Illumination

This is my least favorite time of the year. The holidays are over, it's cold, it still gets dark early, and the landscape is brown and dead. I know it's a new year, and I'm suppose to be motivated by the opportunity for a fresh start and all, but my attitude so far has been more like "same shit, different day." It's just so hard for me to be in a good mood this time of year.

I decided to try and lift my spirits by wearing this colorful dress I picked up on sale about a month ago. It's called the Boheme Maxi Dress, and you would think with the word "Boheme" in the name I would have picked this sucker up as soon as it hit the website. However, I was unsure about purchasing it even on sale because it has a few patches of (gasp) animal print on it. In case you didn't know, I despise animal print. Actually, despise is not strong enough of a word. Zebra, Cheetah, Tiger - it makes no difference, I hate them all equally. I'm not quite sure where my disdain for animal print originated. I just feel like it's really obnoxious and gaudy. Maybe it's because I live in the South, and I'm inundated with it all the time. It's on purses, shoes, wreaths, flags, you name it...it's every-fucking-where! No offense to the animal print lovers out there. This is just my opinion. You guys are definitely in the majority, so don't kick my ass for speaking my mind, mmmkay?

With the support of a friend, I managed to get over my prejudice of animal print enough to give this dress a try, because let's face it, everything else about it screams "me." Once it arrived in the mail, and I tried it on - the deal was sealed. Due to the thin material, this dress is probably better suited for warmer temperatures, but I did my best to winterize it.  I resisted the urge to throw on a long cardigan and opted instead for a structured jacket. I finished the look off with a pair of my favorite booties.

Wearing this dress didn't completely snap me out of my Winter blues, but it did lift my spirits a little bit and that's definitely a step in the right direction. During these dark days, I will continue to try and find things to brighten my world. Each day is getting longer, and soon the light and warmth will return.