Happy Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve! Yippee! For Latinos that means that today we'll be having a HUGE Christmas dinner, celebrating the birth of our Savior, and counting down till midnight when we'll open our gifts! Since I'll be taking tomorrow off of blogging, though, I wanted to stop by today to just quickly share my last "holiday" inspired look! I also wanted to take a moment to share with you guys the reason behind my joy for this season and one of my most cherished Christmas moments! I want to preface this all by saying that when my family and I made the move to the States we moved into very humble circumstances. My first Christmas here is one that, although I don't remember clearly, is spoken of almost every Christmas season in my home to remind us of God's tender mercies and the gratitude we feel for the place we've reached as a family. It was a cold and quiet Christmas Eve night and my family and I sat gathered together in our small apartment. I can't quite remember if we had any Christmas decorations, if we did they would have been quite simple. My two sister's and I would have been somewhere between the ages of 6 to 2 years old. It was as we sat there, quietly celebrating, that my dad looked around to each of his little girls and felt an ache in his heart that he hadn't been able to get even one gift for us to share. We, of course, where happy regardless but still he sat in silence ruminating over his disappointment. As he sat, quietly wrapped in thought, there came a knock at the door. When my dad went to see who might be calling on such a night he found that there was no one at the door, instead there lay a carefully wrapped gift on the doorstep. As he looked around at the snowy surroundings to find the blessed stranger who might have left the gift, he found that there was no one in sight. He closed the door with a feeling of such great love and gratitude. As he was gently setting the gift down, there came another knock at the door. Once again, there was a gift placed on the doorstep but no giver in view. All through the night this process continued until when midnight came, and we where to open gifts, our small apartment was overflowing with gifts given from unseen hands. Now, the importance of this story isn't that we went from having no gifts to an abundance of gifts, rather, that a loving father's quiet and unspoken prayer was answered by an even greater and loving Father in Heaven. That there where people out there in tune with The Spirit so much that they answered those promptings and thus became unseen angels for a small family. Many Christmas' have since passed and there have been many seasons of abundance and many seasons of humility. Regardless of the grandeur that we may or may not have on a particular season, though, we know that the true reason we celebrate is to show our great joy that "God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son" and because he sent his Son we have the great and blessed opportunity to be with Him again and be re-united with loved ones beyond the veil! How deep and great is my joy for the Savior! "Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room! And heaven and nature sing!"

sweater: c/o SheInside
skirt: c/o OASAP
socks: c/o Aerie
shoes: h&m similar
photos: Shailynn (She is the best!)

I don't want to ruin the message of this post with too much outfit talk so I'll keep it simple. If you want a more cozy/casual Christmas look this sweater and skirt are definitely for you! The sweater is so, so, cozy, warm and perfectly over-sized to hide your Christmas dinner pooch and this suede skirt is so soft and keeps things fun/flirty! Also, Shailynn is a MAGNIFICENT photographer and one of the sweetest girls I know! Seriously, girl has got it all! Plus, she makes me laugh like a goober, if you couldn't tell. If any of you are in need of photos, she is your girl! I mean, she made ME look good and I'm a gosh dang awful model! Anyway, that is all! I hope you all have a very happy Christmas and take sometime to consider the reason why we celebrate!

Much love!

Sleep Zombie

Guys, I am 100% the type of person that needs to have all technology snatched from her hands the moment the clock strikes 10:00. Mostly because after 10 o'clock I just can't be judged to actually be fully coherent or even fully aware of what the crap I'm talking about it. I swear, it's like my body goes into autopilot and I turn into a half asleep zombie that types up super weird posts and shoots off nonsensical texts. I think I've mentioned before that I've had problems with sleep texting a couple of times. Moments when I'd wake up randomly in the night, grab my phone, and type up a weird text message to someone. Like, legit weird and not even coherent. Most of the time I failed to hit send so I was saved the embarrassment of having to explain to people why I sent them a weird text about flying squid or something equally as random at 2 in the morning. The funny thing is, though, that in the moment I think I'm being a complete genius, like I've just typed up the most brilliant beyond brilliant message. It's soooooooo bad, haha. Anyway, yeah, that's that. Never let me touch a phone or computer once I reach my "half asleep" mode. The results are not pretty. ;)

dress (worn as top): F21
skirt: c/o ChicWish
shoes: F21
sunglasses: Aldo
Photos: Rachel

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! I could shout that from the rooftops! Seriously. I love this time of year even more than my birthday! Anyway, today I just wanted to share a classic holiday outfit with you all. Nothing livens up a classic black midi skirt like a champagne sequined top and bold berry lip. It's a classy yet simple way to get easily glammed up for a holiday event! Also, I just have to say again that Rachel and I had so much fun creepin' around The Grand America for this shoot! It was so great and as far as photographers go I highly recommend her, so seriously, go follow her on IG and BOOK her!

Much love!

Privacy Policy

Ya know, I was thinking the other day that I'm pretty much just like Hagrid from Harry Potter. Well, not appearance wise, obviously. More in the sense that Hagrid is a huge blabber. Not because he intends to, more so because things just slip out. The same thing happens to me ALL the time. If you ask me something my answer will slip out before I realize that I probably shouldn't have said anything. It sucks! Especially when I get asked personal questions. My answer will come out so automatically that I'm just left thinking, "Dang it! I didn't actually want to tell you that." It also pretty much means that I can never divulge things at my own pace, not to mention the countless times I've gotten my siblings into trouble because of it. Seriously, I feel like my older sister and I would constantly have this conversation: -"Did you tell Mom?" Me-"...she asked, sorry!"

dress: c/o Chic Wish
shoes: h&m
car coat: F21
photos: Rachel

Like I've mentioned a thousand times already, I LOVE Christmas! I've been SO excited to share these photos not only because this is THE perfect holiday dress but also because Rachel did such a great job with the photography! Seriously, I can't say enough kind words about that girl! I love the idea of wearing unexpected colors, like purple, for holiday outfits and this dress fit the bill perfectly! It's sadly sold out, though, so I'll link similar options as well other cute holiday dress options down below! Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying this holiday season as much as I am!

Much love!

Change, Change is Good

Life is such a funny thing. It's up, down, and all around and somehow still amazing! I don't know if I mentioned this last week or not, ... but I started a new job! AH! I'm so, so, so excited for the new beginning and from the days I've already worked I can tell I'm really going to like this job! I'm such an oddball when it comes to change, though. I'll drag my heels fighting tooth & nail for all of the moments leading up to any big change but then when it actually happens I sort of love it! I think it's maybe just because I'm so sentimental about everything and I get very emotionally attached to silly things pretty easily. Heck, I can't even clean out my closet because I get so attached to everything in it! My sister hatesssss me for it because I never have ANY room in my closet from keeping things in there from when I was in middle school. I mean, memories!! (Not that I remember middle school with too much fondness;) Anyway, aside from really loving my new job, I'm tooootally missing working at the DMV! I know, I know, SUPER weird. It's not exactly known for being the cheeriest place around but I got pretty attached to that stinkin' place! I loved all my oldie co-workers (seriously, 90% of them where white haired grandparents) I LOVED getting to see about a hundred different people in one day, and I just sort of liked helping everyone register their vehicles. It was weirdly enjoyable even if it was insanely monotonous! Oh well, though, change is good, it means I'm just moving forward! Also, Christmas season, guyssss! I'm all sorts of INSANELY excited! Christmas is my FAVORITE time of year! I am 100% one of those crazy chipper Christmas people and I'm dang proud of it! I wish I could somehow convince my entire ward that we should sing all three sacrament hymns STANDING, though, because I feel like you can't really get in the proper Christmas hymn mood if you're sitting!

lace top: h&m
skirt: West Fourth Street (this shop is closed so this skirt is sadly no longer available but I will link cute options below!)
shoes: zooshoo
photos: Rachel Laukat

I'm SO excited to finally be posting some Holiday looks! Rachel and I had so much fun shooting at The Grand America with all of it's twinkling lights! Also, when it comes to Holiday outfits you can never go wrong with a little red! Anyway, I'm running out of writing steam, here, so I think that's all I've really got to say. I know, I stink. But see that crazy face I'm making in that last photo? That is the face of a girl who is crazy excited for Christmas! Heck to the yeah!

Much love!

The Return of Legolas

Gootah evenin' loves. I meant to post this early this morning and yet that just didn't seem to happen. ;) Alls wells. Anyway, you know when things in life get crazy, you have two options for coping? You can either wallow or get funny. Well, this weekend life got cahrazzzzzy, very Silver Lining's Playbook if you will. Instead of going my usual route and wallowing in some dark and dreary fantasy concocted by my mind I decided to just get funny, so you will be getting my sad attempts at humor today. ;) Amid all the wackiness of the weekend, though, my siblings and I were still able to steal away some time to go and see the latest Hobbit film. We looooooooved it! We've always just been huge fans of anything J. R. R. Tolkien related, though. I mean, the day before the premier of the last installment of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy my siblings and I did a complete 6 hour marathon of the first two films and then immediately went to the theater for another 3 and a half hours. I know I always say this, but don't judge my fantasy nerdiness. Or do, it's ok. :) Anyway, the movie is INcredible and may I just say, I was preeeeetty excited to see Orlando Bloom reclaim his role as Legolas again. Yum. Now, I was never a crazed Orlando fan like the rest of the youngsters I grew up with, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't always been very partial to that fine, fine, hunk of an elf Legolas.

I mean, what's hotter than an a$* kicking elf that has the fine chiseled face of Orlando Bloom? Nothing. ;) Sighhhhhh, I remember the days when my little brother and I used to hurry home after school to plug in our Playstation and play The Lord of the Rings video games for hours and hours. I, of course, was always the Legolas avatar, and may I say, I always kicked major butt. I pretty much beat the whole game playing Legolas. ;) I'm sad that the movie ended in another cliff hanger, though. I mean, I knew it was going to be a trilogy going into the theater but still, cliffhangers suck. Enough nerd talk, though. You see that snake cuff on my wrist? I got it at my college's campus, way back in October, from a Kenyan man who had a small little shop set up. I got it for a stellar price and I just loved that it was unique and from such a cool country!

 {h&m: dress, wide brimmed hat similar; Wilson's Leather: moto jacket similar; F21: faux suede over the knee boots similar; American Eagle: turquoise necklace similar}

I actually wore this outfit a couple of days ago, not today at church. There's just something about wearing leather to church that doesn't feel quite dressed up enough to me, so when I wear it again to church next Sunday I think I'll pair it either with a blazer or a silver glittered shrug. We'll see. :) To dress it down for an every day look, though, I thought this leather jacket and my wide brimmed hat were the perfect match. I also thought my turquoise necklace, that I pretty much wear every day, would look awesome with the bright red of the dress. Oh, and may I just say, I love this dress SO much. It fits in that perfect drape-y way and is so swishy I feel like a twirly little five year old girl. The best part of it, though, is that it only cost $19! I had seen a pin a while back of a girl wearing a maxi dress with chunky knee high boots and I just knew that I wanted to re-create it so I thought another way of dressing down my look was by doing just that. I love the look of tall boots with a maxi dress, it's kind of an unexpected surprise. :) Plus, it keeps your legs warm!

Much love!

Linking up with: Because Shanna Said So