Farrah Blakely

  Hey y'all, so if you don't know yet, I recently got engaged over the weekend! I am seriously over the moon at the fact that I get to marry my best friend. I'm so excited to start planning and getting everything ready to go, and if you all would like to see more blog posts related to my wedding planning process, just let me know! Ian did a great job with the proposal. I am so lucky to have such a sweet and patient man that I now get to call my fiancè.His proposal was super low key and intimate, just the two of us, which is exactly what I wanted. I feel like a proposal should be special and about the two of you and getting to spend the rest of your lives together. We went to a spot that is special to us, we've been going there since we were in high school and had breakfast, and we just got to spend time with each other. He seriously could not have picked a more perfect day. We were the only people there and the lake and trees were so pretty. Also, he did a gr...

As I've mentioned in previous posts, one of my goals before turning 22 is to run a half marathon. In order to keep myself motivated until the end of April, I started signing up for 5k's to have goals to work towards. One of the 5K's I originally signed up for in August, and my second 5k of 2017 so far, was last night. Every year for the past few years, Dollywood, our local theme park, has held a race that goes through the park so you can look at all the Christmas lights while you run! Being the huge Christmas fan that I am, I of course signed up to do it. What I wasn't thinking about when I signed up in 90 degree weather in August was the time and the temperature. The race didn't start until 11:17pm, which, if you know me, is way past my bedtime. Also, it was a cool 30 degrees last night by the time the race kicked off. I'm going to be totally honest, when the race started I couldn't feel my hands, but about a mile in I started to warm up and get in the groo...

Veteran's Day is a holiday that is near and dear to my heart for many personal reasons. I'm currently wrapping up Service Academy nomination interviews at my job, and that resonated with me even more this year since it was right at Veteran's Day. I have a history of military service in my family, and have always loved this holiday. My grandfather was in the Army during the Vietnam war, my uncle was in the Air Force and still works at a local base, and Ian is in the military as well. Over the past few years, I've been preparing for life in the Army when Ian commissions, and it's just hit home more than normal this year that he'll be one of the people being honored on Veteran's day, along with my uncle and grandfather. As an elementary school kid, I used to get so excited to do our annual Veteran's Day presentation because I knew my grandfather and my uncle would be in the audience. I would literally beam with pride as a third grader knowing my grand...

So, I am not the most fashion forward person in the world. I strive for comfort if I'm not at work more than anything. Give me a good quarter zip, some jeans, and my Birkenstocks and I'm good to go! Nevertheless, I do have a few pieces I've picked up this fall that I am absolutely loving. Click on the pictures below for links to each item! J. Crew chambray shirt in "naples wash."  I love a good chambray shirt year round, but I always end up wearing mine most in the fall with a cute blanket scarf and brown booties. I recently bought this exact shirt at my local J. Crew, and I can't wait to pair it with a few skirt and pant options this Fall/Winter season! J. Crew cotton pocket jacket in "chateau olive."  I have been on the search for a good fatigue jacket for over a year now. I was beside myself when I found this jacket on sale at my local J. Crew last summer, and you better believe I snatched it up as quickly as ...

So, I figured every so often I would try to do a what I'm loving now post, about what I just can't get enough of. Honestly, I'm a pretty simple person, give me hot tea and a good book, and I'm good to go, but every so often, I find something that I just cannot get over. Here are my current picks, links to each product are in the pictures: The Republic of Tea Hot Apple Cider Tea  Y'all, I love tea so much that it was my first word, seriously, ask my mom. Don't get me wrong, I love a good cup of coffee too, but there's just something about hot tea. My mom says pretty frequently that I have enough tea for tea time with the British Army, and I'm sure she'll be glad when I move out so she'll have a few shelves in her pantry back. With that being said, my aunt knows the way to my heart, and I came home from a stressful work day a few days ago to find a package from Republic of Tea waiting on me! My aunt had sent me this new fall flavor of tea t...

Hey y'all! So, someone (my sister) actually requested that I write my next post on stress management. Even though I'm done with undergrad, I still have a pretty high stress job that requires me to manage my stress levels pretty much daily. In addition to a high stress, emotionally draining job, I'm a type A personality, so I naturally stress about pretty much everything. I've always operated at a really high stress level, but one thing I've learned over time is that I absolutely cannot let stress overwhelm me. You have  to maintain a good balance between letting stress motivate you and taking time to relax and focus on yourself. Here are my top tips to managing your stress: 1. Know When to Walk Away This one is SO important. My biggest problem at times is not knowing when to just leave something alone and step back and get a different perspective. Being able to know when to walk away really helps my stress levels, because if I can just put something down an...