Backwards N High Heels

Balancing work and play while wearing many hats (I mean heels).

Fall Fashion Must Haves

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I think the older I get, the more I adore Fall. There is just something magical about the season. The air has a certain smell, the beauty of the colors bursting on the mountainside, and the incredible tastes of warm soups, candy apples and kettle corn, actually I realize in this moment that it is the awakening of all senses that make me adore the season.

Too bad, Mother Nature has cast her warm spell upon us Mountain Marylanders who typically welcome Fall with extended arms. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the sunshine and fact that I am not bundling up in a coat because we all know too well that sometimes a four-letter word appears in our woods each October and that is SNOW.

As I wait for the cooler temperatures, I sit here and dream up all the items my closet needs to support these visions. 

Affiliate Links:

Long Sweater  |  T-Shirt  |  Flannel Shirt  |  Striped Top

Utility Jacket  |  Leather Jacket  |  Vest  |  Trench Coat

Black Leggings  |  Boyfriend Jeans  |  Black Jeans  |  Scarf

Above The Knee Boots |  Ankle Bootie  |  Casual Sneakers  |  Baseball Cap  |  Crossbody Bag  |  Gold Necklace

 

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Now I Am Left Cleaning The Mess

Article originally published on Her View From Home.

Disclaimer: I wrote this post in May of 2017. I held my breath and hit submit, as I emailed my first piece to Her View From Her Home for consideration. A few days later, the kind, patient and encouraging Leslie Means, creator of Her View From Her Home, gave me a chance at writing. A lot has changed since I wrote this piece; however, this time in my life was a breaking point that changed me. Like a light switch that finally after years of jiggling turned on. This work opened up my blogging networking doors, but it also contributed to the most private messages on any one post I have yet to receive. It is an important message, so I share again this time on here, in the hopes that it will resonate with you.

 Lately, I have felt like the inside of a soda pop bottle. The liquid that swashes and swishes around against the inside of the plastic bottle being tossed around by a swinging hand. A sway to one side and a swoosh to the other before one day the handler grabs the bottle with both hands and furiously shakes it with all their might. The pressure builds. And finally the cap unscrews and I feel all the emotions that have been stirring inside me, spill out all over myself, others and everything I touch.

Now I am left cleaning the mess.

A mess that includes words mumbled under my breath to my husband in frustration, yet he heard; impatience with my two-year-old who just can’t keep up with my mental and physical speed of doing things; shortness with my work department team who bears the brunt of coldness after I return from a stressful meeting; a home that needs dire attention due to lack of time to care for the space; and, my own personal self who feels the weight of the world heavy on my mind and heart.

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You Are Still A Great Mom

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Hey there, Momma dear. I see you and I feel you. Right now you are beating yourself up over something you didn’t do, or actually maybe something you did do or something you said, but regardless of where you fall on the feelings spectrum, I am sure at some moment you have felt a form of failure. Mom guilt is real, raw and creeps up in the depths of your gut and swirls through your soul to overwhelm you with that “gotcha feeling” that makes you just slump over in all the bad feels. Momma, I am here for you and here to tell you that you got this.

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Bustle + Bee


As a child, I was always obsessed with family ties. No, not the tv show (speaking of that have you ever Googled the youngest Keaton, Brian Bonsall? Let’s just say young Andy Keaton now has another headshot – and it isn’t the audition kind).

I make perfect sense, huh? Back on track.

Family ties, I was obsessed. I can recall being about four years-old and wanting my grandmother to exclaim how each person was related to me and to everyone else at a gathering. Great aunts, second and third cousins, I had you covered. My father would argue with me and say, “It is not your aunt it is your father’s aunt,” when I would refer to a great-aunt. I always won that fight!

So, if my mad family tree telling skills are still correct my second cousin, Julie (my father’s first cousin) her daughter Clare (still following?) started her own company and asked me to be involved.

Bustle + Bee is a planning and stationery subscription box. Each box contains five hand picked samples, ranging from gel pens to stickers, and everything in between. And, maybe the best news of all is that with Bustle +

 Bee, when you hear the words “subscription box” that does not mean you have to pay each month. You may pick when you want a box and when you do not.

Clare and Turner started this venture or maybe they would now call it an adventure, back in the Fall of 2016 for a college project. Happy nearly one year anniversary, ladies! And, it took off from the classroom and into a business.

Clare on the left and Turner on the right.

I was sent the Basic Box which contained a gold gel pen, a page of heart stickers, a miniature weekly spread, a sample of page flag washi tape, and pointed paper clips.

The adorable box only costs $10 plus shipping and handling. Oh, and their new Succulent Box is incredibly adorable.

I mean, seriously?

Sweet Clare, thank you for thinking of me and my Blog as you launch your new business. I love the concept of your company and the adorable packaging and bravo to the incredible logo. I noticed that right away!

For those interested in Bustle + Bee, Clare and Turner are extending a 10% off discount to Backwards N High Heels readers. Enjoy 10% off your purchase using code – HIGHHEELS10.

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Toddler Must Have Products

If you scroll through Pinterest you know that the site is flooded with must buy, top items and baby guide lists. I know because I can claim a handful of them out there as my own. When I was pregnant with Lo, I lived off of the must buy guides. I would save pin upon pin that provided every detailed list of the items I needed for when the baby arrived. Things that eventually proved to not be worth the hype or fit our needs and items that I now know I could not live without.

Once Lo was born, I felt strongly to create my own lists. Built upon the same lists that guided me through my first pregnancy and months and years parenting, I knew how special and important word-of-mouth referrals were when I needed them the most and started to develop and share my own lists here on the Blog for you.

I was very scheduled and used my momming experience to release many age focused lists such as This One or This One, and then spent multiple days combining the guide of all guides for a Baby Registry.

But, now Lo is two years old, and rounding the bend to three, and I realize her priorities and mine have changed, and just as the time when she was an infant, now as a toddler, we still have some age-appropriate needs.

Toddler-Must-Have-Products_BackwardsNHighHeels-Blog copyUnderwear  | Forehead Thermometer | Book Bag | Toothpaste | Toothbrush | Faucet Extender | The Napping House Book | Step Stool

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Change

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Things have been quiet around here. Looking back over this summer, as we now creep into the end of August, I counted the number of blog posts over the last three months and I am pretty disappointed in myself. I know for many of you this “hobby” of mine may be just that – a word, marked with quotations and no real weight. But, for me, there is weight in this blog, my writing, and these words. I choose every day to keep this site live for anyone to open and read. It is a real vulnerability that some may question and wonder if putting myself out there is really even worth it, but let me clarify that right now, at this moment it is. I enjoy the conversations I have offline and behind-the-scenes with newbie mommies, want-to jump in bloggers, fellow working moms, etc. It has created a larger circle for me with incredible individuals all across the world who are just an open the computer and type a message moments away.

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This is what it feels like to hold on while letting go


I never went far for college. Never packed my belongings into a handful of suitcases, bags and boxes, minimizing what was important based on what I could fit into a car and then fit in a dorm space. I never had to watch my parents drive away from me in a car out of a town in complete excitement and fear. Instead, I stayed close to home and enjoyed the perks of living college out with home cooked meals and my Dad available any weeknight evening for a math or science tutor session.

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Our Backyard Renovation

I started this post well over a month ago and then saved the post for a rainy day. Well, Let me tell ya what – it is raining and suppose to rain all day, through the night and into tomorrow. Can you say, weekend wash out?

So, back to our renovation.

Nathan and I moved into our home roughly eight years ago. Slowly we have renovated nearly 85% of the house. Some projects have been big as each bathroom received an overhaul, and we completely transformed half of the basement which was at one-time concrete cinder block exposed walls and concrete floors. Some projects have been minor in the grand scheme of things but made a bigger impact on us like new flooring and painting throughout, outdoor light fixture swaps, exterior painting of our home and back deck and then came the landscaping.

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I Wish For My Daughter

I Wish For My Daughter

This past week we took a much, let me emphasize, much needed little family vacation. More to come on that later this week as I dive into some of our time spent in the Outer Banks. It was our first time visiting and it was quite lovely.

Over and over my little girl (in between meltdowns because let’s face it, life is not all it seems to be on a beautiful Instagram feed) would look at me with a huge grin and say, “Momma, I have fun.” It made my heart melt, actually, I would just melt into a puddle after that.

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2 Going on 13 – Giveaway!

Special thank you to GabbyBox for partnering on this post!

Parents, listen up. When you are sitting in that hospital room looking down at your perfectly swaddled newborn baby and that first person walks in and makes a comment about how fast this itty tiny baby will grow. Do not ignore them. Do not underestimate the power of their words. In fact, they are correct, time flies when it comes to your own children and before you know it, poof! they are a toddler.

One day I looked up and realized my “baby girl” (which I often refer to her as) was really not a “baby.” No, instead, she suddenly didn’t even look like a toddler but a kid. A kid!!

I mean, seriously? Look at this picture.

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