Dress: NY & Company // Clutch: Amazon // Shoes: Similar 

Hi, Friends and Sleevenistas!  How fab is this dress?  It reminds me of something Meghan Markle would wear, but with some flair (I’m not sure that she would do the sleeve details).  Btw, this power dress is 50% off right now, so check it out before the sale is over! It’s under $50 now. It’s really comfortable and perfect for work, church, or a date night!  I called this post, “Powering Through in a Power Dress” because the day I took this photo was a rough one.  If you look closely, you may be able to see the pain on my face in some of the photos. So, here’s what happened:

Last Sunday, I intended to wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed, then go to church, as per usual.  After church, I had a blog photoshoot scheduled followed by an appointment with a personal styling client (Yes, I do personal styling!  Email me at nneka@queenofsleeves.com if you are interested.  There will be a page on the site soon with more information.).   Unfortunately, things did not go quite as planned. When I woke up that morning, I was pretty sick.  I had been battling somewhat of a cold for a couple of days, but that day was worst of all.  I really felt bad, and it was exacerbated by the fact that I had gotten very little sleep.  At a certain point, I had already missed church but was debating about whether or not I could make my other appointments.  I didn’t want to cancel and the medicine was starting to kick in, so I decided to go ahead and go to the photoshoot.

This power dress was the last look I shot that day.  I had been fine up until this point, but when it got to this look, my body just broke down.  To this day, I’m not quite sure what happened, but I was suddenly in a lot of pain!  I started sweating, I felt nauseated, and my whole body was cramping.  Between every set of pictures, I would double over and try to take deep breaths to power through.  My photographer, Jerren, kept asking if I was ok and if I wanted to continue.  I did! The dress was cute and needed to be documented! lol.  At the end of the shoot, I attempted to walk to my car with Jerren, but I couldn’t make it!  Every few steps, I had to stop because my legs were cramping so much.  It was terrible, and I felt so bad that I was keeping Jerren from going home.   At a certain point, I just had to sit down on nearby stairs and Jerren was kind enough to get my car and bring it to me (that’s how bad it was, y’all. I couldn’t even walk to the car and it wasn’t even far!).

After Jerren brought my car, he packed all of my things into it.  Shout out to Jerren for being so great that day! I was and still am so thankful.  He was so patient.  Anyway, I was still feeling sick, but the personal styling appointment was next and I was already behind schedule!  I had to sit in the car for a few minutes to gather myself.  I honestly cried and prayed on the entire way to my client’s house.  Even when I got there, I had to lie down on her couch for a while until I felt better.  Fortunately, my client is a friend, so she was very patient and understanding as well.  Eventually, I felt significantly better, and we were able to power through the closet consultation, and it went really well!

All that to say, sometimes we just need to put on a brave face and power through until we reach our goals.  It’s like they say, fake it till you make it!  Yes, this shoot could have gone better.  I had very few photos to choose from because of my pained facial expressions, but thank God that we don’t always look like what we are going through.  I’m grateful that on that day I powered through to get to the photo shoot and see my client.  Lately, I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed.  So, being able to knock those things off of my list of things to do was a HUGE blessing.  And after it was over, I was able to relax at home knowing I had accomplished something.  What do you do when you need to power through?

Have a great week, and thanks so much for reading!

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Photographer: Jerren Willis Photography