Dreaming of Lovelies

dress // rose ring // donut brooch // hat // shoes // jacket

With my birthday a little over a week away I have been dreaming of the perfect outfit for the big day. Though I have a feeling I won't actually end up splurging on this adorable outfit, I think I am going to treat myself with at least a little something for my birthday. I mean it is for my birthday, haha! Oh how I wish I had all the money, so I could buy every cute thing I see, but I guess until that happens I will be making myself little wishlists, haha. 

I think one of the reason why I dig this outfit so much is because it is both really fun and girly, but it also has a little hint of an edge with the black jacket. I'm not sure if it's a newish trend, but I have definitely seen some ladies rocking that kind of look, and I'm just smitten with it. I also love this outfit because of how versatile each piece can be on their own. I've recently been trying to buy pieces that can work well with being mixed and matched with things I currently own. I feel like I get more bang for my buck that way.  

Happy Thursday!

x's and o's

Chocolate Pecan Pie

I have kind of become obsessed with making pies, so I'm using the excuse of blog content to enable my obsession, haha. I mean, who doesn't love pie?! I guess the only problem is that Will and I are the only ones here to eat them, but that's what the gym is for right, haha! I'm the worst with the gym as the main reason why I go is so I can eat all the yummys without (hopefully) gaining extra weight. 

This pie uses the same ingredients as the walnut pie I shared last week, with the addition of chocolate. That's one of my favorite things about these kinds of pies: you can pretty much substitute the type of nut you use and come up with a great pie. 

Ingredients:

Pie Crust (I used store bought but when I do make my own crust I always use this recipe)
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar (if you like sweeter pecan pies use 3/4 cup)

4 Tbs melted butter

5 Tbs vanilla

3 eggs 

1/2 cup light corn syrup (if you like sweeter pecan pies use 1 cup)

2 cups pecans

10 dark chocolate minis (I used the individually wrapped ones from the Hershey's variety bag)

Preheat your oven to 350. While the oven is heating mix together the sugars, butter, vanilla, eggs, and light corn syrup, mix on medium speed until well combined. While your ingredients are mixing go ahead and place your dough in your 9" pie pan. Next break up your dark chocolate and place on dough, then cover with pecans. You can use either whole pecans or break them up by hand.

Cover pie with tinfoil and cook for 20 minutes, remove tinfoil and cook for an addition 25-30 minutes (keep an eye on the crust to make sure it doesn't burn as all ovens are different). If the pie still has some jiggle to it then cover with tinfoil and cook for another 15 minutes. Let cool (personally I think it tastes best cold) add a little whipped cream and enjoy.

Let me know if you give it a try!

x's and o's

Pizza Babe

This weekend wasn't all that eventful, poor Will has been under the weather the last couple of days. We mostly did some work and spent the evenings watching House of Cards. Holy crap this season is so good! The writers and actors do such an amazing job of making characters you like absolutely detestable characters! I am always so conflicted, haha, I'm also? excited to see how they top themselves next season. Have you guys been watching? 

On Sunday Will was feeling a little better so we decided to hit up a swap meet. Unfortunately, it was pretty disappointing, but we did get a yummy churro. I seriously got so spoiled when living in LA with the Rose Bowl monthly flea market which was all kind of intense and amazing. Any Arizona people know of good swap meets or flea markets I should hit up?

I am so in love with my Pizza Babe pin by the amazingly talented Michelle!

sweater // my mom's

pants // Forever 21

shoes // thrifted

pizza pin // Etsy

small buttons // Boarders

I am still absolutely smitten with my new do. It's actually kind of funny to look at it and see just how dark it has gotten throughout the years. I think I had the ombre coloring for so long I just didn't notice it's actual color. When I was younger I had super blonde hair but always such dark eyebrows. So even at a young age people would ask me if I dyed my hair. In high school I started to dye my hair darker to match my eyebrows a little better, haha. My friends made fun of me for being the only girl in high school trying to get rid of blonde hair, haha.

Happy Monday!

x's and o's

Snip, Snip

What do you do when your week has kind of been not so great and you need something to really brighten up your mood? You go and chop off all of your hair, or at least that's what I did, haha. I had actually been thinking about cutting my hair short again for the summer but with the way this week had been going I sped up the process. I am pretty in love with it! While I absolutely adored my bangs, I like hair that just doesn't require so much work even more. I think it's just going to be absolutely perfect when we travel in our little camper in the coming months, especially when I have to dry it. One of the best feelings in the world (to me at least) is when your hair only takes a couple of minutes to dry verse 30-45 minutes. 

I like to call this my "Where'd my hair go' face. 

Speaking of a bad week as I mentioned in my previous post my gmail got hacked and it looks like my email address got spoofed. That means the spammers don't need access to my email to send out their spam under my name. They are emailing people who I've had contact with before, meaning pretty much anyone who has ever commented on my blog and people/companies I work for, UGHZ!!! I am so sorry about that everyone. I am really hoping that once it goes through whatever list they collected that will be it! Sadly there is really nothing I/gmail can do about it, aside from waiting it out. DOUBLE UGHZ! 

Anyways enough grump about something I can't do anything about and back to my hair and this outfit hehe. This sweatshirt might be one of my best thrift finds ever! I found at a thrift store out in LA and the best part was that it wasn't completely over priced (a very uncommon thing at any "vintage or thrift" store out there). I really like how the Peter Pan collar of the dress looks with it, I feel like it really dresses it up. Man, I'm such a sucker for anything that has a Peter Pan collar. There are actually some days that I just look at all the collars people have for sale on Etsy and just imagine how cute it would look on a specific outfit. One day I will have all the money and be able to snatch up all the cute things, hehe.

sweater // thrifted

dress // Modcloth

shoes // Forever 21

triangle chain // c/o Born Pretty (use code AEST10 for 10% off)

tights // Target

So this week's What to Wear was a pop of color, where I guess I kind of did more of a pop of several colors, hehe. I'm excited to see what all the other ladies are going to be putting together this week. If you want to check them all out head over to Nicole's blog, and if you are interested in joining in the What to Wear fun, on March 6th we will be rocking an outfit that is 100% thrifted! 

Hope everyone is having a nice Thursday!

x's and o's

I Got Hacked

(source)

Well crap. Guys, my gmail got hacked and sent out a lot of weird emails to a random list of people. I am so very sorry for that. One of the worst feeling ever is to realize that someone has broken into you email and just spammed everyone like crazy. I am so incredibly sorry, please just delete any emails you get from me that have some generic subject and just a link in the message with nothing else. I'm hoping I can get everything all straightened out tonight, but so far it seems very likely my password was stolen in the recent Kickstarter breech. Thanks for your understanding while I sort this out, it's a really unnerving experience to go through!

Giveaway Time!

Today I am helping the lovely Angie from over at My So-Called Chaos to celebrate her five year blogiversary! She got an wonderful group of ladies together to help create an amazing giveaway for all of our readers. So awesome that there will be three winners! Best of luck, everyone! 

Prize Pack 1 includes all of the above for a value of roughly $423!

Winner's outside the US will get all of the digital goods and a $20 Amazon/Paypal credit for the books.

Prize Pack 2 includes all of the above for a value of roughly $178!

Winner's outside the US will get all of the digital goods and a $20 Amazon/Paypal credit for the books.

Prize Pack 3 includes all of the above for a value of roughly $73!

Winner's outside the US will get all of the digital goods and a $20 Amazon/Paypal credit for the books.

Enter the Giveaway

Giveaway is open worldwide and ends 3/4/2014

All prizes will be sent directly from shop/source/sponsor.

Winners in the US can choose to have the physical books or Kindle versions.

Winner's outside the US will receive all digital items (not including books) & a $20 Amazon Credit.

Entering the Rafflecopter below agrees to all Terms & Conditions within.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Walnut Pie

A while back when we were visiting Will's family in Maine we ate at a diner that served walnut pie. I had never heard of walnut pie before so of course I had to have a slice and try it out. It was ok, didn't taste too much like walnut, and a little too sweet for me, so when I had some free time yesterday I thought I would try my hand at making one. I must give myself a pat on the back because it came out pretty darn wonderfully, I think. 

This pie is definitely very walnuty so if you like walnuts this pie is for you!

Ingredients:

Pie Crust (you can either use a store bought or make your own)

1-2 cups crushed walnuts

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 white sugar

1/2 brown sugar

3-5 Tbs vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

3 Tbs melted butter

3 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350° F. While the oven is heating up in a mixer combine your sugars, light corn syrup, vanilla, salt, and melted butter. Mix until everything is combined. While you're waiting for your ingredients to combine, place your pie crust in a 9 inch non-greased pan. Chop your walnuts into small pieces and place in your pie crust, then pour the contents from your mixer over the walnuts. 

Cover pie with tinfoil and cook for 20 minutes, remove tinfoil and cook for another 30 minutes (keep an eye on the crust to make sure it doesn't burn). If the pie is not jiggly, then it is done, but if it is place tinfoil back on and cook for another 20 minutes. 

Let cool before eating and serve with whipped cream. 

If you give it a try let me know what you think!

Happy Monday.

x's and o's

Wigs and Littlemin

It's been a little while since I have shared some pictures of Wigs and Sylvester/Littlemin on the good old blog. I share many a picture of them on my instagram though hehe. Wigs is still as sassy as ever, I seriously wish you all could meet her in person just to understand her personality a little better. She is a very independent cat and definitely loves her alone time, until she doesn't haha. She is notorious for coming up to my desk in the middle of the day and just chortle away until she gets some pets haha. She also has this weird thing about not liking Will and I to be in separate rooms. She seems to like be able to see both of us at the same time. Quite the silly little sassafras. 

Then there is Littlemin who is quite a character himself. He has finally learned how to meow, which is so adorable because it is still all high-pitched and squeaky, but his favorite thing to do is make this kind of 'hmm?' noise almost like he is questioning something. It seriously is my one of favorite things ever! He is getting so big! At only nine months he is serval pounds heavier than Wigs, which means he now wins more often than not during their play fighting games (much to Wigs's dismay haha).

Of course no cat post would be complete without some silly pictures of them. I love that I captured Wigs's derp face, I think she was mid yawn. And Littlemin has taken up jumping in the extra crib we have for my nephew and sleeping, haha. Out of all the places for him to sleep I have no clue why he chooses here, other than maybe the giant bunny pillow hehe. 

If you guys have shared any posts about your animals I would love to see them, so please leave a link in the comments!

x's and o's

Meet the Sponsor

shop // twitter // instagram // blog

We make the original wood veneer sunglasses in central florida. We live and work in the middle of swamp land, with our pack of animals and a wood shop. Life is good. 

Beca and Doug are not only some of the hardest working people out there, but are two of the nicest people you will ever meet. These two are constantly creating new and unique looks while making sure their products are top notch. Another great thing is their love for animals. They have donated profits to local animal shelters as well as taken in strays and helped them find their forever homes. Littlemin was even featured on their blog during their 52 weeks of Tumbleweeds Society Pet Friends. They are just amazing and extremely talented people, so if you are in the market for some pretty sweet sunglasses, this is your place!

Favorite Pair. 

Happy Wednesday everyone! 

x's and o's

Getting to Know You (Err Me)

Every so often I love to do this type of post where I just share some totally random fact about myself, it's just a fun way for you guys to get to know me a little better. In fact I like it so much I might just make this a monthly post, we will see :)

1. When I get sick (which usually isn't all that often) I become a complete and utter baby. I'm talking about crying at a drop of a hat, and so much whine coming out of my mouth it's kind of embarrassing haha. 

2. I am addicted to chai lattes, so when we are in Phoenix I spoil myself constantly with them. Back on the mountain when I have to make them myself I just can't ever get them to taste quite as yummy. Thank goodness Dutch Bros has a rewards program!

3. Several years ago I started the tradition of getting Will a Lego Mini Figure for any and all special occasions. He has always been a really big fan of legos so I thought it would just be a really fun little thing to get him. So far he has a London Bobby, a Tiki Masked Guy, a Scuba-diver, and a couple others that I can't remember off hand. If you are ever looking for a fun little gift for someone I really suggest the Lego Mini Figures.

4. I recently came across my old Tamagotchi and Nano Baby toys! I think I kind of have to get some new batteries for them and play them again. I really hope this isn't like the time I thought it would be a good idea to put batteries in the old Furby I found. Ugh talk about Jar Jar Binks annoying!

5. My dad recently reminded me of the magic that is milk and sugar rice. It was this thing he used to make us when we were little, especially when we were sick at home. It is exactly how it sounds: rice, milk, sugar, and you can add a little butter too. It might sound really weird if you didn't grow up with it, but man-oh-man did it take me back to being little. 

6. My friend Hannah got me a copy of The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants, for Christmas and I can hardly wait to get back to the mountain! There are so many plants and berries growing all over the place I would love to know what is edible or not. Though I am little afraid of misidentifying something and poisoning myself, I think the pictures and descriptions are good enough that won't happen.  

7. Sometimes I will have a memory that will then trigger a craving for something I haven't had in years. Most recently it is a chocolate malt from this dive burger place in Phoenix. When we were little my dad would take my brother and I there for a weekend treat, and we would all got burgers and share a large chocolate malt. Being the youngest there I often didn't get my fair share, so now I really want to hit up the shop and get my own and not share one drop of it, haha.

There you have it, another set of random facts about yours truly. Please feel free to leave some random facts about yourself in the comments, or if you have done your own random facts post please share the

x's and o's

Out Sick

I woke up this morning with quite the sinus cold, ughs. It's times like these I wish we were back on the mountain already because we never get sick up there (mainly because we go weeks at a time without seeing anyone haha).  So I'm spending my day doped up on medicine, hoping it they will help relive all this pressure, and catching up on some Elementary. I'm hoping tomorrow that I will be feeling better and get back into the blogging swing. 

Hope you all are healthy and having a nice Monday. 

x's and o's

What to Wear : Valentine's Day

dress // tights // shoes // necklace // jacket

Valentine's Day isn't really big deal for Will and I, we usually just stay in and watch a movie or something. I think I might try my hand at convincing him to watch a silly RomCom with me like About Time, that movie looks so cute and I love Rachel McAdams, she is just so wonderfully likable. Have any of you guys seen it? 

Anyways back to this outfit, just because we don't do much for Valentine's Day doesn't mean I can't do a little online window shopping and come up with the perfect outfit, hehe. This outfit it pretty simple, but I just love all of these pieces so much, I would just wear the heck out of all of them all the time. I think my favorite part of this outfit is that it could be rocked for any date night and not just for Valentine's Day. Too bad I don't have a ton of cash just laying around, hehe. 

Don't forget to head over to Nicole's blog to see what she and all the other ladies will be rocking this Valentine's Day. 

x's and o's

Silly Poses and Comfy Sweaters

I hope you enjoy my very sad attempt at doing a football pose, to be honest I am not sure even if that is an actual football pose (Will just pointed out that he doesn't think football players usually have their hand primping their hair while doing this pose) haha. As you have probably already guessed I have little interest in football so I didn't watch the big game last night. I did, however, watch the best game: the Puppy Bowl!! And of course I would be amiss not to mention the Kitten Halftime Show, eee! I seriously wish there was a channel that just played that 24/7, thank goodness for youtube haha.

My bangs are getting to the point where I probably need to get them trimmed, but they still work pretty well because my glasses tend to hold them up haha. I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo very well but part of my bangs were cut right on my cowlick and I somehow missed it while straightening them. When I was a kid my cowlick always stood out from my straight hair, which totally made me look even more awesome.   

sweater // my dad's

jeans and shoes // forever 21

button // Boarders (years ago when there still were Boarders haha)

Both Will and I are finally feeling all better, thank goodness. It's so crazy just how long it can takes to get over a sickness. We did a little celebrating with some wonderfully yummy froyo yesterday, but really any day with froyo is a celebration day haha. It's so wonderful/bad that there is a froyo place just a couple of minutes away from my dad's house. Oh my poor wallet and waistline haha.

Happy Monday everyone!

x's and o's

Week in Instagram v16

1. Morning snuggles with the sassafras. 
2. Sometimes our work calls for us to tuck a bottle of beer into a blanket with a teddy bear, haha. I love our job!
3. Oh nothing to see here, just an early morning dip in the toilet. Our cats are weirdos. 
4. Morning bangs/the 80s would have been good for me. 
5. Sick day full of beds, movies, and a sleepy Littlemin.
6. Two different group of Girl Scouts came to our door at once, I couldn't just buy from one. Hats off to you Girl Scouts, well played, well played indeed.
7. Middle school was a good time for me.
8. Having a dinosaur playing a guitar on my sweatshirt makes me not care it's several sizes too big.
9. I love when my dad gives me his old clothes, like this sweater. 
10. Littlemin likes to hang out with me in the bath, he doesn't quite understand boundaries. 

If you want to follow along all the fun you can follow me at littleladylittlecity!