It’s finally Friday, and a day to celebrate love. No matter if your sweetheart has two legs or four (mine definitely is dark and handsome, with great hair, warm brown eyes, four legs and a heart of gold) I hope your day is wonderful, and that you remember the number one person to love is yourself.

I read something recently that said – how can you grow or accomplish great things if someone is always being mean to you? The answer is, you can’t – yet, so much of the time we live with someone that is constantly mean – cutting us down and second guessing all of our actions. And that person is our selves. We can be our harshest critic – we know our flaws, and we see every action… “I can’t believe you ate that…. Really another nap, you should have gone to the gym instead then you’d look better, gosh your hair is so thin, ugh your skin is getting wrinkles and looking old, you better make enough money to go get it lasered. Are you really doing enough and working hard enough? You’re going to be broke if you don’t do more.” That inner monologue is incessant and exhausting and while the logical mind can prevail it takes a tremendous amount of work to be kind to ourselves; to tell the mean girl to shut the fuck up.

For a day focused on love (not work!) I’ve paired an oversized and distressed red sweater with waxed black skinny jeans and boots. I found this sweater this winter (new with tags at Namedroppers) and loved it – it’s big and cozy, but the cutouts make it a bit more fun than a typical oversized sweater. When matched with fitted jeans it balances well. Because it’s the start of a long weekend, wearing it with an oversized belt, and fun gold jewelry makes for a more weekend appropriate outfit.

So, on this Valentine’s focus on being kind, not just to others, but to yourself (and go hug a Labrador if you can, they are pure love).

All my best,

Outfit Details: Jeans: DL1961 Top: IRO Jeans Belt: Hermès Clutch: Mulberry Shoes: Miu Miu Earrings: Louis Vuitton Necklace: Gold Chain – Mikimoto Bracelet: Gold Bangle & David Yurman