lifestyle, the.B.Law

March & April 2024 Words: RESET & DOER

If you saw my Instagram post on March 24th, then you saw that my March word was RESET. I had plans come the beginning of March. I was going to do things. I was motivated to do things. I was ready to keep trying to live out my new outlook of slow and intentional living. I think part of why I was so ready and motivated was because February was a busy blur, and I was ready to get back on track.

March started and it was fine. But the second week SUCKED at work. It was so busy and I was so mentally exhausted. Actually, it was the last two days of the second week. Then the third week sucked at work, like the whole week this time. I ended up letting work derail my entire month, I was just so tired and felt like I couldn’t do anything.

To be honest, I am a little annoyed at myself for letting work ruin an entire month for me that I felt motivated for. So I want to learn from it. I was getting pretty good at leaving work at work, but it is a constant practice, and in March I let it bleed into personal time. I will NOT do this again for April. I only get so much personal time, whether that is for me actually personally, or with my family, and I do not want to waste the small time I have thinking about work or even talking about it. I have never been that great at work/life balance, but that is something I want to work on this year.

So March turned from DOER to RESET. It is what I needed. To give myself grace for temporarily losing motivation, and to not feel so disappointed that I didn’t get anything done, or rather couldn’t. I needed time to just rest and reset my mindset. I think if you don’t give yourself that reset time and you just keep pushing, I am sure for some people it works and you can push through, but in this case for myself, I needed it.

Now it is April and I feel ready. I am ready to try again and DO the things I have been planning, and I am excited! April word: DOER. I will be a doer. I will do the things. I will leave work where it belongs. I will do the things at home that bring me joy.

It is quarter TWO of the year people, WE CAN DO IT!

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lifestyle, the.B.Law

February 2024 Word: UNBOTHERED

I am a bothered human, and what I mean by that, is I let things bother me. LOTS of things. Not that I do anything about things that bother me, I just stew on them, and then they bother me MORE. Usually it is just silly little things, that really don’t matter, just annoying I guess.

This year I would like to be UNBOTHERED. I have to remind and ask myself, why am I letting myself get upset when it is something that I cannot control, or something that really doesn’t concern me? I so often let myself get worked up for no reason, just because it “bothers” me. Probably also partially because I am type A and like control.

Actually asking myself why I am bothered or telling myself IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER. has really been helping. I have enough to focus on, I don’t need to be concerned with other silly issues. You always hear “Don’t sweat the small stuff”. I remember hearing a book title from my parents when I was young called Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff, and it is All Small Stuff. When you’re younger, everything seems big. But now as an adult, it is easier to deem certain things as “small”.

I want to continue practicing throughout this year, not letting things get to me. Just in the month of January, the few times I have told myself to not worry about something, is already making a difference. I want this practice to become habit. I want to only worry about the things that really matter to ME. I don’t need to waste my energy on things that don’t need my attention, especially since I only have so much energy these days.

So here is to an unbothered year. This alone I feel will make me feel like a brand new person 😅

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lifestyle, Style, the.B.Law

Postpartum Style – Will I Feel Like Me Again?

Clothes have always been my thing. My greatest way to express myself is through style, it has been ever since I got a job at a retail store when I was 16 years old. My passion for dressing up has only grown since then. Sure my style has changed a lot through the years, there were even times where my effort for picking outfits was low, but the love for a good outfit has always been there.

A good outfit gives such a sense of confidence and can set the tone for the whole day. Looking good makes you feel good however, I am in a season of life right now where I just don’t feel excited about my clothes, and honestly don’t feel quite like myself.

I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy in October. Maternity style is a different animal. For the most part, if you wear most any maternity dress while pregnant, you look so cute because it is all about the baby bump. Style after birth though is hard. Maternity clothes somewhat fit still, and pre-pregnancy clothes pretty much do not fit, or fit in a completely different way. I used to love picking out outfits and getting dressed in the morning, but now I mostly dread it. Nothing I have fits how I would like it to. I feel frumpy in everything. Even oversized sweaters just don’t look right to me. Jeans are my worst enemy right now. I need to wear a larger size because I still have post belly weight to lose, but the larger sizes are tight around my belly, baggy on my butt and legs, and they don’t feel comfy.

This mindset of feeling awful and ugly in everything I put on is something I am trying to work on. It is a constant battle, one I generally avoid by wearing sweats or leggings at home… which is easy considering it is winter and our house is freezing. I need to remind myself that I grew a whole baby. I was able to carry him full term and he is wonderful and perfect. I also need to remind myself that the current condition of my body is just a season. It is temporary and I have the ability to help change it. My husband is amazing and always lets me know he still thinks I am beautiful. I appreciate him so much.

Now that I am back to work, I am ready to change. Although I have anxiety of going back to work, I am excited about having a reason to get ready in the morning. I have been feeling the pull to dress up again and make myself feel good. My goal (which I always say, but really mean it this time 😅) is to pick out my outfits for each day in advance, but this time I want to pick out my outfits for the whole week by the Sunday before. This shouldn’t be too hard since I will only be in the office three days a week.

So will I ever feel like me again? Yes, but not the old me. I am coming into my new self, Brittany 2.0. This is my first (sort of) style post in over a year and it feels good. I am excited to feel like the new me, and figure out who she is. This Brittany has been promoted to a mom and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

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lifestyle, the.B.Law

January 2024 Word: SIMPLIFY

This year I want to pick a word each month to focus on. A word that falls within my goals for the year. I think having one to focus on each month will serve as a good reminder, and allow me to be more intentional with each goal. I so easily and often overload myself with things I want to do, but that is not how real change happens. It takes time and practice, two things my monthly focus will give me.

For January, I feel the best word to start with is SIMPLIFY. One of my biggest goals this year is to finally be a minimalist, or at least as minimalist as I can be. I want to declutter. I have accumulated so much stuff over the years that I just don’t need, a good portion of which was given to me, so I feel a sense of guilt for no longer wanting it. I am working on getting passed these feelings though. Items in your home should not cause more stress than joy.

I have started the clean out process and feel so motivated by it. Thinking of the end result, an organized house through every room, closet, and cupboard, brings me so much excitement. Not only will getting rid of unneeded/unwanted items be a physical weight gone, but it will also be such a mental weight lifted. With less clutter and items to make a mess with, there will be less stress of having to clean, and find or make up homes for things. Less stress cleaning means more time with my family actually enjoying our house.

It is my intention to have all parts of my house decluttered by the end of January. I think that will be a great set up for the rest of the year. What better way to start than with a fresh and clean house? There will be a lot of trips to the Goodwill and posts on my Poshmark over the next few weeks, but I am ready for it!

Follow along for progress and for next month’s word.

Happy January!

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lifestyle, the.B.Law

Changing My Entire Outlook on Life – For Real This Time

It’s that time again. A new year is upon us. The time when everyone sets goals and hopes to meet them. I posted only TWO blog posts last year (shame on me), and the first one was my 2023 New Year’s post, which if this title looks familiar, it is because last year’s post was called “Changing My Entire Outlook on Life” and you can read it here.

This year I mean it for real though, and I have compelling reasons to believe that. As you can read in my last year’s post, my sister and I talked about all the ways in which we wanted to change our lives. Over the past year, nothing really physical changed, so to most, it probably looks like I accomplished nothing. But a lot actually did change. My sister and I had so many therapy type conversations over the past year that involved so many self realizations. As 2023 neared its end, we realized that we actually were changing our entire outlooks on life and that the whole past year was a PREP year. At the beginning of 2023, we knew we needed change, we just didn’t quite know how to put it into words. It turns out, we were not quite ready for all of the changes we wanted. You always hear, “You need to work on yourself first”, and I truly get that now.

I realized a lot about myself. I don’t want to say DISCOVERED because I think I have always known how I am (I am far too self aware for my own good), so I will use the word REALIZED since I was actually able to say things out loud. Something I really want to practice this year is setting boundaries. I put so much responsibility on myself for others: for how they feel, their reactions to my decisions, and even non-existent conversations of how they MIGHT react. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR OTHERS EMOTIONS. I have caused myself so much stress and anxiety over the years. Me. Myself. I do this to myself, and it is time to stop. I literally need to start chanting that I am not responsible for others emotions every day.

One of my biggest realizations has been I am NOT overly empathetic like I always thought, but I am an EMOTIONAL MONITOR. Because of this, I am always putting everyone else’s wants, needs, and emotional well-being before my own. It is so bad that I cannot even bring myself to say what I want on the simplest decisions like “What do you want to eat?”. I almost always say it doesn’t matter and want someone else to choose because what if whoever I am eating with doesn’t want what I want and are unhappy eating it?

I need to understand the difference of being actually selfish, and what I think is considered selfish. I can make decisions for myself and for my well being without being considered selfish.

So this year, I want things to be different. I want to slow down and be more intentional. Time is valuable and I so easily give my time to others and don’t always prioritize it for myself. When I finally have time to myself, I am so exhausted that I don’t want to do anything. As part of this, I want to really be adamant about having a better work/life balance. Not just by leaving work on time, but to not bring work stress home with me. I need to be better about leaving work at work where it belongs.

I am also ready to finally be a minimalist. I have accumulated so much stuff over the years that I don ‘t need. Part of my problem is I often feel guilt to keep things that people give me, but I am working on ending that. I have already started with my closet and donated three big bags of clothes. I have also already done one clean out of my bathroom and am ready to do another pass. I have been doing what I am calling “research” on both slow living and being a minimalist (by research, I mean following a few Instagram accounts on the topics), and something I read that really stood out to me was “Everything must have a home”. That is going to be my mantra while I work on decluttering. If my home has no place for it, then I have no place for it. I feel like being rid of the clutter is going to contribute to slowing down, and definitely contribute to less stress.

I am really excited for this year. It will be different than any other year, not just from the personal growth I have had and am excited to work on, but I have new motivation that I have never had before. My second and last post of 2023 was on February 15th. Three days later, I found out I was pregnant. Flash forward to today, my husband and I have a beautiful two and a half month old baby boy. His name is Wylder and he is our entire world. I not only want to slow down for myself, but for my family. I don’t want to look back and feel like I wasted any time with them.

Accountability will be key this year. My sister and I will have check-ins each month to ensure we are staying on track. I am looking forward to what the year brings and what my life turns into because of it. I am ready for changes, and I think this will be only the start to a great life my husband and I are ready to start for us and our son. Cheers to 2024!

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the.B.Law

I Just Want to be Cool Again

Remember what cool meant when you were young? Like elementary school age. Things were cool because you thought they were cool, and that was cool enough. Young, honest wholesome kids, learning about the world before being influenced by the media and other older kids.

How do we get back to that? How do we brush off the fear of what others think and just like what we like because WE like it? It seems simple enough.

I have always been an adaptor, changing to be more like the people I surround myself with. I don’t think that is a completely bad trait, but I wish I was less like that. My idea of being cool has always been skewed by my friends or outside people. I think this partially stems from the feeling of always wanting to fit in. I changed schools quite a bit when I was young and being the new kid isn’t always easy. Instead of being fully myself, I just wanted to quickly find a group of friends and fit in.

This even followed me into adulthood. It wasn’t too long ago I was hanging out with a new group of friends pretty often, and the things I thought were cool and important to me, like writing this blog, fashion, Instagram, and writing in general, I know they did not think was cool. So I tried to hide it, and in doing so, pretty much stopped writing this blog. To be honest, it has been hard to get back in the groove of it, but I really want to.

I want to be cool again by being myself, not by the definition of those around me, social media or anything else. So often I see people being their own genuine self and I feel envy (in a good way). I think they are cool for being themselves, so why can’t I do that for myself?

This is something I have been thinking a lot about this new year, the year I want to be about change. I have found trying to navigate this issue of being cool has given me more compassion (for lack of a better word) for others. It makes me think twice in a situation where I would judge someone, or when you’re with people who are making fun of someone else.

So here I stand. Hi, I am Brittany and I like to blog, post photos of cute outfits, obsessed with Harry Potter and Marvel movies, prefer to stay in and read or watch a movie instead of party, not really a fan of drinking anymore, and yes I like to take and post photos of my cute coffees. These things are cool to me.

So let’s give everyone some grace and appreciate the uniqueness in this world, instead of judging people for not being ourselves. Let’s be cool again.

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lifestyle, the.B.Law

Changing My Entire Outlook On Life

It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.

I don’t care how often that lyric is getting used by basic girls around the world, I still love it. I am the problem I am never on here and hopefully I will be the pushing change to come back.

Anywho, hello! Happy 2023! Not going to lie, not a fan of the number but whatever, can’t change the name of the year because I am weird. We are 20 days in and I am fighting the urge to feel behind because my sister and I decided we are doing this year different. We are going to give ourselves grace and space. Working on stopping the toxic mindsets of needing to change everything about us all at once. Instead our plan is to change everything about us, but slowly and one piece at a time. We call it… “Changing Our Entire Outlook On Life”, and I am here for it.

Last year was a big year. An exciting year! But an equally stressful year. My fiancé and I moved in together in February, and in November got married. So great! Like dream status. But that all came with a lot of stress and a lot of pressure put on myself by myself. I will do another post on the wedding and wedding stress later, but all of last year was basically consumed with that.

This year I am focusing on myself, my husband, and what makes me happy, no matter how small! My sister and I started off by making a list of little things that make us feel happy or put together. Simple things like having our nails painted (which I haven’t at all these last 20 days), making cute lattes at home, and dressing in our color aesthetic. It is hard to explain, but we basically want to make our aesthetic our lifestyle. I know that makes no sense to most, but if you get it, good for you.

These last 20 days I have been working on internally fighting the pressure to be at the gym every day, change my entire diet, and be hitting every single goal I wish I could be. Instead I have been giving myself time. Time to reflect on what I really want to accomplish, the person I want to be, and the wife I want to be. I really haven’t gotten that many tangible things done in this first month, but I think getting my mind right is a good first place to start.

So here is to the new year. I say it every year, but this time I truly have feelings this will be THE YEAR. The year that is mine, and not everyone else’s because I keep giving it to them. Sorry everyone, but it is my turn.

PS – my hair is brown now. What can I say, new year new me.

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Style, the.B.Law

Neutrals

Lately I have been feeling my style changing into something I have wanted for a long time. Is that weird to say? I feel as if I have been stalking and studying this style for some time, but have not been able to achieve yet. The style of N E U T R A L S.

I have often, and still currently, have long conversations with my sister on how to achieve the neutral style classification. Our problem always being drawn to colors, and bright colors at that. Although I still love a bright outfit, over that past few months I have been collecting more neutral items, tops specifically, and leaving bright pieces as more of special statement pieces. Finally last month, I really felt it come together. For a week straight I just kept picking out neutral outfits and feeling really good about it. I think one of the best things about it is that the pieces for the most part all go together, meaning the combination options are endless.

I am still trying to put my own flare into the neutral game. I don’t want to just wear solids so I have been mixing in different patterns, textures, and even graphic tees. I am excited for cooler weather so I can really step into this new style more. I want to really get creative with it.

My current favorite inspiration for neutrals is Christina from @newdarlings, her vibe in everything is seriously so amazing.

Links below to some of my current faves (some are on sale too!)

Look 1
Look 2
Look 3
Look 4 is from MATE the Label (would really love to be an ambassador for them, I am working on it!)
This top is completely sold out, I just had to share how cute it is! (don’t worry, I am stalking for its return)
Look 6
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lifestyle, the.B.Law

5 Recent Things – 6/19/22

I have been trying to make super small changes lately, and I am pleased. Here are 5 things I have done over the last couple weeks and small as they may be, have made a difference:

  1. Picked out my outfit every night for the next day
  2. Packed my protein shakes and greens and all the healthy things I am trying to drink the night before
  3. Worked out (almost) every day, no matter how small the workout (I think I have missed one day)
  4. Read – actually finished my book
  5. Talked writing with my sister and it is motivating me

I want to keep going with these changes and adding more. Not huge, huge can feel daunting and then I feel I tend to put them off. Little changes will add up to big ones. Something I want to add this week is write. Even if it is a little something. A small blog like this, a poem, a few sentences. Just something to get me started.

Here is to small changes and growing big goals. xoxo

Happy Father’s Day to tall the dads out there!

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beauty, life, lifestyle, the.B.Law

Clean Teeth, Warm Heart

Hello there!

Want to know a fun fact? I recently celebrated my one year anniversary of getting my braces off 😆. Yes it has been a year and yes I am still a psycho about my teeth (or at least I try to be). I brush, I floss, I whiten… and now I have a new product I love. Did you know, that there are probiotics for your teeth?! I was not aware of this, until my friends at Smile Brilliant reached out to me.

I have had the privilege of working with Smile Brilliant multiple times, and now we are doing our fourth project together! They are a brand and a company I have grown to trust and love, as I literally use their products every day. Their newest addition though, is Dental Probiotics. You chew one a day (at night after brushing your teeth) and you are all set! So quick and easy to add into your routine, and they taste good too (like, for real).

I know we hear about “regular” probiotics all the time, so what are dental probiotics good for? Um a bunch of things. Allow me to enlighten you. They allow healthy bacteria in your mouth AND in your sinuses! Yeah remember? These things are connected. They also help fight plaque build-up and decay, as well as supports good breath. Aside from these great results, the dental probiotics also help build your immunity. YES! These little chewables can help your cold/flu immune support. That is one thing I thought was really great about them. The more to help me not get sick, the better. Also, anything that helps my sinuses, count me in on that too.

One more cool thing, they also have Oral Probiotics for kids! Which is great considering I feel like I only get sick after I have been around my nieces and nephews…

I recommend giving them a try. The bottle is a 30 day supply, so perfect to try out for a month.

But also while I am at it, let me remind you of their other great products I love. LIKE THEIR TEETH WHITENING. This is definitely something I am trying to keep up on since I have my wedding coming up. I love the custom trays, and the results are great and lasting. Which is especially good since I love my coffee. Read up on my latest review of their custom whitening trays here, they are bomb!

But the product I use every day is Smile Brilliant’s CariPro Electric Tooth brush. I even got my fiancé and one of our roommates to start using one too. I just love how it has multiple settings, like SENSITIVE, for my always sensitive teeth. My review of the best tooth brush here.

If you do check Smile Brilliant out, which you should, be sure to use my code THEBLAW20 for 20% off!

Love yous! – B

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