Weekly Wardrobe- An Autumnal Outfit

Glasses: BonLook; Blouse: Boden; Belt: Anthropologie/Similar; Skirt: J. Crew/Similar; Tights: Nordstrom; Boots: Seychelles (on sale!)

Well, buddies, I gotta be honest, this last couple of weeks have been a lesson in patience and letting things go. It's been a couple of weeks where just about nothing has gone according to plan, and that is no fun for my virgo heart!

Fortunately, I'm not talking about any big stuff, but lots of little things have gone awry: tried and true cookies have come out of the oven burnt; photos that looked lovely on my camera came out with crazy color balance (see above: my hair has not lightened up that much and that skirt is actually wine colored); the work being done on the windows in my unit is taking more than twice as long as planned; plans have been cancelled and rescheduled time and again; and I've tried to run errands using busses that never came. To quote Liz Lemon, "Blerg."

Anyway, despite being in a bit of a funk, things are going alright! Over the weekend I got to catch up with my dear friend, Elle, who moved away recently; I got a bunch of stuff done for the blog; I caught up on some cleaning; and had some nice time spent with friends.

And hey! It's autumn now! Officially! I celebrated the first day with this super autumnal outfit comprised of a cozy sweater skirt, my new favorite blouse, my new specs, tights (!!!), and these pretty booties I got a few weeks ago. They were pretty snug at first, but after wearing them around the house they've stretched out nicely. You'll probably be seeing much more of them this fall!

So yep! That's life. Ups and downs, but all around pretty peachy!

What did you guys get up to over the weekend?

Til next time!

-Becca

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Weekly Wishlist: Grey and Gold

1. Up, Up, and Chalet Skirt: ModCloth; 2. Ruidoso Boots: Anthropologie; 3. Fall Forest Bear Necklace: It Must Be Nice to Be a Bird; 4. Tights for Every Occasion in Light Grey: ModCloth; 5. Eclectic Collage Sweatshirt: Two String Jane

Well, first things first, sorry for not posting yesterday! The week got away from me a bit between having plans (like going to see Neko Case, which was AMAZING), and falling asleep on the couch at like, 8pm. Oof. I also had the day off yesterday, but decided I reeeallllyyyyy needed a lazy morning, so there you have it. Onward!

Well, with the exception of yesterday when it was almost 80°F, things have cooled down here in Seattle, so I'm going through my closet and putting together all sorts of fun fall outfits. While I've got some great stuff for fall, I'm still dreaming of a few more cute fall outfits, like the one I put together above!

I've gone through a long stage of mostly buying dresses, but I love having the option to mix and match so I'm trying to bring some more separates into my wardrobe. Because of this, I'm really trying to flush out my skirt collection and I think that this sweet yellow sweater skirt from ModCloth would be a perfect addition to my wardrobe! Especially paired with these grey tights and these gorgeous grey booties from Anthropologie that I've been drooling over for weeks.

I have quite a few tops that would go well with the skirt, but would love to pair it with this sweatshirt from Two String Jane. All of the stuff in that store is just gorgeous so definitely check it out! The one pictured above is such a great, versatile weight and the hand silk-screened print is just lovely!

Also, I'm looking to add some more pretty jewelry to my collection and just love this bear necklace from It Must Be Nice to Be a Bird. So cute!

So that's my wishlist for the week! What are you wishing for?

Til next time!

-Becca

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Hand Stamped Wrapping Paper

Hey guys! Today I'd love to share a tutorial with you on how to make your own hand-stamped wrapping paper! I actually really love gift giving and think one of the best parts about it is wrapping everything up into a pretty package. I love thoughtfully choosing pretty paper, accompanying ribbon or string, and gussying up the gifts I've so carefully picked out. So, to give your wrapping job an extra special touch, why not stamp your own wrapping paper?

Now, if you tuned in last week, you got to see my tutorial on how to make your own Honeycomb Stamp! If you missed that post, you can check it out here. I made that stamp partially because I wanted to try my hand at making my own stamps, but also because I was dreaming of making some of this pretty hand-stamped wrapping paper.

This tutorial is pretty specific to the honeycomb stamp I created, but you can certainly take the idea and run with it! I was thinking it would be really cute to do with a little ice cream cone stamp I've got. It wouldn't be quite the same free-form pattern, but still, cute!

Here's how to make it!

Supplies:
- A stamp (preferably a handmade honeycomb stamp!)
- Postal kraft wrapping paper
- Scissors to cut your paper
- Acrylic paint in the color of your choosing and a paintbrush
OR
- A stamp pad in the color of your choosing

A stamp pad will definitely speed up time on this project, but I wanted to do a full coverage gold and the gold stamp pad I got was the worst. You do you!

1. Cut the paper to your desired size. I ended up using just enough to wrap my friend's birthday present, but if you have the space (and don't have cats that would totally step all over everything) you could do a big long length of it.

2. Once you've got the paper to your desired size, weight down the ends as necessary to avoid curling. Mine only needed to weighted down for part of the process.

3. Use your paintbrush to apply the paint to your stamp, and try to apply it as evenly as you can. If you're using a stamp pad, just ink it up like normal.

4. Apply the stamp to your paper.

5. Continue steps 1-4 until you've covered your paper to your liking! I overlapped my stamp in places so I could make a sprawling, organic print. I chose to not cover my paper fully, because I like the look of the open space. You could also do your stamping randomly, or on a grid- up to you!

6. Once you've gotten your paper covered to your liking, you can choose to add some other details. I chose to fill in some of the hexagon shapes in my honeycomb pattern at random with my paintbrush. You could also add some colorful details here if you like!

7. Let dry.
8. Once dry, wrap up that present!

Ta-da! How pretty is that?

I'm in the middle of birthday season (seriously, so many birthdays happening in the fall!), so I imagine I will be doing lots more stamping like this. I hope you liked following along with this tutorial! 

Til next time!

-Becca

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Maple Bacon Waffles

Guys, have you seen how many delicious waffles have been gracing the internet lately? First there were these Peach Chili and Corn Bread Waffles over on Lynn and Lou, then Jessi over at Haircut and General Attitude shared a picture of a waffle grilled cheese she had, and THEN Joy the Baker shared a recipe for Mashed Potato, Cheddar and Chive Waffles that looked so good my brain practically exploded.

So after a non-stop week of looking at delicious, sweet/savory waffles on the internet, I was dead set on making waffles over the weekend. So I did! And I decided on Maple Bacon Waffles.

I actually ended up really needing them on Sunday morning. I literally woke up with the street outside my building closed off with police cars and SWAT team trucks blocking either end. I spent the first hour of my day hiding in the bathroom with my cats because I couldn't find any information about what was going on, and I assumed that if the SWAT team was there, it was probably a pretty big deal. I was assuming hostages, gun fire, you name it. 

Fortunately, around 8am, the internet decided to fill me in and apparently someone had barricaded themselves in their house after having the cops called on them over a domestic violence dispute, so I emerged from the bathroom and lay in bed waiting for it to wrap up. There was a whole spell of negotiations over a loudspeaker, and then fortunately the guy surrendered and was driven away in a cop car. It was the weirdest morning. I live in a quiet, relatively crime-free part of town so it was particularly bizarre to witness.

Anyway, tangental story aside, waffles are obviously awesome and make a perfect pick-me up! They're crispy on the outside, pillowy on the inside, and have the perfect little pockets to hold delicious toppings. Even a plain waffle is a pretty perfect food, but the addition of crispy, salty bacon and sweet maple syrup really brings these ones to another level.

Here's how to make 'em!

Maple Bacon Waffles- Makes about 5 waffles

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used Trader Joe's gluten free blend)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (the good stuff!)
- 1 cup milk
- 4 strips of bacon, cooked up and crumbled into little pieces

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (Minus the bacon. Does that even count as a dry ingredient? Let's say yes?) and whisk to combine.

2. In a separate large mixing bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then add the melted butter, maple syrup, and milk and whisk until well combined.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until combined.

4. Add the crumbled bacon and whisk until well combined. Then set the mixture aside, grease your waffle iron, and let it heat up.

5. Ladle batter into your pre-heated waffle iron. You'll want to use just enough the cover the bottom of the waffle iron. Then, close it up and cook your waffle to the desired done-ness.

6. As you can see, I like mine an awesome golden brown. Once your waffle is cooked, pull it from the waffle iron and have at it! If you want to be super polite and serve everyone at once, you can lay your waffles in a single layer on a sheet pan and keep them in a 250°F oven until you're ready to serve them.

Now, on Sunday I decided to go classic with my waffle toppings and just did some butter and really good maple syrup. That way I could really enjoy the sweet and salty action going on in these maple bacon waffles. These waffles would also be great as a base for eggs benedict in place of the english muffin, and would be yummy with some good jam, too! I can't confirm it since I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect these would be great for a waffle grilled cheese. I think I know what I'll be having for dinner later...

Til next time!

-Becca

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Weekend Wardrobe and 100th Post!

Sweater: Forever 21; Necklace: Woodii; Belt: Anthropologie/Similar; Skirt: Lucky Vintage/Similar; Shoes: ModCloth

Despite the warm weather we've had in Seattle all week, fall is definitely on its way. There's a beautiful golden cast to the evening light, the leaves are starting to turn, and it's gotten too cool at night to keep the windows open.

Since it's really just warm midday and actually quite chilly in the mornings and evenings, I've been starting to sneak cool weather clothes into my wardrobe. Tights have been making appearances in the evenings, I'm starting to bust out some slightly cozy tops, and I have no concern about wearing a wool skirt. This outfit is a great example of that!

I'm really getting into full fall day-dreaming mode. I'm dreaming of brisk walks on crisp days, walking bundled up through the outdoor flea market with a good friend and a warm drink in hand, staying in on rainy days drinking hot chocolate while listening to records, and making up big heaping pots of comfort food. 

Oh fall, you're the best. What are you guys looking forward to for fall?

In other news, this is my 100th blog post, and in another month I will have been blogging for 6 months! How cool is that? I'm totally having a blast blogging and looking forward to my next 100 posts, and even more after that!

Til next time!

-Becca

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