Dressed Up Just Because

Sweet friends, hello hello hello! Happy Thursday AKA Friday Eve to you! Although Friday really doesn’t mean anything to me anymore, I still find joy in being one day from the weekend and happy hour starting at 4pm. For me, this week marked two major things: week 7 of working from home and the coursework end to my first semester of graduate school. I have indifferent feelings about both of these.

Two finals are all that stand between me and the end of the semester. And even though each final is about 15% of my overall grade, I am beyond excited to have a mini celebration as soon as I hit submit. To be honest, I didn’t know how well I would manage being in graduate school right now. I’m coming up on my one year anniversary at my first “normal” job in years and lately, everything has been a struggle. However, I am beyond excited to be holding As in both classes and to have found extra funding to decrease my summer tuition bill. Yup…summer tuition…AKA I have a 3 day break at the official end of finals and the beginning of summer classes. I for sure have lost my mind at this point. I’m 110% sure of it.

Like many of you, I have been living in lounge and workout wear for weeks. Originally I wanted to get dressed every single day when working from home, but very quickly, that idea went out the window. On days when I workout in the morning, I rarely want to change out of my workout wear. So after showering, I usually find another comfy workout set to throw on.

But recently, I found myself pretty desperate just to get dressed and not wear sweats for the 41st day in a row.  So earlier in the week I spent a hour half getting dressed and putting on makeup, just to walk my dog around the neighborhood. I don’t think I saw anyone besides construction people and the mail(wo)men. That’s it.

I just needed to pull myself out of watching the news on repeat and staring at computer screens for hours on end.

I found this dress on sale online last week and quickly added it to my drive-up cart. Everything available in-store and online goes very fast these days so as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a perfect spring to summer transition item. Then, my friends at Francine Collections gifted me this adorable and functional tote bag which is now my errand favorite. It’s long enough for me to throw my planner and iPad in but also has a small zippered pocket to keep hand sanitizer, lotion, gum, chapstick and my keys. These are my essentials no matter where I go and the pocket helps them not be lost with all my other junk. And because my friends at Francine Collections are SO KIND, I was also able to secure a discount code for y’all! When you use SASS30 at Francine Collections, you get 30% off your order! This is the biggest discount they currently offer and I’m so grateful that I can offer it to all of you. This is also the perfect time to support a small, woman-owned business if you are able to.

Once I finished my dog walk and ice cream pick-up, I stay dressed and y’all, I swear my productivity increased by like 30%. Something about being dressed for the first time in weeks made me feel so much creative, inspired and ready to work like crazy. I edited a bunch of pictures, completed a few campaigns and worked on some upcoming projects. All of which I had been putting off for weeks because I just could not get myself out of a funk. It’s truly amazing what a cute dress and red lipstick can do for the soul. Like, forreal, A M A Z I N G!

Anyway friends, that’s all that I have for today! Also always, I hope that you are all safe, sound and well as you’re reading this. I also hope that my blog can serve as a fun distraction for you. As I mentioned above, my friends at Francine Collections gave me a 30% off code: SASS30 to use on anything on their website. If you’re in the market for a new laptop, work or just for fun bag, consider supporting this small, woman-owned business. Thanks so much for reading! -xo, Azanique <3