New Apartment, Old Clothes

Waah, I let my blog lay completely fallow for the last several months. Needless today, many things have happened. Let's start by looking at pics of my outfits against a backdrop of 'new apartment scenery:'

Here we are in the new bedroom:

Top: AE Outfitters | Pants: Forever 21 | Shoes: Urban Outfitters | Belt: from Maine

Top: UO bunny sweatshirt, green shirt from TJ Maxx | Skirt: J.Crew | Shoes: AE Outfitters (right), Calvin Klein (left)

Ok, let's go to the kitchen:

Shirt: made in Vietnam | Sweater: Target | Skirt: Ann Taylor |  Shoes: Bandolino

As you can see, our kitchen boasts improved cabinetry and a bag of rice. My Kitchenaid approves. This kitchen is at least 3 times roomier than our old one.

And lastly, we will hang out in the living room:

Shirt: H&M | Jeans: Lucky | Shoes: INC from Macy's

And with that succinct tour, I'm back!

Out with the Cold, In with the New

Actually, this will mostly be dedicated to the "out with the cold" part. As in, I am not ready to share anything new today. After such a long hiatus in posting, I'm going to have to ease myself back into things. Otherwise I might get blogger-shock and not post again for another 2 months.

First on the agenda, we have what I wore 2-- possibly 3-- months ago!

Top: American Eagle Outfitters | Cardigan: Express | Pants: J.Crew | Boots: Hunter | Necklace: thrifted
The necklace is a seashell and reminds me of Ursula from Little Mermaid.

Top: made in Vietnam | Dress: J.Crew | Boots: Macy's

Here I am showing off a new star bracelet which I actually haven't taken off since the time of this photo.
Otherwise I am wearing a random assortment of Talbots, Loft, and H&M.

This was a moment of sartorial eureka for me so I am including extra photos.

Top: Urban Outfitters dress worn as a top | Cardigan: Gap | Skirt: J.Crew | Necklace: Target | Belt: F12
The shoes I got for $5 from Famous Footwear, huzzah!

  

There, I made a return to posting! In the next few days I will try to summarize my adventures from the last 2 months in visual format. If I made a preview slideshow, it would include, but not be limited to: mousse, anime, the MICU, scallops, taxes, and most importantly: new apartment!

Different Iterations of Neutral

I've been camouflaging to match the weather/how I feel about said weather.  Thus, one may find me in grey, tan, beige tones. Gone are the days of jewel tones. Enter: Neutrals.

Ok, ok, I exaggerate about my greige sentiments toward the weather. But seriously, I love these pants, this shirt, those shoes, and that sweater. They go well with everything else I own, so why not put them all together even if I was trying to match stripes with checkers with leopard?

Shirt: J.Crew | last seen here

Sweater: gift from my aunt

Pants: H&M | last seen here

Belt: J.Crew

Shoes: Fashion Bug

These days I am rotating through Rheumatology. Tonight I will settle the score between me and Behcet's disease. I have managed to survive 3 years without ever really knowing what this entity entails. I hope my reading activity will prove as much fun as putting together an all-neutral outfit. 

Watching the Matzo Ball Drop

Happily, I got today off. Naturally, I made matzo ball soup to celebrate the dawning of 2013:

This is a pretty easy soup to make. Ingredients include, but certainly are not limited to:

chicken bones (we used a chicken carcass!)

water

2 onions 

parsley

salt, pepper, dill

pinch of curry powder

1. First I cut up the chicken carcass, then filled the pot with water to cover the bones. 

2. Then I plopped in the onions with the skin on--this imparts a golden color to the broth. 

3. The mixture was simmered for a loooong time until it tasted like broth and not chicken-water. I believe this took about 3-4 hours but I was not watching the clock.  Remember to skim off the scum and excess fat!

[Using chicken carcass actually cut down on a lot of fat, compared to in the past when I used chicken pieces. Fact.]

4. Then I (actually I made Mike do this) fished out the bones, stripped off the chicken pieces and returned that to the broth.
5. The onions get stripped of their skin, and by this time they are soft so I smushed them into bits.

6. I tossed in the seasonings to taste and added chopped parsley, which was the only green thing still left in the fridge. (Had I carrots, parsnips or celery, they would have joined the party, too.  But alas, we ate those already on another occasion.)

7. Then Manischewitz came and provided a matzo ball mix which I diligently made as per instructions.  

Brrrrr, thank goodness for hot chicken soup. In the grand astronomical scheme of things, humans lamentably exist in a pitifully narrow spectrum of temperature.  Just 5-6 months ago, we were installing air conditioners in our windows and melting in the sun. Now we are quaking and shivering every time we set foot near a window and protecting ourselves in layers of down when we venture outdoors.

Anyway, long-winded but I need to explain why I am wearing all these layers, and leggings, and knee socks! All this so that I can wear a skirt to work on New Year's Eve day.

Sweater: Valerie Stevens cashmere (hand-me-down from my mom) | Shirt: H&M s/p studding by moi | Skirt: Anthropologie Trench Coat Skirt | Socks: Gap | Shoes: unknown brand

I am happy to say I remained well-insulated in this get-up. Mission accomplished.

Well...Happy New Year!

J.Crew French Hen Meets Oliver Twist

 I snagged the J.Crew French Hen sweater during a transient pop-back in size XXS. Cluck! or perhaps Clutch! It is so out of stock now that the link to the product no longer exists. This sweater has transgressed into ebay existence, which is kind of like an afterlife.

Sweater: J.Crew | Pants: H&M | Shoes: Target

I am wearing it with a T-shirt underneath so I am rather well-protected from the itch of the wool. The arms of this sweater are strangely tight, therefore I doubt that I could layer a long-sleeved shirt underneath.  But other than that I have no complaints.

The print of these H&M pants evoke Dickensian England to me. I should wear them with a sweater vest and a Sherlock Holmes sleuth cap.

Some details I like about these pants, including the back pockets (mockets), the subtle stitching.  I also like the ankle zippers, which can be seen in another photo.

I've had really good luck with pants from H&M.  These pants are a size 4 and fit with enough room in the hips to be comfortable all day. I usually opt for size 4 in H&M pants for this reason. Did I fail to mention that these pants were only $15? My H&M purchases usually ring in under $20...

I've been searching high and low over the last several months for a neutral colored top that is not white or black.  I found this turtleneck at H&M along with the pant friends.  I believe this color is best described as greige (beige + grey) and I hope to wear it with everything henceforth.

1. Shoes: Blink via Zappos
2. Shoes: Steve Madden

Blazer: Forever 21 | Shoes: Banana Republic
this outfit may involve just a few too many zippers

In summary, I now own Oliver Twist pants and a Hen sweater:

1. In the H&M dressing room.  I did not elect to buy this top even though it is also greige.
2. Greige from top to bottom!
3. Pink works well with greige.
4. So does baby blue. Blazer: Talbots
5. Cluck cluck.

In the future, I would like to devote a post to all of the clothes and accessories I own that feature animals. Stay tuned!

Spring Roll Weekend

Here is a synopsis of the past week in outfits.

Monday was skipped because I can't remember what happened then.

1. Tuesday went to Target to buy lots of Gatorade to prepare for my on-call dehydration as well as many frozen foods (pizza rolls, anyone?). Wearing: Charlotte Russe top, shorts from Target, shoes Zigi via Ideeli
2. Wednesday dinner with friend who told me about tailor, bought the necklace pictured above which is made of clay. Necklace necklace necklace we made you out of clay...Wearing: top from Vietnam, J Crew petal skirt, Target shoes
3. Thursday went to Tailor and Chinese store to buy a boatload of coconut water and pastries...mmm  Wearing: AE dress, Benetton purse, shoes from Kohl's
4. Friday went swimming and went to the mall to buy a massive quantity of sour belts, then ate most of them while wandering around the mall, bought H&M dress pictured below.  Wearing: Daisy Fuentes T-shirt, shorts from Target, J Crew belt, Zara sandals (scored this in Madrid back in 2005!)
5. Friday night on a date with Mike.  Wearing: unknown brand dress via Gabe's, clay necklace, sandals from Dillards many moons ago.  


What next?  I guess next comes Saturday.  I awoke at some late hour on Saturday (2 pm) due to my completely scrambled circadian rhythm.  Then Mike and I attempted to go to a barbecue but we found out that he got a flat tire.  This was my first experience with a spare tire.  Then I went to work.

On Sunday, I had a very random and very brief moment of culinary epiphany.  I made spring rolls completely from scratch, without any recipe and without a single warning.  Living with me means that you have to be prepared for sudden bouts of delicious cooking that occur extremely rarely. The remainder of the time, I ruin pasta by forgetting that I put it on the stove and improperly cook every meat out there so that eaters of my cooking will definitely get food poisoning.   But this time, no one got sick and there were many a delicious spring roll to be had by all!

Wearing: Urban Outfitters dress, cupcake apron, headband from Francesca's
Oh I also saw HP7.2 yesterday and I'm really sad that it's over.  I cried during the Snape death!

Here is the aforementioned H&M dress.  It was on sale for $10 (otherwise I wouldn't have bought it) and there was only 1 left and it was in my size! Hooray.  I had to iron it when I got home but it looks beautiful ironed.  I love how well it fits and the color is very soothing.

First I wore it with its own little chiffon belt and neutral shoes (unknown brand).  I love the gold accents in the buckle and exposed zipper.  Then I wore it with black (F21 belt, booties from Shoe Carnival--what an amazing store) accessories.  I think booties kind of make my legs look super stub-stub :(! Then I decided to put a blazer on since everyone is wearing blazers these days.  I think it is a nice summer to fall transition.  I am proud of myself for wearing accessories since I am usually too lazy to accessorize: earrings from Charlotte Russe and clay rose necklace.

Until next time!