Subtle Romance with Karina Dresses
 The season of love is upon us! I know many people don’t particularly celebrate or care about Valentine’s day, but as a romantic at heart I can’t help but be swept up with excitement every time February rolls around. When I was little, my mom would set up little Valentines and treats at each place for us kids, so we never felt left out or alone. I grew up thinking Valentine’s day as a day you told anyone you loved that you loved them, not just the romantic mushy things for adults. So you can imagine my surprise when I got to adulthood and discovered so many people hold a distaste for Valentine’s day.
Whether it’s the commercialism, the seeming exclusiveness for romantic partners, or maybe just a general hate for love (ha! just kidding), many people come away from Valentine’s day disappointed. And thus, Galentines day and every other iteration of non-romantic, platonic celebrations (usually with copious amounts of chocolate and sappy movies) comes to the rescue. Whether you celebrate the holiday as a romantic one, or a platonic one, I hope you find yourself feeling loved this month!
This year, I will be celebrating three different ways.
One, the traditional romantic Valentine’s day with my husband. I’ll be putting on a va-va-voom dress, we’ll be going out somewhere romantic, and we’ll be consuming copious amounts of delicious food, probably getting too full for dessert, coming home, and I’ll do my best to convince him to watch my favorite romantic movie (2006 Jane Eyre hey). Preferably with chocolate.
Two, I’ll be celebrating with my kids. Like my mom did before me, I plan to set up cute little Valentine stations for them to discover when they wake up. Maybe we’ll make heart-shaped chocolate chip pancakes. We’ll hand-deliver some Valentines to grandparents and cousins, watch their favorite Disney Movie (Aristocats), and just generally spend the day enjoying each other.
And three, we will be celebrating with my cousins. It’s a longstanding tradition for all of the girls in my family to get together on holidays and have a tea party. We have done this for years — as long as I can remember — and it never fails to be wonderful. All of the fancy teacups come out of their boxes, treats are made, luncheon is served, and we all exchange Valentines and catch up with each other. This is usually the only time I really get to see my cousins these days, since we all run busy lives!
And, of course, I’ll be sharing some pink and red outfits here on the blog because I cannot resist the opportunity to dress on-theme! Today I’m wearing this beautiful paisley dress from Karina Dresses‘ latest collection (which launches today!) called, of course, the Sweetheart Collection. I will never run out of praise for Karina Dresses, and you all have heard me gush three times now about their perfection especially for my current gestating body. It’s often hard to find dresses that will accompany a belly without them being maternity dresses, but the Tara and Ruby styles of Karina Dresses are absolutely perfect if you want a non-maternity dress that will transition from pregnancy to breastfeeding to just everyday life!
I absolutely love that these dresses are so dang comfortable and versatile. They’re easy to dress up, dress down, wear around the house, wear out on a date, wear for errands…. you name it, you can wear a Karina Dress for the occasion. And, being 100% US made makes them even more worth supporting! I have yet to find any flaws with these dresses or this company, and I’m so happy that I’ve been able to collaborate with them so much!
Soon, I’ll be coming out with a lookbook of all my Karina Dresses together, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to catch that and many other videos that don’t get cross posted to the blog!
And tell me, what are your Valentine’s Day plans? I’d love to hear!
Dress, c/o Karina Dresses | shoes, thrifted Chase & Chloes | hair flowers, craft store | earrings, thrifted 
