• Style

    What I Wore: How I Styled My Denim Shirt with a Split Skirt

    As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. Hey, y’all, hey!  How long has it been since I’ve done a style post? At least two or three months, right? Some things have changed in that time — check out the hair, IT GREW!! I’m fully natural now and pretty much just letting my hair do whatever it wants to do. I still keep the front twisted…

  • Books

    Reading for My Mental Health

    As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. “Reading is political.” Or, at least, it has always been so for Black people. Enslaved people were forbidden to learn to read because the enslavers knew and understood the power of the written word. As Frederick Douglass said: “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” Reading teaches you empathy, expands your vocabulary, helps you develop…

  • Books

    {Book Review} The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen

    As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. So it seems the past few months have had a World War II theme to them, I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because of the hellscape that America is turning into right now, with a wanna be dictator running for president, the Middle East going up in flames {again}, and women losing all of their bodily autonomy {and…

  • Fun Stuff

    Where Bloggers Live: My Top 5 Posts

    As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. When Bettye first invited me to join this group, I had no idea what I was signing up for… I thought is was just gonna be one of those things that I did for a few months and then bowed out gracefully. Well, here we are five years later and I’m still hanging in there. Admittedly, there’ve been…

  • About Me

    Life Lately

    As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. I know, I know, it has been a minute. Y’all, life has been lifing lately and I haven’t really felt like doing much more than the bare necessity to make it day-to-day. But I think I’m back. Or, at least, I hope I’m back. Some of the challenges of the past few months have either eased up or…

  • About Me

    10 on the 10th: August 2024

    Classes start on Monday and I’m ready for it. Granted, I’m not a student, so my path is a little easier. I always look forward to the beginning of the school year, the students are all lively and full of hope and promise. The energy is palpable — I love it. With that being said, here are five things I liked and disliked about my own school experiences. ABOUT 10 ON THE 10TH 10 on the 10th is hosted by Marsha at Marsha in the Middle. In the tradition of old school blogging, she’ll share a list of ten questions or prompts to help us get to know each other…

  • Fun Stuff

    Where Bloggers Live: You Don’t Owe Anyone Politeness

    As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. I struggled with this post because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be serious or frivolous. I wasn’t sure if I should share details about my personal traumas or just skim over the surface. I opted, obviously, to be serious and give enough details about my story so that you know that I’ve been there. I’m not…

  • About Me

    “You Have a Little Bit of Cancer” {Repost}

    Twenty-three years ago, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It was quite possibly the most terrifying thing I’d ever experienced. My babies were 3 and 1/2 years, 6 years, 6 years, and 8 years old. I was terrified that I was going to leave them motherless. At the same time, the doctor discovered what he called “diseased tissue” in both breasts. To this day, I still don’t know what “diseased tissue” is or if the two conditions were related. I just knew that something was terribly wrong with my body. My primary care physician, who delivered the news over the phone, was unprofessional and unsupportive. She abruptly quit as my…

  • Fun Stuff

    Monthly Motivation: 3 Tips for Success from Mr. Rogers

    Alexandria, Louisiana. 2024. There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind. Mr. Rogers MONTHLY GOALS Follow the blogging calendar that I set up using Artful Agenda Finish reading Miss Muriel and Other Stories by Ann Petry Get in a minimum of 8000 steps per day Drink more water Take one picture a week Be kind THANK YOU Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope you enjoyed this post and learned something new. If you like what you read, please consider sharing this post on Facebook or Twitter. You…

  • Fun Stuff

    How Black Barbie Influenced Me

    While I’ve told the story of how my aunt Phyllis gave me my very first best friend, and written about my aunt Cissy taking me to the doll museum, I don’t think I’ve ever shared how I thought my aunt Carolyn was the inspiration for the first Black Barbie. Nor have I shared the profound impact owning a Black Barbie had on me as a young girl. In honor of the newly released Black Barbie: A Documentary, I’m excited to share my story. It was the mid-seventies, early eighties, most of the dolls we were played with were white, it wasn’t really something that we talked about, it just was……