Outfit Post: Washington Walks

Have you ever been to Washington? I recently went up there for a week and despite how cold it was I still loved it! The whole time I was there it was overcast and rainy which was rather fitting for a visit to Washington. Plus, the cold rainy days gave me the chance to get a few more wears out of some of my favorite winter clothes before heading back home where Spring had hit early. This plaid flannel dress is quite possibly the best dress to survive winter in. It's thick and cozy while still being fitted and feeling feminine. I bought it from Modcloth several years back and ever since I've tried to find another dress that is as comfortable and flattering with no avail. There will always be next year to try and find it! For now though I think I'm going to start dreaming of sundresses.

Dress: Modcloth (Old), Sweater: Modcloth (Here), Tights: Target (Here) Necklace: Old Navy (Similar)

I spent most of my time in Washington in the smaller city of Spokane. It's an older city with some lovely brick architecture and a coffee shop on every corner. However, my favorite part was driving a little ways out of the city to Manito Park. It's this huge gorgeous park full of trees that you could get lost in for hours. In the spring time there is also a lovely little rose garden I hope to see during another visit. While the city is always a place to spend some time I highly recommend finding a quiet spot here to just sit and watch the world go by.

*Photographs Taken by Clark

Outfit Post: Deer Me

It feels like these photos were taken forever ago. Both before it became cold enough for snow and back when my hair was, what I consider to be, long. The leaves hadn't even begun to change yet up where I was in the mountains. It was that strange in between seasons period where it's impossible to dress yourself for the weather because it is both too cold and too warm. Still, I miss it. I'm never excited about winter because I always feel a little too cooped up.

Top: Downeast Outfitters Sweater: Retro Betty SLC Skirt: Old Navy Tights: Target Shoes: BAIT Footwear

I've also been pretty sick lately so that has added to this cooped up feeling, but it also just makes me all the more excited for spring in a few months. It'll be so exciting when I can just wear this cropped sleeve sweater and my BAIT heels again without absolutely freezing outside. I am in love with the print on this cardigan. It's just little vintage inspired deer and flowers. It's adorable and matches a huge amount of different pieces.

P.S. In this photograph you can see the front of my sweater best. I look absolutely terrified because of a spider residing in the tree that startled! 

Outfit Post: Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays!

This Christmas was the first that I lived truly on my own. Last year I was living with my sister and the year prior I was still in my parent's house. It feels very odd when suddenly you have to buy your own tree, ornaments, and house decorations. Though to be fair I wasn't completely alone. My significant other helped me populate the tree and he was the one who made our cute buffalo plaid tree skirt that's hidden under the presents. 

Dress: Vintage Shoes: Retro Betty SLC Cardigan: Modcloth Petticoat: Modcloth

I was especially excited for Christmas this year because I was able to break out my gorgeous vintage Christmas dress. I had found it last year at a cute little shop in Salt Lake City called Decades and immediately fell in love. With it's cute brass buttons, full skirt, and fun collar this dress quickly became one of my favorite finds. Along with a cropped cardigan, which frankly is great and I'm slowly investing in all the colors of, it makes the cutest Christmas outfit. 

Did anyone else have a go to holiday dress this year?

Halloween Time

A bit late for a Halloween post, but I’m working hard to get back into blogging once again. This October I was lucky enough to be able to go to Disneyland during their Halloween celebration and it is always incredibly fun. This time around I was able to bring my significant other, Clark, along and I must say we were fairly proud of our costumes this year. We attended two of the Halloween parties that Disney organizes which we planned on dressing up as Kiki and Tombo from Kiki’s Delivery Service for one and Hogwarts students for the other. They were simple and fun to make!

For the bow, I used red fabric and hot glue. I folded, glued, and put a little stuffing into each side in order to help the two ends of the bow stand up well. The dress and shoes for my Kiki costume I bought on sale at Old Navy. Clark’s Tombo costume consisted of a top, pants and shoes that he purchased from Old Navy. He just rolled up his pants like Tombo’s and there was his costume! Though it does help that he greatly resembles the character.

When it comes to our Hogwarts Students costume both of us represented our individual houses with pride, I as a Ravenclaw and he as a Hufflepuff.

My costume consists of a wool Ravenclaw sweater I purchased from Whimsic Alley, a white button up from Old Navy, a Ravenclaw tie from SassyandChicFabrics, a black Modcloth skirt, and black Mary Jane flats from Old Navy. His consisted of vintage pieces and different clothing items that he purchased from Old Navy.

Pie Time

It's been quite awhile since I've baked anything. Several years back I use to love baking, but once I started college up in 2012 I just lost the time for it. Balancing both college and a part time job (with a two hour commute there and back, yikes!) left me little time for it. This was the first pie I've baked ever since moving to Utah three years ago...so as I said, it's been quite awhile.

 I actually got my enthusiasm for baking back a little bit because a friend's birthday came up and when do birthdays not call for baking? The recipe I used came from one of my favorite food blogs entitled Smitten Kitchen. I followed her recipe to the tee except for two minor alterations. Here's the link to it: https://smittenkitchen.com/2012/07/peach-pie/ 

The first was that I didn't poach my peaches to peel them and instead went straight for my peeler. In hindsight the poaching would have been best because as I peeled the peaches I was very worried about cutting my hand open, but then again that's just me.

Secondly, I stuck with cornstarch for thickening rather than using ground up tapioca balls. This was simply because the grocery store I ran to didn't carry tapioca balls. Cornstarch works just as well though and doesn't alter much at all. As the recipe says the tapioca just doesn't cloud the filling as much as the cornstarch which still doesn't affect the color a great deal.

Overall, it turned out wonderfully!  I was quite pleased with the resulting look and taste of this pie. Honestly, one of the simplest recipes and I highly recommend it. It highlights the sweetness of the peaches alone instead of overpowering them with sweetness and reheats very well if you're eating it over a couple of days.

I'm excited to try and get back into baking! I need to do some research and figure out what to try next. Any ideas?

Also! I'm hoping to get another outfit post featuring the outfit I'm wearing in these photos finished and published this week. Stay tuned!

Friday's Finds

This Friday's Favorites may have turned into a Saturday afternoon favorites due to a slight mix up of scheduling, but all the same it's still favorites found prior to Friday! 

I actually stumbled across Stephanie Buscema's etsy shop ages ago. Her retro pin up type of art style is one of my favorites and I cannot wait for the day I'll be able to purchase one. She also carries many items she puts her prints on this tote being one of them of course. In my opinion there is nothing better than a retro inspired girl gang and is definitely something to invest in. This great tote and the rest of her great things can be found here!

If you have ever met me then you know I am not quiet about my love for all things Disney. In fact I'll be heading to Disneyland again this October! Before I go though I need to get this pin. Peter Pan, though problematic in many areas, has always been one of my favorite Disney films. This pin by Studio Grason captures the movie so well and is just plain adorable. Click here to look through all of his original pins!

I can never resist adding some gorgeous vintages dresses to this list of lovely things. As I continue to look for and become better at recognizing good quality vintage I always end back up at Two Old Beans' Etsy shop. These two women find some of the best vintage clothes and I am constantly falling in love with a new piece of theirs. As you can tell I couldn't narrow it down to one dress for this post! The first is a photo of their Coquette Dress. It's such a cute summery dress from the 50's. Throw on some red lipstick, a hat, and you'll stun. The second is the One Chance Dress and I am in love with the cape it comes with. It's what makes it so unique. Honestly, I'm dying to own and wear this dress every single day. You can browse through all of Two Old Beans' dresses here!

Outfit Post: Salt Lake Strolls

Despite living here for the past three years I have yet to see most of Salt Lake. This was the first time I went and took a walk around the capital building we have! I’m sad I had not gone before this spur of the moment trip because it’s a lovely little place. 

There are tree-lined gravel paths all around the building along with benches that are just perfect to bring a book to sit and read for a few hours. I must keep walking around the city to find these small gems because I know they’re everywhere.

Top: Target Skirt: Old Navy Hat: H&M Shoes: Old Navy Necklace: Gift

I suppose prior I wasn’t looking in the right places…though I imagine it helps when your boyfriend knows of quite a few. 

Taking a change of course, but I have to bring up my new hat. For the past couple of years I’ve been looking for a good boater hat. Ever since I saw Rebecca of A Clothes Horse sport one I knew I had to have one. I was in complete love. I never could find the perfect one. When I hunted for boaters they always were either too large or simply not there.

Finally, with I’ll admit some help, I was able to score one for pretty cheap! H&M had this one for only $15 and it does actually fit! I’ve always had a problem with hats because I have a child sized head, but miraculously this boater does the trick and comes in a larger size too.

As soon as I got my hands on it I had to wear it immediately which is where this summer    

gondolier-esq outfit came from. It’s a fun summer item to have and for me was perfect for a slow stroll.

Have any of you found any cute parts of your city that you’ve stumbled across or things you've been searching for as of late?

P.S.

As Clark and I walked back home from the Capital we came across the sweetest little cat named Max. This fellow was just a cute little model. I adore him and just had to include the photos of him that Clark snapped.

*Photos taken by Clark*