Pleated Dress (old one from Ann Taylor, but this one from Joie and this one from Michael Kors are lovely!) // Leather shoes from Love Winnie James (Use code “LOVEMAYA- this is valid for 15% off entire order!) // Madewell Knotshine Necklace // Valentino Purse (sold out, but love this one from Tory Burch!)

Back to liiiiife….back to reality. Every time I’m back home from a vacation, I can’t help but get that song stuck in my head. I had the pretty brutal realization that Monday was coming the past few days, and then when I checked my phone and saw 500+ emails, I realized that today was going to be a looooooong one. But at least there’s coffee…and truly lovely co-workers to help you get through the day, making even the longest days somewhat enjoyable ones. And while I loved spending the week in Barcelona, I’m excited to get back into the swing of things back home – catching up with friends, with Tom, and on my emails – so. many. emails.  I’m so excited to share more photos of my trip once I’ve caught up on life, but in the meantime you can check out a few highlights on Instagram – I promise good timez 😉  So, now that I’m back I’m looking forward to spending time checking off the rest of my fall to-do list and gearing up for another work trip in just a few days! I’m headed to NYC for a food conference with a co-worker I adore, and best of all, I’m squeezing in an extra weekend to visit my friend Claire, my best friend from elementary school. I’m a terrible friend because she’s lived there for 5+ years and I haven’t visited her yet (the last time I went to NYC was as a gift for my high school graduation in 2007!), so I’m pretty happy she’s still agreed to by my friend AND letting me stay with her for the weekend. She even put together an epic list of her favorite places in NYC that I’m already SO excited to go to. She’s one of those friends I definitely don’t deserve, but I’m so happy that she’s still wonderful enough to be my friend. Thanks, Claire! You truly are the best <3  In other news, I came back to Chicago from Barcelona, and it’s officially cold here! This weather is not messing around, and I spent the weekend bundled up all weekend long binge watching Stranger Things (SO GOOD!), spending time with Tom, walking around the neighborhood since it’s beautiful outside and catching up with friends. We spent Saturday night hanging out with Kelly and Mitch, and then met up with a few friends around town hopping to different Halloween parties. Since I was so far behind on my Halloween planning since I was on vacation, I stopped at Walgreens and got cat ears and called it a day. It mostly worked…. 😉

Oh and HAPPY MONDAY! I may be struggling this morning, but I’ve got a BIG cup of coffee to get me through. I hope you have a few too! xx