Hi everyone, welcome back! Sorry for the radio silence around here. When life gets really busy, unfortunately the blog is the first thing that has to be taken off the burner.
That being said, it was the perfect time to do some reflecting on the direction I want to take The Sol Compass in over the next year.
It became clear to me throughout January that I wanted to broaden the focus of the blog. I try to curb my spending in the early months of the year (since it’s a time of year that I really don’t need many new things, and also the time of year that can be actually painful to take outfit photos in when you live in New England). For three years, I’ve shared nearly three outfit posts every single week. That is a lot of new outfits every month! I love personal style, and it will always be a cornerstone of my own personal identity and the identity of this site. At this point, though, an increasing number of my life goals are centered around other things, and most of those things don’t involve creating new, fresh, and inspiring outfits at a somewhat alarming rate.
I have always needed a creative outlet, and this blog has been nothing short of perfect for me. As I take a step back from fashion, it means I can focus on other things that you and I both care about. My main idea in this shift of direction is that this place will be fewer photos of me in my outfits, and more about us. Nearly 40% of you are women between 25 and 34 – we are all going through the same things together, and care about many of the same topics (our jobs, our homes, our skin, our vacations). I love researching these topics, learning about them, and sharing my findings with you all through writing. So I hope you stick around as I take an editorial approach to the things you want to see more of!
(In case you missed my intro to my monthly recaps, see January’s here).
B and I had quite a few nights out this month, which was a really nice way to break up the winter blues. We went to Providence with my family to see Sebastian Maniscalco, and ate at a little Italian place in Federal Hill called Massimo. I’ve mentioned before that my mom and both of my siblings have celiac disease, so finding an Italian restaurant that has so many gluten free options is a big win with them (even though my dad and I were pulling to go to Los Andes… all parties left the meal full and happy).
For Valentine’s Day, we have a tradition of staying home far away from every overpriced prix fixe menu. This year we decided to have a little cheese night and make a small board for ourselves. We’ve spent a lot of time learning about cheese and cheese boards over the last year, so it’s really fun for us to put something together. I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a post about it, so if that’s something you would be interested in seeing leave me a comment!
We moved Bryan’s side hustle (Think Wood Thoughts) into a physical space, which was super exciting! He now has a small collection of his pieces available in Sterling, Mass! If you’re nearby, you can check his booth out here.
As a gift, Bryan also made me a gorgeous side table to serve as a coffee station! I have lots of coffee beans and makers, but really had nowhere to store them all. I also think coffee cart is going to be the next bar cart, and wanted an area everything could shine. This gift really will keep on giving throughout the years, and I can’t wait to show you all how I style it in the next couple weeks!
The last exciting thing that happened this month, is we saw Black Panther, which is a two fold excitement. First off, the movie is great and if you haven’t seen it yet you should change that ASAP. The next piece, is we got to start our full re-watch of the MCU in preparation for Infinity War. This article is the perfect order to watch, in my opinion. Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us with this marathon!
Thank you so much for reading. I love you all tremendously, and the fact that you are reading these words right now means nothing short of the world to me.
xo, C
The Sol Compass 