Photo by Rodolfo Marques

We are one week closer to Christmas, and I am so excited for a much needed break from work. Although we just had Thanksgiving off, because I work in Fashion PR/Influencer Relations, I need to work a little bit every day (including weekends and holidays). To be honest, all of my team members work around the clock. Kind of the nature of the beast for the time being. So I am excited just to be out of the office for a little bit longer. I certainly feel like I'm on the verge of a big burn out, but it's nothing some much needed TLC can't solve.  In the meantime, I'm very blessed to have a happily balanced holiday social calendar with the right amount of holiday activities with friends but also enough solo time for me to work on my blog, set goals for the next decade (because fuck planning for just one year - that rarely works in my favor), reflect on the past year and come up with action plans to make major changes in my life! The system I have going now is not what I want to bring into 2020. Oy, there is a lot to do in the next following weeks. A lot of changes are happening rapidly, but life guarantees change. Nothing we can do but role with it and use it to make us more durable. I hope you can use these next few weeks to reflect as well. I think it's soooo important to make time to reflect, reset and realign with our priorities and values so we can cut out the stuff that doesn't work and add more of what we actually want in our lives. I'm excited to reflect and plan! Maybe it's my type A personality, but whatever. I am who I am. Anywho, below are a few things that stuck out to me on the world wide web this week. I hope you enjoy! 

• Tis The Season: I really want to bake some holiday cookies! And drink wine and watch holiday movies :) 
• Better Safe Than Sorry: This is an INSANE story of a girl who escaped a psycho who tried to hold her captive! This woman is so lucky to be alive but it's also a really important wake up call for why we should all put a little more thought into our actions, especially when it comes to a party or substance abuse culture. It might seem like fun and games all at first, but you never know how quickly something can escalate. This story confirmed my fear of why I have never done drugs and why I never plan to! 
• Little Acts of Kindness: This is the cutest reaction ever! I totally want to do this for my local delivery people! 
• Love Birds: This is for all my friends in relationships. I highly recommend listening to this episode about want matches. It's so fascinating and eye opening! I personally think this is something everyone should listen to if they want to take their relationship to the next level. 
• Self-Love: The Art of Being Single - I really enjoyed this article. Being single during the holidays can induce more feelings of loneliness. Especially if most of your friends are in relationships, because being the 5th wheel is never fun. But I love how uplifting this article is. I like that the universe is essentially forcing me to focus on building a fulfilling life because I have so much time to focus on dance, pole, my blog and mapping out my career/side hustle path so I can make more money. I feel like that has been the biggest blessing of all this year... I just didn't realize it until now. 
• And to piggy back off this topic, I also liked this article about refusing to be sad because we are single during the holidays. I have been pretty sad this holiday season, and at first I thought it was because I don't have an intimate relationships with anyone special... but then I had a really upsetting daydream where I completely relived visiting my dad in him coma every day during Christmas break back in 2014... and I was like "oh, I'm sad because I'm still grieving" and grief is something that never truly goes away. We just get better at learning to deal with it and channeling that pain into compassion for others. Which leads me to why I am LOVING Meghan Donovan's #SpreadKindnessSpreadJoy campaign. I get so happy reading what other people are doing to spread kindness this year. Please, please, please try to participate. If you can. I promise you, doing something nice for someone else is the fastest way to turn your day around! 
• Clean Living: OH MY GOD!!! Please listen to this podcast about sustainable eating and the broken red meat industry!!! I love that they discuss the broken poultry industry as well. Luckily, I've never really been able to digest red meat, but I eat chicken and turkey every single damn day! I know it will be a costly expense, but I only want to eat sustainably raised chicken, turkey and (on the rare occasion) beef going forward. I have also been to the sustainable restaurant discussed in the podcast episode, and I can admit that I didn't feel sick after eating beef like I usually do! It was certainly more expensive... but all burgers in nyc are expensive, so I'm use to it. *chuckles and cries while looking at bank account
• Shopping Addition Is NO Joke! This podcast episode is perfect for this holiday season. Obviously, I have struggled with this… a lot. I have turned to shopping to get a huge rush of adrenaline. But for this holiday season I've only purchased a few things that I truly, truly love. I did drop about 45 things in my shopping cart during the black friday sales... but I only ended up purchasing 2 dresses and 2 headbands! Can I get a round of applause for my restraint! I finally have a much better understanding and more self control, but I could have saved sooooo much money on dumb asss purchases if I had said no to frivolous things and yes to financial freedom (aka savings, investing, travel, etc). I have a long journey to clea
• Get out of debt: I have an intense journey to clean up my mess from over spending, but it's one of my top 3 priorities for the next 36 months. I hope you make financial freedom one of yours too if you're in credit card debt or have student loans! We in this together fam! And ThisArticle Will Help Us Get There! 
• Pop up holiday bars in NYC I want to check out! Thanks Meghan Donovan for sharing this link!

Photo by Anna Utochkina

Why did it get frigid and rainy so soon? Fall, the most magical season of the year, lasted all of 5 minutes. And when it is cold outside, it's very hard to find the motivation to put effort into my outfits.  I'm not going to lie, I pretty much just want to wear leggings and baggy sweaters all day, every day when the weather is poo. Essentially, I'm gravitating towards looking like a sad potato for the rest of the year... but that's just my inner basic bitch alter ego trying to ruin my life. And I'm just not about to let that happen.

So I spent the past week experimenting with cute, cozy and easy outfit formulas to wear this winter. The weather is already brutal enough to put a damper on the day, so I am committed to adding a little bit of joy to each day by feeling cute. And I know that if I don't make it hella easy for myself, I'm not going to follow through with this goal. I hope this winter fashion cheatsheet makes feeling cute super easy for you this winter. If you're anything like me, you feel pretty confident when you look fabulous. I sourced the web for a few winter staples below (ranging from budget-friendly to high-quality and durable pieces), but I'm sure you can find most of these items in your closet if you're trying to save money. Also, All of these items are on sale for Black Friday at the moment, so you won't have to blow your budget!!


*All of these outfits are designed to look great with sneakers, booties, snow boots or the staple over-the-knee boot this season.




I feel so luxurious and regal whenever I wear a cashmere sweater. There's nothing wrong with adding a little bit of luxury into your everyday life.

I LOVE this outfit combo. But I do admit, it can be hard to find thigh-high tights that stay up by themselves. I've tried using double-sided tape but it rarely works. To achieve this sexy look, your best bet is to order fashion tape or a garter belt. I know garter belts are traditionally associated with lingerie, but who cares. It's your little secret. Plus here in NYC, people wear lingerie as part of their outfits all the time. I personally love this fashion element. It's fun to pair with more conservative pieces like an oversized, turtleneck sweater dress. Contrast always makes an outfit for interesting.






Thanks again for taking a moment to read this post. Your support means so much to me. I hope you look and feel fabulous this winter season. And I hope you take advantage of all the amazing sales this season... but like, only a reasonable amount.

P.S. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, so it's possible that I'll make like 5 cents if you make a purchase. Thank you for supporting my little corner of the internet.

Photo by Osman Rana

Is anyone else as excited about this holiday season and for 2020 to begin as I am? I don't know what caused this sudden shift in my attitude, because I have always been the type of person who doesn't want to start celebrating Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Because let's be honest, Black Friday is my ultimate weakness. But this year, there's something different in the air. My drastic stance on the Christmas before vs Christmas after Thanksgiving debate might be correlated with the drastic winter weather we are experiencing in the northeast. It got cold real freaking fast here. We had like 3 weeks of nice fall weather, and that was it. So instead of being sad that fall ended sp quickly, I'm just going to embrace all the winter holiday activities asap.

We had our Holiday Editor and Influencer event at work this week and that just sealed my fate. I'm in full holiday mode, and it feels freaking incredible. Christmas music makes me happy. Drinking hot chocolate while walking through all the holiday markets in NYC makes me happy. Watching all the painful cheesy, but somehow amazing Hallmark and Netflix holiday movies makes me happy. It's so easy to integrate simple and fun things into your day during the holiday season. I constantly talk about how I am on a mission to add more joy and fulfillment to my life. You know, make positive changes so I'm not miserable. And in my opinion, the holiday season offers so many low-key, yet rejuvenating activities that you can do solo or with friends, family and SOs. It's the perfect season to ignore all the commercial crap/societal pressures and learn what really matters to you. This is where I'll be focusing my attention for the rest of the year. I'm sure some of you can relate.

• We partnered with popbar at our work event this week and it was amazing!!! There's a cute location right by West 4th St. in NYC. I'm planning to stop by soon, grab a cup and walk around West Village and look at all the holiday decor. 
• Shopping Cart: Here are all the accessories I’m loving from work right now for the holidays!!

• I’m copying this holiday makeup look from Ashley Brooke!! But tweaking it to fit my skin tone!
• Menu: I want to make both of these dishes ASAP. I'm not going to lie; I'm pretty lazy when it comes to cooking but I also want to eat clean, budget-friendly meals. This walnut crusted salmon seems like the answer to my prayers. And this side dish just sounds incredible. 
• I need this Zodiac necklace. Been wanting to invest in quality pendants because they are my favorite jewelry piece and my set from Madewell tarnished. Need a classic set 
• So Cute!!! I want this Christmas themed Monopoly board game! I believe Carly the Prepster shared this and I was like "add to cart".
• Charm School: What a cute post about being charming... but not in like a manipulative, sociopathic way. More of in a "spread kindness" kind of way.  
• I think I’m more of a townhouse gal than a luxe condo girl… but I wouldn’t be mad about living in any of these luxury high-rises in NYC. Oy … one day haha.
• Champagne Problems: I need to go to this new Champagne bar in NYC sooooo freaking soon! Champagne is my favorite. 
• Financial food for freaking thought!! I love reading all the financial diaries that are so popular now. It's so fascinating and usually, I can learn from the smart money moves or financial mistakes of others.  
• Boss Babe: It’s totally ok if we don’t have a clear career path. In fact, there are a lot of pros to it… thank goodness! 

Photos: @ananewyork, linuslorentzen, lulus

I am so excited for 2020 to begin. This whole year has been intense, but everyday, I feel like my relationship with myself gets stronger and stronger, I am able to spot my dysfunctional habits faster and faster, and I am learning that it's ok that I still feel like a complete and total mess. I'm a typical 25-year-old who is experiencing a quarter life crisis. It's kind of comical from afar. Laughing at myself is the fastest way for me calm the fuck down. I know there is so much to be grateful for and we are so lucky to live in America where we have the potential to create any life we please. Why waste time feeling sorry for ourselves for too long?