I Love Fall

Fall has arrived!! Well, at least in the form of Starbuck's seasonal hit... The Pumpkin Spice Latte. For those of us who adore all things fall (apple cider, pumpkin-flavorerd anything, football games, burning leaves, and bonfires) the Pumpkin Spice Latte ranks right up there with my favorite things about fall.

Fall is by far my favorite season... and especially right now as I am approaching the peak of my pregnancy, I am so grateful for cooler weather, and no more swim suits! (Baby Update: I am officially 6 months pregnant this week!) And let me tell you, I am so relieved that the pumpkin spice latte has just the right amount of caffeine that I can enjoy them - in the tall size. It would be a very sad season to have to pass on my favorite Starbucks treat!

What else is great about fall... FASHION! I'm not sure what it is about fall fashion that I love so much. I get excited about berry colored nail polish and lip glosses. The deep colors, the chunky, cozy sweaters, the soft, blanket-like fabrics... and part if is probably being trained from first grade on that fall is a fresh start. Each year as we started school as youngsters, don't lie - you know you went out shopping a few weeks before school started looking for your first day of school outfit. My Mom was a teacher for about 20 years, and she still did this every year! It's a habit that sticks with us for the rest of our lives! I think that's part of what makes some of us love fall so much. It has the feel of a new beginning. Even when we are coming to the same place to work day in and day out, something about fall is refreshing. Opening the windows and getting fresh air circulating through your house for the first time in months, wrapping up with a cozy blanket instead of sweltering in the summer heat. I love so much about fall... the crispness of the air, the impending excitement of football season, the way the sky looks in the evenings, I could go on and on about fall. Tomorrow, I plan to treat myself with a Pumpkin Spice Latte for making it to yet another Friday!

Happy fall!

Home Office Makeover

Many of us have home offices, where we can log long hours plugging away at difficult projects and tasks in the comfort of our own homes. Personally, I can't work from home. My company keeps all of our records and systems highly confidential, and the risk to allow those systems to run on employee's personal computers is just too high.

Then, we were acquired. Typically this is a bad thing, but for us, it has been a great thing. We now have much cheaper benefits, more PTO, and a few other perks. One of those is that most of the account execs for our new parent company have company laptops. I asked recently if this would be an option for those of us from the "original" company. The answer was, "Possibly, yes." That means that no more coming into the office on the bright, sunny weekends while everyone's at the pool to catch up on data entry and paperwork. I told my manager, if I could do that stuff from home on the weekends, I'd probably work more often outside business hours. (I'm hoping that's an incentive for them!)

It just so happens that we just finished re-doing our home office! I wish I had before pictures, but my husband accidentally deleted them. So you'll just have to take my word that it's a vast improvement. This new space is ideal for either of us to do our professional work, plus it acts as a bookcase and bill-paying center with storage space for all that important paperwork you have to save, but have no idea what to do with.

Still no paint on the walls... we hope to tackle that big project this fall!

At Work Style

What's your At Work style? Are you different at work than you are in your personal life? Do you dress to the latest trends on the weekends and go Ann Taylor classic from 9 to 5?

Now that I've got a bun-in-the-oven, I'm trying to find my new At Work style personality. I knew my style before with my old wardrobe (that I miss dearly). I dressed 80% classic with a 20% hint of the latest trends and fashions. (Think classic suit with updated accessories or shoes.)

Since my adorable wardrobe no longer fits, I'm stuck hunting for cute maternity clothes. Which... can be kind of an oxymoron. So far I've had pretty good luck at Motherhood Maternity but it's also hard to spend money on clothes you're only going to wear for a few months... and hopefully be back into your pre-baby clothes by the time you return from maternity. Especially when you have un-paid maternity leave looming, and knowing that some pretty hefty hospital bills are going to come flooding after the baby arrives!

Working Moms do it every day - now I just need to figure out how to do it!