Christmasy things

Do you know what I haven't done in forever? Given you beautiful people something new to look at. So, I'm here to remedy that situation.
What I have been up to is getting into the holiday spirit via decorating, cooking, and attending Christmas-y parties. Well, actually just one party. You know how I'm not particularly into being social. But I did wear a pretty dress! And bring two of my dearest friends from college along with me!

Photographic evidence of the aforementioned activities:

 I've made peppermint bark every year for the holidays since I was in middle school. I'd wrap it up in little bags and give it out to my friends on the last day of class before winter break. It's super easy and people LOVE it. Always a hit, I promise.
To make, you just need:

• a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• a bag of white chocolate chips
• three candy canes
• some wax paper
• two bowls
• casserole dish or baking sheet
• a plastic bag, a towel, and a hammer or heavy knife (for breaking the candy canes)

So it's simple: You melt the semi-sweet chips in the microwave (if you want to be fancy, you could do it in a double boiler. But I'm pretty domestically lazy.) and smooth it out on the wax paper in the dish or baking sheet. Pop it in the fridge for half an hour.
While that's setting, go to work on crushing up the candy canes. It takes some muscle and can kind of be a pain if you don't have the right tools. Just keep at it -- you don't want someone to bite down on a huge piece of candy cane and break a tooth. That would be a liability issue. I usually put the candy canes in a plastic bag and wrap the bag in a towel -- the jagged edges from the candy start ripping the bag so if you don't wrap it in something, you're going to have pieces in your eye. Watch it, ok? I wail at it with a big knife, but use whatever you have. Or employ some able-bodied male to do it for you.
Anyways.
When the chocolate is set, melt the white chips down the same way. Spread them over the semi-sweet ones, being careful not to press down too much and mucking up the first layer. Once that looks all nice, QUICKLY -- before the white chocolate starts to set -- sprinkle the candy cane bits over the top. Definitely don't mix them into the white chocolate before you spread it over the semisweet chocolate because it won't look right. I tried it one year and it turned out terrible. Learn from my mistakes.
Press the candy canes in and then pop it in the fridge until everything's hardened. Give it an hour if you can. Depending on how big your pan was, it might be too thick to break into pieces by hand. So set the whole slab onto a cutting board and start piercing it with a hefty knife. It should start cracking on it's own pretty nicely.
So that's that.

 It's become my responsibility over the years to decorate the garland we hang in the den of the house, so I try to do something creative. This year, I went with a game theme and stuck cards and ribbon-wrapped dominoes into the greens. Then I spelled out 'Merry Christmas' with Scrabble letters and hung them from the top. I'll have to get a picture of the finished product for you later.

So then my friends and family got all dressed up and went to a Christmas ball last weekend. I spent forever trying to find an appropriate dress and could find nothing I liked that didn't cost a million dollars, so I ended up getting this one at Jessica McClintock. I know, I know -- how very high school prom of me. But it's actually pretty cute, yeah? And classic enough to be worn again. I simply cannot stand the concept of buying something to wear it only once.

Had a few too many of those lime-filled beverages...

My brother apparently doesn't like my mom and me very much...

One for the Christmas card.

Mourning the conclusion of Halloween.

I cope by looking at photographs. Over and over and over.
And by planning out my costume for next year. No ideas as of yet, though...

Romper: H&M, headband: DIY, wedges: Very Volatile via Piperlime, army pendents: Portobello Market

Striped shirt: H&M, pencil skirt: American Apparel

Sunday Funday

Fedora: Forever 21, aviators: H&M, scarf: hotel gift shop, necklace: vintage, dress: H&M

Boots: Minnetonka

I think a big part of your twenties is fine-tuning your own recipe for happiness. Through trial and error, you slowly sort of figure out what gets your gears in motion and what just isn't your speed.

I know it's naive to complain that your twenties are overwhelmed with newness all the time (I mean, I don't think anything will be more overwhelming than the age I decide to get married and have children), but it is kind of a struggle to figure out how to balance all the unfamiliar elements of adulthood, you know?

I think now, more than ever, I really pay attention to the things that make me overwhelmingly happy (and do my best to avoid the things that launch me into a grumpy gloom.) When I'm not at work, all I ever want to think about anymore is fashion, photography, cooking, traveling, and my very missed friends that don't live near by.

Yesterday was one of those sublime fall Sundays in which I got to do a lot of things that make me happy. My friend Kevin and I spent the early afternoon at The Golden Nugget flea market, which is absolutely awesome. I highly recommend if you live anywhere near there: go. I got lots of cheap goodies and would have purchased loads more if I hadn't been so overwhelmed by merchandise decisions.

Flea markets are my favorite way to shop. I love bypassing the apathy of mall employees and talking to all the vendors. (My moccasin boots started more than one conversation about what it was like to party in the '60s. The consensus, unsurprisingly, is that it was awesome.)
Here's what I rounded up:

Pearl necklace, ribbon pin, two army pins, old key, cameo pendent, gold bangle -- all $1 each!

Old 3D viewer photos, 3 for $5.

After I got my fill of digging through junk boxes and jewelry cases, I headed over to Kevin's store in New Hope, Thirteen Vintage. They just moved to a spot right along Main Street, so the people watching is absolutely unparalleled. We sat outside on the balcony and ate THE most delicious pumpkin ice cream from the conveniently-placed shop right next door and watched the early evening hustle and bustle. New Hope, PA has the best collection of characters, let me tell you. I wish I had snapped a photo of the two middle-aged men walking around in pink Little-Bo-Peep costumes. Just as hysterical as it sounds.

Go buy pumpkin ice cream here before it's too late!

Then I headed inside and proceeded to spend hours --literally, hours -- going through every single thing in their chock-a-block-full-of-cute-stuff store. Kevin and David have this incredible knack for scooping up trends before they even happen. They cater to a pretty wide range of styles, but if I had to choose a way to describe their stuff, I'd say it's trend conscious with an edge. They carry lots of great vintage stuff, budget-conscious lines like Kensie and B.B. Dakota, seriously awesome heels and boots, and have a jewelry case that could make a grown woman weep. (Or maybe that's just me.)

And just wait until you see what I bought! I'm so excited about it that it's getting a whole post of it's own.

In which my world takes a decidely narcissistic turn to the right.

 I'll be the first to admit that I have a rather unhealthy obsession with personal style blogs. I'll get on my laptop to check my email -- really fast! I swear, I'll only be a second! -- only to emerge two hours later from the far depths of some new blog I've accidentally stumbled upon and quickly became infatuated with. I think seeing the way real people put outfits together is far more inspiring than any catalog or magazine. And, apparently, so does everyone in the fashion industry these days. Street style is everything.

However, when it came to posting pictures of my own style on my own blog, I enthusiastically refrained. "Too narcissistic. Too self congratulating. Too...weird," I thought.

But being the attention-seeking hypocrite that I am, along with a gentle push from my ever-supportive friend Katelyn, I've decided to reconsider. Hence, a new venture.

This necklace? You won't even believe me when I tell you that
it was $3.80 at Forever 21. Pearl earrings: Banana Republic

Utility jacket: Gap, gingham button down: J. Crew,
skinny cords: Urban