OOTD: and finally meeting God’s plan

March 15, 20192 Comments

Photography by: Sarah Warden Photography

( Sweater: Gentle Fawn // Jeans: Banana Republic Outlet // Boots: Dan Post )

We all create timelines for ourselves even though most the time things don’t happen like we planned or when we planned them. God doesn’t take orders from us, and while He cares about our plans sometimes He has more important things for us.

My own timeline has been destroyed so many times I don’t know why are bother rebuilding it. I just like having a plan of when things will happen. Having the goal of it happening just doesn’t seem to be enough. I want to outline my life, no matter if it ends up being followed or not.

I make them just to have God throw them away, so I found myself laughing when I realized that one of my timeline items had ended up working out.

In college I had sworn that I wanted to get married by 25, but after graduating and getting deathly ill I had decided that that was just another item to cross out. After all, how would it be possible to make that happen? I stopped thinking about it then, but low and behold, I’m going to end up getting married exactly three months after I turn 25.

Turns out I had finally managed to be on the same page with God about something, not that I’m going to get used to it.

OOTD: Tackling what a lifestyle blog means to me

October 18, 2018Leave a comment

( Jeans: Banana Republic Factory // Shirt: Loft (similar) // Booties: Steve Madden (similar) // Sweater: J. Crew (similar) )

This is my first Outfit of the Day post in a little over a year, and that one was posted with the same disclaimer to why it had been so long. I stopped posting them because I got frustrated that those posts were doing better than my posts on serious topics like mental illness. I’m not a fashion blogger nor did I have desire to be, I added the OOTD because I thought how we present ourselves is a great part of lifestyle and this blog is supposed to be a lifestyle blog. That’s changed a little, and I didn’t really mean for it to. It started when I published “I’m Not Offended by my Bipolar Jokes. You Shouldn’t be Either.” I was really unsure when I published it, I thought it was going to go over poorly, but I was wrong, it did well and I felt amazing having published it. So, more serious posts started getting mixed into my blog. Posts on my personal relationship with suicide mixed with photo diaries of my horse. It felt good, then I got more invested in the serious topics, and as you might have noticed, they started to dominate.

It’s not a bad thing. The topics I’m writing about are important, at least to me, and I feel like they need to be talked about. That’s what a blog is supposed to be, isn’t it?

But I’ve strayed a little to far from where I started. I need a little lightness in these posts too. I need to include the everyday joys, after all, life isn’t just about the serious topics, and it definitely isn’t just about mental illness and other hardships.

So here is my outfit. Here is my smile. Here is a picture of me in my everyday life.

Anna Down South is about me as a whole, that includes seriousness and it includes happiness.

OOTD: Let’s get down to business

August 11, 20179 Comments

( Top: LOFT // Skirt: Banana Republic // Shoes: Marc Jacob // Bracelets: Alex and Ani )

It’s only been five months since I’ve done an outfit of the day post. I’d like to say that I have had some cute outfits since then, it was just that the fashion posts were getting a lot more traction than all my other posts and I really didn’t want this to be a fashion blog. Still, they are fun on occasion and I figured what better way to do a “my first week at work” update than with some business casual threads.

Continue reading →

OOTD: The Bloom Effect.

April 10, 2017Leave a comment

( Top: LOFT // Skirt: Target // Shoes: Marc Jacob // Sunglasses: LOFT // Earrings: Silpada)

Yesterday was a good day that consisted of church, fresh hamburgers, a long walk in the park with a good friend, and cleaning out my dresser.

I have a fair amount of clothes, some are years old, others are new additions. I clean out my wardrobe enough that I don’t have anything in it that isn’t my style. I don’t have anything in it that I wouldn’t wear. Which is great, it’s what I’m supposed to have, but since I have failed at minimalism, sometimes I lose items in the back of the drawer and don’t wear them for an entire season. It’s not that I don’t like them it’s just I forget I own them.

I’ve figured out how to work around this when it comes to my hanging clothes (obviously not a problem here) and my t-shirts (I roll them instead of fold them), but I can’t figure out how to do it with sweaters. My drawer is deep so I can’t roll them because I’d have to double layer them which would lead to the same problem as now. Does anyone have any good advice? The seasons are changing, but next year I’d like to wear all my clothes!

February Sun Daze:

February 13, 2017February 13, 20175 Comments

(Button down: LOFT // Tank: Old Navy // Jeans: LOFT // Boots: Lucchese)

I told my mom I felt like I was dressed like a cowgirl from the 80’s. When I tied my top at my belt she couldn’t help but laugh. The skinny jeans were saving me, if I had been wearing mom jeans (which seem to be making a comeback?) it would have really thrown it over the edge. I wasn’t planning on my shirt matching my jeans as dead on as they did, but I rolled with it. I also decided to roll with the giant sunspot in the middle of these photos, because, why not? Continue reading →

OOTD: Before the Snow

January 8, 2017Leave a comment

(Boots: Kenneth Cole // Jeans: LOFT // Sweater: Similar // Necklace: Similar)

I don’t know if you’ve seen the news, but my area of North Carolina has about nine inches of snow and ice. Luckily, this outfit was shot the day before yesterday when it was still warm enough to shimmy out of my coat for a second.

Speaking of the weather I want to take a moment to talk about snow in the south. We get a lot of shit from the northerners about how we handle it. In some ways I get it a hundred percent, we are babies about it, nobody hates it more than I do. However when it comes to driving in we’re in different situations than them. We don’t have the number of plows to clear the roads, we don’t have winter tires, my Jeep doesn’t even have 4-wheel drive, and the big one: in the south the weather is so warm that the snow melts some during the day, which means that when we drop back down for the night everything is covered in black ice. We’re driving on uncleared roads in bad cars and on black ice. Continue reading →

OOTD: Still Feelin’ Like Fall

December 2, 2016Leave a comment

(Dress: Z Supply // Boots: Dan Post)

We’ve had a bit of a warm snap the last few days. It takes away from the Christmas spirit, but I’m not complaining because I hate the cold so much. When it comes to Christmas I still have a lot of shopping to do. I’ve done a few friends, but I still have basically all my family to do. How far along are you on holiday shopping?

The past few days my grandmother has been here while my granddad is in Canada visiting my aunt. Right now her and my mom are making cheese straws. I don’t know if you’ve ever had good cheese straws, but they are the best things. I practically forget how good they are until Christmas comes around and we start making them for neighbors. That’s a tradition I’m going to start when I move out. I’ve mentioned moving out, but I haven’t gotten there yet. The whole dying of Lyme has slowed that down, and I think my mom needs me here right now anyways. I’m perfectly fine with waiting, but I’m still daydreaming of decorating my own place.

OOTD: Uh Huh Honey

October 29, 2016October 29, 2016Leave a comment

(Hat: Etsy ValDesignsOnline)

I keep calling this hat my condescending southern ball cap. I’m kind of in love with it, of course it’s something you can only wear to certain places, but grocery shopping is more fun in it. I’ve started to wear hats more in general, or at least I’m trying to, I keep buying them then wearing them every now and then. I’m working on it.