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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Spring Fever - Nail Polish

This winter has been very mild so far, and especially in the past few days it has been super warm.  It was almost 65 degrees today.  The temperature has definitely been giving me an early case of spring fever.  Oddly enough, spring is my least favorite season, but now that the weather is teasing me, I don't want it to get cold and dreary again.

I feel like one of the first transitions I make during any season change is my nail polish.  Come September, I bust out the rich, dark colors.  Now that I am getting in spring mode, I am all about the brights.  There are some amazing collections for this spring, and I am getting very excited about some of them!

Butter London's Spring/Summer 2012 Collection
From Left: Disco Biscuit, Bossy Boots, Slapper, Trout Pout, and Knackered
 Essie's Spring 2012 collection

From Left: Navigate Her, A Crewed Interest, To Buy Or Not To Buy, Tour de Finance, Ole Caliente, and Orange, It's Obvious!

I am not all that impressed with the OPI Spring "Holland" collection.  There are a few nice colors in it, but overall, it is not as bright and cheery as I would hope for a spring collection.

As for these two collections, I am in love! I definitely plan to get Essie's Navigate Her.  From what the picture shows, it is the perfect pistachio with a creamy finish, and it is gorgeous.  I am also obsessing over Butter London's Knackered.  It looks like a very unique purple/blue duo chrome with glitter, but I will have to test this out in a store before I splurge on it (Butter nail polishes are $14!)

Which colors are you favorites?

Gaby

Photos via google image

Monday, January 30, 2012

Oldies Playlist

I love old music.  I find it much more soulful than the majority of today's music.  Maybe soulful isn't the right word in every case, but I just prefer it.  I have this little fantasy that I live in the 40's and go to swing and jazz clubs, or that it's the 50's and I fox trot in a poodle skirt, or that I am a flapper at a party in the 20's, or I am a hippie at Woodstock.  Call me crazy if you must, but I just seriously wish I lived in another era.  Okay, so I don't want to be a traitor to my generation and all (name that movie!) because I definitely look back on the nineties very fondly, and I am attached to many of my present day technological luxuries, but there is just a certain appeal about life back then, especially the music.  

Well, that was much longer than I was planning, so without further ado, here is a playlist of "oldies but goodies" from all different generations.  Feel free to sing a long and dance around.  Don't worry, no judgment.


1. Runaround Sue - Dion
2. Rich Girl - Hall & Oates
3. Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darin
4. Baby Love - The Supremes
5. The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra
6. Sh-boom Sh-boom - The Crewcuts
7. Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
8. Crocodile Rock - Elton John
9. In the Mood - Glen Miller
10. Twist and Shout - The Beatles


By the way, I was out of town this weekend, so I didn't get to make my Sunday dinner, but I will be making one next week, so keep an eye out!

Gaby

PS Anyone else always think of Ferris Bueller when they hear Twist and Shout?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Knitting Fever

I have caught the knitting bug in a big way.  I just cannot stop knitting these days.  In the past few weeks, I have one regular and two infinity scarves.  I am still fairly new to knitting, so I'm only able to do simple projects (hence all the scarves.)  But my next project is a leg warmer.

This was my most recent scarf.  I am still deciding whether I want to sew the ends together to make an infinity scarf or just leave it as is.  But either way, I am pleased with how it turned out.

 I wanted to do a really chunky, loose knit scarf so I used big needles (size 19) and thick yarn.  The yarn was Bernat Roving wool blend in the color Lotus, which is a nice yellow green.

 I cast on 15 times.  It seems wide at first when you are doing such a loose knit, but the stitch I used curls a bit, so it ended up narrower.

 I did the stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row)  Like I said, this stitch tends to curl in on the sides, so take that into account when casting on.
That's the finished product!  Just a super fast, easy scarf.

Gaby

Monday, January 23, 2012

A Lush Life- Golden Wonders



I have a confession to make.  I am hopelessly addicted to Lush products. 

It's a small problem... but Lush is just too good.  Every time I go shopping I have to stop in.  I can't resist its delicious smelling, earth friendly, self pamper-y goodness.  I am planning on doing a feature in which I review and discuss Lush products.  The first one that I am doing is the thing that inspired this feature.  I used it and I fell in love with it, and felt like I just had to share it.

It is the Golden Wonders bath bomb.  Before I get into how amazing this is, let me start by saying that unfortunately, this was a limited edition Christmas item and I did not get any of my own pictures of it.  (The above photo via google images.)  However, it may be available again next year.  Or maybe you have one sitting in your stash of Lush products.  Or maybe, just maybe, your Lush still has one... though I sort of doubt it.

Okay, so onto the product.  Firstly, this bath bomb is huge! I would say that the base of the present shape is the size of my palm, and it is probably about 2 and half inches tall.  Since it was so big, it was a little more expensive than most bath bombs.  I feel like I remember it being about 7 dollars.  I was initially planning on splitting it between two baths, but the bath bombs are just so crumbly, and I did not feel like dealing with all the hassle.  To me, this smells like smarties.  I normally really don't like candy or sugary scented things, but this wasn't too bad.

This is one of the "surprise" bath bombs, where there is something extra inside, which I didn't know when I bought it, so I was very excited and definitely surprised when I dropped it in my bath.  As you can see, the outside is a kind of pale yellow-y color.  The inside though, is a bright, royal blue, with some pink and green bits as well.  The water was mostly blue though.  But the best part of this was that there were tiny little gold stars in it!  At first I thought it was confetti, which I admit, although cute, would be such a hassle to clean up.  After a little while, though, I realized that they were dissolving and turning into shimmer.  They made the the water have gold shimmery streaks in it!  It was so exciting!  Maybe I am easily amazed, but it was pretty awesome. 

Image via google images
Overall this was the coolest bath bomb I have tried so far, without a doubt.  The stars-turned-shimmer are definitely what made this.  I wish the scent would have been a little less sugary, but it was still okay, and I loved how big it was (even though it was more expensive than most.)

Have you ever used this bath bomb?  Let me know if there is something from Lush you want me to check out!

Gaby

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sunday Dinner 1.22.12

I tend to be lazy, especially when it comes to making dinner.  Like most people, the last thing I want to do after a long day is cook.  I normally cook on the weekends, but they still tend to be easy recipes that require basically no work, and usually involve something store bought and pre made.  Well, I made a New Years Resolution that every Sunday night I would cook, actually cook, a nice meal for myself, so for as long as I am able to keep this up, I will share my dinners with you.  Tonight was my first one because I didn't make a list of resolutions until a few days ago to be honest with you. 

A friend of mine recently posted a picture of a dinner she made on facebook.  It was honey glazed salmon with grilled peaches, and warm spinach salad with goat cheese.  It looked so good, so I decided to make it because I am extremely unoriginal.  However, there were no peaches at my grocery store (crazy, right?) and I forgot all about the goat cheese.  So I just made the honey glazed salmon and sauteed some spinach with garlic. 



This was actually really easy to make.  I was intimidated at first because I have never cooked fish before, but it turned out pretty well.

The recipe called for 4-4oz filets, but I am only one person, so I just got half a pound, which would be enough for dinner and leftovers. 




 For the glaze:
Melt 1 tbsp of butter.  Mix in 2 tbsp of dijon mustard, 1 tsp of worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup of honey (I obviously used my precious Swan's) and salt and pepper to taste. 

Pour the glaze over the fish and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
I had a lot of extra glaze because I didn't halve the amounts, but I just added it all to the baking dish, and made sure to get some on the bottom side of the fish.


 For the spinach, I just warmed some oil, and threw in a clove of minced garlic, a few handfuls of spinach, salt, and pepper and sauteed.  If you have never sauteed spinach before, keep in mind that it withers down to basically nothing, so don't be shy when adding it to the pan.

If you don't like salmon, you could try this glaze over other fish, or even chicken. 

Hope you enjoy this easy recipe!  And lets all hope that I can keep up my new Sunday night ritual!

Gaby

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sunday Breakfast on Saturday


There is nothing like a Sunday morning breakfast.  A lot of people do big breakfasts or brunches on Sundays because they are the ultimate relax day.  Sundays are the days to sleep in and then lounge around in jammies all day.  Well, today is Saturday, but it is a special Saturday because it is also a snow day!  I decided to treat snow day Saturday as a Sunday and make myself some nice blueberry pancakes.


 The best pancake mix ever.

 I prefer soymilk over regular milk.

 
Whenever I am at the grocery store, I forget all about syrup.  In these situations, I like to drizzle some honey on my pancakes.  This is some of my favorite honey.  It is a little bit difficult to explain.  It's thicker than regular honey and it almost holds its shape, but it is easy to spread.  It's also creamier in consistency.  And most of all, it tastes awesome.


 
Blueberry pancake snowman to honor the weather.

They were quite delicious, and I still have some batter left over.  I guess tomorrow I can have an actual Sunday breakfast!

Gaby

PS If you are interested in the honey, you can purchase it here.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Jason Wu for Target

I don't know if you all have seen or not, but I am morally obligated to share this with you.  I am totally fawning over the Jason Wu for Target collection.  This collection, in my opinion, completely blows the ridiculously hyped Missoni for Target collection out of the water.  Don't get me wrong, I liked that collection as much as the next girl (didn't get a chance to snag anything, though) but I am so smitten with what I have seen of this collection.  I actually went in to Target yesterday specifically to ask when this collection was coming out (February 5th!) When this line drops, you can bet your butt I will be first in line.


















 This is the perfect spring/summer collection.  It's fun and flirty, but also really polished and sophisticated.  There are also a few bags and scarves in the collection, though they don't blow me away as much as the clothes.  I really don't know how I am going to decide what to get because I love so much of it!  (It also seems to me to be much cheaper than the Missoni collection, which was a little overpriced.  This is still Target, people!) 

Which pieces are you favorite?

Photos via CBS News.  (Click here to see the rest of the collection!)

Monday, January 16, 2012

Playlist


I have a pretty well rounded taste in music, if I do say so myself, so I am going to try to do frequent posts sharing my playlists with you.  Tonight's playlist is a relaxing mix to help you calm down, fall asleep, and prepare for the week ahead.  I hope you enjoy it!

1. The First Days of Spring - Noah and the Whale
2. Minnesota, WI - Bon Iver
3. Carousel - Iron and Wine
4. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer
5. Tenuousness - Andrew Bird
6. Brother Sparrow - Agnes Obel
7. A Case of You - Joni Mitchell
8. Sunday Morning - Maroon 5 (this version)
9. Matryoshka - uByk
10. I Found a Reason - Cat Power

This is what I will be listening to tonight while I drift off.

Sweetest dreams,
Gaby

Lovelies

Just a couple of lovelies to start your day off.





 




Okay how gorgeous is that outdoor seating arrangement?  I want to host a tea party with that set up.  Also that girl drinking the tea is quite gorgeous herself.  Anyone know who she is?  As for the snowy image, we haven't had much snow yet this winter and I am very upset.  I love the snow!  Here's to hoping it snows soon!

Gaby

Photos via weheartit, outdoor seating photo via lonnymag