Leather Jacket {similar} // Velvet Camisole // Hudson Jeans // Leather Boots // Necklace {similar}

Can you believe that these pictures were just from a few weeks ago? How quickly the times (and temperatures) changed… Let’s just pretend that we’re back to 60 degree days and hope that the weather starts to cooperate with our optimism 😉

It’s been cold, real real cold – and I’ve been spending the last few weeks just trying to keep my head above water. Tom’s been working on a big election (I’m writing this over the weekend to plan ahead, so hopefully by this time the news has been good!), I’ve been spending more late nights at work than I have in the past few months, and trying to wrap everything up (literally and figuratively) before Christmas in a few weeks. And honestly, it’s all been pretty tough. There have been lots of late nights, un-godly early mornings, and probably more crying fits then is healthy, or helpful. So let’s just hope the next few weeks go a little more smoothly and the holiday season is easy-breezy at work. I don’t know if it’s the influx eggnog or the fact that I’ve been stressed out these past few weeks, but the holidays have kinda hit me hard. This time of year always has been a time of reflection for me, where I have many of those “WTF am I doing with my life” kinda moments – for better or for worse. It’s probably a mixture of the holiday cards rolling in, and getting together more with friends who (sweetly) bombard you with questions about your life, and feeling a little more “blah” since it’s officially the winter and cold AF in Chicago.

So while I’m excited about the holidays, I think I’m ready for the optimism of January 1st, when I can buckle down and put more of an emphasis on getting things together. To be honest, 2017 has kinda been a crap-shoot, minus a few highlights sprinkled here and there. It’s been a tough political climate, people have been real jerks to each other, and my life has changed in some good ways, but also so not-so-healthy and good for you ways too. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been very, very lucky in a lot areas of my life – but overall it’s been pretty darn tough. And I’m excited to close out the year and have the optimism of trying to be better version of myself in 2018.

And while I usually don’t have a ton of resolutions to start off the year, I’ve already had ideas bubbling up in my head the past few weeks on the changes I want to make in my life – and STAT. I know everyone says you can change your life any day of the week, but honestly, I need the motivation of a new year to really get myself in shape (mentally, physically, spiritually, the whole kit and caboodle). Anyways, I’m not going to give too much away since I’m still working on refining (and making them actually possible, let’s be real), but I’m excited to share in the coming weeks once I get there.  Alright, I’m totally not trying to be a Debbie downer here, but all these thoughts have been swirling around for the past few days, so I had to share. It’s like when Facebook used to ask you “What’s on your mind?” and you would write statuses in the first person (ha!), sometimes you have to put it all out there. Who knows, maybe a few of you can relate too!

Also….speaking of Facebook statuses – I dare you to scroll back and see some of the hilarity of your first year on Facebook (at least if you’re around my age/were just as un-cool as I was). I can’t believe some of the stuff I thought was totally OK to put on the internet back in the early days of college, but MAN was I a little hippie/emo child! Too hilarious, just do yourself a favor and look back with a big glass of wine and prepare for some serious laughs. xx