The first day back to work after a vacation is always rough. In my head, I tell myself I’ll be there bright and early now that I’m all renewed from the time off. In reality, getting up comes way too early, getting ready happens at a snail’s pace, and my brain takes a little extra time to get in gear.

Remember how exciting it used to be to plan what to wear on the first day back to class? Planning exactly what to debut from the fun new clothes you got for Christmas (or the sales after with your friends) to feel on top of your game for a whole new schedule of classes? This wasn’t it. After spending a week and a half primarily wearing various forms of leggings, the idea of putting on work clothes again was a little…foreign. How do I even do this again? Plus, winter has finally started to make an appearance in Indy, so I needed warmth and comfort to ease myself back into the swing of things. I’m also a big believer in forcing myself to feel better with something bright and sparkly. Enter fleece-lined tights, a pop of hot pink, sparkly earrings, and an embellished top…Ok, fine, it’s a fancy sweatshirt – but it does have fun beading, and I always put a collared shirt under it to dress it up for the office.

You totally cannot tell it’s basically a sweatshirt, right? We’ll work on the photography thing.

The other thing that both got me through the day and gave me heart palpitations was the semi-annual Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale. It’s always high anxiety, from the “there are 2,500 people in line ahead of you and here’s our best guess as to how long it will be before you can even see the goods” queue page, to the high-stakes race to see how fast can you look at EVERYTHING, pray your size is left, get it in your tote, and pay to confirm it’s actually yours.

The two After Party Sales are the only time Lilly is in my budget (other than my lovely assortment of koozies and a pretty sweet insulated cooler bag), so I try to make the most of it. My general plan of attack is to try to find two main items: one nice, typically non-print, dress to wear for any occasions I know are already on the calendar (hello, wedding season), and one cotton type dress that I can dress up or down. Last After Party sale my cotton item was actually a romper, but it’s still adorable and made me look like I hadn’t stayed up until 5 a.m. when I wore it to lunch the day after our wedding, so I’ll take it. This After Party was no different, and I was thrilled to snag both an amazing halter-esque shift dress and a super cute cotton dress in a fun print for less than it’d normally cost for just one Lilly dress. I’d link to pics, but it seems the crazy Lilly crowds have done it again, and there are no hints of either dress to be found on the website. Guess we’ll just have to wait for delivery and warmer days to come.

My holiday season officially ended yesterday with our Christmas celebration with my aunt and uncle on my mom’s side. Aunt Cheryl was the relative my sister and I would stay with every summer for a week of pool days, movies, candy, and all sorts of other fun with her and my uncle, so it’s always a good time when we’re all together.

(Left to right: Me, Aunt Cheryl, Mom, and my sister, Sarah. You can’t tell, but Cheryl is actually standing on a crate to look a little taller, so this is one of the few pictures we aren’t laughing hysterically about it.)

We force our boys to take pics for pretty much any and every occasion, so obviously yesterday was no different. Ahem, and note my aforementioned leggings. They’re actually J.Crew’s more structured Pixie pant. I’ve had my eye on them for years, but never took the plunge because of the price tag. Let me tell you, they are worth every penny, and I’m going to wear the crap out of these. I loved them so much, I even snagged a pair of them in charcoal, because who can resist a markdown AND an extra 40% on top of that? And how cute are my sister’s boots?

Finally, because no visit with with my aunt and uncle is complete without receiving our body weight in candy, I give you the candy from the “stocking” bag. I need you to keep in mind that this is just the candy for me and my husband.

Yes, my husband still sorts the candy like a kid on Halloween. I love it.

Happy first day back to real life!