It's bizarre, to simultaneously feel completely hopeless about one thing and so incredibly blessed about everything else. But I think that's just how life is sometimes.

To say that we stayed in this weekend would be an understatement. On Saturday afternoon Rob, Sean, and I ventured out to the mall to do some Christmas shopping and literally bought one thing before looking at puppies and then going home. Not productive. At home, we watched movies and ate a huge seafood dinner of scallops, lobster, and shrimp with my parents. We sat on the couch by the fire on Sunday morning and drank tea. Sunday afternoon brought a cooking marathon between my mother and I, and then Rob and I took a walk down to the dock and sat on the boat for a while.

I spent so many moments this weekend looking around me and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude. This family, this man, this food and these things that I sometimes take for granted without a thought. I feel so, so lucky for this life I've been given.

If there's one thing I love more than hearing Silent Night this time of year, it's black tie optional.

Sometimes these things call for a trip to the mall and a new dress, but once December hits, I try not to spend any money on myself until after Christmas. Unless it's for liquid eyeliner, which I totally bought for myself on Friday afternoon. Luckily, I've had this awesome dress hanging in my closet for a month or two, just waiting for Rob's work party in DC, so there was no need to buy a dress while I was at the mall.

Dress: c/o Chi-Chi

Fur: Vintage

Tights: J.Crew | Cocktail Ring: Mom's

Shoes: Jigsaw London

Hair: Jolie (whole story here)

Nail Color: Red My Fortune Cookie, OPI

Happy holidays!

Let the party season begin!

Winter came back this weekend.

The sky turned dark and rain drizzled incessantly.
The temperature dropped. Everything was grey.

As I reintroduced my water-resistant trench coat into my wardrobe and wrapped yet another scarf around my neck this weekend, shivering as we walked along the cold sidewalks of The Corner to stop by all of our favorite places and then return home to sit on the couch under a blanket, I was reminded that these sorts of weekends are, in fact, my favorites.

I mean, at least until Spring comes along.

"How beautiful a street is in winter! It is at once revealed and obscured. Here vaguely one can trace symmetrical straight avenues of doors and windows; here under the lamps are floating islands of pale light through which pass quickly bright men and women, who, for all their poverty and shabbiness, wear a certain look of unreality, an air of triumph, as if they had given life the slip, so that life, deceived of her prey, blunders on without them." --Street Haunting, Virginia Woolf