Chilling

I saw this posted on my favorite magazine (NY Mag)'s Entertianment section - Lana Del Ray does a chilling version of the Sleeping Beauty song "Once Upon a Dream" - shown in the new trailer for Disney's Maleficent.

Sleeping Beauty was always the "scariest" Disney movie to me, when I was a child!

I can't wait to see this. Nick and I were just saying, Angelina hasn't been in any movies in awhile...

NY Mag says, "Del Rey's version is simultaneously droning, ethereal, and unsettling. It's more than enough to distract you from those questionable-looking CGI tree people."

Latest and greatest

What's getting me through this cold (weather)?!? (Although I do have a mild cold...)

Last weekend: An awesome joint belated birthday brunch that me and my boyfriend had with friends last week! Really, just an excuse to get everyone together. Food was more "meh" but the space was great, and the drinks were flowing...

Select photos:

Nick and me. (Not my best pose, but hey, it's our only good picture from the brunch!)

GT girls!

Year one in NYC girlies! / ol' roomie

Also...

Four (!!!) recent shoe acquisitions... I know, I have an insane shoe problem. But, January sales beckoned, and I came hither. I'm still contemplating which to keep / which to return - but let me tell you, this is going to be hard.

STEVEN - Wedge booties. ADORABLE. CANNOT WAIT TO WEAR THESE!

UPDATE: I returned these. The foot part was too small (I was too blind by excitement to notice when I first received the boots in the mail) -- and I realized that I just flat out do not like wedge boots. I like wedge booties and wedge heels -- but not boots. I kept the others!

These are just my style. They've got a suede quilt in the back and accent gold zipper up the side. I'm a sucker for flat boots.

Louise Et Cie boots. Okay, so these kind of combine the first two, so you could say - maybe I should get rid of the first two and keep this one? ... Or maybe get rid of this one, and keep the first two?! Oh, man.

Gray Zara block wedge booties. I stalked these online until they went on sale and then ordered them once they were half off. Love. However - they're a tad small. So, that could be reason to return. But all sizes are now sold out online (I can't even find the booties online anymore!)...

Last, I will leave this post with one outfit inspiration and one future "want." I first saw both on one of my favorite fashion blogs, You Look Fab.

She highlighted 15 trends for spring, and these two outfits caught my eye, both from Zara, funny enough.

The first outfit, I'm eager to try - I have all the pieces to make the look happen. The second one is... a pink fuzzy coat? ... I can pull that off, right? Anything goes in New York, you know!

Image source: Zara

Image source: Zara

That's it for now, folks!

I'd like to make... (or pick up food photography)

There are so many fantastic food blogs out there that I've discovered in the last year.

But I wonder if part of the appeal is how beautiful the photography of the food is!

I'd love to try to make these: (Click on the image to go to the recipe)

Ricotta Crostini Party - for a party! Girls wine night/"book club", perhaps?

Image credit: HonestlyYum

Good way to sneak in some greens to Nick by serving a beautiful salad? (Kale, fennel and apple salad)

Image credit: HonestlyYum

Gorgeous... fresh fig and mint salad... Simple presentation. I've only had fresh figs once in my life, and they were awesome!

Image credit: James Ransom

A food photgrapher that is inspiring me to want a DSLR solely for food photo taking...
vkreesphotography

It's Real Simple, you see...

I'm incredibly OCD. It's undiagnosed, but I'm sure I have some iteration of it.

The littlest things can take hold of my mind, and there's a nagging voice inside that won't go away until whatever "it" is taken care of... "It" is usually something I "need" to obtain (a physical thing) or something I need to do.

To combat this (or to feed it?), I make many lists. I think there have been articles written about how making lists can be... bad.

According to a NYTimes article:

"Making a to-do list should be easy: You just write down all the things you need to do, do them, and check them off your list as you go along, right?

Wrong.

People fall into all kinds of traps with their to-do lists. They allow wishful thinking to take over and put too many tasks on their lists. They have lists all over the place, sometimes both paper and electronic. They put vague and unrealistic goals on their lists. Or they set up impossibly short time frames for completing their tasks."

My affinity for lists in the last few years has really gotten hold of me, and I make a list of almost every Friday of things I want to do that weekend. IT'S THE WEEKEND! You would think I would want to relax!

Nope. I'm all about making lists for the weekend, too.

I also love reading lists... A great source of lists/tips is the magazine REAL SIMPLE. I thought this magazine must have been MADE for me when I first saw it.

Here are some examples from a shoe post they did:

How genius is this?! Duct tape as shoe sole, if it has a slippery sole:

Image credit: Real Simple

Or THIS - Wine bottles as boot supporters!!! I've been using rolled up magazines/catalogs, but this looks like it could be even better!

Image credit: Real Simple

 

Update: I tried this last tip, and the circumference of the bottles were too big for my boots/legs/feet. I'll have to try again when I get my hands on... skinner bottles, I guess.

 

I'll add it to my To-Do list.

OUTFIT IDEAS

I got this skirt last year but never knew how to wear it/style it...

This is a great idea! And I have a similar jacket (army green man-ish style jacket).

Photo credit: Refinery 29

Another good idea... This one from whowhatwear:

Photo credit: whowhatwear

Because I own these!

 + 

Photo credit: Forever 21 & Urban Outfitters (I know... I'm 27, and I still shop there...)

The great thing about those pants, too, is that they are like, jersey/t-shirt material in the back! Fun, right?!

I'm on a bit of a posting-spree, aren't I...

Defrosting a cake

I made this cake back in September, but it was huge! So I froze half of it.

I am currently in the process of defrosting it now...

(I had to Google "How to defrost a cake" - but it wasn't very helpful...)

Update to come...

UPDATE: Due to my improperly-freezing of the cake (should have wrapped the cake in saran wrap before wrapping it in foil, defrosting the cake in my fridge under the foil leflt the cake ... gummy with melting condensation from the foil! Too bad! I ended up throwing away half of the cake (that I had worked so hard to bake)... Next time, I'll just have to bake for an event or occasion :) instead of randomly baking a massive cake...

Hello (winter)! after a hiatus

Winter blues started early this year - and we still have three more months of winter... Sigh.

While we had a mild and delayed start, we are now FULL ON, with a blizzard/winter storm hitting NYC today!

My mom sent me a text at 6:00 AM asking, "Do you have work today?"

Unfortunately, Mom, work is not like school, and on snow days, we still have work. I did work from home today, though!

Winter dressing can be a challenge. Refinery 29 had a post with some ideas that were all preeeeeeeeetty funky - but I liked this idea:

Image source: Refinery29

I'll try to post more this winter, to hopefully combat any winter blues!

I think my winter project this year will be arm knitting an infinity scarf. A guy on my team made them for his sister, his mom, and himself, and they turned out great! And it only took him 1.5 hour to make each one!