I wore this for a morning in Mystic, CT followed by a quick visit to see a brand new submarine. Long-ish story, but basically my brother works for the company that makes them and when one is completed employees can bring a few family members to see it! It was a rather windy day so I was glad to have my blazer on.
After the submarine we made a quick stop at Clinton Premium Outlets. I walked away empty handed but Christian got some new dress shoes at Saks Off 5th, which he desperately needed, and a couple body lotions. After we got home we ran over to Men's Wearhouse to get his new suit pants tailored. We went into the store a few weeks ago intending to spend a lot on a suit but soon realized there was one we liked that was on clearance but the color we needed wasn't in stock in his size at the store so I ordered it online. We are paying a bit for tailoring but the suit is still going to end up being around $100, can't beat that! Now he's all set for our fancy dinner at Victoria & Albert's later this month!
Sweater: French Connection c/o Marshalls
Purple Blazer: Evan Picone (gifted from a friend)
Jeans: Current/Elliott 'The Ankle Skinny' (The Outnet)
Leopard Loafers c/o Joie 'Dylan' leopard loafer
Bag: Madewell Medium Slim Saddle Bag in Croc (small version) c/o Shopbop
Sunglasses: Gucci Aviators (bought in Rome)
Still going strong with hardly any clothing purchases this year. Although I did get to do some clothing shopping with Christian. He needed a new suit so we went through the process of trying a bunch on, picking one, getting it altered and getting new shoes. So I was able to scratch my shopping itch!
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- None
Basics:
- None
Shoes:
- None
Handbags:
- None
Accessories:
- None
Activewear/Swimwear:
- Colorfulkoala High Waisted Yoga Pants with Pockets in Deep Teal ($20, retail $30, used CC rewards)
Gifted from Brands:
- None
Spent in March: $0
Spent in 2024: $0
Spent in 2024 - counting ad money: $0
Ombré Citrus Cake
I've had this recipe from Turkuaz Kitchen saved for a year and finally made it! Betul's recipes are always beautiful and her Instagram videos are so soothing. This recipe was super easy to make but I was scared about it coming out as pretty as hers. I actually made two because I had a lot of orange slices. Techically didn't have enough of the blood orange syrup for both cakes, but that's okay! Half of it is supposed to be served on top as a drizzle when served so I just skipped that step. Next time I may try to make the slices thinner so I can use more for each cake.
Heart Shaped Layered Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies
I made this as a very special Valentine's Day dessert! I slightly modified it by leaving off the cacao nibs and putting m&ms in the brownie. It took a LONG time to bake in the heart shaped pan so the outside came out really cripsy and the inside was undercooked with a large hole in the center. (I stopped cooking it after an hour, haha...the recipe says 25-27 minutes for a normal pan and that it would be "slightly longer" for the heart shaped pan...) So while I'm a little disappointed in the bake of the brownie the flavors were great! I don't mind undercooked brownie but the hard as a rock exterior was not my favorite. Next time I'll just use a normal pan.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
I always forget I have oats so I decided to whip up some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I went with the recipe in Tessa's Ultimate Cookie Handbook. For me it was a little too oaty, next time I might do less oats and more chocolate chips. The flavor was great though, I love the spice level from the cinnamon.
2 Hour Fastest No Knead Bread
If you've been around long enough you'll know I constantly make this bread recipe for our lunches. This time I did a slight variation and did a cup of whole wheat flour and the rest regular flour. It added a nice bit of nuttiness! Next time I might go for 2 cups and see how that is!
Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins
Another bake I come back to time and again. It's so easy and tasty. I used frozen wild blueberries instead of normal sized because I prefer them small. I also chilled the batter overnight before baking to help them puff up and be extra tall (the recipe says to put frozen blueberries in after this step, but I do it before because I don't mind if they turn blue.)
Chocolate Truffles
I had some leftover heavy cream to use up and in addition to making some "cream" biscuits that I forgot to take a photo of, I also made some delicious truffles. I didn't really need a recipe but decided to try Tessa's. Hers was interesting because there is a little corn syrup in it to help thicken them. After rolling them out I covered them in sprinkles and coconut. I should have done more with coconut but wasn't sure we would like the combo. Spoiler alert - we did!
The weather has been all over the place lately. One day its freezing and windy (here) another it's 60 degrees and I'm enjoying the park! This outfit was all about being cozy for an 8 year old's birthday party. Even though it was chilly outside I decided to wear these mules to add some fun to the look, the party was inside, after-all! I've been favoring my easier to wear jeans but decided to make a statement with these patchwork jeans from Free People.
Purple Coat: Greylin Longline Shirt Jacket in purple (Anthropologie)
Sweater: Abercrombie & Fitch
Jeans: Free People 'Jax' Patchwork Jeans
Shoes: Splendid Harvest Mules in Tiger/Cheetah Print (eBay)
FlatSocks /co
Sunglasses: Gucci Aviators (bought in Rome)
Hat: Kensington Palace gift shop
Another month with no clothing purchases. These posts are getting a little boring, no? But I'm going to keep up with them because I think it's good to show that you don't always need to buy new clothes and can shop your own closet. We need to break the fast fashion cycle where people are buying new wardrobes every few months. For most of my later blogging years I have tried to go with the less is more approach and only add items that I know will last. Occasionally I will still buy a crazy piece I'm not sure of just to try it out, but I try to avoid that.
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- None
Basics:
- None
Shoes:
- None
Handbags:
- None
Accessories:
- None
Activewear/Swimwear:
- Colorfulkoala High Waisted Yoga Pants with Pockets in Deep Teal ($20, retail $30, used CC rewards)
Gifted from Brands:
- None
Spent in February: $0
Spent in 2024: $0
Spent in 2024 - counting ad money: $0
I really need to start wearing all my blazers again. I have so many and can't get rid of them because they all hold such special memories and are just plain pretty! I mostly stopped wearing them because I don't go out to many "events" these days and wearing a blazer to the grocery store on the weekend feels funny. But I'm just going to go for it now! They're outerwear, so they're practical for this chilly weather This is one of my more recent blazers, bought for $36 in early 2019. Probably one of my last blazer purchases because I made myself stop buying them.
Blazer: Sandro burgundy double breasted blazer (Roundabout Resale)
Striped Top: Splendid 'Duke' striped pullover c/o Shopbop
Jeans: Everlane high-rise skinny jean in mid-blue
Ankle Boots: Candie's "ChiChi" Faux Suede Platform Heeled Boots c/o Kohl's
Bag: Dark Purple Chloé Faye (eBay)
Warmth is very important in the Winter and we're in the thick of it now. I've been wanting to get additional padding for my favorite winter boots for a few years now and kept putting it off. I finally found my solution in these fuzzy liner socks from Flat Socks! They are like insoles for your shoes but in sock material and they're
washer/dryer safe, even these fur ones. This keeps the inside of your shoes clean. To learn more about how to use these liner socks check out my post on them from last year! Can you tell I'm wearing socks in this Instagram post? Well, I am!
While these are meant to replace socks I've been using them more as extra warmth for this particular pair of boots and I still wear socks with them. The extra padding makes my feet super cozy and I love how soft they are. I even have a pair of arch support insoles under the liner socks to make them even more comfortable for long Winter walks or while shoveling snow.
Sweater: Everlane "The Wool-Cashmere Square Crew" in Crimson
Jeans: Current/Elliott (The Outnet)
Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Perfect Purse ostrich-effect PVC' (Net-a-Porter sale)
Hat: Disney World
Sunglasses: Chanel
Necklace: Indulgems (Gilt)
Boots: Vintage Snowland Moccasin Ankle Boots (from Grandma - another pair)
Chestnut Faux Fur FLAT SOCKS c/o
*This post was made in partnership with Responsival.*
Lots of Christmas weekend bakes in this one! Plus two more recipes I've had on my "to bake" list for a bit. Almost everything came out exactly as I'd hoped! Love when that happens.
Mille Feuille
I wanted to make something other than Christian's pie (below) for Christmas Eve and remembered we had frozen puff pastry I've been meaning to use. I googled and found this recipe for mille feuille (or napoleons, except this isn't almond flavored.) Objectively a simple recipe, but still messy and time consuming, ha ha! The diplomat cream was a little loose so they slid around a bit by the time I took the final photo, but they were a hit! Everyone that ate one said they were delicious. I don't like pastry cream so I didn't have one. We have some leftover cream and egg whites I need to use up too...
 |
| Not as pretty later in the evening, haha! |
Lemon Raspberry Pie + King Arthur Flaky Pastry Dough
This was Christian's Christmas Eve bake, but I helped a bit so including it anyway ;) The pie dough didn't come out right but I'm not sure what he did wrong since his pie crusts are usually good. Perhaps the instructions for the recipe were weird or he didn't cut in the butter enough. But the filling of the pie was very tasty even though that recipe was a little all over the place too, ha ha!
Cinnamon Babka
I made chocolate babka earlier this year (and again this weekend) and wanted to try my hand at cinnamon for our Christmas morning breakfast. The recipe was from America's Test Kitchen, the same place I got the chocolate one from but the method was very different. Mine didn't come out looking how I hoped - the filling melted into the bread more than it was supposed to and there was a lot of it at the bottom of the loaf. If I make this again I may double the filling or see if I can find a recipe that uses a different rolling/twisting method. It still tasted great!
Chocolate Babka
As mentioned above I already made this once, but it deserves another mention because its so tasty! And pretty easy to make, even if its a bit messy! It was a hit on Christmas morning and kept us all stuffed until early afternoon at Grandma's.
Chocolate Mousse Cake
I had some leftover heavy cream from all my Christmas baking so I decided to make a recipe I had saved back in October to use it up. This was my first time making a mousse and a layered dessert of this type. It was easier than I thought it would be but also a little nerve wracking. My ganache was a little bit oon the thin side but other than that it came out great! (I'm annoyed because I KNEW it was thin and I was doing a time lapse video and didn't want to stop it to add more chocolate...grr!)
Lemon Blueberry Loaf
I knew I was most likely going to have an extra lemon after baking Saucy Chicken Picatta meatballs for dinner one night so I decided to try and make this loaf! Before using the lemon for dinner I zested it for this recipe and had just enough juice left over as well. I like small, wild blueberries so I used some frozen ones to make this and I think next time I'll use a few less because it was a bit more blueberry dense than it would have been if I used normal size berries. It affected he cooking time a bit because of the extra bulk. But, even with the extra cooking time it was delicious! A perfect breakfast for cold winter mornings.
The first month of 2024 is already done, wow! This year I'm not planning on making too many clothing purchases, but I will continue to do my roundups because I can't stop now, ha ha! This will be my TENTH year tracking my clothing spending and it's funny looking back at my older posts where I would spend a couple hundred a month. My first recap post was March 2014 and it was the month I bought my beloved Carven map print dress! I've definitely gotten my $300 worth out of that dress, with lots more more life left in it.
Paragraph added before the end of the month since I prepared this early, haha! Amazon was having a sale on some leggings I like so I used credit card rewards to buy another pair. The first pair I bought was for my runDisney Cheshire Cat outfit.
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- None
Basics:
- None
Shoes:
- None
Handbags:
- None
Accessories:
- None
Activewear/Swimwear:
- *NEW!* Colorfulkoala High Waisted Yoga Pants with Pockets in Deep Teal ($20, retail $30, used CC rewards)
Gifted from Brands:
- None
Spent in January: $0
Spent in 2024: $0
Spent in 2024 - counting ad money: $0
