Cody and I have had New Orleans on our list of adventures for as long as I could remember. We initially planned it for Christmastime this year and then put the vacation on hold when we found out we were pregnant in August. When we lost the baby in October, I suggested we re-plan the trip to give us something to look forward to.
So we did it! We booked our trip for early December and I started building out our long weekend itinerary. I love making itineraries. I loved having something FUN to plan and think about to take my mind off my suddenly dark reality. As I did so, there was only one thing I wished I had to bring with me - something new and festive to photograph for the blog!'
A couple weeks before we left, a vintage style dress brand called Zapaka reached out with interest in a collaboration. It was perfect timing! I selected this Dark Green A-Line dress that they named Homecoming and had way too much fun dressing it up for the holidays. Of course, that meant rocking my ruby red sparkly Robbie heels from BAIT Footwear and ALLLLL the Christmas accessories.
Our weekend in New Orleans was pretty incredible and full of delicious food (po' boys, donuts, and fried delicacies, oh my!) and discoveries (we stumbled upon a Christmas parade, took a kickass haunted tour of the French Quarter, visited the mansion used in American Horror Story: Coven, found a Christmas themed pop up in a bar that served drinks out of Christmas themed tiki cups, and had dinner aboard a massive steamboat) but one thing I loved and appreciated was all the holiday decor!
It was fun posing among the decorations celebrating Christmas and NOT freezing in my dress! Such a strange feeling considering the 12 inches of snow we had sitting in our yard at home. We took these photos outside of the Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street. We didn't stay there but it has an incredible bar made out of a carousel inside!
So this dress! Not only is it a very flattering style (I love this squared neckline SO much more than I thought I would!), it has POCKETS and is super comfortable (very important for all the Christmas treats I plan to eat at all the parties coming up!). I also love the sleeves - they're longer than short-sleeves but not fully 3/4 length either. I like that since I tend to be warmer than everyone else.
Zapaka has a lot of lovely dresses - many are a solid color, which is something I don't gravitate toward so working with them for the holidays was a great opportunity to try something different. Perhaps I should start giving solid-colored dresses a chance!
Currently, Zapaka's holiday section is live and there are SO MANY lovely options ready for your holiday plans. I don't know that we're doing anything fancy for Christmas or New Year's Eve but it's tempting to make some plans JUST so I can rock some of these dresses!
What are your holiday plans? Do they require rocking a pretty dress?
