I bought some new sneakers for going on walks this Summer and for our Disney trip in September. We'll (hopefully) be doing the Wild Africa Trek safari at Animal Kingdom so I'll need some good sneakers for that. We were supposed to do it in May 2020 but Covid ruined that whole trip. Now we'll be doing it for our anniversary, assuming I can get us 2 spots when the 60 day window for booking opens up in July! But back to the shoes - I had a $30 off $49 coupon AND my yearly $10 reward so that brought them to $26, can't beat that!
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- None yet
Basics:
- mīere the label "Frankie" knit sweater in Faded Black ($56.92, $32.15 if we omit shipping)
Shoes:
- None yet
Handbags:
- None yet
Accessories:
- None yet
Activewear/Swimwear:
- *NEW!* Ryka "Belong" Walking Shoe in Plum Red/Burgundy via DSW ($26.58, $79.99 retail)
Gifted from Brands:
- Pearl and Gold Bar Duo Stud Earring - Rose Gold c/o Aurate
- Gold Bar Stud Earrings - Rose Gold c/o Aurate
- Gold Bar Stud Earrings - Yellow Gold c/o Aurate
Spent in April: $26.58
Spent in 2022: $83.50
I love when these forsythias on my Mom's property line bloom in Spring. Always such a great spot for outfit photos. I've been meaning to wear these jeans again for a while but whenever we went out it was to the grocery store and I didn't feel like wearing heels and weird jeans there. I'm not usually a big fan of white/cream clothes, but this top is always an exception. Such a beautiful print and I love the birds on it.
Cardigan: Marc Jacobs (Roundabout Resale)
Floral Top: Zara
Jeans: Free People 'Ray of Sunshine' Wide-Leg Jean (Marshalls)
Boots: Chloé 'Piper' (Roundabout Resale, another pair)
Bag: Dark Purple Chloé Faye (eBay)
Sunglasses: Gucci Aviators
Necklace: Acanthus Jewelry 'Gemma'
I hope everyone had who celebrates enjoyed Easter/Passover/Ramadan this past weekend. We had part 1 of our Easter with Mom's side of the family. This Saturday we're doing part 2 with Dad's side. This skirt isn't the most Eastery thing in my closet but my Mom just finished making it a couple weeks before and I wanted to wear it ASAP!
Last year, or maybe even longer ago, I had seen someone in a skirt made out of old ties and it must have stuck in my brain. When my Grandpa was getting rid of a bunch of his old ties. I decided to rescue some and turn them into my own version of a tie skirt. My Mom & I googled a couple of guides but in the end we did it our (aka her) way. We cut the skirts to the length I wanted, Mom sewed them together and then used the thin part of one tie as the band.
Grandpa got a real kick out of seeing the skirt, especially because I used his helicopter ties. He used to work for Sikorsky Aircraft before retiring. Grandma was shocked it came out so good - apparently she didn't have faith in our vision, ha ha!
Blazer: Jones New York
Tank: Old Navy
Grandpa Tie Skirt: Made by Mom
Sandals: Cole Haan 'Minetta' (Marshalls)
Sapphire Necklace: Grandma's
Sunglasses: Gucci Aviators
We've got a nice mix of sweet and savory recipes in this baking roundup! All delicious and all pretty easy, even if my execution was a bit off. There was, however, one bigger disaster, but again, still tasty. This past week I baked treats (breads) for Easter that will be in my next baking update, but you can just save the recipes for next year! (or make them anytime.)
Gooey Oatmeal Fudge Bars
These were so easy to make and super tasty! They're good straight out of the fridge or after a quick zap in the microwave to melt the fudge a bit! For mine I should have saved a bit more cookie batter to crumble on the top but they still look great.
Pâte à Choux / Cream Puffs
I made Cheshire Cat tails again and had leftover crème pâtissière. I decided it was the day to finally make cream puffs! It wasn’t as hard/scary as I built it up to be in my mind but I did almost have a disaster. They’re supposed to bake at 425 for 15 minutes so they actually puff up and then you lower the heat to 350 for 20-25 minutes. Somehow the oven reset my pre-heat temp of 425 and only heated to 350. I went to check on the puffs at 14 minutes and they hadn’t puffed up AT ALL. I looked at the temperature and it said 350 - NOOO!! But I did some quick thinking and decided to pump up the heat to 450 to try and get some steam going inside to puff them up. Came back after the oven had gotten to that temperature and they had puffed! YAYY!!! Then I lowered the temp to 350 for the final 10-15 minutes of baking. I used King Arthur Baking’s recipe and added a bit of sugar to make them sweet.
Thick and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Another recipe from Tessa of Handle the Heat's Ultimate Cookie Handbook. Her cookie recipes (any recipes really) always come out amazing! In the past I've made her brown butter chocolate chip cookies, cosmic brownies, lemon loaf cake and many more! The recipe uses cornstarch and part cake flour to make them soft and chewy. I made a full batch but only baked about 14 cookies. The rest went into the freezer so we could bake them off fresh for easy desserts!
Ukrainian Garlic Bread - Pampushky
The recipe is by Olia Hercules and was shared by Nigella Lawson as part of Cook for Ukraine. "Cook For Ukraine aims to increase awareness of the humanitarian crisis the world faces right now, as well as raise the funds needed to aid children & families in Ukraine who have been displaced by the current situation." You can donate to the cause on JustGiving. Now to the food! I'm a big garlic bread fan and immediately added this to my must-bake list after seeing it on Nigella's instagram. So fun and tasty! It was pretty easy to make too, although I had a bit of trouble with my dough not wanting to come together so I added a couple spoonfuls of water and kneaded like crazy! They plumped up nicely and came out golden brown. Yummy!
[King Arthur's] Favorite Sandwich Bread
For some reason I have a difficult time with making loaves of bread. This is the second or third "sandwich bread" recipe I tried and it didn't come out quite right. My loaf pan is slightly bigger than the recipe so I increased all the ingredients by 25%. The flavor was great but I guess I need to increase the recipe more. I might just double it next time so it is definitely big enough, ha ha! At least it tasted good! I made this the same weekend as the Pampushky so at least one thing came out the way it was supposed to.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Here comes the disaster. In the middle of the week I decided I wanted to make dessert but I didn't want to take the time to make individual cookies so I looked for a new cookie bar recipe to try. Grabbed the recipe from a blog that gave me good success with an updated French macaron recipe. Unfortunately, the dough didn't want to cook!! I even left it in TWENTY extra minutes and the center was still flowing lava while the edges were crisp and cooked. Super weird. Luckily it firmed up overnight and I like underdone cookies/brownies, but Christian still avoided eating the middle (more for me!)
I wore this outfit to the Roger Williams Zoo last month but it was too people-y to take pictures without feeling dumb so I re-wore it the next weekend to take some! I figured I would go with the animal theme since we were going to the zoo so I picked my fun safari print tee by Madewell and paired it with custom Nike's made from leopard print pony-hair. I know, it was weird to make sneakers in a material I couldn't actually use for hiking or working out - but I don't generally do those activities so why not go wild! I've had these for seven years now, wowza!
Tee: Madewell Safari Print Linen
Sweater: Banana Republic Italian Cashmere-Blend Boyfriend Cardigan c/o Westfield Trumbull
Jeans: FRAME 'Le Skinny de Jeanne' (Shopbop)
Sneakers: Nike by You custom Air Max 90 Premium c/o (previously called Nike iD)
Bag c/o Orox Leather Co Merces Petite (not photographed, whoops!)
Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika' c/o Shopbop
If you missed my Instagram posts from the zoo you can see them below!
Can't believe we're already 3 months in to 2022. This month was another light shopping month - no clothes purchased. There's nothing I really need at the moment since we haven't really been out much in the past 2 years. Many of my old clothes now feel extra new again because I haven't worn them in quite a while. It's nice to be able to "shop my closet" as the cool kids are saying, ha ha. But I've always shopped my closet in the past (many of my clothes are 10+ years old.) It is still nice to have the occasional new piece to sprinkle in, but not much has caught my eye these days.
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- None yet
Basics:
- mīere the label "Frankie" knit sweater in Faded Black ($56.92, $32.15 if we omit shipping)
Shoes:
- None yet
Handbags:
- None yet
Accessories:
- None yet
Activewear/Swimwear:
- None yet
Gifted from Brands:
- Pearl and Gold Bar Duo Stud Earring - Rose Gold c/o Aurate
- Gold Bar Stud Earrings - Rose Gold c/o Aurate
- Gold Bar Stud Earrings - Yellow Gold c/o Aurate
Spent in March: $0
Spent in 2022: $56.92
Wearing my newest sweater acquisition! I mentioned in my February wardrobe update that I finally bought another sweater from my friend Jamie's clothing line - mīere the label. She is currently in between collections/stocking items but keep an eye on her site for when she launches more! This is the Frankie sweater and it is perfectly chunky, slightly oversized and super cozy! I'm sad I will probably only be able to wear it a couple more times before it gets too warm! I'll make up for that next year.
Decided to go for an (almost) monochromatic look for it's first outing as an ode to Jamie. She is the queen of monochromatic looks and simple but chic outfits! I did want to add one element of surprise to the look so I paired it with my bright purple Prada Cahier! I had been trying to rotate through other bags lately because I've really been favoring it. What can I say - I'm still obsessed.
Sweater: mīere the label "Frankie" knit sweater (currently out of stock)
Jeans: Free People 'Jax' Patchwork Jeans
Shoes: BCBGeneration Yerra slip on sneaker (DSW)
Labradorite Necklace: Indulgems (Gilt)
Bag: Purple Prada Cahier in Viola (Rebag via Vestiaire Collective)
