• About Me

    February 10 on the 10th: 10 Things I Hate to Love

    As is my usual habit, I’m late with this month’s prompt. This time, I do have a somewhat legit excuse: work has been crazy busy. We’ve had a combination Black History Month / Heart Month celebration going on for the past week, which has resulted in toooooooons of pictures that needed to be edited and uploaded to my college’s social media and, by the time I’m finished, the last thing I wanna do is write a blog post. The events have been incredibly fun and well-attended, so that’s been great. THE PROMPT: 10 Things I Hate to Love Dirt – specifically, the smell of my houseplants after I’ve watered them.…

  • Style

    Closet Tour: Spare Bedroom Turned Walk-In Closet

    A little over a month ago, The Hubs and I converted our spare bedroom into a walk-in closet for me. We’d been talking about it off and on for a couple of years, but never got around to it. But schedule conflicts made the conversion necessary. The first thing I had to do was figure out what sort of vibe I wanted and then how I wanted things laid out. The vibe was easy — I wanted my space to have a bohemian , vintage store, found pieces feel. Vintage shops are my happy place; I wanted to feel happy every time I got dressed in the mornings. The next…

  • Style

    Style Imitating Art: “Harlem at Night” by Charles Henry Alston

    When I initially saw the title of the painting for this week’s selection, the first thing that popped into my head was the Harlem Renaissance. And if you’ve been around me for any period of time, you know that the Harlem Renaissance is my favorite era — there was so much cultural growth within the Black community with writers like Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and more. But once I saw the art piece, it made me think of a more contemporary Harlem, like Charles H. Alston may have been looking into the future. That being said, I’ve never been to Harlem and I know I romanticize it…

  • About Me

    January 10 on the 10th: Ten Things I Won’t Be Doing in 2026

    Hey, y’all, hey! It’s time for our first 10 on the 10th of 2026! And I’m not gonna lie, this has already been a long year and we’re only ten days in. That being said, I do have some fun things to look forward to this year: a work conference, two personal photography projects, and a few other things. Do you have anything you’re looking forward to accomplishing this year? THE PROMPT: 10 Things I won’t be doing in 2026 I’ve never been much of a resolutions kind of person because I’ve usually tapped out by third or fourth day of the month and whispering to myself: “We’ll start this…

  • About Me

    Where Bloggers Live: Winter’s Hidden Charms

    I started this post about 8 times with the standard “Happy New Year!” but I just couldn’t bring myself to hit “publish” because what I really want to say is “WTA____?” We’re only eight days in and we’re already on the precipice of a global conflict, people are losing healthcare, women are still not being believed, etc. This is just too much. And, before you say, “I didn’t come here to read about politics” or “I don’t do politics”, I want to warn you that EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL. Reading is political, or people wouldn’t be trying to ban books. Watching television is political, or you wouldn’t have people trying to…

  • Books

    {Book Review} Yellow Wife: A Novel by Sadeqa Johnson

    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. BOOK DETAILS Title: Yellow Wife: A Novel Author: Sadeqa Johnson Publisher: 37 Ink Publication Date: 28 December 2021 Genre: African American Fiction, Historical Fiction, Popular Fiction Format: Paperback Print Length: 288 pages ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from the book) Sadeqa Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of five novels. Her most recent novel, The House of Eve, was an instant New…

  • Style

    What I Wore: Burgundy Blazer, Geometric Floral Top, and Jeans

    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 are you doing? All is well over here. I’m enjoying my second day of vacation by writing this post and doing a bit of cleanup before we move into the new year. I’m not just cleaning up my physical space, but my digital space as well. I’ve finally emptied my closet of all the…

  • About Me

    Where Bloggers Live: Best of 2025

    Y’all, we’ve made it. This is the final Where Bloggers Live post of 2025. This has been such an incredible year for me, professionally. It started with my chancellor and vice chancellor inviting me to represent our college at Leadership Cenla. Leadership Cenla is a year-long program hosted by one of our local colleges with the goal of creating community leaders and ambassadors. Each month had a theme with a lecture, a field trip, and a project attached to it. Yeah, I’m a terrible blogger because I didn’t blog this at all. And I hate that because I know I’m going to lose the visual memories, even though the emotional…

  • Style

    What I Wore: My DIY Patch Denim Jacket

    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. Can you believe it’s already December? I haven’t really been up to much, just working and taking care of my family. I feel like I don’t have the energy or the time to do much more beyond that. That being said, I did find some time to DIY this denim jacket that I’m wearing in today’s post. I…

  • About Me

    Where Bloggers Live: My Favorite Thanksgiving Side

    I want to pause before we begin to honor our blogging friend, Iris at Iris’s Original Ramblings. Our friendship began through Bettye’s invitation to join “Where Bloggers Live.” What started as simple interactions – sharing blog prompts and leaving comments – blossomed into something more. Our email exchanges soon became deeper, filled with anecdotes about our families, personal health updates, and the casual life discussions that friends share. Friends are not always the people we see every day, they’re the people we share our lives with, and I’m thankful Iris chose to share hers with me and the women in our group. You will be deeply missed, Iris. I also want…