Fun and Flirty Wrap Dress

Fun and Flirty Wrap Dress

I have to admit I tend to go for a midi or knee length dress. I am starting to step outside my comfort zone and go for shorter dresses. At this point in my life, I am like why the heck not? I feel absolutely amazing, beautiful, AND comfortable in this number.

What I love about this dress is that you can really control the coverage of how much it covers up. I also love that it is lined in the back and the way it wraps in the front there is no need for lining. This dress fits true to size, and I am wearing a size medium.

If you are looking to add a fun and flirty wrap dress to your wardrobe I think this is one that is perfect and it is under $30. I was unable to link the exact purse and shoes that I am wearing, but linked similar options.

Happy shopping! As always, if any of the items I list are on sale the sale price will show.

Photography by Lauren McCrae

Pink Spring Work Approved Dresses Under $75

Pink Spring Work Approved Dresses Under $75

I have always said I hate the color pink, but lately my wardrobe and makeup consists of a lot of pink. What I love about this color is that I think that for women of color it is one that just looks good on us. It compliments our skin tone nicely and can become a huge staple in your wardrobe.

Outfit:

Blush Pink polk-a-dot dress (sold out)

Work Bag (Dagne Dover Legend Tote)

Shoes (Nine West and oldie, but goodie) Similar and Similar

Shop my roundup of the perfect under $75 pink spring work approved dresses under $75 below. 

Happy shopping! As always if you hover over the image and the item is on sale the sale price will show.

Photography by Lauren McCrae

Work Approved Gingham Print Dress under $50

Work Approved Gingham Print Dress under $50

During Spring, I love to wear prints and gingham is a print that I feel will never go out of style. What I love about this dress is not only the fit but the off the shoulder feature is one that is still appropriate for work and the best thing is that it does not move. I do not know about you, but anytime I try on an off the shoulder piece I have to jump around to make sure it passes the does not move test. This dress does fit true to size and is an under $50 find. Yep, you heard that right under $50.

Unfortunately there is only one size left in the dress from the merchant I used to buy it which you can find by clicking here, but I am linking this dress at another merchant you can find it at as well as other work approved gingham prints that would be perfect for work. 

Happy shopping! As always, if you hover over the image and the item is on sale it will show the sale price. Hey, I don't believe in paying full price for an item so just trying to help others that feel the same way.

Photography by Lauren McCrae

Free Printable: Celebrating Administrative Professional Day

Free Printable: Celebrating Administrative Professional Day

For those of you that do not know in case you are new to my blog, my full-time gig that I adore is being a High School Assistant Principal. I am a firm believer in celebrating others so I am making plans on how our campus will celebrate Administrative Professional Day on April 25th. My campus has the best administrative staff, in my opinion. At the campus I am blessed to serve we have a lot of newbies on our administrative team. Have you ever heard the saying, teamwork makes the dream work? Well, let me tell you a little bit about our administrative team...we have a first-year Building Principal and two first-year Assistant Principals (I am one of the two). The ladies on our administrative team have helped us newbies survive and be our best selves. They truly deserve a day of celebration to know how much we truly appreciate them for all they do for us and our campus.

I always like to create personalized cards or signs, so I wanted to share the sign I will be using with you. I plan on having people sign and add a message for each person on our administrative team.  I will also post the sign on their door decorated with some florals around it to make it really pop. My hope is that the decor is one they can have up for the rest of the year especially since it is Spring.  I plan on using this 24 pack of paper flowers found on Amazon. We have a total of 8 ladies on our administrative staff, so this 24 pack is perfect to add 3 flowers around the sign on their door. You can find both the PDF and PNG version of the sign by clicking here.


Some other ways you can celebrate your administrative professionals are:

Extended Lunch Break

Have you thought about recruiting some faculty members to man the desks of your administrative professional team so they can have an extended lunch where the administrators are tasked with waiting on them? This is easy to do by utilizing your faculty who are earning their Administrative certification to be the "AP on duty" so that you can take care of your team.

Basket of Love

Recruit each department to sponsor a basket to give to your administrative staff. You can share that person's favorites with that department and that way you can get the entire faculty to help celebrate your wonderful administrative team. 

I hope that this helps or inspires you to make your Administrative Professional Day a big celebration for your team.

Curling my growing pixie using a Paul Mitchell Flat Iron

Curling my growing pixie using a Paul Mitchell Flat Iron

This year I am growing out my pixie cut. The only time scissors are to touch my hair is only to get my hair trimmed every three months. This all started with a bet my dad made me that if I did not cut my hair for a year I would get a certain amount of money. My entire family seems to like my hair long while I, on the other hand, totes dig short hair because it is so versatile. Right now I am in that awkward stage and so to spice up my hair a little bit I use a 1.5" flat iron to add some beach waves to my hair and add some volume.

Get in my closet: Transitional Tops

Get in my closet: Transitional Tops

When I buy tops I put them into two categories: trendy and transitional. I steer more towards that 60% of my tops need to be transitional and 40% can be the latest trend. If I do buy a top that is more on the trendy side then I will not spend any more than $25-$30 for it because I know that eventually it will be donated. For any top that falls into the transitional category it must meet the following things:

1. carry over to at least two different seasons;
2. paired with two different bottoms;
3. can transition from day to night; 
4. work-appropriate;
5. casual appropriate; and
6. be able to pull off the...at least I tried to try today appropriate

When your wardrobe consists of more than half of your clothing pieces that are transitional I believe there is so much more you can do with those pieces.

I challenge you to take ten pieces that are truly transitional pieces and see how many various outfits you can put together. 

I am positive you will see that just with those ten pieces you can have a full 30 day wardrobe. 

But shh, don't tell my husband; otherwise, he will use this against me when I buy more clothes or dare to say, "I have nothing to wear!"

I am sure you will like my current picks for what I'm loving for transitional tops this Spring. They all have a fantastic price point because, hello I have an average budget. Plus, I can make something that costs $6.00 look like a million bucks. Confidence, peeps + buying the right items always=a million dollar looking budget.

Happy shopping! As always, if you hover over the image it will show you the sale price. Are you a sale stalker like me? If so, I got you covered!

The Best Four Apps for Bloggers

The Best Four Apps for Bloggers

If you are a blogger or social media lover than this is for you. There are four apps you need on your phone immediately to help you produce the best content.

Over

This app is amazing for templates you can readily edit that you can use for all social media platforms. There is a paid option and a free option. I think there are enough templates with the free option for you to have some beautiful templates to work with. If you follow me on Instagram and you have the app you will see how I have turned their templates and make them fit my style. Right now I am working on really paying attention to the color of my feed. It is a work in progress and Over is helping me to achieve my style. 

Planoly

I use this app to plan out my photos I share on my Instagram feed. One feature I never noticed until recently that it also has is you can plan out your InstaStories as well. One big reason why I like Planoly is I can set up my caption of my photo perfectly with all the tags, hashtags, and spaces that I desire. It is a must, in my opinion, if you have an Instagram account. This app has a paid and a free option. With the free option you are limited to the amount of photos you can upload to Planoly each month. I used the free option for a year and just recently converted over to the paid option because I am working on getting at least two-three weeks of photos done at one time.

Facetune

If you are a selfie lover like me than you need this app. Have a pimple that you need to smooth out? No need to fear the smooth tool makes it so easy to do just that. Every time I use my phone to take my selfies now I always upload it to this app first to fine tune any details. 

A Color Story

This is my all time favorite photo editor. I can play around with the exposure, brightness, and curves so easily. I already know the ins and outs of a DSLR camera, so this app makes it easy to apply the settings I like to use when editing a photo. I mainly use this app when I am taking photos with my phone. Any photos I share using my DSLR are straight out of the camera. I am a big believer in shooting it right in camera so there is less editing to do. Anytime I shoot with my DSLR and need to edit it is mainly to fix the Highlights and Shadows of the photo and maybe bump up the exposure, if needed. Other than that, I am not doing much post-editing. 

I hope these apps help you take your social media game to the next level. They are already helping me tremendously. What are some apps you absolutely love?