Weekly Wardrobe: A Love Letter to Washington State

 Sweater: J. Crew

Belt: from this skirt from Modcloth

Skirt: ModCloth/Similar

Tights: DKNY from Nordstrom

Flats: J. Crew

This time of year, I struggle a little bit living in the Pacific Northwest. Ya'll, it gets real dark real early here. These photos were taken at 4pm, and thanks to the magic of technology and cameras, they look pretty good! But guys, these almost didn't happen. If we had shown up 15 minutes later, I would have been S.O.L. for the day! In fact, it was pitch dark by 5.

The thing is, while it is dark, and it is really cloudy for pretty much the whole of late fall and early winter, I still love it here. Once the leaves have changed and fallen from their branches, we're still surrounded by color. We have green grass, gorgeous evergreens, and are surrounded by water and mountains as pretty as pretty could be.

Lately, moving has been a hot topic of conversation in my friend group. And we're not talking just moving into a new apartment; people have other cities on their minds. Some are looking south to California or Austin, others to Chicago or other midwestern cities. In these conversations I always entertain different city options, but I know in my heart that I belong here.

I live in the city, but still, on sunny days I can see Mt. Rainier from my living room window, and even on grey days I can see the sun rise up from behind the Cascades and admire the gorgeous Olympic Mountain Range as I walk to work. Even on cold, rainy days you can appreciate that the water just makes the green look even greener.

When I'm away from this gorgeous state, my heart aches for the greenery, the water, the mountains. Washington, you have my heart.

What do you love most about your neck of the woods?

Til next time!

-Becca

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Outtakes!

Well, buddies, you may not be fully aware of this because I tend to only post photos where I don't look completely ridiculous, but I have what you could call an... expressive face.

As a result, when I edit my outfit posts every week, I usually have a good giggle looking at some of the ridiculous faces I've managed to get caught on camera. So! Since I've been laying low this week trying to finish getting over the stomach bug I had over the weekend, I decided to share some of these gems with you!

So, here are some beauties from the last 6 or 7 months. If you want to see the pictures I actually used, feel free to click on the the images below to check them out!

Let's have at it, shall we?

In which I make a Muppet face. Ya'll there are like 8 billion pictures of me like this. Mostly on poor Katie's camera. I make this face like, every time she asks me to stand in so she can check the light and adjust the settings on her camera.

In which I have horrible balance. All the time.

In which I accidentally throw a tiny apple at Katie.

Annnnnnd in which I accidentally throw a tiny apple at myself. Good job, Becca.

This happened, too. I was on a roll that day!

Not sure what this move is...

Or this one. What is happening here???????

In which I discover how prickly these leaves are.

In which I end up doing a dance because I keep crossing my dang ankles in photos and need to quit it. Quit it, Becca!

Annnnnnnd, in which the whole park gets some free peeks, courtesy of the crazy wind, and I crack up laughing. Hard.

Well, I hope you enjoyed a good laugh at my expense! Don't worry, I'm laughing right along with ya!

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Til next time!

-Becca

Oh! P.S! Congratulations to Kelley for winning the Ali Oesch Jewelry giveaway!

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Clementine Pumpkin Bread with Cardamom

Today I'm super excited to share a guest post from amazing DIY blogger, Marlene from Jade and Fern. Not only does she create gorgeous DIY projects, she also makes delicious treats; and today Marlene is here to share her recipe for Clementine Pumpkin Bread with Cardamom. Yum! Drool over her post here and then be sure to pop over to Jade and Fern to check out Marlene's fantastic DIY projects and skills!

Like so many squash lovers, I crave pumpkin this time of year. Pumpkin cookies. Pumpkin beer. Pumpkin donuts. Grande pumpkin double latte with pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin drizzle. And today— pumpkin bread.

I’m so excited to share this recipe with Ladyface Blog and all you wonderful readers! It’s a simple quick bread that comes together fast for a weeknight treat, yet is elegant enough to serve to your dinner party guests. Flecks of clementine zest add zing, and ground cardamom rounds out the complexity. Can you tell I’m writing this when I’m hungry? Plus—it’s vegan!

Clementine Pumpkin Bread with Cardamom

Ingredients:

1 ½ C. flour

½ tsp. salt

¾ C. sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 C. pumpkin puree*

½ C. vegetable or canola oil

½ C. applesauce

¼ C. water

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. allspice

¼ tsp. cloves

2 T. clementine zest (or zest from your favorite orange)

1 ¼ tsp. ground cardamom

*Depending on the moisture content of the pumpkin puree, the bread may turn out super dense, but don’t be alarmed; it will still taste awesome.

Directions:

Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan, and preheat the oven to 350° F.

Sift the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda into a large bowl and set aside.

Add the pumpkin, oil, applesauce, water, spices, and clementine zest into a medium bowl and stir to combine. Use a whisk to beat out larger pumpkin lumps (some small lumps are ok).

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. You should keep mixing until you don’t see any more white flour, then stop— overdoing it will make the bread tough.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and use your spoon to spread the batter evenly into the corners.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean. If it’s not done at 50 minutes, check it every 2 minutes thereafter, as the sides can get brown quickly at this point.

Allow the bread to cool in the pan for no more than 5 minutes, then gently remove and transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy with a schmear of cream cheese or on its own. It’s a perfect snack to keep you energized during the upcoming holiday bustle. If you’re serving it to guests, you’d better make two—this bread never lasts long!

What other pumpkin treats do you enjoy this time of year?

-Marlene at Jade and Fern

Weekly Wishlist: A Darling Fall Outfit!

Darling Fall Outfit! by ladyfaceblog

Clockwise from top left:
Petal Down the Lane Flats in Chestnut: ModCloth
Call of the Styled Coat: ModCloth
Study Break on the Quad Top: ModCloth
Cover Your Basics Tights in Brown: ModCloth
Nest to Impress Necklace from ModCloth
Living the Dream Skirt: ModCloth

Hey guys!

Today I'm pleased to share a wishlist for a darling fall outfit made up of lovely pieces from ModCloth! When ModCloth stylist, Amy, emailed me asking me to participate in their Uniquely You campaign by putting together an outfit on Polyvore based on this Call of the Styled Coat, I was thrilled to participate. So, I looked through their website, drooled over everything (as usual!) and created this Polyvore with my picks! If I win this week's challenge, my outfit picks will be featured on the ModCloth Polyvore page, so be sure to check it out!

I have to say, I was particularly pleased to base this outfit around the amazing Call of the Styled Coat from ModCloth. I totally adore the cut and color of this pretty coat and can't get over the darling details like the ribbon trim and the buckles.

When choosing items to pair with it, I decided to think about pieces I would love to put together for an everyday fall look. I'm a sucker for plaid, particularly in the fall, so I went straight for this Study Break in the Quad top. I love that the colors pick up on the ones in the coat without being too matchy-matchy. I think this top would look great with jeans, but would be even better tucked into a simple, casual skirt like this Living the Dream skirt.

To bring the look together, some cozy tights are obviously in order, as are some cute flats. I love these Petal Down the Lane Flats in Chestnut since the embroidery picks up some of the detail from the ribbon on the coat, but the color and style makes them so super versatile. 

And then last, but not least, this adorable Nest to Impress bird necklace brings a cute little something to the whole look and really ties all of the colors together!

All and all, it's a darling fall look that I would love to wear every day! Ya know, if it weren't a little weird to wear the same thing every day :)

Til next time!

-Becca

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Weekly Wardrobe: Maroon and Grey

 Necklace: c/o Ali Oesch Jewelry

Sweater: J. Crew/Similar

Dress: Fleet Collection from ModCloth

Belt: Anthropologie (on sale!)

Tights: Hue from Nordstrom

Shoes: Rocketdog from ModCloth

Hey guys!

How was your weekend? Mine ended up being pretty low-key. After having a crummy day at work on Friday, I spent the night in cuddling the cats and watching bad TV(America's Next Top Model, anyone?). I also spent a large portion of Saturday lying on the couch watching bad tv, and then at long last, cleaned my house! It was much, much needed so I'm glad to have gotten that done.

Saturday night I went and got a burger with a friend, and then we watched Be Kind Rewind, which I had never seen before. I gotta say, it was pretty delightful!

Sunday I woke up feeling kind crummy, but decided to persist since I had brunch plans. I whipped up a pitcher of Bloody Marys with homemade pickled veggies, and also made bacon, potatoes, and eggs, which were topped with avocado and salsa. My friend enjoyed brunch quite a bit, but I felt so crummy that all I could do was drink some water and nibble on some potatoes.

Well, turns out, I've come down with a bit of a bug, so I'm not feeling too hot right now, but hey. That's how the cookie crumbles. Hopefully I'll make a speedy recovery.

In other news, I'm super obsessed with this fun printed tights I picked up a couple of weeks ago! They're a little over the top, but I've been loving wearing them with my Fleet Collection dress, which you may recall from this post. I love dresses like this that you can accessorize differently to change the whole look.

I'm also totally in love with this darling little Hand Stamped by Ali necklace from Ali Oesch. It's such a fun little detail to add to any outfit.

Speaking of Ali Oesch, don't forget to enter the giveaway I'm hosting right now with Ali Oesch Jewelry! You can find all the details here.

Anyway, that's all for now!

Til next time!

-Becca

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