Tales Of A Reluctant Frazzled English Woman

It's me lol

Sep 18, 2024

It’s 1pm and I’m sitting in my pjs, hair a mess, sipping lukewarm coffee and typing away on my laptop. Inbox overflowing, deadlines looming, it’s um… not quite the vibe. My vision boards are full of Ralph Lauren outfits and cutie handbags, but my reality is a long sleeved t-shirt with holes from a Myrtle Beach souvenir shop and dirty hair. I literally made a to-do list titled, Things To Do Before You Can Work on a Substack Essay, and got sad because I ended up working til 7pm, then rotting on the couch til bedtime. Sigh.

I write for a living. I am the luckiest girl (!!) to be able to write all day and get paid for it, truly. I started freelance writing in 2021 and you can find my byline in Apartment Therapy, The Everygirl, Camille Styles, Forbes Home and more. My beat is home and lifestyle because ya girl loves pretty spaces and living her best life. But it’s a hustle baby, and after a slow summer, fall is anything but. I’m a cozy girl, which is why I think fall is my personal busy season. I just have lots of cutie fall story ideas, what can I say? But now that means I’m working overtime. And when the job is to sit in front of my laptop and write, it can sometimes be tricky to do it after hours too. Although, let’s be real, I write in my Notes app on my phone. Literally writing this in my phone now at my desk with my laptop open to my gmail. Inbox 10,713. I’m one of those people omg I’m so sorry for the jump scare. It’s also 9:38pm. What is my life.

I realized today, sitting in my car after teaching a yoga class (oh yeah, I do that too sometimes hehe) with 15 minutes to eat dinner before hopping on a call that I would potentially work during with my camera off… that I am accidentally having a frazzled English woman fall. It’s giving Iris in The Holiday, it’s major Bridget Jones vibes and though admittedly not English, I feel a little like Andy Sachs before she gets a makeover. I don’t have boy problems though, I’m just frazzled. I’m a bit unkept, not feeling older, wiser or hotter and honestly missing my cutie Substack life. (I also admit it’s literally been like…a week and a half, relax girl hahaha) The thing that’s funny to me is that the frazzled English woman is an aesthetic coined in 2022. Girlies are really out there trying to achieve the look! Am I making it happen just by being stressed and over booked? Slay!

So this week I don’t have a quippy personal essay for you. But I do have a few cutie things to read from my editorial life if you like. I honestly didn’t start Substack to share my little journalist life, but now that I think about it, so many of you here and on the platform are writers yourselves, so maybe you’ll be into it? Here’s just a small sampling of what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks.

So that’s what I have for you today besties. Sending you a lil reminder that it’s ok to be a frazzled English woman every once in a while, and it’s ok to take a break. Especially on Substack—I’ve been pressuring myself to get an essay out into the world but had to pump the brakes to write about fall paint trends and Starbucks drinks. Which is ok because I love those things too! I was tempted to share a few essays from the vault (aka from before OWH existed) that are a bit more earnest and serious, but decided to hold off and ask if you’d be down for a vibe shift every once in a while. I’m also gearing up for my own personal world tour—which is really just three (potentially four) weekends where I’ll be out of town, traveling for work. Lots of adventures to come!

Cheers to the fellow frazzled English women out there—our it-girl personas may not be in the room currently (or tbh ever lol) but damn, are we still as cute as ever.

xx, Kristen

And now, some cutie polls for you. Tysm for sharing your thoughts!! Everything I do is for the girlies, so lemme know what you’re into :)

Older, Wiser, Hotter

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