Sunday, May 30, 2010

Friendship Bracelets

Apparently, friendship bracelets have been coming back into fashion. I'm down with its comeback, but I can't imagine paying more than 2 dollars for what most of us created as kids. Of course, the nicer versions have convenient gold clasps and are probably made out of something better than embroidery floss, but there's something to be said for friendship bracelets being made by a friend for a friend!


gone to sleep

a little while back i remember walking by my bf's desk and hearing a particularly girly song coming through his speakers which usually blare, well, nothing so girly. naturally i loved it but somehow between now and then managed to forget about it. but now, after youtubing and googling everything under the sun , i've been brought back to it, and it's such an amazing song. moby and kelli scarr made it in about 6 hours for npr's "project song," and it's really really impressive. it makes me feel all dreamy and tired, and wishful for fall. *sidenote: her earrings are also amazing.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Camera Face

The simplicity of the pattern seemed to complement the busy-ness of the fabric, so I had to give it a whirl. Probably the funnest sewing project ever. I actually woke up early today and was about to go back to bed for a little more shut-eye but the desire to sew the armhole binding was strong enough to rouse me to awakedom.

with belt

without belt

Brain Food


Nothing starts the day off right like fried chicken and butter-laden, maple-drenched waffles.

Monday, May 24, 2010

pinching pennies part deux

Today I decided I'd take it easy, clean up a little, and stay indoors in hopes that I might not spend any money. BUT as usual, I got cabin fever and decided to give thrifting another try today. So I ventured out a bit further than my typical thrift store haunts and came out amazingly victorious! I have faith in thrift stores again, faith which had been lowered by the fact that many of the local thrift shops have raised their prices and become totally overcrowded and picked over. But this gem of a store provided me with 6 new wonderful additions to my wardrobe, and it only cost me $3.15. Yea, you read that right, three dollars and fifteen whole cents. Here are my finds (minus one silky black top that was too hard to photograph, especially on this terribly fuzzy camera).

This last dress I'm particularly excited about. It's splendor is not done justice in the picture, and it also doesn't show that the dress goes alllll the way down to my feet. But I plan on lopping off all that excess and hemming myself up a nice little summertime frock. I didn't find any green glass this time around, but I still feel quite successful if i do say so myself.

under the moonlight

oh sure karen elson, not only are you unbelievably beautiful, but you can sing too, and not just that, you make fantastic music. leave nothing for the rest of us, why don't you?!

nickel and dime store

So the other day I was totally pumped to spend the morning thrifting like crazy. And while the finds were not as plentiful as I had hoped, I did make out with a couple of pretty little things.

1. New vases for my weird water plants
2. Two of these glass dishes for my rings and such

I've really been liking green glass and the way it looks when the sun hits it. I'm going to try and hoard as much green glass from thrift stores as I can, in forms of vases, bowls, plates, etc. I also found some good fabric for new curtains that I plan on sewing up, but I don't want to post a picture of it until the curtains are good and ready. I'm trying to do a slow and steady revamp of my apartment, so I'll update as I make my way across.

In other pictoral news, some new and old lip things I've been frequenting lately. Lots of orange and pink and coral for the summertime haze.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sweetness and Light

I'm one of those kids that are always cold. If I could, the seasons would only consist of spring, summer, fall, and maybe 2 weeks of winter. When the weather dipped slightly again this week, I began wrapping my neck in light scarves and craving hot cocoa (with a dash of Frangelico ... mmmmm). Ridiculous? Yes. My friends very sweetly attempted to remind me that it's still in the 60s. So what.

Anyway, I think this pricey but oh-so charming sweatery jacket from Creatures of Comfort would be perfect for chilly late spring nights.
Alas, I'm only a week and a half into a self-enforced month-long shopping ban on clothes and accessories. Luckily, I was able to snatch the pretty piece from stone&honey below before the ban went into effect.

Its name is Augustus.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

some things i like above all else

1. almond milk (to reduce my soy consumption and increase breakfast tastiness, also makes a delicious iced chai)
2. this little number

Tenniscoats - Baibaba Bimba | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

3. vietnamese food (especially at vietnam garden, where they serve coconut sorbet in a coconut shell)
4. some older datarock, specifically ganguro girl and i will always remember you (listen to it! you'll like it!)
5. this girl

6. reeses peanut butter cups
7. the new i-D

8. eavesdropping on my downstairs neighbors
9. rings! loads and loads and loads of rings!

The Days of Strawberry Desserts

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie! I'm not really a pie baker, so please excuse the crust. It wasn't bad, especially when paired with vanilla ice cream from Kline's. I had decided to make this open-faced and it wasn't until afterwards that I read it wasn't that easy as just leaving off the top crust. First of all, tapioca as a thickener works best in a closed pie, and since I hadn't changed that, I should have at least covered the pie with some foil while it was baking. Oh well. This probably just means I have to make more pies in order to improve. :)

Strawberry Granita for a Tuesday night. The recipe was wonderful, though the freezing took much longer than the hour and a half the recipe estimate. My craving for this dessert came from a discussion this work about the difference between a Slurpee, an Icee, a Squishee, and a slushie. Hint: Slurpees, Icees, and Squishees are all slushies, but not all slushies are Slurpees, Icees, or Squishees (if Squishees actually existed). After all the talk about slush drinks, I started craving one and decided to go the possibly more satisfying route of making granita. Now I need to just start branching out to different fruits.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

sweet and salty

So most everyone knows about the movie Amelie. And if you know about Amelie you know the music, and how haunting and enchanting and undeniably beautiful it is.



And you think this soundtrack wouldn't coincide with the insane amounts of hip hop i've downloaded today, but surprise, there's Wale. I can't embed the video, but he sampled a Yann Tiersen song off the Amelie soundtrack and I smiled so big when it started and I think he does it justice. I seriously love this.

listen!

snip snip

After lovingly growing my hair out for many, many years, I am officially over it. It gets everywhere and I never remember to brush it like normal people should, and my shampoo costs are through the roof.

*my hair in its totally unruly and long state.

After back and forthing about cutting my hair, I made an 11:45 appt. and wa lah

Fresh and clean! Watch out world!

Monday, May 10, 2010

nom noms

Some recent food hits in le cafe petite (aka, my tiny kitchen).

Nutella and sunflower butter spread with a heavy hand over rice cakes and topped with my rapidly ripening bananas. I've also tried a combo of tofutti cream cheese and strawberries atop rice cakes, with equally delicious results.

I've recently concoted a gardenburger that I am exceptionally happy with, on which I put every vegetable available in my fridge, including (but not exlusive to): cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce, red peppers, cucumbers, vegenaise, mustard, avocado, and a whole mess of black pepper. Also a bit of snap peas with dairy free ranch to round it all out.

I did not create this cookie (although I wish I did), but I have been totally hooked on these vegan tofu cookies, which I thought would be disgusting, but they're so tasty! They are a little paler than your typical cookie, but the taste does not disappoint.

*sidenote: I am not vegan, although my food choices seem to show otherwise, but I am lactose intolerant, and am dealing with a daily struggle of not cosuming dairy. Lactaid is not an option people, I simply must omit the dairy.

NYC Snippets

long overdue, but here it goes:

Click here to view these pictures larger

dogs befriended, good food consumed, old friends reunited, streets wandered, high lines conquered (!)

Hey

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Hot Pants!

How do I relax on a Friday night? By staying in and listening to On Point while sewing a flamboyant pair of high-waisted shorts.
And for a Saturday night--after a day of farmers' market-ing, wine tasting, and stuffing my face full of sweets--I think Lowboy and a cup of tea would be just right. Good night!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

bb homemaker

I love this. I love the clothing, and the makeup, and the song, and the sass. I feel sassy just listening to it.

"Why Don't You Love Me" - Beyoncé from Beyoncé on Vimeo.

lolita

Since my boyfriend has so graciously allowed me to tinker around on his laptop, I had a chance to discover photobooth, a hundred years after everyone else. And even though the quality kinda sucks, and you can't really tell that my shirt is light pink and white, I figured I'd play with it anyways. So that's me, sans head, with a little bit of rouge, about to leave for work. Bye!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Let them eat (cup)cakes!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, a couple of friends and I decided to hold a little backyard cookout, complete with slow-cooked spiced pork for tacos, grilled corn with a mayo and cream sauce (a sort of street food in Mexico), and Modelos. My contribution was a batch of Tres Leches cupcakes, which I based off of this recipe. I had never made Tres Leches anything, so I was kind of surprised to find out that the three milks are condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream. I had to be careful not to douse the cupcake in too much of the milk mix as I didn't want these to fall apart once outside of the foil wrapper. And don't throw the tops of the cupcakes away! Just cut off the top in a cone shape, so that when you take that section off, there will be almost like a well in which you can then spoon the milk mixture. Then replace the top of the cupcake, which will soak up the milk mix and will keep the pretty little rounded shape. Instead of the recommended meringue frosting, I opted for a more traditional whipped cream topping. Also, I couldn't bring myself to use maraschino cherries and the local grocery store was out of fresh ones, so I crowned the cupcakes with a nice little raspberry instead.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

blog alert

Everyday I look at tons of blogs. Literally, TONS. And some look the same or feel the same and blah blah blah blog robotz, but I've found a new favorite which focuses on the pure awesomeness of breakfast. It's called My Breakfast Blog, and it has amazing pictures and recipes of all things delicious, breakfast, and lovely. I've been scrolling through old posts for quite a while now, and I am seriously craving breakfast, wishing I could still eat Greek Yogurt, wanting to buy Sunflower Butter, and thinking I need to get some cuter dishes. I love you breakfast blog.

u haul

Perhaps I've been watching too many youtube makeup tutorials, but after what seemed like a century long spending ban, I decided to do a mini vamp on my beauty products. It's not all that exciting, but considering I haven't spent in a while, Aveeno cleansing pads make my heart practically skip a beat.


1. Aveeno Positively Radiant Cleansing Pads: I've been using Morning Burst as my sole cleanser lately, and I don't really like it, but I hate to waste so I've just been trying to pump through it quickly. And finally, I'm almost out! so I went back to my old favorite, the Aveeno cleansing pads. I feel like they really get in my skin since it lathers pretty well, and takes all the makeup and nasty mess out. Plus, it doesn't dry me out, which is a definite plus because flaky skin is the worst.

2. E.L.F. Complexion Brush: This brush is kinda shaped oddly for its purpose, more flat than round, but it was cheap, and I was dying to buy something from E.L.F. since Target had taken it away for a while and just recently put it back. I needed a new brush anyways since the one I had was ancient, so this'll do, and it's pretty soft.

3. Biore Pore Strips: I stopped using these for a while, and I'm not sure why, because they're totally amazing. And I like to look at the strips afterwards. Gross!

4. E.L.F. Blush and Bronzer Compact: I heard that the powders in this compact are comparable to the Nars Orgasm blush and the Nars bronzer, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I like the colors a lot, and although I think the bronzer is a bit dark, the application goes on nicely and the pink looks pretty close to the Nars shade. If you'd rather spend $3 on a gold flecked pink blush instead of $25, I'd definitely try this out.

5. MAC Lipstick in Ravishing: This is one of those, saw-it-in-a-youtube-tutorial purchases, which I'm a sucker for. But the girl had a similar skin tone as me, and it looked fantastic. So post-purchase and a day of wear, and I love it too! It goes on sheer initially, but it builds easily, and has a soft coral, slight pinkish color. Probably not so good for fairer skin, but very good for tan or olive tones. It's the first swatch on my hand below.

6. Clinique Black Honey Lipstick: So I had heard tons of people raving about this lipstick, and when you look at it in the tube it just looks black and scary. But once you put it on, just as Clinique claims, it goes on in this beautiful sheer raisin color that apparently looks differently on every person, and good on every person! So I gave it a try, and just like the rest of the world, I had to have it. It's supposedly Clinique's best selling lip color, and I can see why. On the swatch on my hand it really just looks brown, but I think everyone should just try it out in the store to see the actual shade. It's sheer, but still noticeable, and really moisturizing.

I did forget to put a picture of this L'oreal lip gloss I recently got that's a really pretty cherry color, but that's because it was already in my makeup bag since I love it already. If I can figure out how to get this camera working how I'd like it to, then I'll show how it looks. I made out pretty good with some new spring makeup now that I think of it! Hooray!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Fresh Prints

Last week, after rediscovering old fabrics I had collected after several trips to the Philippines, I decided to hunker down and churn out a dress. I used an old pattern from the seventies but modified it to make it a little bit more modern (thinner straps, shorter skirt without a ruffled hem, and simple band trim on the bodice rather than a cuff). Also, ignore my curled silver toes; getting my picture taken always make me nervous and that's just one form of fidgeting for me.
Now that I have the first garment of the summer out of the way, I hope to take the pattern below...
...and the (badly ironed) fabrics below and make something fun. I foresee a summer sewing mixtape being created in my very near future. Anyway, most of these fabrics only came in small quantities of 1 or 1 and a half yards, so I'll have to use them sparingly.




Saturday, May 1, 2010

summer in the city

After several days of actual Spring weather and light breezes, today's sun was beating down with serious vengeance. The fans have begun rustling up the curtains in my apartment, and every window is propped wide open. And while hot weather makes me notoriously grumpy, the bf and I decided to rejoice in the hot sun instead of try to beat it. So we bared our pale bodies, threw on our swimsuits, and sunbathed on our humble little balcony. The perfect afternoon, I think.


Bathing suit #1 for this summer. The top is a bit more magenta in real life, which I think suits the purple fantastically.