It's Valentine's, No Pressure

If you’ve left the house at all since January, you’ll know that Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. My view on Valentine’s isn’t that it’s a mandate in the vein of “thou shalt go on a date” or “thou must rebel against a Hallmark holiday by getting wasted with thy friends.” I find that a lot of people fall into one or the other category, depending on whatever’s happening for them when February rolls around.

Blazer: C/MEO Collective | Top: Topshop | Jeans: Levi’s | Bag: Salar
Shoes: Tory Burch

For me, Valentine’s is simply an opportunity to celebrate love in whatever form it has taken in your life. Dating someone? Great – celebrate that. Have family around? Celebrate them. Taking the night off to hang out with yourself? Go for it.

Can I take a moment to give a shout out to my friend Bailey? She is a PRIME example of someone who is really good at celebrating love in general, but what she did for Christmas 2018 I think should be an example for us all. She really should have authored that philautia post I did a while back 🙂

For a variety of reasons, Bailey was flying solo this Christmas here in the Bay Area. It was one of those situations where she could have pushed and pulled to cobble some kind of gathering together, but family was far away and friends were scattered and, well, you know how it is.

So instead of having a half-assed get-together with a smattering of the friends that stuck around, Bailey went ALL IN on spending Christmas with herself. She booked herself a hotel room in SF and spent a glorious two days reveling in her own company. I believe a friend did pop by at some point to help her drink champagne, but for the most part, it was Bailey in a bathrobe, watching movies from the nineties (OK, I don’t remember if they were nineties movies specifically, but knowing Bailey, I think that’s a safe bet #MaryKateandAshleyForever).

When I got back from Brazil and asked her how her holiday went, she lit up. I believe we talked about how amazing hotel bedding is. Especially if you’re eating a Belgian waffle from room service on said bedding. She had the BEST time doing something she normally wouldn’t do for herself.

And that’s the point of any holiday, right? Embrace what’s around you. If you have an amazing night out planned, enjoy it. If you’re staying in, like Rodrigo and I most likely will, have fun. Flying solo? Make like Bailey in Xmas 2018 and indulge a bit, whatever that looks like for you. There is NO WRONG WAY to do Valentine’s – and hey, if it’s not your thing and you don’t celebrate at all, there’s no shame in that, either.

A Note on the Outfit

Oh yeah – this is a fashion blog, so let me mention what I’m wearing in these pics. I love building on different shades of color, especially hues in the same family, which is why we have burgundy mules, a true red bag (and what a bag! OMG love this brand – Salar), and a pink coat (waiting for my sister to comment on that, haha).

Cliche to do red and pink for V day? Maybe. But who cares? Life is short. If I want to wear an oversized pink blazer, I’m going to wear it. If I want a fruit tart for lunch, I’m going to eat it. Really embracing the “embrace what you got” theme for the day. Haha.