Outfit: Holly Holiday Remix

While this particular outfit isn't as festive, I wanted to do a remix of this dress I wore around the same time last year. Unfortunately, the scrunched part of the dress sits higher than my natural waist so it protruded above the skirt in a rather unsightly way if I wasn't careful. Rather than worry about that, I decided to wear it anyway just because I really liked how the outfit turned out (just don't look too closely! :P). And just look how beautiful this little ginkgo tree is. Once a shade of light green now a lovely gold. Almost like a tree with thousands delciately gold-winged butterflies resting on their branches. I would love to come across an enormous full grown ginkgo tree. I remember when I was very young, one of my teachers told me that some gingko trees give off an odorous smell when it sheds its berries and its leaves start to turn yellow, signifying the coming of fall. I've never been at the right time at the right moment to experience this and honestly, I'm not sure I want to. I heard it's quite putrid!

It's a strange feeling when you see an older picture of yourself and wonder how you've changed over the year. For me, it's bittersweet. It marks a difficult period of time for me and one I don't like to reflect on. But some memories don't fade so easily, serving as reminders of how far I've come. I've learned since that I don't handle stress well at all. It took me years to finally see the damage it was doing to me. So now, I've taken matters into my own hands to remove myself from those types of stressful situations. See if I can build a future for myself and survive.