2017 Taught Me To Wear Ruffles

The clock struck midnight last night and a new year started.  I was in my pajamas cuddled up under a million layers of blankets in my bed watching lions on Planet Earth 2.  There was a little tea light burning in a mercury glass votive on my side table and the flicker of light was dancing subtly across the ceiling.  My pup was across the room snoring in his bed looking as cute as ever.  I couldn't have thought of a better way to end the year.

2017 had been an interesting year for me.  It seems like every three months my life completely changed.  I worked my bum off, finished college, started and departed a grown-up job, saw the mountains, found friends, learned how to be alone, and finally replaced my sentimental yet completely dead black booties. Looking back, I'm glad the year turn out how it has.  It was hard, rough, and raw - but it was exactly what I needed.

I also wore ruffles.

It seems like a silly thing to boil down an entire year down to - Ruffles.  I mean really Kathy?  Ruffles?  I realize I sound like an utter loon but bear with me.  There is a point in your life when a switch is flipped.  You realize that the most important thing is actually yourself.  Not what others think of you, not the latest and greatest newfangled invention, not the dang weather, but you.  If you don't feel good then nothing else will.

A trend started to appear as the year went on.  I realized while flipping through Pinterest, walking in shops, and browsing the interwebs, that I enjoy wearing ruffles.  I'm not chatting about the kind you would find on a toddler's Sunday best outfit but ruffles still in a whimsical sense of the word.  I purchased the sweater with the ruffle lined sleeves, a Dalmatian con ruffle blouse of my dreams, a bomber with the ruffle detail... eventually, it came to a point when I realized that whenever I wear ruffles I had better days.  I felt like myself.  I felt happy.

Now I continue to wear ruffles.  Not because they're a cute fashion staple (though they totally are), but because anything is only worth doing if you feel happy.