Outfit Post (Plus My Favorite Jewelry Designer)

Hi guys! I received pretty good feedback from the last outfit post, so I figured I'd put up another one from recently. I wore the below to work one day a couple of weeks back - back before it got to be so freezing!

Seriously, this weather is insane. I've been wearing nothing but pants and layers upon layers for the past week... but back before it felt like it was -1 outside (not kidding) I was able to wear stuff like skirts and tights.

Is it spring yet??

Sweater: Limited (similar)

Skirt: H&M (similar in coral, similar)

Necklace: Amrita Singh 

Tights: DKNY

Shoes: Qupid (practically identical - and on sale!)

Also - I wanted to mention the designer of the necklace I am wearing here. Her name is Amrita Singh and she's an Indian designer who makes the most beautiful, colorful pieces! I've been buying her jewelry on Rue La La for a couple of years whenever it pops up, and I am in love with everything she does! Take a look at some of the other gorgeous pieces below - these are the epitome of statement necklaces. A link to her site is here, but her stuff isn't exactly cheap - which is why I recommend waiting for it to come up on discount sites like Rue La La and Gilt Groupe (although she's having an amazing sale on the site right now!).

Same necklace - many different colors!

Same necklace - many different colors!

I Actually Made Something From Pinterest!

I am sure there are many folks out there who can relate to the following statement: I LOVE PINTEREST.  I have spent many an hour pinning pictures of recipes, outfits and general pretty things, but I've never actually done anything with the pins. 

Until today! I came across a recipe a while back for raw cookie dough bites, and after following the link to the recipe I decided to give them a try. These scrumptious little bites of heaven were super simple and quick to make (they literally took me 5 minutes). Plus - they're much healthier than regular cookies, so there's almost zero guilt! Even Vlady raved about how yummy they are, and he's not a huge sweets fan. 

I will definitely be making these over and over, and it's made me want to give so many more of the Pinterest recipes a try!

Raw Cookie Dough Bites

Yield: 12-16 bites (depending on how big you roll them)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup raw almonds

2/3 cup raw walnuts

2/3 cup raw oat flakes

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup raw agave nectar

2 tsp pure vanilla

3 tbsp cacao nibs or dark chocolate nibs

Directions:

1. In a food processor, process the almonds, walnuts, oats, cinnamon and salt to a fine meal.

2. Add the agave nectar and vanilla and process to combine.

3. Next, add the cacao nibs or chocolate chips and pulse just to combine.

4. Roll the cookie dough into balls about 1 tbsp each (wet your hands if the dough is too sticky) and place them on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Place the pan in the freezer for about an hour to firm up. Store the balls in a tightly covered container in the fridge.

Notes from me:

- This recipe was made for people who only eat raw food, which I do not, so I purchased regular agave nectar.

- Honey could be substituted for agave nectar, but I think the agave gives a slightly caramel flavor that really made the bites taste like cookie dough. 

Ingredients

The finished product in the food processor. 

Yummm!!!!

One more thing: that cinnamon is the best I have ever tried (Vietnamese Saigon cinnamon), and I highly recommend the company that sells it. Savory Spice Shop has stores all over the country (including in Raleigh) but they also have an online store that I regularly order many of my spices and seasonings from. They even send sample seasonings with every purchase! Check them out - you will not be disappointed.

Outfit Post

I wouldn't normally do an outfit post, but I received a lot of compliments on my outfit today.. so I thought "why not share!". I snapped a quick picture when I got home with my phone, hence the not so great quality and darkness. I'd still love to get a nice camera one of these days.. But until then, what do y'all think?

Blazer: Similar

Tank top: Similar

Pants: Loft (on major sale right now)

Boots: Similar

Necklace: IMaccessories (on sale!)

Watch: Fossil (Christmas gift!)

That time I accidentally stole something

I have a confession to make: a couple of years back I stole a necklace. Thing is though, it was a complete accident!

I got to thinking about the whole incident today when I was going through jewelry to get rid of and was deciding whether or not to keep the necklace. The finish on the necklace was very tarnished, so I'm going to get rid of it, but how I acquired it was quite interesting.

Back when I lived in Raleigh I had gone in to a major chain store to buy a charm necklace for a coworker of mine for Christmas, after she had commented how much she liked one I was wearing. Inside the store the necklaces were displayed on the branches of a small, fake tree and the actual packaging was displayed below the tree. After not having found the necklace I was looking for already pre-packaged, I decided to grab one off the tree and put it in one of the empty packages beneath (there were lots). I was careful to open up the package to make sure it was empty, and it sure looked that way.

So I checked out of the store, went home and began to wrap the necklace. I decided I actually did not want to wrap the necklace in the stores packaging, and when I went to take it out I was shocked to find there were actually two necklaces in there! The original one was pushed behind some tape in a way that I couldn't see it just by looking in, but sure enough it was there... and I had stolen it.

Maybe taking it back to the store would have been the right thing.. but I thought of it more as a "buy one get one free" kind of deal.. right?

No?

Oh well. Now it will be heading on it's way to Goodwill (it's not in bad shape per se, it's just got more of a bronzed look than it used to.. not my favorite), and in case anyone is wondering, below is a picture of said stolen necklace:

The good news is that I've never stolen anything before that, or since! At least not that I know of...

Best EVER Buffalo Chicken Dip

Hi guys! Long time no see!

I feel like all of my blogs now begin with "I've been busy and haven't blogged in two months..", so one of my new years resolutions is to post WAY more often. Other resolutions involve going to the gym often (of course), and cooking more. Ever since we moved to NYC I've slowly been cooking less, and less and less.. It was getting to the point where we were ordering in almost every night. Yikes! That probably has a lot to do with the extra pounds that have creeped on.

But I don't only want to cook more so that I can be healthy, I also want to cook more because I LOVE it. I've already cooked twice this week, so I'm off to a good start (one of those recipes to come).

So I figured why not go ahead and share one of my favorite low-fat recipes EVER. I make this dip for almost every party because it is always a favorite amongst our friends, and I know people will devour it. I originally took the recipe from my brother in-law, so I have to give him the credit for first getting me hooked on this. Enjoy!!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 cup low-fat ranch dressing
1 cup Franks Original hot sauce
1 8oz block (1/3 less fat) cream cheese
1 package shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
Boil chicken breasts on medium heat for 30-45 minutes, or until cooked through. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

While chicken is boiling, cut cold cream cheese into cubes and place into an 11"x8" baking dish that is lightly sprayed with Pam. Evenly sprinkle cheese on top of cubes.

Pour ranch and hot sauce on mixture and place in the oven, uncovered, for 7-10 minutes. Stir mixture and put back in the oven for another 7-10 minutes and stir until mixed well.

Shred chicken and mix into cheese mixture. Cover with foil and bake an additional 20-30 minutes.

*A note on shredding chicken: I prefer to shred the breasts using 2 forks, but I've read that throwing it in a mixer is much, much quicker. Perhaps I'll try that one of these days.

All of the ingredients.

Cream cheese in the greased pan.

With the cheese added.

Topped with the ranch and hot sauce (plus a few extra dabs of Franks - I love that stuff!).

Lately and More Apartment Pictures

Welp - it's been quite a while since my last post.. 2 months to be exact! Yikes!

What can I say, things have been busy and there were a few unexpected circumstances (just that hurricane that came through). October was a very busy month at work, and just as things began to slow a little we got struck by Sandy. Thankfully we were only without power for about 4.5 days, because I know many others that have been without power for over 4 weeks! Although we got through pretty well during the storm we have had issues with our Internet ever since, so that's made posting a little difficult as well.

All of that being said, I wanted to go ahead and put up some more pictures of our new apartment! These are just of the bedroom, and this is probably the room that changed the least when we moved from the studio. My favorite part of our whole apartment is my small vanity/desk that actually used to be our kitchen table. It's the one space that contains so many of my favorite things: my favorite framed quote, a picture of Tatum, and a tray of my favorite perfume and nail polish. I've also grown to love collecting vintage brooches, so I think the little display box that I found is so pretty!

One of the things that I was most excited about by having a larger bedroom: his and hers dressers! It's been so nice not to cram everything into one dresser... although I have taken over one full drawer of the "his" dresser. Vlady knows that sharing is caring, so thankfully he's nice enough to share his space with my stuff. :)

And on another note: these pictures are pretty terrible (they were taken with my iPhone). I think it's time for a real camera.

My favorite spot: my vanity!

"Hers" dresser

A few of my favorite things: picture of my niece, my vintage brooches, favorite perfume and nail polishes and the best smelling candle EVER.

Looking in from the door

Looking into the room from the window

"His" dresser

Favorite quote and cute owl

Another shot of the dressers

One Fine Day

I know that I still owe a couple more apartment pictures, but those haven't been snapped yet (I know, I know..), and I wanted to talk about what we did last Sunday instead. Maybe it's not quite as exciting, but it was one of my favorite days in a long time!


We started the morning by having one of our good friends come over to do a fitness/posture/muscle alignment assessment on us to help us determine what corrections we may need to make while working out. It was very informative, and I was actually sore the next day from one of the moves we had to do (Judy: don't judge).

By about 2:00pm we had not eaten and were STARVING; so naturally we went and got chicken and waffles. Not exactly the most healthy meal, but when you're about to eat your own arm off sometimes that can be over looked a tad (or a lot). Although the service in the restaurant was sub-par (at one point the waitress walked away in the middle of taking my order!), the food itself hit the spot perfectly.

After our late lunch we headed up to the Museum of Natural History to wander around and check out the new exhibit on bioluminescence called "Creatures of Light". I had been looking forward to this exhibit since it opened at the beginning of the year, and although we learned a lot and enjoyed it quite a bit I was a little disappointed at how small the whole thing was. We checked out some of the other parts of the museum as well before heading for a stroll through Central Park.

A 40x actual size portrayal of a bioluminescent mushroom in the "Creatures of Light" exhibit.

An Angler fish display

Now, the main reason I even suggested we go to the museum and park that day was because the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Slightly cool, no humidity and lots of sunshine made for a perfect day to be outside. We sat by one of the lakes and watched the boats paddle by for a while, and then we walked in the direction of the Boathouse to grab a drink and watch the sun go down.

Watching boats in Central Park

After our rest stop and cocktails at the bar we decided we were hungry again (which I didn't think was possible after the late lunch we had), and I made a last minute reservation at a restaurant called Jo Jo on the Upper East Side. I had heard good things about it, and the reviews on Yelp were good.. plus it's a Jean-Georges spot so that was enticing as well.

Oh my word was it ever delicious! We split 4 appetizers and I had a dessert, and I think it just might be one of my favorite meals ever. To start we had the tuna roll which was rare tuna wrapped in crispy pastry with a wasabi sauce, edamame and ginger. We also had the cheese ravioli with very, very fresh crushed tomatoes and Parmesan and a crab meat salad with mango and cumin crisps. After that we were still hungry and decided to get the crispy salmon "sushi" roll with a soy spread.

Tuna roll at Jo Jo

All of the ingredients were minimal and simple, but everything was so fresh and delicious that I was in heaven the whole time. Especially once the dessert came along. I know that I've talked before about what I thought was the best dessert ever, but I believe that has been trumped. The dessert I had at Jo Jo was a passion fruit pavlova that had a passion fruit filling, was topped with passion fruit seeds, and sat on a bed of fresh whipped cream. I died. I also asked the hostess if this was a seasonal dessert or one they had all the time, and she (thankfully!) told me that it is Jean-Georges favorite dessert and they have it year round.

Jean-Georges has good taste, I see.

So that was our fun day, and I enjoyed getting to have so much fun and experience so many new things with Vlady! Looks like this weekend will be beautiful as well, perhaps I shall have another fine day again.