Valentine's Day 2016

(Dress: Unique Vintage/ flower crown: Forever 21/ necklace: Michal Negrin/ the bodysuit that wouldn't stop showing: Figleaves.com)

This year I was lucky enough to spend my third Valentine's Day with Elijah, which included dressing up to take these pictures before eating our home-cooked lasagna. Elijah isn't big on pictures, so it is truly a testament to how much he loves me that he got dressed up and smiled for the camera despite being able to smell the lasagna, fresh out of the oven and calling out names. I am so grateful to him for all the other little and not so little things he does for me that make me feel so loved. We're each other's best friends, and Valentine's Day really is a day to reflect on how wonderful and special that is.

Another wonderful thing I really enjoyed about this Valentine's Day was the amount of my friends who happily chose to celebrated Valentine's Day with their friends and family this year. I think it's so important to remember how many people love us and are there for us in so many ways. Nothing is as important in our lives as the people that help support us and make us who we are. Love is essential to our happiness, but it's also essential to realize that love doesn't have to come from a partner or a significant other. The deepest loves are those based on friendship and family, and if you have that (and chances are you do), celebrate it!

On a more materialistic note, how cute is this Unique Vintage dress? The style is very 1950's but the bright, almost neon pink really makes it more modern and super fun. The color exactly matched my pink rose garlands, and my hair exactly matched my purple rose garlands. 

I have really been loving pink and purple combinations, and last week I actually tried unsuccessfully to introduce some pink into my hair. Turns out the drop of purple was too strong though, and it simply went back to purple. Not that I'm complaining though. I love my purple hair, and I was nervous how the pink would look anyways.

A Beautiful New Year's Eve

(Dress: vintage from Dusty Desert on Etsy/ earrings: Claire's/ bow: Forever 21)

Last night was a wonderful way to end a wonderful year. I wore a beautiful dress that complimented the beauty of some flowers in our yard, and then went to the Cheesecake Factory with my family. I ended the night by watching Disney movies and eating cheesecake with my lovely boyfriend, who gave me the best New Year's kiss ever.

2015 has been wonderful, and I have every hope and belief that 2016 will be even better. I have lots of plans, travel and otherwise, and I cannot express how excited I am for them all!

I hope you all had a great time celebrating the new year, and are just excited as I am for everything to come!

Love,

Michelle

P.S. I couldn't resist including a picture with Elijah (below), because he looked so darn cute (as always).

A Very Vintage Christmas

(Dress: vintage from Ebay/ bow: Forever 21/ shoes: Target)

This Christmas Eve I was lucky enough to get to wear one of the most beautiful dresses I've ever seen and which I am lucky enough to own. I was quite overdressed for my family's humble gathering at my abuela's house, but I always take the chance to take out some of the fancier pieces in my closet on Christmas. Otherwise they would barely see the light of day, other than when I throw them on in my apartment on the days when I'm overcome by the beauty of a particular vintage gown. Besides, isn't it right to wear some of my favorite dresses on my favorite holiday?

This dress is by far my favorite in my closet now and maybe ever, because it has everything I could ever want in a dress. I love sheer bishop sleeves with cuffs, details like belts and buttons that add to the design and remain consistent with it, chiffon and velvet combinations, sheer layered skirts that I can twirl in, cinched waists, and romantic floral detail. This gorgeous gown has it all, including registers and registers of roses, my absolute favorite flower.

This dress even looks very similar to this beautiful dress featured in the Katy Perry cover story of Vogue for July 2013, which had the most beautiful and romantic dresses in shades of red and black that I have ever seen. I'm still dreaming of the day I find a similar dress to this Dolce and Gabbana one, which was my favorite in the whole article. Maybe Santa will bring it for me one year, if I'm really good...

On this Christmas Day and everyday, I hope you enjoy your family and friends and wear the things that make YOU happy, even if they are dressy or different or even super casual. And remember that you don't have to wait to be invited to a ball to put on your favorite gown and feel beautiful! I certainly never do.

Love,
Michelle

A Very College Christmas

 
This year, for the first time ever, I really decorated my college apartment for Christmas and went all out. I always want to, but every year I get discouraged because of everything that piles on at the end of the semester. Also discouraging is the fact that I don't even spend Christmas in college anyway and  thus won't ever get to enjoy the decorations for long. This year I decided to go all out anyways, so that the apartment was a little bit cheerier for finals and because I was really feeling the holiday spirit.

As a broke college student, I didn't have much money so I just used what lights I already had, got a few garlands and two rolls of wrapping paper from the dollar store, and made everything else. One of the easiest but funnest things I did was turn literally every door in our apartment (minus the two that have blinds) into snowmen.

My favorite part of the decorations was probably the little living room within our own living room that I created with the fake fireplace and tree. The fireplace was made of a cardboard box that I covered in paper with some strips of tape for the grout which I then painted to make the bricks before adding the other details. The Christmas tree was made out of cardboard boxes I stacked up with my upside-down laundry basket at the top, covered with spray-painted paper and decorated with a garland and a string of paper Christmas lights I made. Above the fireplace I even hung some "frames," two out of three which were family portraits in stick figure form contributed by my boyfriend, which I really loved.

Even though I am back in Miami for the holidays, I still wanted to share the decorations that I put so much love and time into (twenty hours to be exact) and a couple of the Christmas pictures I took with my wonderful roommates. I am really excited for decorating again today, this time my house back in Miami, as it appears my family has waited just for me to put up all our ornaments!

I hope all of you are getting into the holiday spirit, whatever holiday that may be, and that you all get to spend the last month of the year happily with family and friends!

Love,
Michelle