1) It's too cold to wear half of the outfits I want to, kinda like this one. I feel cool and awesome and almost froze to death taking these photos.

2) Even though it's progressively getting lighter in the afternoon/evenings, as far as pictures go the lack of ambient light is shit. Especially because upping the ISO levels as I did below, result in fuzzy pictures  (which I kind of knew it would but I was hoping I was wrong.

Maybe we should collectively decide I'm going for a "vintage" aesthetic? That could work. In fact, screw it, I put these in A Color Story and now they're *deliberately* retro. I'm fashion forward, that's right, and not a procrastinator.

Since I like to be as real with myself as possible, I'm going to say that title up there is 100% correct. Even if I tried at it I probably couldn't pull off as effortlessly cool an outfit again (though believe you me, I will try). Stumbling upon this jacket in Ralph Lauren is one of those holy grail discoveries I'm not typically known for. I'd tried so many times since watching Lizzy's Testing Basics review to find that perfect leather/faux leather jacket of my own, and it'd always been close but no cigar. I did find one for a friend though, so not a total loss.

But this jacket is just AMAZING. It is both already broken in but still structured, fitted in the shoulder but still manages to hang perfectly unzipped (I could zip it, but I probably won't). And the final reason that I couldn't walk away from it was that it was down to $200. FROM $800. It was 50% off the red price and that, folks, is why you sometimes go into stores you usually can never afford, and try on everything.

I realize it's a little ridiculous to have more than one puffer jacket, but I feel like now, with the three I have, I'm done buying them (face palm). I have one "sport" puffer (Eddie Bauer) and two "fashion" puffers (H&M and Oysho) and that seems to be what I reach for. Today is a bit of a chill outfit, but looking out at the ice and snow I know that just by switching out the boots for a waterproof variety, I'd be ready for pretty much anything.

While I'm sure we all know I could wear pretty dresses for practically eternity, when I was out with Ali of Heliantha Photography I also thought it might behoove me to switch it up a bit. After rediscovering these jeans from GAP a few months ago (which I think I've owned for almost 4 or 5 years now), it makes me really happy to pull them out again to share on the blog.

I love the flare shape and dark wash, plus paired here with a just a simple white and not so simple velvet blazer, it results in a outfit that works great for work or play.

First, welcome to December! I've been listening to Christmas music since Halloween and decorated my apartment the weekend of my birthday, but now the rest of you (who want to) can feel comfortable joining me in the overabundance of holiday spirit.

This turned out to be one of those posts I had to step away from a bit. I love this jacket, but after looking back at the way I'd styled it previously I almost felt like I wasn't doing it justice in this outfit. It's hard to explain, but I think I'm actually going to have to put in extra work to make this piece feel casual enough to be thrown over outfits when I'm running out the door.

So this jacket is still here, but let's see if I can pull it out more often, ok? I'll let you know how it goes.