cute as a cupcake

So the other day my awesome friends, J and A stopped by work to drop me off one of the special, limited time Easter cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes. Yeah, I do have the very best friends ever. They stuck around for a bit until I could go to lunch and we ate together outside by the river. Doesn't J look adorable? I love her super cute style.

on me: shirt - mom's, cardigain - uo, skirt - thrifted, tights - target, shoes - steve madden, sunglasses - topshop (london), purse - thrifted dooney & burke

on j: skirt and hairclip - h&m (new york), boots and necklace - yesstyle.com, tshirt - target, jean jacket - american eagle, tights - forever 21, tote - sanrio

forgotten post

tee - gap, cardigan - thrifted uniqlo, skirt - thrifted, tights & pink moccasins - target, bag - thrifted dooney & burke, scarf - thrifted, glasses - zenni optical, lipstick - just bitten in gothic by revlon

Sometimes I like to be a little matchy-matchy with my outfits, and this one is one of those. I kind of forgot to blog this one, so I think it's about a month old. It was definitely colder then, and I was wearing a lot more wool. Occasionally I like to match my tights to my skirt for a sleek, long line. I also matched my shoes to my tshirt. I tied this darling vintage printed scarf onto my purse for one more pop of color (isn't it the cutest? I love the hearts-on-vines motif) and the red color inspired me to wear red lipstick again. Actually, it really doesn't take much for me to decide to wear a bright lip color. Lastly, I was wearing a lot of pinned up braids last month. I should do that again...

mad men style

dress - thrifted, tights - target, shoes - aldo, belt - crossroads trading, purse - thrifted dooney & burke, glasses - zenni optical

So who else is totally obsessed with Mad Men? Everyone, right? The wait for the season premiere was miserably long. I actually only got into the show during the hiatus, when I caught up on all the seasons in a manner of weeks. Amanda has been watching it much longer but now we're both obsessed, so we knew we had to watch the premiere together. With drinks. And thematic clothing. This dress is something I imagine Joan would wear. If only I had her curves! Still, it does accentuate the few curves I have, so that's nice. I was trying for a Joan-y pose with the cigarette and purse and later we made a Don style old fashioned with Canadian Club whiskey. Like I said, obsessed. I love being a dork about great things!

uwajimaya love

A trip to Uwajimaya and the International District always includes foreign candy, bubble tea, weird art supplies, FRUiTS magazine, and cute friends. So nostalgic, and so much fun!

sunrainsunrainsun

I love how weird our weather can be here in the NW, especially in those sort of transitional seasons, like spring or fall. The other day it just could NOT decide if it wanted to be sunny or rainy, like all day. One minute it would be all rainy and the next the sun would come out. Considering there was quite a lot of overlap, I was kind of hoping to see a rainbow but no such luck. Instead, I wore my sunglasses while carrying my cute clear umbrella. It seemed so wrong, but both were necessary during my lunch.

chambray shirt - gap, skirt - thrifted, tights - nordstrom, shoes - steve madden, sunglasses - topshop (london), bubble umbrella - ebay

choco cupcakes and cute puppies

Last week Emily and I made cupcakes for our sweet coworker's last day. She had been at the store for something like 25 years and she's just the nicest lady so we were really sad to see her go. We were at Emily's mom's house (she was housesitting) so we made it easy on ourselves and used a mix for the chocolate cupcakes. But since I can never just make a simple boxed cupcake, I made the cream cheese frosting from scratch and filled the cupcakes with strawberry jam. YUM. It was a good combo. And a perfect balance between easy and special.

We also got to play with her mom's adorable new puppy! I want to steal the little sweetheart, but I'll content myself with begging Emily to take Bella for walks and let me tag along. I snapped a bunch of pictures because she's just the sweetest little dog. So cute!

glitter nails and spring time looks

skirt - thrifted, tee & tights - target, purse - asos, moccasins - minnetonka, sunglasses - topshop (london)

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have some nice weather! I've been wearing short sleeves, sunglasses, and driving with my windows down and it makes me delightfully happy. I haven't done bare legs, since that always makes me coldest, but it's coming. Sandals too! I even spotted a flower chain some happy person had hung out by the trail behind work.

I know I've talked about both this purse and my awesome blanket skirt before, but seriously, new favorite and old favorite items right here in one picture! When I bought this weird round clutch type bag, I thought it would probably be more of an evening/going out sort of thing. But I've been pleasantly surprised with how well it works in everyday sort of outfits. I think it adds a funky, bohemian sort of vibe.

After I wore that ombre manicure for a few days, I threw a coat of pink glitter polish over the top. It toned down the ombre effect a bit, making it a little less noticeable. But it's so fun and also hides any mistakes! My nails were not completely smooth and the fade effect was not perfect but the glitter disguises that completely. I love the option of changing the look of my nails without completely redoing them. Wear the regular ombre manicure (or whatever other style) for a few days and when you start to get bored, add some glitter! So fun.

crafternoon with rallison

After I posted my spring flower crown, my favorite co-worker Allison told me she wanted to make floral headband with me. And my response was, of course, "Yes, please!" So Thursday we met up at work before I had to start my shift, bought a pile of flowers and whipped ourselves up some headbands. Of course, after we were done we took a bunch of pictures.

floral headband - diy, tshirt - target, cardigan & skirt - uo, tights - hansel from basel, clogs - jeffrey campbell

I love the whimsy flowers in your hair adds to any outfit! This silk scarf style skirt (woah alliteration) and scallop tights fit right in with the whimsy thing, don't you think? And how freaking cute does Allison look? She posted more pictures of herself on her delightful blog, note to self. She is rocking that bug print shirt!

The headbands themselves were super easy to make! I put together a little photo tutorial for you. You need a headband, floral wire, wire cutters, and an assortment of fake flowers. Create a bundle of flowers and leaves and wire them together, leaving a long tail of wire. Use the tail to attach the bundle to your headband. Continue adding flowers until you cover the headband, leaving the last few inches of each end bare. You can go back and fill in blank spots, or anywhere you see the wire, by hot-gluing small flowers to cover gaps. Now go rock your flower headband!

Thanks to Allison for taking pictures of me and for a really fun day! Now I have a million craft projects I want to do, so next time you're home again, let's hang. Also, any other friends want to get together for a crafternoon?* Things are more fun to make with friends. 

Also, check out my fun ombré manicure! I basically followed the tutorial on Jezebel, except I didn't do a base color. I wanted a more subtle look, so I just used a single color+clear. I think it turned out super fun! I'm starting to get into doing my nails more. I've been super inspired by The Dainty Squid as well. Kaylah posts the best nail tutorials. I tried her triangle nail before but it got screwed up before I got a chance to take any pictures. 

*I'm pretty sure I stole the term "crafternoon" from White Lightning. 

pokemon style

flannel shirt - gap, wool skirt - thrifted, tights - target, boots - thrifted, purse - asos

The button up shirt+pencil skirt combo has essentially been my uniform of late. It's just so darn easy and any pairing I throw together seems to work out alright. I did feel I needed a touch of excitement when it came to accessories, so I grabbed this amazing spherical clutch/purse I got from Asos. It's bright red, with gold accents, made of hard plastic, and totally round. It is the coolest! It reminds me of a pokeball, you know, like from Pokemon? Remember? I think it's fun and just weird enough to be interesting which is pretty much what I look for. I like fashion to be fun!

rape arguments in bars are rarely a good idea

top - talula, pants - justin timberlake's collection for target, bag - thrifted dooney & burke, boots - thrifted

Have you ever had one of those nights that when it's over you just go, "What the fuck . . . just happened?" Friday night was a bit like that for me. My friend Shiloh's band was playing at Pete's Tavern, as was a local band we went to high school with. Seeing as the show was in the next town over from my hometown, and the bands playing had members from my high school, I really should have expected the oh-my-god-high-school-all-over-again feeling. There were SO many people I went to school with there, and also just a lot of older hicks and other small town types.

At the bar, I bumped into a guy I didn't recognize but apparently he remembered me and Amanda from high school. Once one of the guys he used to hang out with showed up, I did start to remember them and we all ended up chatting. It was nice to catch up with some people from high school. Nice, but extremely weird.

Boys we used to know weren't the only people talking to us. We had several weird guys try to hit on us, get us to dance, and other general creepy behavior. Shiloh also overheard this guy in a black tshirt telling a girl that he would "like to eat cake off her tits." Yeah. Who could resist a line like that?

You know the guy from high school I didn't remember? He overheard me talking about about what a creep Dov Charney of American Apparel is and started arguing with me about how things he did were ok-ish. Things quickly got more general and we were talking about rape and sexual harassment and rape culture and the patriarchy. My friends, of course, were telling him to drop it, because I wasn't going to let it go when he was saying stuff like "girls should just say no and if they don't they're stupid" while I'm trying to explain things like enthusiastic consent to him. But of course, being totally drunk, he kept arguing. And so all my friends got up and left and watched from across the room. It wasn't an angry argument, in fact I was laughing most of the time and eventually I got him to agree with my basic arguments. Then he told me I was pretty and smart and asked for a hug. It was . . . an interesting night.

wild rice with miso dressing

I have been basically living on this salad lately. It is SO good. Wild rice is tasty and healthy (but surprisingly hard to find! I get mine at Trader Joe's but everywhere else it's really expensive) and the miso dressing is delicious. Seriously, I want this stuff on everything. I didn't have any edamame so I subbed some frozen green beans, which were ok. I skipped the tofu because I suck at cooking it. I also didn't have shallots for the dressing so I just threw in some garlic. I also like to cook my rice with a little more water than the package indicates so it turns out a little softer. I found the recipe on this amazing food blog. I've been getting a lot of really good recipes from Sprouted Kitchen, including an amazing lentil "meatball" with lemon pesto. Tasty stuff. also, the pictures are so incredibly gorgeous, I really cannot recommend the blog enough.

Wild Rice Salad with Miso Dressing
1/2 cup wild rice
cooked or raw veggies
3 tbsp. sesame seeds

2 tbsp. miso
2 tbsp. agave nectar
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 1/2 tbsp. rice vinegar
garlic
juice of half an orange

Cook your wild rice according to the directions on the package. Prepare whatever veggies you're using. I like raw carrots, sliced thinly and some green beans or broccoli, lightly steamed. The edamame in the original recipe would be delicious but I don't usually have that on hand.

Mix miso, agave nectar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, crushed garlic, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I use my immersion blender to get it nice and emulsified.

Toss rice, veggies, miso dressing, and sesame seeds to combine and enjoy!

polenta with magic sauce

I found this recipe quite some time ago and pinned it on Pinterest. Last night I came home exhausted but I really wanted something tasty to eat and more filling than the salad I already had. I had some polenta in the fridge, the kind that comes in a tube, so I sliced that up, fried it in a little butter, and topped it with my new favorite thing, magic sauce!

This stuff is seriously so good. I think I like it so much because of all that paprika. Not that long ago, I was putting paprika on everything to the switch to magic sauce only adds more flavor. I bumped up the garlic just a little because I always like extra garlic. I also didn't measure the lemon juice and I think a half a lemon was more than was called for, but I liked all that freshness. And one last deviation . . . I didn't have fresh herbs so I used dry and honestly I didn't really measure a single thing and it all turned out ok. Actually, it was amazing!

Magic Sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh oregano
2 tsp. sweet paprika
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf, crumbled
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Heat olive oil until it is warm and remove from heat. Crush rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Smash garlic into a paste. Add garlic, paprika, red pepper, and salt to the warm olive oil. Then add the herbs and squeeze lemon into the pan. You can keep it in the fridge for a week or a bit longer and the flavor should develop more after a couple days, although you can and should use it right away as well.

new bag

sweater - urban outfitters, shirt - target, skirt - thrifted, tights - sockdreams, boots - thrifted, leather backpack - thrifted, necklaces - talonalia

I was kind of exhausted today because I went out last night and then I had to work, even though I don't usually have to work on Saturdays. Oh well, Emily asked me to switch, so at least I got the later shift. I'll write about last night later, probably tomorrow, because it was pretty fun, and funny, although also completely ridiculous. Emily came with me, so I took her home and then just crashed at her apartment since I had to work in the morning. We totally binged on junkfood on the way home. 

Work was kind of mildly frustrating today. I was up at the registers, which I really don't mind too much but for some reason it bugged me a lot more than it did Thursday. Maybe I'm just sick of it and want to go back to my own department where I know how everything works. It wasn't bad exactly, in fact we were all pretty goofy and fun all day, but . . . I don't know, it tired me out.

I snapped these pictures this evening after work. I have to say, for all my complaining about our lousy weather  lately, I am loving the longer days. Just a month, or even a few weeks ago, there is no way I could have taken pictures outside after work, even if I got off at 5. I really wanted to get pictures because I wanted to show off this leather backpack I thrifted! I've been looking for something cute and neutral that I can use for short trips, hikes, picnics, whatever and I liked this one, especially in the cream color. But I really don't like faux-leather; there's something about the feel that bothers me and the way a lot of it is distressed so it's lighter on the edges ust looks so fake. Finding this backpack was kind of perfect! It appears to be handmade because there's a lot of flaws and some of the leather is weirdly stiff while some of it is lovely and supple. But that wonkiness only adds to its charm for me, so I'm really happy I found it.

I know I've shown off these Talonlia necklaces before, but I just love them. I bought the two of them at the same time and I always wear the two of them together. I picked up this shirt one day when I didn't go home to my house to sleep and didn't have a change of clothes. I like the southwestern motif and colors. (Can we please all try to stop saying "tribal" and "ethnic"? What tribe? What ethnicity? These are silly terms. I mean, even kilts could be called tribal, right?)