Emily Bode 10/10/18 Emily Bode 10/10/18

3 quick ways to layer flannel

Call me a typical white girl, but I've always been obsessed with Autumn, especially the perfect month of October. How could you not love it? It's the season of bonfires, falling leaves, apple cider, chilly evenings & one of my favorite things, flannel. I might be borderline obsessed with this wonderful plaid fabric (6 & counting, is that too much?). I seriously have to restrain myself when I go into stores this time of year because I have a hard time resisting the urge to buy more. I've decided it’s a problem that can only be solved by wearing it as much as I can. Here are a few ways I work the ever-versatile flannel into my Autumn wardrobe:

The Professional

Confession: One of my secret goals for fall & winter is to come up with endless ways to integrate flannel into my work wardrobe. Don't tell anyone, ok? I recently completed my search for the perfect tweed blazer & discovered it was an absolutely fantastic thing to pair with my flannel! I added a woven belt to dress it up & to add more definition to my figure. A pair of comfy ankle boots finished off this work-ready outfit.

Blazer (H&M) / Flannel (Eddie Bauer)

The Bonfire

There's nothing better than gathering with friends around the fire pit on a cool fall evening. An essential when venturing outdoors in Michigan right now is a BUNCH of layers. Cue my go-to outfit on the weekend: Boots, vest, flannel, scarf. You really can't say "Autumn" better than that. It's outdoorsy, warm, practical & I love it!

Vest (Lands’ End) / Scarf (Eddie Bauer) / Flannel (Eddie Bauer)

The Holiday

The holidays aren't quite here yet but they're all I can think of when I wear this outfit. It feels festive & cozy. Flannel + sweater = heaven. Ya feel me? The other beautiful thing about this duo is that it makes for great office wear as the leaves change. I love letting my flannel peek out under the edges of top layers like this. Roll up the sleeves for even more peek-a-boo.

Sweater (H&M) / Flannel (Eddie Bauer)

My favorite places to discover the perfect flannel:

Thrift stores If you're going for good ole oversized shirts, thrift stores like Goodwill & Salvation Army are perfect. You'll have to do some digging—often in the men's section—but they're a good place to find super inexpensive shirts.
Higher-end secondhand stores I seek out higher-end secondhand stores like Plato's Closet for flannel with a better fit & quality, especially for work outfits that I use for layering.
Eddie Bauer My favorite place for buying new flannel is Eddie Bauer. There's an outlet store I drive by a few times a year that has great sales around the holidays so in the rare moment's I do splurge on flannel, this is where I'll go to spend a little extra.

Join me in my flannel obsession? Get out there, rock those fall patterns & make sure you enjoy the rest of this absolutely beautiful season! Thanks for listening, brave girls. —Lauren

Emily Bode 9/21/18 Emily Bode 9/21/18

How To Eat Local...Without Spending Your Whole Paycheck

Written by guest contributor Jess of Poppy Rose Co.

Living consciously. Protecting our earth. Eating local. Sustainability. How many times a day do you see these words buzzing around our online and offline world? I keep coming back to these seemingly simple words; Eat Local. But how do you eat local in a climate where great produce has a minimal harvest season? How do you buy locally when building your own business and funds need to be spread around lightly? Where do you start? I am not an expert but I am a West Michigan woman passionate about food, where it comes from, and what to do with it once you have taken it home.

How to eat local without spending your whole paycheck | West Michigan Farmers Markets | Emily Bode blog | Guest post by Poppy Rose Co.

A book inspired a year-long challenge

Two years ago, my husband and I moved to the West Michigan area from Chicago. As we reacquainted ourselves with Grand Rapids/West Michigan and began building a community of friends, we quickly found ourselves repeating the same Saturday morning routine weekend after weekend. Morning coffee at home followed by a leisurely walk through the Fulton Street Farmers Market, and back home to make brunch with our findings. We continued this ritual through the fall of that first year until I read a book. Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingslover challenged the way I thought about groceries, animals, and food in general. It's a great read if you're interested in food, cooking, and local eating. Closing the final page, I was ready to overhaul the way I shopped, cooked and ate. But, this was not the first time finishing a book that I was ready to overhaul some portion of my world. So, my sweet husband listened to my passionate words about local eating, food miles, waste etc., without believing I would actually uproot our current system of eating.

The one year challenge of eating local

In the new year, I presented my challenge to him: One year of 75% local eating. One year of shopping at farm stands, farmers markets, CSA boxes, and intense cooking at home. One year of truly making due with what we had in the pantry (DISCLAIMER: This did not include dining out, but we did try to mostly dine at local restaurants supporting local farmers).

Challenge ground rules:

Maintain current grocery budget.
Weekly farmers market trips and a weekly stop at a local farm store (West Michigan friends, we went to Rakowski Family Farm Market).
Menu planning once the produce & meat is purchased.
Minimal grocery store runs for necessities like baking supplies, olives oils, and vinegars.

75/25 local eating ratio

The other 25% was budgeted for non-local purchases to cover spirits not made in Michigan, tropical fruits like oranges and bananas, nuts, and the occasional box of Cheez-Its. To make this challenge harder, we counted produce grown locally but sold in the supermarket as part of our 25% – the goal was to purchase directly from local farmers.

A word of caution if you want to start a similar challenge: Do not begin this journey in January, especially without preparation. Starting in January meant living on root vegetables, apples, and the occasional green lettuce grown from Michigan food goddesses that used a greenhouse all winter long (THANK YOU). We had not prepared by canning tomatoes and summer fruits or frozen some of the early fall bounties. So, we had to be savvy with our 25% to make sure fruit and hearty greens were in our diet. We were committed, despite the lack of color on our plates, and we ate well with creative minded menu planning. We found vendors that pickled or canned products to keep us out of the potato rut & were resourceful with our 25%.Let me tell you when I knew the first asparagus would arrive at the market I was there at 7:30 am and walked away with 10 lbs. Yes, 10 lbs. of asparagus for two people. And it was heaven. If you ever need an asparagus recipe, come this way, I think we tried them all. As spring evolved into summer, we were overjoyed with new tastes and smells at the market. Our garden was planted and harvested, and we prepared for our remaining non-peak harvesting months.

Biggest takeaway? How wonderful it was to really think about what we ate.

Yes, some days I wanted to scream when I went to the market and literally bought the same beets and turnips as last week. Or cry when I drove across town and arrived at the farm store on a Monday to stock up knowing full well they rest on Mondays. There is such ease unrealized in driving to a supermarket and buying whatever you need. Some days I missed that ease but the lessons we learned committing to local eating were well worth the occasional hiccup.

4 Tips for Eating Local During Harvest Season

Find a nearby farm stand, store, or market
Farmers markets guarantee local fare and are a great way to meet others in your community doing the same thing. Plus, regularly visiting the market will allow you to be more in tune with what is in season and when. Typically, food purchased in-season is less expensive. Many grocery chains post sales on in-season items and locally grown produce if you can't make the market.
Discover your passion point.
Do you want to eat all local fruits and vegetables? Do you eat meat, but are passionate about the way animals are raised? Have you been thinking of signing up for a dairy CSA? Money is an important factor and we cannot always afford everything. Decide what you feel most passionately about sustaining and go with it! We ate very plant-based meals with occasional meat entrees thanks to my 'everything, all or nothing' personality.
Know your farmers
They are amazing, helpful, funny, and smart. During our year of local eating, we met various vendors at the market. We asked how produce and animals were grown/raised. We shared about our year challenge and they, in turn, shared their hard work. If met with blank stares or someone who was not interested in answering our questions on their growing practices, we would politely move on to the next booth (this was rare). I cannot tell you the amount I learned from the farmers growing and caring for our food. A few things they taught me to stretch my dollar:
- Spoiled milk can be used for making yogurt & the best ricotta During the first six months of the challenge, we often over-purchased milk. When sharing my woes of spoiled milk, I learned how to make my own yogurt before it went bad. Also how to use slightly spoiled milk to make the creamiest, most delicious ricotta I have ever tasted. AND IT WAS NOT HARD. All of this taught by the lovely woman who runs the Rakowski Family Farm Store.
- 6-minute lamb chops We bought lamb from S&S Lamb and learned to grill tiny chops three minutes per side on high heat to make the most delectable lollipop of lamb ever tasted.
- Endless ways to use root vegetables in the dead of winter In the rut of a root vegetable depression, I was given more ways then I could imagine to use potatoes, carrots and celery root from Visser Farms. Depression over.
Remember why you're eating local
You clicked through to this article because eating local is important to you. Our family continues to focus on local eating. While we do not chart our purchases anymore, we still primarily buy local whenever we can. Over our year challenge, we learned how to meal plan and that fridge-dive meals can be the most fun. Cooking was an essential part of eating local, but cooking did not need to be complicated.

Picnic dinners became our favorite – a plate of steamed or roasted veggies alongside locally made cheese and breads with Traverse City wines was always the perfect end to a busy day. We learned to be comfortable shopping in a farmer’s market and treasured the excitement that came from seeing the first asparagus or rhubarb after a long winter. Mostly, we learned how to appreciate and care for the tiny space of the world we choose to call home.

Resources from this article:

Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingslover
Rakowski Family Farm Store
Fulton Street Farmers Market
S&S Lamb Visser Farms

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Emily Bode 11/2/16 Emily Bode 11/2/16

Guest Post: The Power of Influence

Brave girls! This is my first guest blogger in over a year and I’m super excited to introduce him. Joel is a genius when it comes to the modern workplace. As an IT recruiter, he has over 4 years of experience in what it takes to navigate relationships in your career &/or business. He’s basically been my career coach the last few years. As a creative who prefers pretty visuals over business talk, the way he explains things makes me realize I can hold my own as a professional in the biz world and still maintain my creative integrity. He also happens to be my hubby of two months. Heart eyes over here. Seriously, so proud of him! I hope you find his tips on the power of influence in professional relationships as helpful as I have. xo, Em

Written by Joel Bode

As my first guest post on Brave Girl, I want to share 3 tips that will help you create and maintain your relationships in the workplace. The expectation of most workplaces I come across is to be heads down in your work and to focus on direct accomplishments. While these are important to your daily productivity, I want to focus on the long-term benefits of creating influence amongst your co-workers, customers, and social network. Being aware of these few steps as you go about your workday will create long-lasting relationships and a strong network of supporters.

1. Understand vs. being understood.

Inspired by one of my favorite books, the best way to create influence is to understand the other person’s point of view. What’s important to me may not be as important to you so how can our differing goals & objectives align? My role as a recruiter has a lot to do with matchmaking a person to a company based on that company's culture and mission (and you thought all I did was LinkedIn message you about your skillset all day!). If you want to develop a positive relationship with your co-worker, ask them questions to gain knowledge and insight into their goals & objectives first.

2. Seek points of common alignment.

Once you understand what your co-worker is trying to accomplish, find alignment between their goals and yours. It creates a give-and-take relationship that encourages trust and creates positive effects for both of you. If I say I can help you achieve a goal you’re after you'd listen, yes? And if I deliver on the help I promised, no matter how small, I’ll start to be considered in future situations where that kind of help is needed again, yes? And it’ll most likely be needed again.

3. Genuinely care for your tribe.

Please know that most people you come in contact with are part of your tribe in some way. I once talked to a candidate who competed in dodgeball at the national level (yes this does exist and is not just a movie). I came across a relatable article I thought he’d be interested in so I sent it to him. He was excited to hear from me and ended up sending me a contact he knew was looking for a new job. I eventually helped his friend get a job at a company he was excited to work for. We developed a mutual respect for each other and will potentially help each other in the future due to our positive interaction. Make it a point to connect on a deeper level with someone you’ve come in contact with. Send a “thinking of you” email and you may be surprised at the response you get.

Whether you’re trying to build a business or further your career in the workplace, don’t forget the power of influence you have by simply understanding what’s important to those around you. In return, you'll always be the first person they think of which will open more doors than just getting a lot of work done or staying in the office later than anyone else. Focus on the relationship between your co-workers, customers, and new acquaintances and you’ll eventually become friends.

Emily Bode 10/20/14 Emily Bode 10/20/14

Ode to Flannel

All images thoughtfully captured & words written by guest contributor Lauren Pinner

I might be borderline obsessed with this wonderful plaid fabric (6 & counting, is that too much?). I seriously have to restrain myself when I go into stores this time of year because I have a hard time resisting the urge to buy more. I've decided it’s a problem that can only be solved by wearing it as much as I can. Here are a few ways I work the ever-versatile flannel into my Autumn wardrobe:

1 | The Professional

Blazer (H&M) / Flannel (Eddie Bauer) / Black skinnies (JCPenney) / Ankle boots (DSW)

2 | The Bonfire

Vest (Lands’ End) / Scarf (Eddie Bauer) / Flannel (Eddie Bauer) / Skinnies (Old Navy) / Boots (Delia’s)

3 | The Holiday

Sweater (H&M) / Flannel (Eddie Bauer) / Black skinnies (JCPenney) / Flats (Payless)

My favorite places to discover the perfect flannel:

If you're going for good ole oversized shirts, thrift stores like Goodwill & Salvation Army are perfect. You'll have to do some digging—often in the men's section—but they're a good place to find super inexpensive shirts.
I seek out higher-end secondhand stores like Plato's Closet for flannel with a better fit & quality, especially for work outfits that I use for layering.
My favorite place for buying new flannel is Eddie Bauer. I've only done this once but it was worth it. There's an outlet store I drive by a few times a year that has great sales around the holidays so in the rare moment's I do splurge on flannel, this is where I'll go to spend a little extra.

Join me in my flannel obsession? Get out there, rock those fall patterns & make sure you enjoy the rest of this absolutely beautiful season!

Thanks for listening, brave girls. — Lauren

Emily Bode 8/14/14 Emily Bode 8/14/14

Summer Denim

The last visit with my cousin, Brooke, led me to a few gems. This awesome color-blocked wall I made her stand in front of (forever the bossy older cousin) was one of them and my observation of how she styled her denim cutoffs throughout the weekend was another. As she was rockin' her 90's vibes, I asked her to share a few denim secrets on the blog today so we can all savor these last moments of summer as laidback & spirited as her. Brooke's guide below is made up of fresh ideas for styling summer denim on a budget.

Written by Brooke Watz

Love Urban Outfitters but often find yourself making a beeline to their sale rack searching for anything to fit your college budget (or any budget for that matter)? Yeah, me too. One of their most expensive items? Denim. Of course, it’s the perfectly ripped, damaged denim only a machine can do that makes me sit & wonder what I'll have to sacrifice this week to justify buying $70+ jeans. This summer, I found myself falling deeper in love with high-waisted denim but refused to let this love affair see the deep, dark void of my bank account.

So I made the trek to Salvation Army & began my search for the perfect high-waisted jeans to DIY. Trying on countless pairs of ’80s & 90’s high-waisted denim had me leaving Salvation Army with seven pairs of my latest obsession (I know, I’m a bit crazy) for little over $20. With my fat stash of denim, I got crafty & made my own shorts to get the same UO look for much, much less. All you need is thrifted jeans & scissors to make your own denim cutoffs.

Here are 3 ways I've styled my repurposed denim this summer:

1 | The Distressed

If I had to describe my style, I would say it closely resembles girly-victorian-hippy. I love anything floral, flirty & vintage so I styled my favorite distressed denim with my favorite summer wedges & shirt.

Achieve the Look

Being creative with the location of holes, rips, & tears gives your shorts originality. Cut your holes with scissors or find a rough patch of cement to rub the denim until a shredded hole emerges, which I happen to know is a great arm workout!

Perks of The Distressed

Everyone thinks you bought them because they look too good to have been made from hand & you’re like, "Nope, I made these suckers myself, thank you!"
I love how this shirt length flirts with the hem of my shorts.

2 | The Booty

This look is all about the booty. Flaunt it, girl! A little booty never hurt nobody so I take this denim to the beach on the hottest of summer days.

Achieve the Look

Cut your shorts at a length right below your booty, simple as that. I save these shorts for the beach because the shorter the length the more you have to be aware of if you know what I'm sayin'. I styled my too-short booty shorts with my favorite bikini top, beachy wedges & sun hat.

Perks of The Booty

Your pockets play peek-a-boo.
They make a fun cover-up when you want to rock your favorite bathing suit top.
Everything I’m wearing apart from the bathing suit top is from Salvation Army. I’m serious, you can find anything there!

3 | The Basic

Every now & then a look comes along inviting me to channel my inner badass. I usually gravitate towards softer hues & similar outfit combinations so I love stepping out of my comfort zone with this look. I kept my denim simple to keep the focus on the black, red, and gold combo of the rest of my pieces.

Achieve the Look

I tend to keep my basics a little more modest for my day-to-day so I cut these to my desired length, adding an extra inch to fold the hem up. A folded hem gives a touch of spice & dimension to my basics, but they look killer with or without a folded hem.

Perks of The Basic

You won’t be hackled by your family for your booty cheeks hanging out (some don’t understand the perks of The Booty, *sigh*).
Salvation Army & Goodwill are hot spots for flannel, as well. This flannel? $5 from Salvation Army!

In the last two years, I’ve had to get crafty with, well, my entire wardrobe (thanks college education!). You don't have to sacrifice style just because your budget is small. In fact, the challenge has made me more resourceful & creative, allowing my style to constantly evolve. I'd love to see how you've styled your own cutoffs & secondhand finds so share them with me on Instagram @brookenicolewatz with the #brokegirlsdenim tag. I can't wait to see your denim beauties!

Here's to the pickers, the searchers & the wanderers of the local Goodwill & Salvation Army. Until next time braves ones, Brooke Nicole Watz