two baffling realizations this morning:

one. that i am actually awake at this hour. it's been a while.
two. that i will be off to canada in less than a week.

and they both mean one thing: that christmas is less than two weeks away!

yum! doesn't think look like such a yummy bento?

i am so excited-- this is my favorite holiday of the year.
i think it obviously branched from my love of presents as a child, but as i grew up, i came to appreciate less and less the gifts i received
and came to appreciate more and more the time i got to spend with my family.

i have family scattered all over the globe... and it is only during this time of any given year that someone decides to visit us... and it almost always means that we're off somewhere traveling. it's such a blessing that my family is like this; given it's not the most traditional of christmases, it is my family's tradition, and it's probably my favorite.
and they all wonder why i love traveling. pshaw.

counting down the days...

Goodness. 

it's been forever since I've stepped foot in a Zara... and now my store deprivation has caused my sleep deprivation, and now I am stuck on their American website drooling over everything. 

and then... bingo. it hits me.

ladies & gents, I present to you the court shoe. 

cut with a sexy open side, subtly racy yet sophisticated... oh Zara you did it again. 

& the cap toe here is such a gorgeous touch! Definitely echos of Chanel here. 

& it even comes in a lower heel... 

oh, plus its covered in glitter. I repeat... glitter. YES!