Leather Jacket (similar on sale here, here and a more splurge-worthy version here) // Skinny jeans // booties (my favorites!) // Gucci purse // shirt (on sale!)

Why hello there, Monday. See you’re already here again – is it just me or do the weekends just get shorter and shorter these days? I feel like I closed my eyes and by the time I opened them, Monday morning was already here again.

But I honestly shouldn’t be too bummed, because on Saturday I’m going to Costa Rica for a week to soak up some sunshine on the beach and explore the rainforest. We planned an impromptu trip a few weeks back since I had a ton of vacation days I haven’t used yet (many of which I’ll lose if I don’t use them by the end of the year), and rather than staying in town, a winter adventure sounded like the right thing to do. I’m looking forward to hiking volcanos, zip lining in the rainforest, hanging on the beach, and hopefully fulfilling my lifelong dream of seeing a sloth. You know that video of Kristen Bell on Ellen seeing a sloth in real-life for the first time? I’d imagine my reaction would be somewhat in that vein too. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes 😉 In other news, you may have wondered why I’m donning a leather jacket in the middle of the winter. Clearly, these photos were taking a few weeks ago when winter hadn’t reared it’s ugly head in Chicago. I’ve honestly been so slammed with work the past few weeks that my poor blog has been a little neglected, so I’m playing catch up on some post now!

I had this lofty plan of putting together awesome gift guides, organizing holiday shoots, doing a slew of holiday giveaways – the whole nine yards. But I’ve honestly been working so late that by the time I come home I’ve needed to frantically feed myself, drink a few glasses of wine while I shut off my brain with Netflix, and then go to bed to continue the cycle again the next day.

And honestly, I’ve felt kinda guilty about it – this is the time of year where bloggers are doing gift guides galore, putting together Instagram-worthy holiday cookie spreads, and promoting the crap out of Black Friday – and I’m over here just trying to keep it all together (and keep my apartment from looking like it’s been hit by a tornado 24-7). I definitely preach about letting go of the idea of balance, but I’m not going to lie, sometimes it’s really hard not feeling like you’re doing as much as you should do, especially when it feels like everyone else is running circles around you. But hey, I got a blog post up even though it’s 4 weeks late – so I’m going to call that a win in my book 😉 Okay, now that I’m all caught up on my vent sesh, I’m hoping I have lots of new content headed your way soon! I’m writing this on a wild Saturday night (woot woot!) and planning to shoot some holiday content if there isn’t a torrential downpour that gets in my way tomorrow. Please cross your fingers for me!

Is anyone else struggling to balance it all over the holidays? I’d love to know if you have any tips to make this time of year more manageable…or if you just drink a little more wine like I do 😉 Whatever gets you through – I’m all ears! xx