Changing Things Up

I'm not usually and pants wearer. I'm on the shorter side and curvy side, so I tend to stick to dresses and skirts. I just feel more comfortable wearing them instead of pants. Don't get me wrong, I do like wearing jeans, even though I barely get the chance to wear them. Pants are a whole other story.

When you barely reach 5'2 they tend to be too long and I don't like to pay people to fix my clothes. Anyway, enough with the complaining. I decided to take a chance, after my boss at work mentioned how I never wear pants. So on a rainy Saturday night I went shopping for a pair. Saturday was is the best time, cause it's near closing time and there's never a line (unless it's the holidays). After trying on more than I want to remember or say, I found these.

They are way too long, but the plus side of getting these is that I get to wear them with my blue wedges, which never get to see the light of day. FYI, I wear flats almost always and my heels tend to just be part of my room decor. I really liked this outfit, my friend stated I had a sailor vibe going. Maybe next time I'll try on a stripped shirt to make it more sailor or go with a more 70s vibe.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone. Also to add my usual girlishness to an outfit I decided to paint my toes and nails. I'm loving pink all of a sudden and got these Essie colors recently and wear them on rotation.

 

 Pants: Anthropologie

Blouse: Ann Taylor

Shoes: Moda (by way of DSW)

Purse: Steve Madden

P.S. This will be my last post for a few weeks. I am leaving for a lovely trip tomorrow evening that I am very excited about. When I get back, I will post some pictures to share with you all. 

Steak Dinner

Got hungry and had a big craving for steak. I just wanted meat and potatoes and some mac and cheese. I don't know if you get crazy cravings like me, but when I do I try and fulfill them as much as possible. If I want a pizza, well screw my diet and I order myself a pizza and eat every single bite and later feel bad. Whatever, I have issues. Anyway, this past weekend I wanted meat and carbs and I made me some and enjoyed every bite.

With all the protein and carbs I've been eating all week, I think I should add some greens for the rest of the week to make up for my bad eating. I'm thinking of adding some salad with my dinner and bringing cut veggies to work for a healthy snack. I'm thinking about it...

Well this was the result of my steak and potato dinner. Yummy roasted potatoes with rosemary and olive oil. Some mac and cheese out of the box. Sorry way to lazy to make it from scratch. And a yummy piece of steak. You should make this when you get hit with the steak monster. Yummy!!!

 

The recipe is easy. I just cut up some potatoes and chopped some rosemary and tossed it with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add whatever herb you love to this dish to make it special, thyme works well too. For the steak I made a marinade with rosemary, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I covered the whole steak and threw it on a hot pan and seared both sides until they had a nice crispy shell. Then I placed it in the oven for 30 minutes to finish cooking. I like my steak well done, but cut the time short if you're into medium and rare. The mac and cheese was made from a box. So no recipe for that. Enjoy!!!!

Rainy Days

These past few weeks have been filled with cloudy mornings, torrential rainstorms, and a thick fog of humidity. Each morning waking up to go to work has been a real effort. All I want to do is stay in bed with a cup of tea reading my new book I just picked up from The Strand. Unfortunately I am unable to have these types of mornings. Friday when these pictures were taken, I decided to make an effort and try and change my mood with my outfit.

My outfits have been whatever I can find in my closet that looks appropriate for work as well as comfortable enough that I feel like I'm still wearing my pj's. Well to change things up I decided to pull out this dress that makes me feel so girly and pretty, especially with the ruffles at the neck area.

You know what, I was in a better mood on Friday. Also wearing these shoes are just awesome and add an extra smile on my face. Sometimes a simple outfit can really change a whole days outlook.

Dress - H&M

Cardigan - Uniqlo

Shoes - Urban Outfitters

Tights - Urban Outfitters

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Do you ever wake up one morning and just crave something sweet, especially after having one of those weeks. You know what I'm talking about, right? Those weeks when you have to much work to do and no time at all. When you get less than 5 hours a sleep at night and have to drag yourself to work (or school) and try not to fall asleep. The past few weeks have been overwhelming, to say the least. By Friday I was ready to call it quits on everything, instead I decided to transfer my stress and bake. 

 

There's something about a yellow cake layered with chocolate that I can't seem to resist. Instead of making a massive layer cake for myself, I went all crazy math freak and divided my recipe in fourths. That took some time with my calculator. In the end the cake was exactly what I wanted. The only downside was I ran out of confectioners sugar so my frosting turned into more of a ganache then an actual frosting. But who cares, chocolate is chocolate.

 

Yellow Cake Recipe (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen):

3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg at room temp
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two small pans and line with a circle of parchment paper, and then butter the parchment. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy, then add vanilla. Add egg and lemon zest to large bowl. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until well incorporated. Spread the batter evenly in cake pan. Bake until golden brown for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack before removing from pan.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting:

1.5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup of confectioners sugar (add 1 cup if you want a real frosting)
1/2 and a quarter stick of room temp butter
1 and 1/2 of a tablespoon of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate and then process until the frosting is smooth.

Bright Sunny Days

So the tights are officially off and the bare legs have come out to enjoy the warmth and the sun. The night before I had a fight with my razor in the shower and almost experienced a serious accident. Anyway,iIt was a bit weird going out without the comfort of my tights, but it didn't take me long to get used to bare legs again. Enough of my lack of primping that occurs during the winter. 

Last week I woke up early and decided to take some pictures on my roof before work and it made me look forward to the official arrival of spring. As you can tell I'm still wearing darker colors, but slowly adding bright pieces here and there. I'm still not convinced that spring is here. I hope wherever you guys are the sun is shining and it's warm enough for bare legs.

Skirt - Anthropologie

Blouse - Urban Outfitters

Shoes - Urban Outfitters