Wear All the Christmas Presents!

One of the best parts of getting presents is spending the first few weeks of January wearing all the new stuff you racked up at Christmas. (Is my materialism showing? Oops, better tuck that away.) Anyway, I had a lot of fun bringing home all the clothes and jewelry I've accumulated over the holidays, either from gifts or shopping, and sometimes the style planets align and things I've found and things I've been given  come together in a fortuitously constructed outfit.

Such was the case with this outfit... my bff Sara got me the necklace and then I just happened to find this little gem of a dress for... wait for iiiiit... $7.56! I just adore those "online purchase" returns that they somehow mysteriously mark down to practically nothing, allowing me to snatch them up. Yay!

Necklace: gift (No idea where she got it... sorry!)

Dress: Target

Boots: Bandolino, a gift from my wonderful husband! 

I fell in love with this two-tone pair when I saw some on Pinterest months ago, and finally found these at Belk. They had the same style in three different brands... Rampage (I don't mind a $20 pair of boots but the "brown" was more reddish and I just really didn't care for it), these, and a pair of Michael Kors (and this little piggy said "Ha, ha, ha" all the way home from the $300 price tag.) I was happy with the mid-range price because they weren't exorbitant but were still really nice quality. I can feel kind of like a biker in all black boots (right, Brook?) but sometimes they are necessary. I think the cognac softens them up a little bit and allows me to wear them literally with anything. Win/win.

Also, is this the longest paragraph ever typed about a pair of boots? Maybe. 

I normally would have worn heels with this but I thought the boots winterized the dress a little bit since it's a pretty thin material. I love that it has long sleeves... it's so rare to find a dress like that! And since it is a lighter fabric I can wear it in the summer with the sleeves rolled up. Or with a cardigan, or a jean jacket... 

....AND it's red, white and blue! Hello Fourth of July outfit!!! (Way to plan ahead, right?) 

A couple more presents I'm absolutely loving: 

My parents got me a new watch (from Belk) and I have worn it every day. I've always been a watch person but for the last few years I've kind of stopped (because the battery on my last watch died and I was too lazy to get a new one) but this is one I love enough to take care of! 

And then there's this scarf from Old Navy. I bought the dark green one in November (after coveting Cori's for weeks!) and Jonathan bought me this oatmeal-colored one for Christmas. I love it. It's warm but not suffocating; when I wore the green one to Stone Mountain last week my neck wasn't cold all day, which was a pretty big deal. (Oh, and this shiny striped top was a steal at Gap last week. Yes, another gift for myself... but how could I afford not to?)

What did you get for Christmas? Are you wearing it all at once? Could you wear it all at once, to make me feel better? Thanks.

Ash

Linked up with Lindsey!