Candy Apple

Coat: c/o Chicwish; Dress: H&M; Scarf: c/o 9th and Elm; Boots: c/o Aeropostale (similar)

I had one of those good and full and weird and everything in between sort of weekends. My best friend and maid of honor came to town to celebrate the holidays with Ben and I. When she comes, it's always bittersweet - it makes me want her closer, so that we can spend all of our time together, and it's also always so full of awesome moments that it makes it even harder to say goodbye. We shopped for holiday dresses, we set up the house for our Christmas party, we fell asleep on the couch (all three of us) watching stand-up at 2 a.m... and then she left. Always the worst moment when a best friend waves goodbye.

We had a really successful holiday party on Saturday that ended around 1:30 a.m. after a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity, a group rendition of "My Heart Will Go On," tons of photos of the group all together, and many a bottle of wine drunk. I think it was perhaps my prettiest and happiest party yet - so much laughter that I lost my voice. I had a creative party photo-shoot (more to come later on that) on Sunday so I kept out of those delicious looking wine bottles the night before in order to preserve my face/waking-up-earling/standing-around-a-lot skills. 

All in all, it was a really really full weekend. It left me completely exhausted and triggered a series of bad headaches that seemed to last. I took today to try to recuperate in the warmth of blankets, comfortable pants, and under the soft light of the Christmas tree. I feel the stress of the holiday season - marked by best friends leaving, holiday party expenses and late nights, work events, and end-of-year organization to do - all bubbling up in the form of exhaustion. Sometimes I think that you need to commit to taking a day to just relax from it all. Perhaps this is why it's cold and flu season - everyone's body just knows that we need to park it in bed for a day to just take a break from it all.

Side note: I wore this red dress to my holiday party this weekend with a pair of heels, red lips, and curled hair. I am now obsessed with red dresses. Some faves from Shopbop below:

For Love & Lemons; Free People; 5th and Mercer

*More red dresses from Shopbop