Gladiator Sandals

The heat is on it’s way. BOOOO!!! I was almost starting to think maybe I had predicted our weather patterns wrong. We’ve had such a nice, pleasant start to August I was feeling regrets that I didn’t include more pants in Part 2 of my Summer Capsule. But a quick glance at the report this morning shows I was spot on. We’re clocking in at 100 degrees several times over the next two weeks, and the true test of my warm weather capsule begins.

outfit details

We are about 12 days into the second wave of my capsule and I’m already dipping into a WILD CARD option! I left two spots open in this round of capsuling, just because I couldn’t quite decide on those final items. The wild card idea is new to me, but I like to concept because it still helps me approach this in a structured way, while allowing some flexibility and experimenting with outfits as well. These gladiator sandals are nothing fancy — they are from Old Navy and I found them secondhand — but they pulled the outfit together better than any of the other shoes I included in my capsule. The tee and shorts alone left me feeling really frumpy. So I rolled the leg nice and high with a wide cuff and added the belt. Then the shoes started calling to me. They had to be the ones today!

allyship notes

I had a major moment of fragility this morning. Basically, I have been celebrating in my heart since Biden announced Harris as his running mate. But then I started reading commentary from some of the Black teachers I follow. One of the stories, from the very helpful Leesa Hall said, “If Black folks ain’t clapping… then why are you clapping?” My first thought was DAMMMNNNN WE ARE NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO BE HAPPY ABOUT THIS?! It really irritated me and I wanted to comment back right away with all my justifications and a list of other Black people who happen to agree with me.

But!! I had to stop and ask WHY does this bother me so much? Because this person doesn’t agree with me or they called out a behavior? The teachers I look to are women who are completely entitled to their own individual opinions. Black people are not a monolith. And my opinion doesn’t need to be made known at every turn and opportunity. I respect Leesa, as she is always coming from a place of teaching. So I repeated to myself I will not tell Black people how to feel.

I guess I just wanted to share this experience to let you know if you still have those doubts and insecurities and feel like you’re doing it all wrong? That’s normal. I do too. It’s constant learning and evaluative thinking. The more I normalize these types of feelings, I can sit with them, feel the discomfort, and put them aside to move on. Hopefully over time I can be less reactive and just listen. Whether we agree on everything or not.

loves,
jaana