Happy Monday Friends!
Word on the street is that today is the start of most peoples holiday break! Isn’t it sweet? I know I talk about Christmas pretty much non-stop around here, but that is because it truly is such a beautiful time of the year! With every passing Holiday season it seems I fall more in love with it. Each year the Lord has something to new to teach me or a past lesson to be revisited.
I’ll be honest, last year Christmas went by far too quickly. I let it. I filled each moment with lists rather than stillness, or noise rather than quiet. Even this morning as I was making breakfast I had to remind myself that it was okay to pause the podcast I was listening to and take a few moments to make breakfast in silence. It’s in these in-between moments that we make room for the Lord to stir us, show us beautiful things, or speak to us. Now don’t get me wrong, the Lord doesn’t need my help to accomplish those things, but He is present in such a beautiful way when we are willing to lay our time humbly at His feet and and embrace stillness.
In addition to this, my mind just needs a break. When I am going-going-going, my mind needs to be told to slow down, over and over again. It takes a few days of rest before my mind truly starts relaxing. My prayer for weeks has been that I would be able to “shut off” my work-mind when I need to. When I need to be present, that my mind would be still rather than thinking about what is coming next or needs to get done. Do you function like this?
Yesterday I planned on spending the day with a book and instead I spent the whole day on my laptop. I got it out to find someone a Christmas gift and lost my day! I looked up a bit later and it was 5pm! It’s crazy how easily we can do that! Staring at a screen is not how I want to spend my holiday season! To combat this I’ve started a new rule (as of this morning so we’ll see how long it lasts 😉). I am only allowed to check social media 3 times per day! If I open Instagram habitually it still counts as one of those 3! 3 times is still PLENTY and I’m embarrassed that 3 times is my version of moderation! I’m hopeful that by setting some boundaries I’ll be more likely to pick up a book than my phone!
My goal is just to take this monthly slowly! I don’t want to look to 2018 to soon and miss the gifts right in front of my eyes in this season. We still have a few weeks left of the year, my favorite weeks, and I want to savor them!
Anyway, on to the outfit! If you see me out and about, it’s likely that I’ll be wearing exactly this! My red coat and my green hunters! I spent all last year eyeing this coat! I was hesitant to buy it because of the price and I questioned how often I would actually wear a red coat. Turns out all the time! I happened to catch it for 60% off and am so happy I did! I wear this coat almost every day! The only other coat I wear as often is my long puffy freezing-temps coat, but who wants to throw that over a dress? This coat is the perfect weight, goes with everything (believe it or not), great with anything from jeans to a dress! I even found out while taking these photos that the fur on the hood comes off! Woohoo! In retrospect, having known how much I would truly wear it, I would have paid full price for it. It’s that good! J Crew and J Crew Factory each have their own version of this coat every year! Mine is the Factory version which unfortunately does not come in red this year. The J Crew version does come in red though and it is dreamy! Here are a few more red styles!
Annddd my Hunters. If you live in an area with lots of snow or rain and you don’t own Hunters, stop what you are doing right now and get some! I waited a long time before buying a pair and as with the coat, had I known how much I would wear them I would have bought them sooner. Little tip if you live in Grand Rapids, the Wolverine store in Rockford has a crazy big yearly sale (usually in the summer) and I snagged this pair of Hunters for $15 and a second pair for $20! You can’t beat that! The sizing of Hunters is a little odd so I would try them on in a store even if you end up ordering them online later! You do need thick socks under them for colder temps, but when it comes to trudging through snow, you can’t beat them!
My fur scarf is from Stella & Dot! I have been looking for a similar one for quite some time, but the fur on them is always a little janky. I was pleasantly surprised by this one and have worn it a ton! It dresses up almost anything!
While I know this coat/boot combo has me walking around looking like a Christmas elf everyday, I’m just fine with that! 😉
Wishing you a day to savor!
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