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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Apartment Wishlist

Happy Halloween! I can't believe it's already the end of October. Time has flown by so quickly, and this is definitely my favorite time of the year. Fall in Los Angeles is just as pleasant as one might imagine. The weather is still warm, but a bit more chilly, especially at night. The days get darker faster, the sunsets become more intense, and more people are walking around in cozy knits, beanies and cute boots. One very exciting thing for me to be celebrating this fall is the fact that Chris and I will be moving in December! With moving comes decorating, and I can't wait for that! We've been living in a furnished guest house/loft for several years, which is hard at times because I love to decorate and haven't been able to. Lately I've had my eyes on the following items. This is my kitchen wish list (well, just some of it. It's kind of hard for me to stop at just 8.) I'll have more to come soon!

where to buy:   
1. Ideal for creating more space in a small kitchen- Kitchen Utensil Rack
2. I'm a sucker for anything that has dogs or cats printed on it - Paw Prints Juice Glass
3. The cutest disposable chopsticks - Chopsticks Chevron
4. What a fun way to serve water to guests! - Green Glass Milk Bottles
5. This will definitely be a fun staple on my kitchen wall - Vintage "Eat" Sign
6. The aqua color makes me so happy - Stand Mixer
7. This is a great way to incorporate some fun into your drinks - Paper Straws
8. I will definitely be putting this to good use. Love the yellow! - Sorrento Platter


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Cat Or Skulls?

I am so excited about my new favorite dress! It's navy blue with a peter pan collar and has an almost 1960's feel to it by being a shift dress. It's comfortable, fun, and so far I have gotten a lot of compliments wearing it. I paired it with a thin red belt the other day, but have decided the looser feel is more flattering overall. What I like the most about it is that at first glance, you can't even tell that it's a cat. It could even be a skull if you look at it slightly from a different angle. I decided to pair the dress with my sparkly silver flats I bought at Nordstrom last summer. <3




Dress: Anthropologie
Shoes: Vince Camuto - Nordstrom
Lipstick: Benefit - Flirt Alert

Friday, May 31, 2013

The Perfect Pancrepes




While visiting family and friends in Sonoma a few weekends ago, Chris' cousin's wife cooked up a batch of the most delectable yet simple crepes. I like to call them pancrepes, because they are as thin as a crepe, yet still have the same taste as a pancake. She made the most perfect crepe bar to go along with them, including fresh fruit, nutella, whipped cream, butter, maple syrup and assorted jams and jellies. As soon as I got home from our trip, I knew I had to try to make them myself, and boy, they are still just as tasty! She used regular flour for hers, but I used gluten-free to please everyone in my house that can't eat gluten.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup gluten-free all purpose baking flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used vanilla rice milk because I like the flavor)
Two tablespoons melted butter

Step one:

1) Mix the flour
2) Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated
3) Add the milk, whisk to combine
4) Melt the butter in a pan, and then add to batter mix, stir to incorporate
5) Put the heat on medium high
6) Spray your pan with oil (I like to use the kind that contains butter)
7) Scoop up the batter with 1/3 cup, then drop the batter onto the middle of the pan (I like to move it around in a circle motion so that the batter collects around the whole pan)
8) Wait a minute or so, then flip
9) Take out the crepe, put it on a plate, then spray oil on the pan again to start your next crepe
10) Repeat steps 7-9!

Pancrepes will be done when both sides are evenly lightly browned. Each pancrepe takes about 2 minutes to cook.

You can tweak the ingredients and amounts to your liking. I personally like my crepes on the thinner side, so if yours are thicker that's ok! Enjoy!







Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Girl Power

Here are some of my current favorite songs + videos, and they all happen to be fronted by fabulous ladies! Also, just on a side note, I like the new She & Him record, but I admit that Volume Two holds a soft spot in my heart because I listened to it heavily when I was first moving in with Chris. <3

Regina Spektor - Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)



She & Him - Don't Look Back



Adam Green & Binki Shapiro - Just To Make Me Feel Good


Kina Grannis - In Your Arms 


Monday, May 13, 2013

Mother's Day Festivities + Outfit Post

Today was a great but tiring day. We began with a Mother's Day Brunch with Chris' family that was at a quaint hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Glendale called Bashan. I didn't know what to expect when walking in but oh my goodness the food was amazing! We had our choice for appetizer, main course and dessert. These were some of our selections:

Pork Belly “Teriyaki”  
Crispy Rice Cake, Togarashi, Braised Scallions, Pickled Apples

 Chilled Sweet Pea Soup
Crunchy Wasabi Peas, Crème Fraiche, Chives, Smoked Paprika Oil


 Chocolate Bread Pudding
chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, cocoa nibs


 Crème Fraiche Cheesecake
Graham Cracker Walnut Streusel, Dulce de Leche, mocha almond fudge Ice Cream


One of my all time favorite stores is Anthropologie. Their latest looks for spring are nothing short of gorgeous, from their brightly-hued dresses to their whimsical printed tops such as this one, I'm in love. I went a little crazy the other day during their one-day only 15% off sale and picked up a pair of the most comfortable pants on earth. AG's are the best brand ever. They fit like a glove and never stretch. I couldn't help but also grab this silk blouse, as well. Naturally I paired this cheery outfit with my yellow flats, and my new floppy hat. Today was a good day, indeed!




I was trying to collect some of the purple flowers to throw in the air, and ended up looking funny in the process!





Outfit Details:

Blouse: Anthropologie   |   Jeans: Anthropologie
Flats: Halogen/Nordstrom   |   Floppy Hat: Forever21

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

New Blog Topic - Favorite Films

I think I'm going to start incorporating some of my favorite films into blog posts! I have been on a huge Beatles kick lately. They are my all-time favorite band and I have been watching their films like crazy since I was in high school, so I figured I might as well talk about them a little here! For those who haven't seen their sophomore movie, get to it. It's definitely not groundbreaking and the plot is very silly, but.. it's The Beatles! All of their musical scenes are magical, the house they live in is totally amazing. I mean, John's bed is under the floor and it's filled with books! Paul has a white organ that raises from the floor, George has his own lawn (and personal lawnmower) and Ringo has his own soda machines, one filled with actual oranges. This movie is full of fun, great music, and it makes me so happy to watch every time.






I believe you can watch the whole film on this youtube clip above. I hope it stays up forever!


Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Home Sweet Home pt 1

I've been meaning to do this for quite a while! I have a unique living situation, and people are always fascinated by it. So I thought I might as well give a tour of it here. My boyfriend's parents re-designed their house into a true castle (it took ten years to build) from what was once a ranch-style house, and it is gorgeous. I am so happy to live here. Though, sometimes I get a little antsy to decorate my place more with my own style, I can't help but appreciate all of the special details that makes this place truly unique and special. Enjoy!


{Front of our two story "tower" loft}




{View of our dining room table from our front door. I love our little fake Christmas tree. It is the perfect centerpiece.}
 

{View of our kitchen from our fireplace area. I am very selective when it comes to what goes on our fridge! Right now is a promo poster from the show New Girl, a photo booth souvenir from my boss' daughter's Bat Mitzvah, an Islands poster (one of my favorite bands), donut + Beatles magnets, and heart stickers. }


 {Our stove/oven. Fact: We use our stove often. It is powered by a pilot light, which is pretty cool. The oven is used for... storage! (we store our cereal boxes in the top drawer, for example). I know, it seems crazy to not use it to cook, but this oven is so old and so simple that it would be really hard to tell what the temperature is. I still need to find a cute way to display our spices. To the left is our microwave that we barely ever use, and paper towels.}




{View of our chandelier, pantry and front door. That piece of artwork hanging is actually very large and is a tie-in to my boyfriend's mother's Italian heritage. Love it so much.}
 

{Our fireplace and organ. This is constantly a work in progress. We don't have a lot of space for a bookshelf, so the top of the organ is holding most (or all) of our tiny book collection, magazines, and random knick-knacks.}


{I love our fireplace. We take full of advantage of it when it's cold here in LA, which to most people is not very cold at all. We're wimps. But nevertheless, it's a big comfort to me and I am so happy to have one.}



{Our fireplace wouldn't be complete without dragon sconces. They're our little tower mascots!}
 


{Our bed. It is basically the most amazing bed in the entire world. Comfortable beyond belief!}


{Just some of the detail on our bedframe}
 

 {My most recent apartment purchase, our custom portrait by PaperPlants! I love it so much, and it looks so good on this wall. It's really hard to find the right artwork for our walls, which is why they are always so bare. This is also where I keep my collection of nail polishes, jewelry, perfume, and current reading material (pictured here: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn). I have had that jewelry box for as long as I can remember. It means a lot to me. And of course, my Casio keyboard that was given to me at work. I love this part of the apartment so much.}
 

{A view of our spiral staircase and my dresses rack. This rack has done wonders for us. We have a pretty big dresser (not pictured) that isn't very handy for dresses, and is filled to the brim as it is. So I thought of getting a garment rack and boy, what a good idea. I love being able to look at my dresses and pick out what I want without having to open the dresser every time.}


{I spy our spiral staircase and our cat, Ringo, peeking away at the camera. This staircase leads up to the other half of our loft apartment - it's the messiest, which is why it's not pictured in this post. We watch tv up there, and it is also where we do our computer work/record our music, listen to records, etc. I will show this some other time, I promise!}
 


{The bathroom! I love our bathroom, but it is not easy to take pictures of. This particular photo is of our mirror, and you can also see our stained glass window.}
 


{A shot of the design in our shower}




{Another challenge: My shoe rack! I don't know if you can tell but it is bending way over to the side. These Target shoe racks are not meant to hold the amount of shoes that I own, clearly! This is a work in progress as well. I will one day find one that is cute and that looks like it fits in our castle-themed apartment. You can kind of see our giant dresser next to it, and front and center is my side table. It is where Ringo eats. Not an ideal place, but we're used to it, and I don't use it for anything else!}
 

Monday, April 29, 2013

Trying a New Look

When I visited the Etsy craft fair the other day, I instantly fell in love with this red rose headband that I purchased. I knew right away that I'd have the perfect outfit for it, too.  I originally bought this dress at Urban Oufitters in 2010 and wore it for my cover band (Icicle Alley)'s first photo shoot and I'm amazed that it still fits! It has the perfect "bohemian vibe" with the cut of the dress, and the lace keeps it delicate which I like. So far this is the only outfit I can picture myself wearing the headband with, but I'm sure I'll find more inspiration soon with all the cute new things coming out for spring and summer.