Cinco de Mayo!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Have a margarita for me - I won't be able to escape from the office until late late late!

1. Cuisine a Latina

2. Moravian Star

3. Mexicana Shift

4. Tissue Pom Poms

5. Skinny Girl Margarita

6. Margarita Salt

LC

I cannot count the number of times I have seen Lauren Conrad and thought “fabulous”.  I believe that she embodies what fashion truly is: fun, whimsical and trendy, but also classy and timeless.  Well, you can imagine my excitement when I got word of her new website. It is full of great tutorials and “how-to’s” for those of us without hair/makeup artist and personal stylist (must be nice, huh?).   Miss Lauren was recently at an U.S. Weekly party looking amazing as usual, and I managed to find a great “how-to” on replicating her look:

Step 1: Hair

Step 2: Eyes

Step 3: Lips

Voila!



Moment of Silence

While the events of yesterday are most certainly something to be celebrated, it is also important to reflect on what was lost almost 10 years ago.  To the thousands of lives that were senselessly taken, and to the thousands of service men and women that have since fallen - we will never forget. In respect and remembrance I am taking today as a figurative moment of silence. 



In the rubble of 9/11 - vengeance has finally been served.



Recipe Post: Apple Spice Bread

Recipe Post: Apple Spice Bread

Instead of scones, I enjoyed this delicious treat while watching the royal wedding friday morning.  Yes, I was one of the crazy people that woke up at 3 a.m. to watch the wedding coverage in its entirety.  I am not sure why they didn’t have an evening wedding to make it a little more convenient to their fans on the other side of the pond J I adapted this recipe and it turned out great! Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

·         1 1/4 cup organic non-bleached all-purpose flour

·         3/4 cup whole wheat flour

·         3/4 cup brown sugar

·         1/4 cup sugar

·         1 teaspoons baking powder

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         1 teaspoon nutmeg

·         1/2 teaspoon cloves

·         1 stick of butter (the original recipe called for 2 sticks but I just could bring myself to do that!)

·         1 tablespoon vanilla extract

·         2 large apples or 4 small apples ( I used 4 mini organic pink lady apples)

·         ½ cup organic plain Greek yogurt

·         cinnamon & nutmeg for topping

1.      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bread pan.

2.     Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and set aside.

3.     In a separate bowl, mix the yogurt, butter, vanilla and sugars together. Once they are beaten together well, mix in the egg.

4.     Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and mix. Add in the small pieces of chopped apples and stir again with a large spoon.

5.     Pour into greased pan and bake 50-60 minutes. Make sure you start checking your bread at about 40 min, every oven is different and mine tends to take longer for baking breads! My bread took 60 min, but depending on the over, yours may take less. When your bread is done let it cool for 10-20 minutes.

6.     Enjoy!!

*Please forgive the terrible picture quality.  Picutes are courtesy of my droid - pulling out the big camera that early in the morning was too much of a chore....and the sunrise (albiet beautiful) did not help with the lighting.

Link Love

We are halfway through the week! If nothing else, that gives us something to celebrate on this dreary morning (at least it is dreary here in D.C.).  First things first, today I am channeling The Glamourai with this outfit. Instead of that great biker inspired jacket, I paired it with a blazer and a pair of black pumps to make it a little more Cubicle friendly. 

Second, blogger is giving me a little trouble with posting pictures so instead of doing my first recipe post as I had originally planned, I thought a mid week pick me up was is order with a little link love.  So here are some fabulous links to inspire your Wednesday:

1. Great steals on some pastels for spring:

http://www.thebudgetbabe.com/archives/3780-8-Pretty-Pastel-Finds-Under-100.html#extended

2. I don’t know what the weather looks like where you are – but here in D.C. it is gloomy and rainy. Perfect day for the perfect trench -find which trench suits your style best:

http://www.refinery29.com/10-perfect-raincoats-for-every-type-of-girl

3. Vogue exhibits some spring trends (I HAVE to have that trench vest!)  

http://www.vogue.com/vogue-daily/article/five-days-five-looks-one-girl-sylvana-ward-durrett-met-gala/

4. Are you in DC this week/weekend? If so eat at one of BEST restaurants in the city. Washingtonian Magazine conveniently maintains a list of D.C. top 100 restaurants.

http://www.washingtonian.com/sections/restaurants/100best/index.html

5. In case you forgot, Mothers Day is right around the corner (May 8^th!) Here is a great gift guide to inspire some lovely gifts for Mom this year.

http://www.refinery29.com/los-angeles-mother-s-day-2011-gift-guide-1

6. Lauren Conrad recent launched a new website called The Beauty Department. They cover everything from hair, makeup, fashion and even some great “How To” Tutorials. Check it out!

http://thebeautydepartment.com/

Are you guys getting as excited as I am for the Royal Wedding? Call me crazy but my alarm clock will be set for 3:00 am Friday so I can catch the LIVE event!!

Bright Bottomed Girls

Happy Monday all! It sure came quickly didn’t it? But, I have a 3 day weekend to look forward to at the end of the week! Confession time – I have had a great pair of purple skinny jeans sitting in my closet longer than I care to admit.  I scored them at F21 awhile back and I love them – but every time I go to put them on I chicken out.  While I am no stranger to some of the bolder trends of the season (I proudly sported the faux fur leopard print jacket from Anthropologie this winter), I have this foreboding  anxiety that creeps up whenever I pull them from my closet.  I can’t quite put my finger on why – but I have made the executive decision that I will put my fear to rest and they will be worn THIS week! So to that end – I am seeking styling inspiration from these fabulous bright bottomed girls!

pictues from zara.com and people.com

The Start of Something Great

After what seemed like the busiest week I’ve had in quite awhile, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have absolutely nothing pressing on my to do list this weekend! I spent the day doing some shopping (more on some of my great finds in the coming days), and catching up on some reading. I wanted to share this wonderful little find that I discovered buried in the archives of New York Magazine.  It brought a smile to my face – I hope it does the same for you : ) Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Also, I am now on bloglovin - so feel free to follow me there as well!