Cents of Style Blog

 I was in a meeting in early May, when my executive business coach asked me, “If you could have anything in the next 3 months, what would it be?” A thought crossed my mind and it was so unlike “me” that I was going to deny it or say another answer. He then proceeded to say, “not what you think you SHOULD do or NEED to do, but what do you WANT?” So in an effort to be honest with my feelings, I blurted out, “A break. I want a summer of SLOW.”

Numbers. We love numbers. We love to follow them, let them tell us others and our own importance.

Sometimes the thought of being limited to only the 12 items in your modern capsule collection is daunting. Most of us love choices. Options. Like a salad bar. Sometimes we're in the mood for ranch, and sometimes balsamic is where it's at. Does that mean that we still don't put lettuce, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes as the base of your salad? No. Because the basics don't change. Just what we put on top does. 

With that in mind-- for our Summer Capsule collection, we decided to mix it up! (Pun intended!) We wanted to essentially give you four basic capsule wardrobe elements for summer- and show you how to mix them together and seperate with extra "toppings." 

If you've ever stood in front of your jam-packed closet and exclaimed "I have nothing to wear!", the capsule wardrobe is calling your name, sister. Simplify your choices to make getting ready a breeze. Here's the basic four pieces a great 2018 summer capsule wardrobe can be created around. 

A fog. A heavy fog that you can feel pressing on you. Have you ever felt that there was something keeping you from being what you know in every cell of your body that you’re destined to do? That bright, piercing desire to go from where you are to where you desperately want to be… and there’s just something in the way. Something big.  Something you can’t quite see through or around. But you can nearly feel whatever is waiting for you on the other side.

She was pulling out all of these amazing dance moves, utterly confident in front of the camera, laughing and dancing. She kept saying, “Watch this move” and “I’m such a good dancer.” And as I watched her and she spoke I thought, “Yeah, you are! Amazing. So cool and poised.” When it was my turn, it often took me multiple times to get the “take” and I awkwardly pushed myself through, trusting in the editing process.

After we finished filming the video, I expressed my thanks and complimented her on her sureness. And she said to me, “Thank you. Did you hear all of the affirmations I was giving myself to get through?”

 Talk about an aha moment.

This week at Cents of Style we have been taking the Clifton StrengthFinder’s test and learning about individual and company strengths. I have witnessed an interesting phenomenon as we have actively had conversations about the personal strengths the test revealed.

I feel compelled to share this story, which few know about my family and me. The reason I am sharing it now is because there is a mama out there hurting today. A mama who is going through what I went through and feels alone. Friends of friends reached out to me hoping I would have advice for this mama, and if I have experienced this and other mamas have too, then I think it is fair to say many are and instead of staying quiet and experiencing this in isolation, let’s be brave and share our voices together.