happy Monday, y’all!

Today I am answering some of your home decor related questions in a Q + A style post and featuring one of my absolute favorite home fragrance brands, Capri Blue. I’ve posted about Capri Blue many times before because they simply make my favorite candle in the world and, whenever I am home, you can assure that my candles are LIT!

Anyways, I’ve gotten a lot of home decor related questions on my Instagram account so I figured I would put them all together on one page to make things easier. If you have any that I didn’t answer, leave them in the comments and I will update the page!

My Apartment Decor:

My Outfit:

Q: Where did you find such great art and small decorations to bring everything together?

A: When I first started buying furniture, I knew I wanted my living room to have a specific color scheme… grey and white, with pops of blue. I made sure that all of my furniture was either grey or white and then I would fill up the spaces with small and more colorful items I found. I absolutely love the color options of Capri Blue candles so I always have some of those scattered throughout my apartment. I also found several smaller decor items at my local Homegoods. I didn’t get all of it at once but rather over a few years and several dozen trips to HG… seriously, it is one of my favorite places. All of the artwork can be found at Minted. I definitely used the artwork as a way to bring in more color and give the whole room a casual, calm, nature-y feel to it. The majority of the artwork I was drawn to were flowers and water/ocean landscapes in cool tones.

Q: Where would you recommend going for curtains?

A: I’ve never had any custom created curtains for anything mainly because I’ve been able to find exactly what I want online for an affordable price. My personal favorite place to find curtains has been Joss & Main. You can search by panel length, panel width, color, and any feature imaginable. My advice would just be to make sure your curtain length allows the fabric to touch the floor or be very close to touching the floor. My other piece of advice would be to buy multiple draperies for one large window area. For example, my living room has an entire wall of windows and instead of purchasing just two curtains (one for each side), I purchased four and spread them along the curtain rod to add a lot more “softness” to the room.

Q: For a small space, what is the main item/object to buy that can be a focal point in the room?

A: If the space is large enough for this, I would say a coffee table OR tv stand. I say these two because they are both pieces where you can decorate with smaller items to make the room very welcoming and very “you” AND they are both pieces where you are most likely staring at when relaxing at home; therefore, it should be something you enjoy looking at! For example, my coffee table always has a large Capri Blue candle, a few coffee table books I’ve picked out, and some flowers in a small vase. I also use a tray to keep my remotes and few other essentials such as my Capri Blue hand lotion. I spend the majority of my time at home either in the living room or my office so I always am sure to keep this space filled with a few of my favorite Capri Blue products. For my tv stand, I selected one that had open shelves because I wanted to decorate it with books and other colorful knick-knacks to add character and make it my own.

Q: How did you design, create, and hang your gallery wall?

A: I tend to always go for cooler tone and beach-inspired images when looking for art. When I was dreaming up my gallery wall, I simply searched through almost every page of art at this site and saved each one I loved into a favorites folder. After that, I looked through the folder to see which ones would look nice beside each other. You don’t have to do this but I printed them each and cut them out so that I could see which layout looked best by laying different shapes side by side until I found a design that worked with the sizes and shapes. After I had selected the layout and the artwork, it was time to hang them! I traced each frame on a large piece of paper from a doodlepad for children and then cut the shapes out. Then, I lightly taped each piece of paper to the wall in the desired layout and then just hung the frames directly on top of the paper. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is. I also have a couple of prints that I switch out during the winter months (snowy mountains, winter landscapes, etc.).

Q: Where did you find all of your coffee table books and how are they all blue?!

A: All of my books are used and are from Amazon! Buying them used saves a ton of money and also gives them more character. To find a lot of blue ones, I 1) did a lot of Pinterest searching for coffee table books and took note of the title to later search online to purchase and 2) went to Barnes and Noble one day and made a list of books that interested me and would also look good on my tv stand. I collected them over the course of a year until my tv stand was filled with color. Difficult? No. Crazy? Maybe.

Blue/Gray Coffee Table Books:

If you have any other questions I haven’t answered yet, let me know and I will definitely add it in. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you have a great start to the week!

xo, Shelby

This post was created in partnership with one of my favorite brands, Capri Blue.

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

08.09.17

The Must-Have Denim Jacket

Lately, I’ve been in a big “less is more” mindset. Cleaning out my closet the other day made me realize that I probably regularly wear about 10-20% of what is actually in there. Why? Because a lot of it is a) really poor quality and hasn’t held up well, b) not a “perfect fit”, and c) is a dress or something impractical I can wear to very few places. A lot of it I just don’t feel confident in so I just keep wearing the few pieces that DO make me feel confident and are higher quality which brings me to today’s topic: the most perfect denim jacket ever! I have grown to really love Madewell clothing. Everything they make fits that criteria of having great quality, being versatile for multiple outfits, and are pieces I feel confident in! I’ve had trouble finding a denim jacket that fit perfectly, was the perfect shade of blue, and was priced reasonably until I found THIS one! I just love it. I purchased a small for size reference. I can’t wait to layer it over dresses for the rest of summer and fall!

Outfit Details

Denim Jacket (wearing size S) (see other denim jacket options here) || High Neck Maxi Dress || Grey Open Toe Booties (see similar grey booties here!)|| Carson Mini Saddlebag c/o || Sunglasses

Leave A Comment

Lifestyle

08.01.17

Local Favorite: Brewery Bhavana

One spot I’ve had on my summer list of places to try in Raleigh: Brewery Bhavana. Located in Moore Square Park, this dim sum restaurant offers so much more than a regular restaurant (and lots and lots of dumplings!). We stopped here for lunch on Saturday, sat at the bar, ordered a few things off the menu to share, and tried a couple of their beers. I had heard so much about this place lately and it is a really unique concept. It is basically a restaurant, a taproom, a flower shop, and a book store/library all under one roof. They had me at “flower shop” though, to be honest.

What I’d recommend? Their passionfruit IPA (SO delicious!), vegetable egg roll, house salad with ginger dressing, and edamame dumplings. Everything on their menu looked amazing though so we’ll definitely have to go back again. The entire restaurant was packed not even 20 minutes after they opened so I’d recommend going right when they open if you’re planning to go for lunch!

If you’re from Raleigh, have you been to Brewery Bhavana?!

xo, Shelby

Shop this Look:

Leave A Comment

Lifestyle

07.18.17

Local Favorite: The Cortez Seafood and Cocktail

New restaurants seem to be popping up a lot around Raleigh this year and I am not hating it. TJ and I have a few on our list to try out and we decided to try The Cortez last Sunday which did not disappoint! The Cortez is something totally different than anywhere I’ve eaten in Raleigh. As soon as we walked in, I immediately thought to myself, “This looks like a restaurant you’d find in Chicago or somewhere”. The décor and entire vibe of the place is so cool… relaxing, fun, tropical, contemporary. They describe it on their site as an “urban jungle” and that is exactly what it is. TJ kept saying he wanted to know what Spotify playlist they were using because he loved the music so much. We sat at the bar and decided to try a good portion of their menu including their lobster roll, all 3 types of oysters they offered that day, bread + seaweed butter, ceviche (kindof like a salsa but with delicious chunks of fish, onions, tomatoes, cilantro), and I ordered the cocktail they had on special (a tasty Paloma).

If you’re thinking about trying out The Cortez, I’d highly suggest going at a time when they have $1 oysters! They have $1 oysters all day on Sunday’s and Dollar Oyster Happy Hour from 5-7pm Tuesday-Saturday which means you can get a lotttt of oysters! I’d also highly recommend trying their lobster roll and ceviche! Really, I’m sure you can’t go wrong with anything on their menu.

Let me know what you think if you try it out!

xo, Shelby

Shop this Look:

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

07.17.17

A Twist on the Classic Blazer

Blazer: Cropped Ruffle Sleeve Jacket (Navy color is on sale!) || Denim: Topshop Raw Hem Straight Leg Jeans || White V-Neck Tee || White Pointy Toe Flats || Crossbody Bag c/o Vera Bradley || Sunglasses (on sale!)

Hello again, Monday… you came too soon!

I had such a great weekend and am sad for it to come to an end. On Friday, we met up with our best friends for a Mexican dinner (we hadn’t seen them since the wedding!), and on Saturday we saw my parents also for the first time since the wedding. Last night, TJ and I decided to try out a new restaurant on Glenwood, The Cortez. It was delicious! I’ll share pics of my oysters in all their glory later this week. It was a weekend full of fun, a trip to Nordstrom for their big sale, some home office organizing and errands.

This cropped ruffle-sleeve blazer is one of the items I purchased from the sale! The navy color is the only color included in the sale but it also comes in black, pink, and white. Even without including the sale price, this blazer is one of my favorite finds to date. It is under $100, perfect for work, going out to eat, and adds so much to the classic blazer. The ruffle sleeves are cute on their own but what I really love is how it is cropped… making it perfect for any high-waisted pants or skirts!

Thanks for stopping by!

xo, Shelby

Shop this Look:

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

07.10.17

Ruffle Hem Maxi Skirt Under $60

Ruffle Hem Maxi Skirt (under $60) || Shoreside Sweater || ‘Roxie’ Wedge Sandal || Mini Saddle Bag c/o

Happy Monday, y’all!

I got a new server for my site and I’m feeling like a new woman. Really, though. I’ve had my fair share of site probs recently so I am quite happy starting out this week! In other news, today’s post is going to be a bit of a brain dump. Lately, my mind has felt very cluttered, to the point where I purchased a book called “Decluttering Your Mind” on Amazon Prime the other day. Sometimes (actually, most times) I feel like my mind is filled with thoughts that are useless and/or blocking my other thoughts from being clear, if that makes sense, and as a result, I’m not as productive or intentional with my time as I’d like to be. I’ll start one task only to start another task, then I’ll have a “brilliant idea”, but then I remember another task I had to do, and at the end of the day it feels like I got nothing done. This isn’t every day, but lately it has been a re-occuring theme.

Since I am wanting to be more intentional with my time in the coming days, months, years, etc., I thought I would write down a few of my monthly intentions or what I will strive to do this month.

July Intentions

+ Reduce the amount of time I’m on my phone during the daytime and/or set aside a specific hour each day for me. The biggest distraction for me is my phone and I’ll be the first to admit it. When I am with people, it isn’t as bad as when I am alone. When I am by myself is when it becomes an issue.

+ Set aside more “me” time. Time for reading, learning, walking, anything but working. On the weekends, I want to make sure I spend my time intentional even if that requires thinking ahead a little bit, booking a dinner reservation, or making plans with friends ahead of time.

+ Become more of an early bird. I’m mainly talking about waking up early and working out. I’ve decided that there is about 1% chance of me working out after I get home from work so it’s not really an option for me.. I just need to set my alarm and stop pressing snooze!

+ Keep the content of my blog more meaningful and personal.

+ Continue with my goal of trying at least one new recipe each weekend. If I ever want to be as good as my mom or grandma, I have a LOT to learn.

+ Cultivate new friendships within the creative community. I’ve been slacking on that big time over the past year and I miss hosting fun launch parties and what not with new friends! I can’t remember the last event I’ve simply said “yes” to so I’m looking forward to what the rest of the summer might bring!

I’d love to know if you have any intentions or goals you’re focusing on!

Thanks for reading and I hope y’all have a great Monday!

Shop the Post:

Ruffle Hem Maxi Skirt (under $60) || Shoreside Sweater || ‘Roxie’ Wedge Sandal || Mini Saddle Bag c/o

Leave A Comment

Caribbean

07.05.17

St. Lucia Honeymoon at Sugar Beach

The Resort

During the winter when TJ and I were discussing where to travel for our honeymoon, we honestly didn’t have a tough time at all deciding where to visit. There are so many places I’d love to travel to someday, such as Italy and Greece, but we knew for this specific occasion right after a long time of planning our destination wedding, we would want to do one thing and that was to relax! St. Lucia had always been an island that I wanted to visit, mainly because of their iconic pitons right beside the water, but also because of a very beautiful resort that was always on my bucket list…. Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort.

I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to stay in a resort that tops this one. The second we arrived to our villa on the top of a mountain, we knew we were in for a treat that week. I have never felt more pampered and relaxed in my entire life. Sugar Beach Resort covers a large part of land centered directly between the two pitons, Gros Piton and Petit Piton. Sugar Beach, the beach we spent 90% of our time at, is also directly between the pitons and the views were unreal. I felt like I was on the series Lost or on the movie Jurassic Park, only we had butlers, drinks delivered to us no matter where we were, delicious food, the most stunning villa, and insane views everywhere we turned.

The resort offers smaller beach-front rooms and offers large suites/villas/houses as you go up on the mountain. We were fortunate to be upgraded to one of the private villas nestled up in what felt like a rainforest. Behind a variety of lush, tropical flowers, was our beautiful home for the week. I couldn’t envision a more perfect getaway if I tried. One of my favorite things about this resort was the privacy. You could barely see any other guests’ villas from our own except for a few roofs as we looked down the hill. If we weren’t asleep at night, we were either at the beach or outside by our private pool, even on the rainiest day. Another favorite part of this resort was the food and the room service. I get sad just thinking about their scallop and asparagus risotto and how I probably won’t be able to have that for a long, long time. There were only a few restaurants scattered throughout the resort (it wasn’t hard to make friends here with the other guests since we saw them almost every day) and each one was phenomenal.

Pictures just don’t do this place justice but I’ll share some photos of the villa we stayed in and around the resort property. One thing to note is how you get around while at this resort since it is pretty spread out. I figured we would be walking everywhere but you really had to call a shuttle (either a golf-cart type situation or a vehicle owned by the resort) to take you to the restaurants/beach/back to your room/etc. The resort made it so that you literally never had to lift a finger; however, there were also plenty of adventurous options!

The Activities

There was no shortage of activities at Sugar Beach in St. Lucia. TJ and I normally love to do explore the area wherever we stay so we did some snorkeling, sailed out to sea at sunset, had a spa day at the resort’s Rainforest Spa (PLEASE see the photos at the very end of this post… this spa was the coolest part of the entire resort, in my opinion!), took a boat ride into the town Soufriere, and spent every day out on the beach drinking lime daiquiris and eating conch fritters. SO GOOD. The resort offered excursions to go to a sulfur spring bath, see waterfalls, kayak, snorkel, “snuba” with an “n”, take boat rides to wherever you wanted, hike the pitons, and so much more.

TJ and I could have explored a lot more than what we did but it was honestly very hard for us to leave our cabana once on the beach…. it was pure heaven and much needed. One of my favorite things we did was make an appointment for the spa and had the best messages of our lives. The spa rooms were in their own private bamboo huts and the entire experience was just so, so relaxing. After our massage, two doors opened up to a private outdoor bath/pool where our we had lunch. If you ever book a trip to this resort, you must book a spa appointment!

The resort itself had a special event each planned for each night near the beach including outdoor movies, a BBQ, live music, DJ at the sushi bar, and more so if you were wanting a “night out” or “night in”, you could find exactly what you were looking for.

The People

Hi y’all, this is TJ. Shelby and I are tag-teaming this post since there is so much to talk about! I have the privilege of writing about the wonderful people of St. Lucia. And when I say wonderful, I mean WONDERFUL. Everyone there is amazingly nice and hospitable. Our first interaction was with our taxi driver from the airport. We got into the backseat and the first thing we were offered were waters, juice, or beer. I gladly took one of their local Piton beers and Shelby had a water. Our driver gave us a great run down of the local sights as we headed toward the resort.

Once we were at the resort we were greeted by one of our 3 butlers! His name was Gary and he was the epitome of cordial and welcoming. He had 2 ‘welcome drinks’ in hand when we got out of the taxi and showed us to our villa. As I said, we had 3 butlers at our service throughout the stay: Gary, Dwight, and Mickayla. We can’t say enough about how accommodating they were to our every need. We received a small ‘firefly’ phone with a direct line to them. We could call them for anything; dinner reservations, booking an excursion, calling for a shuttle to the beach. We even were delivered floss at 10:30pm at night by Mickayla.

We had the fortune of going on a couple excursions while we were there including snorkeling, a sunset cruise, and traveling into the town of Soufriere. On our sunset cruise we had a host named Claude. He was in charge of keeping the drinks flowing and the tunes hitting. He also gave us some great information about St. Lucia as we transversed around this island. He was extremely outgoing, kept everyone having fun, and was a fantastic host to the party.

In addition to the folks around the resort, we met a number of locals including the cutest old guy named the Coconut Man. He would walk along the beach with a bag of coconuts that he picked himself and would sell to the people staying at the resort. He chopped up a jelly coconut and gave us the ‘best water in the world’! I am pretty sure Shelby had about 3 per day. Another local we talked with almost every day was Blaze. Blaze lived a little bit above the resort on the piton. He loaded up his kayak with fresh fruits from his land and paddled to the resort to sell smoothies. These fruits were incredibly fresh and made amazing smoothies. Blaze was even nice enough to throw a little rum in them!

The Experience

A few words that come to mind when I think of Sugar Beach… relaxing, luxurious, scenic, and fun. Our trip was exactly what we needed and we would LOVE to go back some day. I’m so glad we chose to specifically stay at Sugar Beach for our accommodations because there aren’t many other resorts that have easy access to a private beach and all of the other features we were lucky to experience. We almost split up our trip into two separate hotels and I am SO glad we didn’t do that.

TJ and I were engaged for about a year and a half so, by the time our wedding came, we felt long overdue for a vacation! It was such a surreal feeling being in such a beautiful place with my husband right after our wedding (still getting used to saying I have a husband!). We will treasure this week forever and are so thankful the trip went so perfectly.

If you have any questions about our trip, the resort, or anything else, let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Hope y’all had a Happy 4th of July weekend!! TJ and I visited some of my family up in Rhode Island and it was beautiful!

xo, Shelby

the entrance to the spa!

What I Packed:

Leave A Comment

Entertaining & Recipes

06.28.17

My Adventure Themed Bridal Shower

Ocean Current Tapestry (under $50)

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Our wedding was a couple of weeks ago but I’m still up for another ‘Wedding Wednesday’ if you are! I am excited for today’s post because my bridal shower is featured on Style Me Pretty today including some of the beautiful images captured by Olivia at Nancy Ray Photography. I’m pretty lucky to live in Raleigh where there are SUCH talented wedding/event vendors based in this area. One of my best friends, Sara, hosted a beautiful adventure/travel-themed shower at the Mims House in Holly Springs and together with Lily and Oak, Greenhouse Picker Sisters, and so many other fabulous people (see the full list below), they all brought the dreamiest, intimate, party to life to celebrate with some of the closest women in my life before I traveled from “Miss to Mrs” for the “adventure of a lifetime”.

From Style Me Pretty… ” I was blown away by each little thoughtful and creative detail for this shower starting with the watercolored map invitations from One and Only Paper. When I first opened up the invitation envelope, I was in awe of the large watercolor map of the world that read “Love is the Greatest Adventure”. I knew then that this shower was going to be one for the books.

The space in the Mims House in Holly Springs, NC was the cutest blank slate to decorate with globes, vintage suitcases, books, old cameras, and other vintage furniture from Greenhouse Picker Sisters. Wild, organic, florals completed the look and brought a more earthy feel to the intimate white and gray space. One of my favorite parts of the party, as usual, was the global-inspired food setup featuring recipes from all over the world including a Mediterranean bar, Mexican appetizers, Southern cuisine, and Asian bites. There is never any shortage of creativity when it comes to Belle’s Catering and I had a hard time deciding between the Mini Taco Bowls, the Mini Pimento BLT Biscuits, the Ahi Tuna Bites, Shrimp Toast, Greek Flatbread, Mediterranean Cous Cous Cups, Mini Cuban Sliders, and the Chipotle Chicken Meatballs so I just filled my plate up with it all!

The shower was in the late morning/early afternoon so there was a coffee and mimosa bar setup when guests arrive and the “food room” was topped off with calligraphy chalkboard signs created by one of my sweet bridesmaids, Meredith, who owns Oaks and Gray Paper. Always thankful for a bridesmaid that also doubles as a wedding vendor!

As we ate the almost-too-pretty-to-eat vintage map cake, we caught up with friends and family, played some funny bridal shower games, opened up gifts, and sipped on mimosas!

These little celebrations along the way leading up to our wedding day have been so special. There is nothing like having a large group of your favorite people all together in one room so I can only imagine how the wedding will feel. If you’re a bride-to-be, my advice to you would be to slow down and soak in each moment you get to celebrate with your family and friends along the way. It is such a special and unique time in life and it passes by so fast.”