Good lord, the weekend I had. Santacon forever does me dirty. I think next year I may have to skip out on it. We never have a good run and this year may have just done it for me.

It was fun for a bit, though. I mean, day drinking in the greatest city in the world, with your best friends and everyone is dressed as Santa? It's a recipe for fun and disaster.

For the occasion, I needed to make my nails more festive, of course. It's the week before Christmas and my nails need to be as festive as possible. 

In my December Birchbox(to be reviewed later this week), I received a Ruffian nail polish in Ruffian Red. I've seen this brand in other Birchboxes and have been waiting for my chance for one to pop up in mine.

I used this Ruffian Red with my trusty Sephora by OPI "It Looks like Rain, Dear" gold sparkle polish and created my classic, holiday nail look.

What are you wearing on your nails this Monday?

I apologize for last week not having a Links to Love post up...it was a bad week. I know I'm really vague about my personal life on the blog and I don't know whether that bothers anyone or not. I don't know whether or not you guys want to know about my problems or if I really want to put my real life problems out into the world this way.

Anyways...this week was a whole lot better and Christmas is in two weeks! I'm so excited! The energy in the air is so cheery and I think I like Christmas so much better this year because I'm not in school. I could enjoy December 1st-25th without suffering through all nighters and finals. 

I've been spending my nights sitting by the Christmas tree, watching Christmas movies and unwinding from the day. It really is so nice to not have to study for finals for the first time in years. 

Another thing about this week that was fabulous was that I got all my Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases...and continued to shop along with getting a new Influenster VoxBox and Birchbox in the mail. 

Tomorrow I'm going to Santacon (read my post on last minute costume ideas) and I'm so excited to see my friends, it's actually ridiculous. 

Enjoy the weekend and here is some light reading for the weekend!

This little boy dressed up as a UPS man for a day and I've never cried harder.

29 Lessons From Your 20s...this is incredible. Thank you Hallie!

I never thought to cook an egg into my oatmeal but this makes it sounds good.

Kate Middleton was in NYC this week and I didn't see her #boo but she wore J.Crew and it was wonderful.

This baby has no idea how twins are a thing and it's adorable.

I hate everyone.

Love like the movies doesn't exist. 

Marry the complicated girl, we're so much more fun.

Happy Friday and enjoy the second to last weekend till Christmas!

With the holidays come holiday bar crawls....

Or is that just me and all the people in NYC? A bar crawl to celebrate the most wonderful time of year seems weird but not to the thousands of Santas who every year, run through the streets of Manhattan, drunk and disorderly.

Santacon is a beloved tradition in New York (and they try to shut us down but they can't) and I know there are definitely other Santacon-like bar crawls across the country.

I blogged about my first Santacon experience last year and I'm tackling it again this up coming weekend with all my alumni friends.

I'm honestly really excited about it this year, mostly because I know what to expect, I'll be with all my best friends that I haven't seen in a while, and I'm in need of alcohol, desperately.

The one thing I struggle with in times like this is finding a fun outfit to wear. These types of events always sneak up on me and I never have time to prepare nor do I have the motivation to think of creative ideas.

As of right now, I'm wearing a Grinch sweater and a Santa hat. We'll see if my plans change...

If you're on the fence with your costume or are unsure if you're going to actually be attending, here are some last minute ideas.

Santacon 1 by royallypink featuring Revlon

//Ugly Christmas Sweater: I think I may be the only person who doesn't have an ugly Christmas sweater in their wardrobe but if you're stuck on a creative, Santacon idea, go simple. Grab that sweater, jeans, boots, and a Santa hat and you're good to go. No one will judge your decision.

Santacon2 by royallypink featuring leather handbags

//Character or movie: This sort of goes along with throwing on an ugly Christmas sweater but throwing in your favorite holiday movie into your costume is a really fun option. It's still really simple and easy to throw together but will still give you the holiday impact.

Santacon 3 by royallypink featuring a brown purse

//Reindeer: This is another really easy costume that you can make as outlandish as possible. I was a reindeer last year and we went as 'holiday' as possible. Grab yourself a pair of reindeer ears, a white shirt, brown leggings, brown boots, and a cut ton drawn on nose and you have yourself a Santacon outfit.

These outfits are also great ideas for fun, holiday parties that invite you to dress up. They're just fashionable and fun enough to be acceptable on all accounts.

What are your costume ideas for holiday parties and events?

This past weekend was the last one of the Fall semester and goodness was it bittersweet. There were no real plans floating around campus; people were still studying for finals and writing papers despite the fact that the library closed at 10pm. 

I, however, was one of the few that stayed on campus even though I was finished with finals. The reason for my lingering around campus besides the fact that I did not want to admit that the Fall semester was over? 

Santacon.

If you haven't heard of this lovely event, it's an annual "bar hop" in Manhattan and across other major cities in the country. Everyone dresses up as Santa or other Christmas characters and do a bar crawl to participating bars. 

The bar hopping part not included because everyone should be acting responsibly, Santacon is quite the experience. It was the first time I attended because I was finally legal and I have never seen anything like this. It was hysterical and wonderful and the perfect event to put you in the Christmas spirit.

Every where you looked in the city, you saw someone dressed as Santa or Mrs. Clause or an elf--there was so much Christmas cheer. No one thought twice when we sang Christmas carols on the subway dressed as reindeer--it was as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

My friends and I dressed as the different reindeer (I was Vixen) and we got into the city around 10:30am. As we walked through Grand Central Station, we saw that random city-goers were taking photos and videos of us and everyone else participating in Santacon. 

I had a tourist stop me and one of my friends to take a picture with us because it was so strange to see reindeer and Mrs. Clause in the subway station.

To make the day better and even more Christmasy, it snowed! We walked around Manhattan, dressed like Christmas in the snow! It was perfect.

I honestly had one of the best times (minus the crowds and expensive drink specials) I had in a while. It was the best thing I could've asked for to put me in the Christmas spirit! 

What did you do this weekend? Have you ever heard of Santacon?