Hi!Happy Friday to YOU!It's been a quick minute since I've actually done a Friday Favorites post so I'm kind of excited to bring it back. I'm sharing things I use the heck out of in hopes that maybe you'll end up needing/loving/wondering how you ever lived without any one of these things.Here we go!
How To Make The Best Buying Decisions
The real title to this post is "The four questions you should ask yourself before you buy something in order to ensure you're making the BEST purchasing decision and won't regret it next time you get dressed."But that's not super catchy.So "How to make the best buying decisions" it is! Also not super catchy but we're gonna roll with it.I've found myself many times during the week staring at rows of clothes that I have no interest in putting on my body. I know it's my own fault. I brought me to this place. I bought the dang clothes and now what once seemed so appealing is begging for me to throw it in the giveaway pile. I look disapprovingly at my expansive collection of button down flannels and wonder "how'd you all got here?"If it's me we are talking about, which we are because this is my blog, more than likely the clothes got in my closet because they were on sale. I can't resist a sale. A bright red sale sign turns something mediocre into something must-have. I'm not proud of my obsession with a sale. But like a moth to a flame I go every time a new sale beckons me. I could probably blame it on my sever case of FOMO (fear of missing out) but the sale obsession has still gotten me into more trouble than I'd like to admitIn recent months I've turned everything around, or at least started to. The change in the right direction started when I cleaned out my closet. I got rid of anything I hadn't worn in six months and anything I just didn't like on me. This left me with not a lot of clothes. But I'm cool with that because I also started incorporating this intentional method of asking questions before I buy and it's changed the way my closet collection is speaking to me. As in, it's actually speaking to me.So here's what I ask myself prior to making a purchase:
Can it be styled in more than one way?
All clothing falls into two categories: 1) Functional and 2) Statement. I'm all about a statement piece! I love floral prints and frilly dresses. But it's just reality that statement pieces (items that can really only be styled one way) are one and done. So when you're getting ready to make a purchase, really quickly make a mental pinterest board of all the ways you could style the item. If you can think of more than two ways, especially if it involves clothes you already own, then you're making a great decision. Even if it means changing up the accessories, shoes, or jacket, it still counts! A closet should be about 75% functional and 25% statement with your statement items being the ones with the largest turn over. Not a hard, fast rule, of course. But definitely something to keep in mind, especially if you're really wanting to build those basics.Can it be worn during more than one season?
Ok, I know that it's a must to get warm weather clothes and winter wear, but if you're really considering investing in something quality, and you know you can layer it or strip it down, it's almost always a good idea! I have camis and cardis that have become great transitional pieces. I also wear jeans year round so I'm pretty much always ok with making a denim investment. If there's one thing I will always spend more on, it's year round basics. I wear the heck out of them so when the quality is good, they last me so much more wear and tear!Do I love the way it fits me?
Not the way it looked on the model or on the rack. I mean, is this piece of clothing doing me favors? If the fit is just ok, send it back. If you don't love it in the dressing room, you won't love it at home. Maybe your experience is different than mine, but I've yet to try something on in a store, be kind of "eh" about it, get it home, and all of a sudden I'm in love with it. If it's not love at first site, it's not going to grow on you. Clothes have no redeeming qualities other than their first impression. There have been so many times that I bought something because I loved it but I didn't like it on me. Don't make this mistake! If the fit is no good, pass on it.BONUS QUESTION! I imagine the freshly steamed piece of clothing all wrinkled and hanging in my closet and I ask myself "Do I love this enough to IRON or STEAM it in order to wear it?" The truth is, I've bought so many tops with ruffles and pleats and after one trip thru the wash, even once laid dry, it just doesn't look quite right. This requires a lot of effort to return it to its former glory. If I love the fit of it enough to put in the time to make it look right, then I know I'll do it. Also meaning... I know I'll wear it. I hope this little mental checklist helps you in making your buying decisions. I think most of us really do have a desire to make our closets work for us. I'm finally getting to the point where I get excited to get dressed because I've started being so much more intentional about what actually makes its way into my closet. I hope if you're not already there, you get to that point.To help get you started, here are a few of my BEST purchases of the year so far! [showshopthepostwidget id="2361843"] Much Love!NYC - Days 3 & 4
Our final two days in New York have finally made it to the blog!We got up early Sunday morning and headed straight to starbucks to get something warm in our hands. We planned to visit DUMBO (down under the Manhattan bridge) and it was COLD.
We took a car to Brooklyn and then found our way over to DUMBO. We only had to ask for directions once so that was a total win in our books. The views were amazing!
We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and almost got pancaked by bikers six or seven times. They. Are. SAVAGE. But we survived and the walk across the bridge was one of my favorite memories from the trip. We weren't too terribly far from One World Trade so we decided we would head over to see the 9/11 Memorial. It was so somber and hear-wrenching to see the names of all those who lost their lives during the attack. But the memorial was so beautiful. I found myself running my fingers over the names etched on the half wall, praying for the families that lost the ones they loved. Definitely a heavy part of the day but so grateful we got to witness how the city paid tribute to the fallen men and women.We decided we wanted to grab a light lunch at Chelsea Market so we took a car and it was about a ten minute drive from the memorial site. Last time I was in New York, I lost my mind over these mini cinnamon sugar and glazed donuts. They are SO delicious! We also stumbled across a plant-based sushi booth and they won us over with their samples. Normally I'm not a fan of sushi because I don't like anything fishy, but this stuff was out of this world good.We wandered around Chelsea for a while before deciding we needed to get back to get changed and ready for afternoon tea at The Plaza.
The Lobby of the Plaza is so pretty! I mean, that tree! We quickly re-lived every Home Alone 2 moment we could think of without totally embarrassing ourselves before going to check in for our tea. Initially we were seated right by the door to the kitchen. Like, our backs were to the restaurant and all we could see (and smell!) was the kitchen. I hated to be annoying but when you hype this up as much as we had, the experience is everything. So i asked the waitress if we could wait for another table. They were so kind and had us seated within a few minutes at a much better table. The tea was yummy and the food was ok. Not exactly what I would expect from such a highly renowned restaurant. But thankfully none of us were super hungry. We just enjoyed soaking up the experience of being in such an iconic location!
After tea, we shopped around the gift shop, and by "shopped" I mean "looked." Can you say $95 for a tea cup. No ma'aam. We had to stop out front for a picture before we left. While I was getting my picture taken, I was being heckled by a homeless man. I won't even repeat what he said but let's just say, it was enough to make a girl blush and want to hide in a corner. Yikes.When I was taking Mary Margaret's a picture, a man walked up and asked if he could take a picture with her because she looked like a Disney Princess. I mean, yes, she totally looks like a Disney Princess but GET OUTTA HERE. MM was for too sweet to say no. We were both ready to leave after the whole picture taking fiasco.
We went back to the hotel to change into comfier clothes and decided instead of eating dinner at our fancy reservation spot that night, we would cancel it and go have pizza instead. Such a good choice! It gave us more time to go see Top of the Rock and to watch the light show a few more times. 
After we had pizza, we were all worn out so we headed back to our hotel to go to sleep.Our final day in the city consisted of an incredible breakfast at The Smith (THE best breakfast spot in New York!) and then we did some souvenir shopping before going to see The Museum of Natural History. We didn't have a lot of time to take in the Museum so we definitely want to go back next time.On our way back to the hotel, we stopped off for a quick hot chocolate at Ralph's, which is a hidden gem of a coffee shop on the second floor of Ralph Lauren's store on fifth avenue. SO cute!We grabbed our bags and headed out to get a car to take us to the airport. Our bellman was hilarious, y'all. He had the most incredible stories of all the famous people he'd seen come in and out of The Palace over the years. I could have listened to him for hours!We had a pretty uneventful flight back to Atlanta and were all pretty ready to see our people. Atlanta welcomed us with rainy, mild weather. Thanks a lot! But no matter the weather, there really is no place like home.Thanks so much for reading about our trip! If you have any questions about anything we ate, where we stayed, what we wore, let me know! So happy to share!
Tips For Setting Grace-filled Goals
6 Tips for Setting Grace-filled Goals {+ FREE Bonus} Sweet friends, you might be cringing at the name of this blog post or maybe your type A personality can’t wait to read more because you live for setting goals- either way, keep reading because there just might be a bonus at the end ;)
I don’t know how this hits you, but regardless, before we dig too deep into goals, I want to say that you are enough- yes, YOU- right where you are and exactly as you are. Please, please don’t ever feel less than by starting to compare your goals- or lack thereof- to someone else’s {been there, done that- still do at times}… be confident in who YOU are and whose YOU are and focus on your life aligning with how you’ve been uniquely created, okay? So, with all of that being said, why do I encourage goals with my clients you ask? Well that’s because we are given one life mamas and I believe we are to steward it well. Sometimes stewarding it well means barely getting out of bed to put one foot in front of the other. If that’s the case for you, then please just celebrate that first foot on the floor moment and focus on surviving right now- and, don’t shy away from seeking out help and support- it’s one of the best gifts you can give yourself! Other times we are in a more “normal”/standard season and we find ourselves going about life pretty consistently… Possibly everything is pretty status quo, no really high highs, nor any really low lows… when we are in this type of season, I believe it is all too easy to just keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them {I see this time and time again in my own life and in my client’s lives}… and some might even say, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. Yet, I don’t agree with that. In my training and life experience, if we aren’t growing consistently, we can end up in a really not so great place. We wake up one morning and suddenly realize our life is passing us by, we realize that all those things we’ve always wanted to do aren’t getting done. And, we realize that we feel stuck, unfulfilled, unsure of our purpose and our worth. We find ourselves not being the healthiest version for our people and our community- I can tell you firsthand, it’s a really yucky place to be. Keeping that in mind, as valuable as it can be to really get clarity on your life + family purpose statement, your vision, mission and values, I believe goals are so very helpful in keeping us “on track”. They enable us to live with intention and steward our days well. Goals also provide such great encouragement as we can gauge progress we’ve made and growth we’ve experienced. Okay, friends, let’s dive into 6 tips on goal-setting, all the while remembering that we are filling these goals with grace because life happens! TIP 1- Journal and ask yourself what is the END goal in my life and what is the END result I am after. Then, reflect on what was working really well and what wasn’t over the last year. Perhaps make 2 columns one entitled “what worked” and one entitled “what didn’t work”. TIP 2- Have 2, or more lists- writing all the goals in one big list isn’t super helpful… separate overarching life goals/ideas from more day to day goals and tasks. I often see 2 extremes with this- either REALLY big goals and no day to day goals OR small goals that are more like daily tasks and don’t include dreams, life vision, etc. TIP 3- Break down your goals into chunks - essentially developing yearly goals and then quarterly goals that become daily tasks. That being said, I am a HUGE proponent of the 90-day year- essentially focus on the next 90-days and how to live the most intentionally in that period… then address the next 90-days. Often times, with children in the picture, it just feels like there are too many moving parts and there’s no way to make any progress so we might as well just not make goals- this 90-day approach will help, trust me. TIP 4- Get with your spouse or a friend you really trust and ask them “What’s it like to be on the other side of me?”. Get their take on what they see going on in your life. Ask them where they see you excelling {so you can continue doing those things} and ask them where they see room for growth {so that you can build out intentional goals to start addressing those areas}. TIP 5- Involve your children in this part of your story- the part where you want to live intentionally by making good choices. Encourage them to understand your goals and let them be involved in some way. Maybe one of your goals is to have a daily quiet time but they seem to get up early too- why not encourage them to read their Bible at the same time or color in a young children’s Bible workbook/study? Or read your study aloud, or just share with them that it’s important time for you to be the best woman, best wife and best mom so you need them to respect that and entertain themselves for those quiet time minutes. How much could their involvement encourage their little hearts? TIP 6- Addition by subtraction- it is so easy especially in this culture of more, more, more to get wrapped up in thinking that if I just add some tasks, some more organization, some more systems, etc. it’ll all miraculously get done… mamas, you and I both know that all the tools in the world don’t fix an over-stuffed, max capacity life! You HAVE to say no to things, you have to remove things to fit new things in. As I often say, “Say no to the good, so you can say yes to the best!”
BONUS tip: Align your goals with your values- in doing so, you’re so much more apt to feel motivated and inspired by them… Feel like they might be different than they were years ago? That’s completely normal, don’t worry! Many people really aren’t sure what their values are without some coaching and reflection. Aren’t sure about yours? Click here to get your own FREE Values Guide for Setting Grace-filled Goals- just enter your email and it will go straight to your inbox! Bio-
Katie Crocombe, the founder of Flourish + Co, is a professional life coach who partners with women to design an intentional life. Katie is passionate about encouraging women by sharing her grace-filled story in an effort to remind them of their worth and that they are so worth celebrating! * Friends, are you tired of feeling like you aren’t enough? Are you a mom who thought she’d find her purpose in motherhood and didn’t? Are you a woman who at the end of the day is really just feeling unfulfilled and unsure of what the next best steps are for you in life? Are you one of the 60% of women who doesn't know her purpose?Then please know that there is no shame only celebration in recognizing this, and do yourself and those around you a favor and just email Katie at hello@flourishandco.com.She will partner with you simplify, organize, uncover your unique purpose, help you set grace-filled goals, hold you accountable, challenge you and help you say no to the good so you can say yes to the best.And, since Katie is a friend of Reese & Rowe and is just officially launching the Flourish + Co website + blog this month, she is offering ALL readers 10% off her professional life coaching packages that are booked in 2017 and an additional $100 off packages booked by 2/28 with the code RRFCLAUNCH!!!You can also follow along on Instagram- her favorite- for consistent encouragement and tips on living an intentional life!! @flourishandco_
Splurge VS Save Denim Addition
Hi.Hello.What's Up?Thanks for stopping by. I'm just sitting over here at my kitchen table watching my girls out the bay window while they play "Sad, then make you feel better", which is basically a game where one sits with arms crossed and a pouty face and then the other runs up with a smile and an original peppy tune to try to make them feel better. THE. CUTEST.So that's my scene today! I'm here to share a few of my favorite brands to shop for affordable denim and I also want to share a few pieces I think are worth splurging on and what things you shouldn't stress the budget over.Leh go.I get my basic black jeans from H&M and they're $9.99. I actually distressed them myself by putting them on one day and taking scissors to the knees. Surprisingly it turned out really well. I actually love the fit of these jeans and haven't found any (even pricier ones!) that I like better.
For lighter distressed denim, I shopped for a long, long time to try to find something super affordable and I finally ended up breaking down and buying these. Y'all. I'm so glad I did! I love the fit on these jeans and the distressing is just right.
If you aren't into distressed jeans, I'd recommend these for a skinny option and these for a boot cut fit. Both are a definite investment but they will last you years. I've had my boot cut Citizens of Humanity jeans for four years and they're still going strong.
I wear my white jeans year round so they definitely get a lot of wear out of them. Because of the light color, it's super important to get a quality pair of white jeans so you can see every little imperfection on your leg right thru your pants. #notcuteI also have a distressed and non-distressed pair of white denim.If you're ready to invest, I'd recommend these
If you're needing a more affordable pair to get you by, I also love these:
And these:
Finally this distressed pair is a great option:
If there's one thing I've learned over the years it's that you get what you pay for when it comes to denim. I wear the heck out of my jeans so investing in the right pair is a must. But that doesn't mean it always has to break the bank!I hope some of these suggestions help and I hope you have a SUPER day!