My Style: August 2026

Due to personal life turmoil, this entire summer has flown by in a haze. Suddenly, August has passed, schools are in session, and crisp fall weather is right around the corner.

Thankfully, autumn is my favorite season which also contains my birthday and our wedding anniversary, so I’m looking forward to time marching by a bit. Also, I just booked two vacations which gives me all the dopamine and adventures to look forward to.

Let’s take a look at my August outfits:

Office Style

Very similar looks for the office this month — in fact, I wore the same chambray shirt for both. Which is funny to me, because I have historically HATED button up shirts on me. They typically pull at the bust and/or look quite frumpy on my body shape. I thrifted this magical one and added a couple little invisible snaps between the buttons to keep from any bust pulling.

Both skirts were also thrifted and tailored by me. The white one was a maxi skirt that fit oddly around my waist, so I chopped off the top tier and reattached it to the existing waistband. The floral skirt was a vintage Laura Ashley find that I knew was too small for me. Once again, I chopped top tier off. But for this one, I inserted some new elastic to make a new waistband. Love them both now!

Both looks were topped with a lightweight thrifted cardigan. On the left, I wore secondhand Mary Jane Rothy’s and on the right I wore secondhand Eileen Fisher sandals (both from Poshmark).

Casual Outfits

First up, we have two skirt outfits with the same formula: t-shirt + skirt + cute shoes. It’s my typical summer outfit for leaving the house and how I feel the most “me” going out into the world. I thrifted the skirt on the left and it has this magical way of looking cute with pretty much everything. The skirt on the right was a ‘add one more item for free shipping’ purchase last year and it’s still in rotation.

Last, we have two dresses re-styled because they both have spaghetti straps and I like to wear a real bra. For the outfit on the left, I did the old ‘tie a shirt over it’ trick and mixed things up with little polka dots. For the outfit on the right, I just threw on a t-shirt and knotted it in the front for some shape. Easy peasy and comfy.

New vs Secondhand Tally

This month, I count 8 items that I purchased retail and 11 items I purchased secondhand.

Building a Birthday Earring Stack: Studs, Jackets & an Earcuff

It is officially my birthday month! While it’s not a “BIG” birthday… it is the year before a BIG birthday and I really feel the need for a bit of a treat/self care spectacular.

One of my treat ideas for the month is that I’ve been drooling over some earring stacks lately, so it’s the perfect opportunity to curate one for myself. I have one piercing in my left ear and three piercings in my right ear, so I decided to get a little extra fancy on the right.

Here’s what I’ve decided on:

Ear Cuff

I’ve considered getting an additional piercing in my cartilage, but I honestly don’t have the patience to deal with the healing process at this point. So, I decided to get a sparkly ear cuff to add on to my stack – it has all the gorgeous sparkle and none of the pain!

Source: Aurate.com

I love this one made of lab grown white sapphires from Aurate, ordered it and I’m waiting for it to arrive. I think it will be great to pop on when I want to add a little extra sparkle.

Studs

In my main (lower) piercings, I wear a set of tiny diamond studs my dad gave me when I was in college. These are my daily earrings that I typically don’t change unless I’m dressing up to go out into the world. In my two higher right piercings, I found these a couple years ago and I LOVE them:

Source: MaisonMiru.com

The Star Push Pin Flat Backed Earrings from Maison Miru are the first earrings I ever purchased with a ‘flat back’ design and I’m never going back! I put these in probably 2 years ago and they are the ‘set it and forget it’ kind of earring. Other than cleaning them when they need it, they just stay in my ears 24/7. They are super comfortable and I love the cute little stars.

Jackets

I’ve been following Liz Fox Roseberry on Instagram for quite some time and I absolutely love her earring jacket designs. They are all handmade and many can be worn in a few different ways – in front of the ear, behind the ear, with or without additional chains. They are also made to mix-and-match with different designs in her collection. Each jacket comes with a pair of surprise studs (not made in house by them), that compliment the look.

I had been planning to order one or two of her Curated Mystery Trio sets, but then narrowed down my absolute favorites to three designs that I would love to mix and match. So, for my birthday I added them to my cart.

Source: LizFoxRoseberry.com

Source: LizFoxRoseberry.com

I decided to do singles for The Sapling and The Coneflower because I love how they are similar but different. They can both be worn in front of the ear, behind the ear, alone or paired with their little chains. Since I’ll get a set of studs with The Sapling and a different set of studs with The Coneflower, that will give me additional options for mixing and matching too.

I also decided to order a full set of The Daisy. This design will also mix and match well with both The Sapling and The Coneflower. Or, I can wear the full set together. Once again, the earring jacket can be styled in front of the ear, behind the ear, and with or without the chains. However, the chains on The Daisy pair are different than the chains on The Sapling and The Coneflower… so I can also mix and match those little chains with everything else OR even wear them alone behind the ear with any stud.

I can’t wait until my earring stack orders arrive and I can start playing with all the possibilities!

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Jack’s First Day of 9th Grade

And just like that, Jack has started high school!

This year, I actually was not planning to blog about Jack’s first day of school. However, when I told him that high school was probably a good cut off for it, he said ABSOLUTELY NOT and wanted me to continue sharing. So, here we go… back to school and the start of high school!

If he looks taller than our end-of-school post in June, it’s because he shot up 2 more inches over the summer, bringing him to a height of 5’9” so far. Which is officially 2 inches taller than me (and he’s quite smug about it). Of course, we’re expecting him to continue growing like a weed, as Travis is 6’4” and Jack currently eats like a never-ending pit.

Jack also got his braces off at the beginning of the summer. Oh and yes, his hair is wet in the photo because high school starts SO DANG EARLY! His bus comes before 7am, which seems completely inhumane.

One cool thing about starting high school, is that it is the first time he’s able to choose his path/focus/electives, so this year looks quite STEM heavy with classes in Business Communications & Keyboarding, Honors Geometry, Exploring Computer Science, and Honors Conceptional Physics.

As always, I’m hoping that he finds *his people* with making friends and just overall high school success. Also, I’d REALLY like to not hear from the high school principal this year. At all. For any reason.  

So, fingers crossed for an awesome year!