I didn’t even ask yesterday — how was your Thanksgiving?
Aaron and I spent the holiday with his family and we had a wonderful time. We ran the turkey trot in Fort Worth, made s’mores over the bonfire, and played games late into the night.
Instead of Black Friday shopping like last year, we did the complete opposite and spent Friday deep in nature. It was so restful, and I want to make it into it’s own tradition. Black Friday — unplugged.
So the holiday season is officially here! I’m so excited. Our Christmas tree is up, although I haven’t put up any other decorations in our apartment yet since we moved a week ago — priorities, people.
Here, I’ve got a couple of Christmas-y things to share with you:
A holiday playlist I made for you (Especially awesome to play in the background for a party.)
My favorite book to read in December (This book always helps me find peace + rest at the end of the year. I get excited about December just because it means I get to read it again.)
So how was your Thanksgiving?
Hat: Forever 21
Shirt: old from J.Crew (similar)
Button Up Shirt: old from J.Crew (similar)
Bottoms: Madewell
Shoes: Kenneth Cole
Bag: Nordstrom
Bracelets: Moulton
xo
Every time you wear that plaid shirt I think I need to get one for myself! And that hat is jus super cute, too :) Thanks for the playlist and for writing such a great blog, you’re my biggest wardrobe inspiration!
What a great idea to add a holiday playlist! I just finished my new playlist of favorites for the 6am barre classes I teach, and I will definitely use a couple of these songs in December! I just followed you on Spotify. I already love your blog, and I just found it this weekend!
Caroline- Just found you last week and immediately culled my wardrobe down to 40 items. I am loving, loving, loving it and truly finding that the experience is freeing up mental energy! Can’t wait to see how I feel long term but for now, I am awfully happy!
Thanks for the playlist- I’m listening now and there are lots of new-to-me songs. Super fun!
Caroline, your blog–and that of Into Mind, LIght by Coco, and Minimal Beauty–are not only refreshing, but also illustrate a growing trend of people now in their 20’s and 30’s, which is bleeding over into all generations as evidenced by the large following you have of people of all ages. That trend is collecting experiences, not things, which is perfectly illustrated in your post today. I’ve been reading that some anthropologists and other culture-observing people believe that this trend will shape and change the world, not just economically but also politically. This trend is also illustrated by the rapidly growing numbers of followers of Tim Ferriss and his “4-Hour” books, primarily his “4-Hour Work-Week”. It seems to me to be a very healthy trend producing people of your generation who are even more emotionally and financially healthy and overall much more happy than their recent ancestors, who work(ed) long hard hours to buy big foo-foo houses that they essentially only sleep/slept in because they had to work long hard hours in order to pay for the big foo-foo houses.
This is a huge generalization, of course, and not all people who live in big foo-foo houses are stressed & unhappy. But, again generally speaking, I see my current college students being much happier than those of the previous couple of decades, and they frequently talk about exploring life and the world much more than students of previous decades, while talking much less about finding a permanent 9to5 job and a mortgage as students of previous decades. At the same time they talk more about permanent connections with friends & family & a marriage partner, new family holiday traditions, and far less about what they are shopping for or buying for holidays. It seems that they are in many ways returning to the values of our great-great grandparents while forging their own futures in an even less materialistic way. Since this seems to make people generally happier & less stressed, how can this not be extremely good?!…
What great Thanksgiving & Christmas traditions you are forging for yourself & your husband. Thanks for sharing them with us!
Oh wow, I love this! I really hope these predictions are true. I know many of us strive for a simpler life and more meaningful life choices and traditions, and it’s so great to hear that it appears to be an overarching trend of our generation. That gives me hope!
Glenda, great reflexion. I hope it turns true.
What a beautiful reflection, Glenda. Thank you so much for sharing this! xo Caroline
I love Ann Voskamp! Haven’t read that one yet but look forward to it.
Love your blog Caroline. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Caroline, I found your blog about a month ago and it’s been life-changing to say the least. For me, less clothing has translated to less stress and more focus. Keep up the great work! I’m listening to your playlist now, it’s lovely and just what I need to make it through finals :)
The close up of you in the hat is so beautiful. I am such a huge fan of this blog. It has revolutionized the way that I look at clothes. I have been increasingly more creative with mix and matching my pieces and for that I thank you!! Oh and of course you love Ann Voscamp– you have great style across the board!
I really love your blog – I found it a couple of months ago. Having worked in retail (no longer – I am currently a therapist working towards licensure), I really appreciate your take on less is more. I am pretty confident in being able to dress myself (benefit of working retail), but I am definitely at the point where I am reevaluating my style. I love your effortless outfits – even if you say they aren’t effortless. And I love your voice. Thanks! My Thanksgiving was good btw – good food and company and great cheesy Hallmark movies! :)
Caroline I always look forward to your posts. I strive to have a capsule wardrobe someday, but for now I have just done some major purging and only wear what I absolutely love! Am also trying not to buy anything.
Thank you for this playlist. It is perfect for work and will play at home while decorating too!
I have a hat a lot like that one only grey and without the pompom. :) We had a good Thanksgiving. It’s the first year both sets of our parents have lived in our town, so we all had dinner at my parents’ and dessert at his parents’. (Luckily our parents are friends with each other too!) It would have been the perfect, quiet holiday if we didn’t have four noisy kids. So it was the perfect, uneventful yet noisy holiday.
Oh! Oh! Oh! I’m so excited to check out that book! I read One Thousand Gifts and really loved it. Her writing is beautiful, poetic, and profound, and it pointed me in just the direction I needed to go in. Thank you so much. I tried to get my Christmas shopping done early so I could really focus on the season, but I found that even though I’d gotten it all done early, I’d still gotten hopelessly sucked in to the materialism. It’s time for a detox.
Girl. I knew I loved you but that book selection sealed the deal.
seriously!!
Seriously loving that bag! I had no idea they were making bags reversible these days!
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That book sounds amazing! Going to have to pick it up. And of course I am dying to know, why did you move out of your uber cute apt??
I love that you shared Ann’s book – I really resonate with her words. I am reminded that this season is of preparation. It is a place to go each day and to teach our young ones to do the same. Following out Advent reading, we prayed for the 748 million people around the world who don’t have clean water. It all puts it in perspective.
I experienced my first Black Friday this year. I expected it to be crowded, but I was excited for big sales and an adrenaline rush. The sales weren’t that great and there actually wasn’t a huge crowd. Maybe I went to the wrong places. I think in the future I’ll just participate in Cyber Monday instead :P -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
Love the playlist! Listening to it this morning while I work on my Christmas cards!