Velvet Dress (sold out, but I love this blue sleeved one, this pink wrap one and this gorgeous black one on sale!) // Sweater tights (I’ve had similar ones for years!) // Tassel earrings // Boots {similar}

Good morning, friends! It’s starting to feel very much like the holidays all around Chicago, and even more so with the snow this weekend! It was pretty magical waking up on Saturday morning to a few inches of snow outside, and it started to make the holiday season seem a little more real. So much so that I started kinda panicking on Saturday when I realized just how far behind I am with my holiday shopping…oops. Let’s just hope I miraculously find everything I need for everyone on my list in the coming days 😉

One thing that always gets me excited during the holidays is gearing up for holiday parties and get togethers with friends and family. I feel like the next few weekends are blocked solid with ugly sweater parties, holiday work parties, and get togethers with my family once we inch closer to Christmas – and I find myself wanting to get a little more dressed up for the more formal gatherings that I’ve had to in the past. I’m usually good in the holiday attire department, but when it comes to doing my hair, it usually involves me getting frustrated with the curling iron and giving up. So rather than totally losing my cool, I enlisted the help of my friends at Hair Cuttery to work their magic to make my hair magically curly for the occasion.  After work one day I went to pop by the Hair Cuttery Elmhurst location and my stylist turned my stick straight hair into the prettiest curly holiday style. I’m never one to be super fancy when it comes to my hair, so I opted for simple curls and pulled the front strands back with bobby pins for a more polished look. It was the perfect look for the holiday party I went to later that night, and my curls even lasted for a few days! As someone who’s always wanted curly hair (everyone wants what they can’t have, right?) it’s so fun to get the full treatment for just under $30. Now if I could only get my stylist to do my hair everyday, I’d be a very happy gal!   I mean, seriously – how good are those curls? I only wish I was talented enough to recreate the look at home!

For all the future holiday parties I have coming up this  year, I’m probably going to be rocking this same velvet dress all season long. I’m a big fan of finding a look that’s stylish and comfortable, and I love that this dress has long sleeves to keep you warm and the perfect velvet material that’s totally on-trend. I’ve been obsessed with all things velvet (probably a little too obsessed…) so this dress has been perfect for parties and for days where I want to feel a little dressed up at work. And by days, I mean A day, because I was really ambitious and realized how cold it was walking from my car to the building in a dress….  Any fun holiday party hacks you swear by? I’d love to know how you’re able to balance it all between holiday shopping, parties and more! Any secrets you swear by, please send them my way! xx

A big thanks to Hair Cuttery for sponsoring this post!