Coffee Talk // Volume 4

We’ve made it halfway through the week, hooray! I don’t know about y’all but this week has been a doozy thus far. Between working on my taxes and evaluating different aspects of my business, it’s understandable why I might desire a glass of wine over a cup of coffee this AM. Nonetheless, grab a seat and your cup of jo (how cute is the one I’m holding above?? You can snag it  at 25% off), and read along for the latest life updates on this little corner of the Internet!

I’ve said this before, but in case you don’t know, I didn’t gain that super awesome business savvy that my mom, dad and husband all have. I was a sport broadcast major with a double major in political communication… about as far as you can get from the business side of things! With that being said, I run my own business and work as hard as possible to teach myself new things or ask questions whenever I can. But to be honest with y’all, this week has been interesting.

As we all know, tax day is right around the corner, and each year I’ve learned new strategies and implemented what works and doesn’t in terms of bookkeeping, record keeping, etc. for my small business. I opt for the old-fashioned way, and keep an Excel spreadsheet of my month to month profit and losses instead of being a millennial and using Quickbooks. I know, you might think I’m old school, but I did at least try Quickbooks… it was dreadful, quite frankly.

So here comes tax time, and I think I’m super organized with my P&L, my 1099s that I’ve been issued, etc. And my hubby takes one look and is like, “where is the rest?” Of course, me being the strong-willed wife says, “What are you talking about? It’s all here”. Well I believe you can see which rabbit hole this led me down… needless to say my sweet hubby took a hit for the team and essentially redid my P&L sheet and created a new spreadsheet that is much more functional for my business.

Yes, lesson learned. Also, yet another time I’ve personally realized that blogging, and really running your own business in general, is seriously no joke! I know a lot of people think, “oh, your a blogger?? You just sit and peruse the web all day or take photos of your pretty life, right?” well, let me burst that bubble and tell you that’s 100% w-r-o-n-g.

I know there are a lot of bloggers who have taken the time to get real with their followers, so I’m not going to lecture or talk down, but here’s the situation: being a small business owner, whether it’s a full-time blogger or a start-up software business, is not, and emphasis on the word not, a walk in the park!

Being your own boss is tough! Keeping yourself in line for deadlines, on top of record and budget keeping, negotiating contracts and making sure there is money in your bank accounts to cover expenses and necessary life expenditures is tough and takes a serious amount of maturity.

So now, as I get off my high horse, I want to thank all of you that support my small business, because without you I wouldn’t be where I am today – a full-time blogger, pursuing her passion for fashion and sharing this love with y’all. But just realize that it doesn’t come easy or simple, even if I do work from home and have flexible hours. But I love what I do and wouldn’t change it for anything, so I make peace with the hard aspects of entrepreneurship.

Cheers to the hope that your tax season isn’t as testy as mine has turned out to be this year!

Now for things I’m loving: 

– You may remember from last week’s coffee talk, here, that I mentioned ‘s declining sales. Well things just got a little more scary for the Crew – their creative director, Jenna Lyons, was pushed out the door earlier this week. Read the full article here. Just second in command to the CEO, Lyons was absolutely pivotal in changing the direction of when brought on five years ago. Now, instead of Sales Director, Lyons will remain with the J.Crew family until the end of the year as Creative Director, but more news is, sadly, not good news for J.Crew.

If you’re interested in doing your part to support J.Crew’s sales, shop this cool pair of , this fun and this adorable (also available in four neutral colors).

– If you remember from this post, I chat about working out with the help of Dove deodorant. I’ve just finished the stick and it was great! As for my workout routine, I still have yet to find something that I’m sticking with. So, I’ve decided to start Kayla’s BBG program again next Monday. Rick helped me get all the equipment setup so I can start. But, I’m definitely a bit nervous, because let’s be real, I’m so out of shape, and need to kick my butt into gear! I’ll do the program MWF and on Tuesday/Thursday I’m thinking I may start taking my beloved Define Body classes again or try out pilates.

In the meantime, this last weekend I started walking again. Even if it’s just a quick jaunt around the neighborhood with our pup or a longer walk around Memorial Park, it’s helped me feel more relaxed and I definitely sleep better at night after burning off some energy. Is there a workout routine you swear by? Tell me in the comments!

– Have you heard of ? I’ve linked a few of my outfits from there previously (reference this seen on my Instagram), and y’all I have to say if you haven’t shopped their before, now is the time! Their new arrivals lately have been killing it! Plus what I love is the fact that there’s a price point for everyone.

For quite sometime was only an e-commerece site, but they’ve since opened a brick and mortar shop in D.C. Rick and I both love this site and will continue to be loyal patrons. I’ve got my eyes on these and this for spring and summer.

– You know when some people are just blessed with the natural knack to mix things together and create an outfit, you personally never thought possible? Y’all, I have to share with you my dear friend, Valerie, who is the queen of just that. She’s a new mommy to the most adorable little bebe and still has looked so fashionable pre, during and post baby… some serious snaps for her. Definitely go check out her style blog, Adorn Yourself Accordingly, and get ready to be totally inspired! This latest outfit post is one of my absolute favorites. Who knew denim on denim with a trench vest topper could look so absolutely, Parisian chic?!

– Lastly, if you’re feeling lucky, and haven’t entered already, there’s a $1000 Nordstrom gift card giveaway currently live on the blog. I’ve teamed up with a group of other bloggers and you can enter at the bottom of this post, here. Good luck!

P.S. if you have anything you’d like me to research, chat about, questions you’d like answered in upcoming coffee talk posts, feel free to email me, DM on Insta or leave a comment below! xx