Best Moments in 2017
2017 was a powerful year in fashion and in life. Here are a few of those great moments:
My oldest son graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Math, Information Technology and Criminal Justice. We are so proud!
We wowed in white at the White and Pink party to see Music Soulchild and raise awareness for breast cancer.
Had an amazing time with the Woo Girls and 2 God be the Glory redecorating an apartment for a very nice family trying to keep their family together.
I traveled and voted for Kara McCullough, Miss District if Columbia who also became Miss America in my fabulous travel wear.
My son Jalen's team won the 100lber football championship.
I got to spend more quality time with family.
I got a sassy new haircut.
I marched with women from around the world to make a difference and raise awareness about the power of the female voice and the importance of voting rights.
I received a promotion and killed in red.
Attended an amazing Senior Human Resource Management Conference and meeting author and speaker Margaret Spence.
I went back to school for my Master's degree at Champlain College.
Held an amazing bring your child to work day event for families through out my company.
Had some amazing moments with friends and was asked to be a bridesmaid.
Over all it was an amazing year and I am looking forward to what the next year will bring!
Champagne + Cinema = New Years Eve Party for When You Really Don't Want To Go Out
The Theme: This year we
will throw a Champagne & Cinema New Years Party full of fun low key events
that can be enjoyed by couples, families or an intimate group of friends. To make the event a blast it will be filled
with bubbly cocktails and dramatic cinema. We will some of our favorites and the top movies of 2017:
The Sips: Nothing says New Years like a bit of the bubbly!
This year we are mixing one of my dear husbands favorites and champagne to make
these delicious Champagne Moscow Mules. I can’t wait to toast with a little bit
of bubbly, ginger and style. You can
grab this great recipe from Home Made
Interest.
The Snacks: The best part of celebrating at home is all the
good nibbly bits. Traditionally we cook black-eye peas for good luck in a recipe
called Hoppin
John. This Brazilian tradition signifies wealth and prosperity. Here’s a
good recipe from the Plain Chicken. Another great tradition is from Greece for
St. Basil’s Day, they make special bread and bury a coin in one piece. Whoever
get the coin in there piece is blessed with good luck. I found this circular and delicious Blueberry
Lemon Crescent Ring from the Girl Who Ate Everything blog that that will
just make you melt.
The Look: The best part of parting at home is getting to run around in your comfy pajamas! Just because your comfy doesn't mean you have to be downtrouden. If you can't figure out what comfy, sexy looks like check out this inspiration from Bustle and Instagram.
The Décor: New Years is a time filled with champagne and
shimmer, so even though we are keeping it low key, what is a party with out a little ambiance. Balloons, champagne and popcorn will fill the room will a tasty bit of fun!
The Fun: The fun really during the count down toward the 1:00 am. That is when we pop the champagne and there are kisses for all. We
are looking to have a blast watching movies and using this great free pintable New
Years Eve Game from Party Delights
and Artsy
Fartsy Mama to fill the evening with the best and worst memories of the
year.
Different traditions are celebrated through the world for
New Year this year why not review a few and give
them a shot:
- In Belgium, for Saint Sylvester Eve, they throw family parties where everyone exchanges kisses and exchange fortune greetings. In Spain, at midnight everyone quickly eats 12 grapes to bring good luck.
- The Philippines believe that everything round is auspicious and attracts more fortune and money; so they wear polka dots, eat round food like grapes and carry coins.
- Rome celebrates for three days and decorates with colorful lights, and gifts to their loved ones like Gold, silver, for prosperity, honey for sweetness etc.
Layer Plaid + Pattern = Good Outfit for Returns
Happy Holidays Professionistas! I hope you and your family had a great holiday season. If you are like me, my size is a bit hard to match so after the holidays I always have a few items that I have to return. 14 degrees is too cold for yoga pants so layer something warm and full of pattern. The holiday maybe over but I will be sporting red and holiday cheer until well after the new year.
Shop the Look:
Vest: Lucky (similar)
Sweater: Charlotte Russe (similar)
Necklace: Loft (similar)
Bracelet: Loft (similar)
Jeans: Old Navy (similar)
Boots: Carlos Santana (similar)
Bag: BCBG (similar)
Spammed by Photo Bucket So We are Taking a Mulligan
Since I hadn't posted in a while you may have thought I threw in the towel or I was off playing golf somewhere but that has not been the case (except for the day I shot these photos, when I was really off playing golf all day, lol). Earlier this year my site (along with thousands of other bloggers) were spammed by Photo Bucket. Weird ads keep popping up all over my page so I decided not to post until I could clean it up. In golf terms, we took a mulligan on this one.
If you have missed me as much as I miss you and want to catch up on what has been going on, following me on instagram shawnawalker_swwc and stay tuned, I promise I am still here and remain So Work Week Chic! We are working to drive this clean up home and get back to having fun with all of you! Keep your eyes and emails open because we are starting the year off with a whole new look!
Shop the Look:
Skirt: Lady Hagen(Simular)
Shirt: Callaway (Simular)
Watvh: Apple Watch (Same)
Are You Ready SHRM-inators- 5 Tips for Your First Day at Conference
Alright all you eager SHRM-inators, as you get ready for the conference, here are few tips to get you off on the right track:
- Dress for Success- You never know who you will meet. New Orleans is smoking hot but the conference center is brutally cold and has multiple floors. It may warm up with over 15,000 people in attandance but just in case you get cold like I do, you may want to bring a sweater or a blazer. If possible wear your comfortable shoes, there will be a lot of walking and you don't want to get halfway through the day and need to throw in the towel because of your feet. You can estimate walking five to ten miles a day between different classes and dinners. Bring a back up pair of flats just incase. Also, bring your Fitbit fitness tracker so you can track your steps and enter into any wellness step contest they might offer.
- Meet and Eat- Whether you sign up at the meet and eat booth with Lasenda Barrois and the team or your are catching some dinner after the conference. Get out and enjoy this beautiful city. SHRM strategically selects these cities so we can get out and connect with each other, so take a walk around the town with a newly introduced peer, make a connection and swap HR war stories. Also text 556-78 to recieve texts from Workology on the latest SHRM networking events.
- Don't be Caught Dead- Charge up your cell phones before you come, if possible. You don't want to pull out your phone right when the speaker says something transformative and your phone dies. So worst case your phone did die, then SHRM team placed a charging station behind the information desk.
- Leave Room for Takeaways- With hundreds some time thousands of presentation and vendors. Leave room and weight in your luggage to bring around three to five pounds worth of marketing and goodies for your teams. You don't want have to have collected all this great information for your organization and then get stuck with a $50 over weight fee for your baggage to bring it home.
- Capture the Moment- There are plenty of photo props and backdrops at this conference for you to grab a new friend or strike an exciting pose and capture the moment. If you see me, lets totally take a selfie. I will even take a picture of you if you need one, just ask!
- Find Your Tribe- There will be thousands of the top HR professionals in the world walking by you each day. You may want to have a few business cards made so you can share your contact information with the people you meet in the line at the vendor fair or between speaking events. Take a moment to connect and build a tribe of people, speakers and like-minded individuals with whom you can connect, long after this years conference ends.
- Energize Not Exhaust- With so many great options between seminars and podcasts, it is hard to choose. Remember that you are here to reenergize yourself with new ideas and creative tools, so try not to over exhaust yourself and then not be able to think clearly. Plan time in to relax and reflect so you can truly begin seeing how the information your receive will make a difference for you and those around you.
I hope to see you there, enjoy!
Looking Forward to Being Sleep Deprived in #NOLA
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I am so excited to have arrived here in #NOLA for the #Allin SHRM17! That is in New Orleans for the All In themed Society of Human Resource Management Conference in 2017 the non-hashtage professionistas of this world!
I lucked out! This was one of the busiest weeks of the year for me and after I successfully interviewed one of my last stakeholders I got the news that one of my fellow professionistas was unable to attend the biggest conference of the year. So they offered up the opportunity for me to attend and I jumped at the chance!!
By time the dust settled for me be able to go, I literally had to speed home, jump in the attic, pull down the luggage, pack a bag and jump on a plane the next morning before the sun came up. Whew! I am tired but it was worth it because I am so excited to be here with over 15,000 of my fellow HR professionals. These are my people!
I have never seen so many people so excited to read and attend seminars but this place is electric! There are so many conferences and events I don't know when I will have time to sleep but that is alright because I am looking forward to being sleep deprived like Dave and thousands of other attending the conference. I am about to drop by the lounge and see them so I can sign up for a few classes and the meet and eat, where we dine together in the amazing cuisine of New Orleans! Stay tuned, I can't wait to share my experience and if you see me, make sure to stop me so we can take selfie and capture the moment on instagram! #swwc #soworkweekchic #swwchic
Welcome to new url SoWorkWeekChic!
I am so excited that I finally
figured out (with the help of Robert from GoDaddy) how to make my blog domain
live. Welcome to SoWorkWeekChic!
I’m too legit.. I’m too legit to quit, hey, hey!! This is such a big deal! Now when someone asks me for my blog address, I don’t have to say the blogspot or use a hyphen from my last site! I can now say “check us out at soworkweekchic.com!” I know it doesn't sound like much but I had purchased my domain ages ago but couldn’t figure out how to sync it with my blogger account. That is one of the great things about being a small business owner; there are so many things out there to learn. The best part is that you don’t have to know everything all at once to get started.
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I’m too legit.. I’m too legit to quit, hey, hey!! This is such a big deal! Now when someone asks me for my blog address, I don’t have to say the blogspot or use a hyphen from my last site! I can now say “check us out at soworkweekchic.com!” I know it doesn't sound like much but I had purchased my domain ages ago but couldn’t figure out how to sync it with my blogger account. That is one of the great things about being a small business owner; there are so many things out there to learn. The best part is that you don’t have to know everything all at once to get started.
Welcome to SoWorkWeekChic.com!
My fellow blogger from
iamchiconthecheap, posted about this years ago here and totally made me feel o.k. about not knowing all the technical terms needs
to get started. I love the video that
shows that I wasn’t the only person who didn’t know what a browser is?
Actually, even after the video (in
2011) I couldn’t honestly, 100% differentiate between a web browser and a
search engine. So I referred to this post from Computer Geek to set me
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