jacket (M) // jeans (on sale!) // earrings c/o // necklace // ring // bracelet (my Victoria Emerson X Jo-Lynne Shane collection is still BOGO free)
Well, it’s been a week! I’m sure most of those in Florida will say it’s a week they’d like to forget. Fortunately, mine was memorable in more good ways than bad, but Hurricane Ian left his mark on us too.
My week started out with a content creators’ retreat in Nashville. We rented an Airbnb and spent a few days connecting, collaborating, and also having a lot of fun doing some quintessential Nashville activities like taking line dancing lessons, making Goo Goo Clusters, and spending an evening on Broadway.
This is the group, and you can read more about our adventures in my post, What I Wore Lately: Nashville Edition.
Cyndi // Lisa // Jen // Dawn // Sydney // me // Tania
As much fun as that was, I was ready to come home and see my family, and fortunately we all made it home ahead of the storm.
We had one beautiful fall day here in Philly before the wind and rain set in… right in time for Friday night football. My daughter had a bunch of friends over afterwards for a sleepover, so that was late night, and then yesterday was our annual Cavalcade of Bands.
That’s a marching band competition that our school hosts each year, and it’s a huge undertaking — not one that can be easily rescheduled. So after studying the weather forecast, the powers that be decided the show must go on, rain or shine.
Let’s just say the only shine was coming from the students… certainly not the sky. But it takes more than a little wind and rain to dampen their enthusiasm. I learned that last year, when they had the Homecoming dance outside in the rain. They had a blast despite the weather, and they performed very well, and I was fortunate to be working concessions under a tent. It was still cold and windy and wet, but I escaped the brunt of it.
It looks like we have a few more soggy days ahead of us, and then our lovely fall weather should return. I’m looking forward to that! I love this time of year when it’s cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoons, and we still have some daylight after dinner.
I say this every year, but now that October is here, I feel like the race is on! Christmas will be here before we know it. All three of my kids have birthdays between now and then, and of course we have three major holidays to prep and plan for.
At least Halloween isn’t such a big deal around here anymore, now that I don’t have kids who go trick-or-treating, and our neighborhood isn’t well trafficked. But I’ll probably be hosting some family for Thanksgiving, and of course Christmas is always a big event. I’m not sure if we’re traveling or not, but we’ll need to get those details nailed down pretty soon.
Speaking of which, I’m starting holiday gift guides this week on the blog! I started them in October last year, and I got a good response to that, so I figured I’ll go ahead and get those out there. If you’re not shopping yet, you can always refer back to them when you’re ready. I’m open to requests or feedback on what I’ve done in the past and which ones were most helpful.
The irony here is, I am a horrible gift giver. I’m not one of those people who has a knack for thoughtful and personal gifts. In fact, gift giving stresses me out, and I usually procrastinate until the very last minute. But somehow it became a thing in the blogosphere to do these holiday gift guides, and I always get a good response to mine, so I’ll be doing them again this year.
My assistant, Amy, is a huge help with these. In fact, a lot of the gift ideas are hers. I vet them all, but she helps me come up with the ideas, and she does those nifty graphics. I feel like together, we make a good team, so let us know what you’re looking for this year!
Finally, I listened to a podcast this week that I thought some of you might like: Lessons From My Epic Closet Purge from Jen at the Everyday Style School Podcast. I shared it in my JLS Insiders Facebook Group yesterday, and I thought I should share it here too.
It seems like so many women want a more tightly edited wardrobe, but they don’t know how to achieve that. If that’s where you are today, this episode is a great. In fact, all of Jen’s podcasts are great. I’ve been listening to them when I walk.
Also, I wanted to give y’all a heads-up that those rag & bone Retro Sneakers went on sale again! They’re not quite as low as they were during the #NSale, and definitely still a splurge, but I wanted to let you know in case you had your eye on them.
Okay, that’s it for me this morning. I hope you all have a restful and blessed Sunday!
13 Responses
Hey Jo-Lynne…..glad to hear you are safe and sound. I saw on the news the storm was headed up your way, so was concerned for you. Glad you were able to still fit in all your daughters weekend plans. My husband and I were just talking how strange the weather has been for our coast and yours. We are having mid 80’s and so warm. Unusual for NW Oregon in October. I’m loving it. My favorite time of the year too, until like you said I start thinking of the pressure of the holidays. It seems we get pressured more and more each year to start early. I’m happy to hear you are starting your gift guides early again. I’m one of those who starts in October, unless I find something like I did last year at the NSALE. In fact, my husband and I just went to REI yesterday and got all our adult kids Patagonia fleeces for one of their gifts. If you spent over $100 you got a $20 credit g. card to use later this month. Not much better better than nothing. I use to wait until our membership 20% coupons came in mid Nov. (we each get one), but I’m finding that is too late to wait now if I want sizes for 6 adults to be available. So, all that to say, I need more ideas for young adult ladies and men. Like 30-40 is my kids and spouses age range. Something not clothing. I have my grandkids(3) all done. 🙂 They are so easy right now to buy for. Oh, just heads up, if someone was new to your blog, I don’t think they’d know to click on your big square heading to get the rest of your coffee talk. I know you’ve moved from adding the click here and went to the circle to click on but this morning, I was even not sure if there was more to the blog, but tried clicking on your square heading, as I know you……you usually have more to say on Sunday mornings. LOL Love to hear about your family and weekend events. Blessings for your day. PS If you are looking for any good books to read, I have an author I found who does historical fiction during WW2. Good books. Just let me know.
Good feedback on the email, thank you. I didn’t realize that was missing. I think it’s because a few weeks I didn’t write a post and I must have copied one of those emails when I made this one. And I’d love info on that author, thanks!
Hi Jo-Lynne…..The author is Kristen Harmel
I’ve read:
“The Book of Lost Names”
“The Room on Rue Amelie”
“The Forest of Vanishing Stars”
Be sure you read the ending comments she does, telling you the facts she based her books on. She has researched so much about WW2 days. Very interesting. She’s written more, but I haven’t read the other two I have yet.
Loved all your recent posts on “how to style …”; so helpful! And, so glad the gift guides will be out soon. Thank you for working on those. I’m also looking forward to your ideas of what to wear on Thanksgiving Day. I always have a hard time finding something that looks nice but is practical enough to wear while cooking. Your annual post on that is helpful. Thanks for working so hard to keep us up to date on fashion!
Question about the sleeveless Evereve Roan & Ryan top. I usually wear a petite small or 6. I’ve never ordered from Evereve. What do you think about sizing—I have no idea how their clothes run, thanks.
It’s a little roomy. I’d suggest sizing down if in between.
I enjoy reading all your posts, but had to leave a comment about the beautiful photo of you. You look amazing! :-). Need to put that photo in your About Me page for sure.
Thank you! How are you doing these days??
I hope y’all don’t have too much rain from Ian! It’s awesome that the weather did not stop Becca’s weekend activities. We ended up not having g any rain from Ian because it shifted to the East. Even though I do not need any suggestions for Christmas gifts, I still appreciate you and Amy putting them together for those that do need help.
Hey there. In Tampa…we missed the worst…just some wind and rain. I feel so bad for those hard hit with this
massive storm. I just ordered the J Crew vest in Nutmeg yesterday. You mentioned you ordered it. I would ask if you would style this item for us…maybe “three ways to wear”, I see the obvious black, maybe white/cream jeans and of course jeans. Need help with tops. Have a great day!
I’m glad you’re doing the gift guides early this year. I was always a habitual procrastinator until the year covid hit. Since I did most of my shopping online that year and was worried about shipping delays I started much earlier. And what do you know, having it all done early made my Christmas so much less stressful! So now I’m trying to permanently change my ways! Lol. I always enjoy all your gift guides, you seem to cover every category. Can’t remember if you do this already or not but I’d enjoy a stocking stuffer edition. I always find myself needing ideas for that, as well as the “small gifts” during Secret Santa. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Hi Jo-Lynne….I just joined your blog, found you from Jennifer @ a WSL…I am a west coast girl from Northern California Coastal area, who now lives in the North Georgia Mountains. I like your style, especially when I read your bio, you love a good S.B. and Chips…lol…I darn near spit out my coffee when I read that!! That is my all time favorite, hope the chips are Lay’s 😁…Glad I found your blog…
Too funny! But I’m all about the Kettle potato chips. Backyard BBQ or Cheddar are my favorites. Or just good old Salt & Pepper. 🙂