What I Wore: Birthday Sparkle #OOTD

Crop Top: Forever 21 (Similar) | Skirt: ASOS (Sold out but love this one) | Pumps: Christian Louboutin (Similar)

Glamazons,

Birthdays are weird in that they are either a blissfully festive occasion or an inescapable reminder of what you haven’t accomplished. Mine is a little bit of both. This year has been full of ups and downs. I launched a new company, Style Influencers Group, that fulfilled a lifelong dream of a feature in Black Enterprise. It made the risk of quitting my job and blogging full time even more worth it. I put Oprah on my vision board (because, duh, she’s Oprah) and already five months into the year, I’ve met her twice (here and here). Along with her inspiring journey and gargantuan success, the energy of a woman whose work is also her passion is just magical. It motivates me to go flying toward my goals. But then my landlord tried to push me out of my apartment for really any reason she can find (oh hey, gentrification!) while taking all my money.

When it comes to marriage and babies, I had officially turned into Charlotte York.

And I continued to battle health issues that literally make it hard to sleep at night. But what I realized is the happy part of your birthday shouldn’t be about your circumstances. It’s something you fight for daily regardless of what is happening around you. That kind of unshakable peace always eluded me because I’d only be happy when things are going my way — my health is good, my career is good, my love life is good, my family’s good — and we all know life just doesn’t work like that. I found a sort of strategy for contentment reading this. When I train myself to focus on what I’m grateful for, the list is literally overflowing. My problems are dwarfed by comparison. I can’t think of a better mindset to enter the next chapter of my life in.

Happy birthday to me!

Kisses,

Glamazon Jessica

Photos by Raymond Haddad Photography