Cheers to Friday!!!
My family heads out tomorrow morning for our annual Christmas Beach trip to Grand Cayman.
We’re going a little early this year and will be gone by Christmas, which will be spent in Chicago.

It’s bittersweet this year for many reasons.
One of them being it’s my last vacation before the babies arrive! (Not Kipper’s, he still has two more fun trips coming up……lucky!)
While I’m of course so excited for what 2019 will have in store, as someone who loves to travel – and the freedom to be able to travel whenever we can – it makes me sad.  But I’m lucky that I’ve gotten all of these years of adventure and freedom and so many wonderful memories.
And hopefully next Christmas, we’ll be back at the beach experiencing a very different Christmas “vacation” with two healthy sandy babies seeing the ocean for the first time!

ANYWAYS………

A few photos from our final big “just the two of us” trip to London!
I didn’t make it to Notting Hill when I was there, where I had wanted to see the rainbow row of homes, but I did find this little street tucked off to the side right in the heart of Chelsea.  We had just finished a delicious lunch at The Ivy Chelsea Garden and were on the hunt for a new jacket for Kip when I saw this street calling my name!


Oh….. and we did find the perfect jacket for Kip.  It was the most beautiful grey color, loaded with cashmere, fit him like a glove, and was 900 pounds.  So….. I think you know how that shopping trip ended. Hell to the no.   But I swear I still think about that damn coat….. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him in it at least…. he looked straight out of a catalogue.  All of the other jackets we found of course couldn’t compare, but also didn’t fit.  Turns out a London XL does not exist, and if it does, it certainly does not fit broad shouldered Richmonds.  He was Fat Guy In A Little Coat at every store we walked into in Chelsea.

A few favorite pieces that I had packed for London that I will be packing for Chicago :
These Commando Leather Leggings.

I LOVE these. You can read more about why in this post.
They fit in London but now my belly has quite significantly outgrown them.


Luckily I got a pair of Spanx Maternity Leather Leggings for this next chapter.
(Yes….. I think Commando is much better than Spanx for the “leather” aspect, but I have been unable to find any maternity leather leggings that are as good as the maternity pair! So for maternity, I’m back to Spanx!)
(I have also been living in my Zella leggings, and just had to switch to the Zella Maternity Leggings. LOVE.)

Grey Booties. 
These are SO comfortable.  I would wear them for 20,000 steps a day.

BB Dakota Suede Jacket.
Yeah, you’ve seen it 97 times.  Get used it, IT FITS.
And I love it 🙂

Leith Ruched Dress 

This is great on any figure any time.  And has been able to stretch with the pregnancy!
It comes in a zillion colors and is 40% off, too!  Fit is true to size (but snug, hugs everything!)
I wore it in black long sleeve in London (below) and also the grey (above under the jacket)and maroon sleeveless version.

ANYWAYS.
I am off to try to figure out how to pack at 6 months pregnant for a beach vacation AND freezing cold temperatures.  And I’ve realized I never bought a new strapless bra…. so a trip to Target is likely in my future.

And I have a half-way completed Coffee Talk ready
and waiting, so hopefully I’ll be able to finish that this weekend for a Sunday treat for you all 🙂

You can follow along on instagram for our vacation and Christmas adventures!