Whatever you are, make it real

 Sometimes when you get dressed what you've chosen feels so perfectly you ... and you just feel good all day. This was one of those days. :)

And for fun, here's what this skirt looked like before I fixed it!

I love the plaid so much, but it was like...ridiculously long, even for me (I generally don't mind longer skirts!) I was so desperate to wear it that I busted out my arch nemesis...the sewing machine! And wouldn't you know it, I actually had fun. So I'm sure that thing will be seeing the outside of the closet much more.

See you soon!

DIY :: Draped Vest

I've come to the conclusion that as much as I wish it to be, sewing is probably not for me.. I've tried some projects a few times, but I noticed that I tended to lose interest about halfway through. Lots of little measurements and such...I hate numbers! Everything I made came out a little sloppy because I became lazy halfway through...a very charming personality trait I know! But luckily for lazy seamstresses such as myself, I found this no-sew vest DIY over at the very cool Define Delirium. Huzzah! 

Her instructions are pretty basic and very easy to follow. I'd say, if you're accident prone like me, buy about 2ish yards of jersey. That also allows you to make several vests and play around with the measurements, which was the very best part. I actually made two vests. The first one I fudged in measuring the length and it ended up being rather short. It's still wearable, just a somewhat different shape from the one I preferred. The second time around I really got it right, and the best part was I still had enough fabric left to make one more and really experiment with proportions.

I like it unpinned because it makes it simple to add interest to an otherwise kind of plain outfit.

I played around with pinning it and I really love it that way as well! You can arrange folds and the collar and it turns the simple vest into more of a statement piece. I think her vest looks a little cooler, but I believe that's because she used a stiffer fabric than jersey, which definitely affects the look of the drapes.

For your reference, my vest is 59 inches wide and 26 inches long with a 5 inch collar. 

See you soon! <3

DIY :: Feather Mobile

Ever since I saw the feather mobile DIY over at Needle and Nest, I've been thinking about it constantly. I was strictly on the lookout for feathers whenever I was outside, but I never seemed to have any luck finding any. Then I realized that one of my roommates was a perfect helper for the task!

Occasionally my lovely friend Gloria sheds some of her feathers as she prepares to grow new ones. Her feathers have really unique patterns and gray and white gave me a great blank canvas to work on!

I experimented with several color schemes before I settled on a very simple blue and white palette. I had a little silver glittery paint, but it turned out not to be very opaque. It still gave a nice slight shimmer to some of the feathers (and my paint water!)

I have to say, I love how it turned out! I was worried that I would mess it up, but I think this tutorial is genius because it would probably turn out beautifully no matter what types of feathers or wood or paint you used! It blends modern and rustic in a way that is really pleasing. I love having this hang just above my workspace. Hopefully it will encourage lots of good ideas and creativity.  

See you soon! <3

Banana Bread!

Hello hello! I'm here with my first "official" recipe post, and I'm pretty excited. I hope this will be the first of many original recipes as well as old favorites I've found around the web and tweaked. I'd like to balance it equally between recipes and outfits here, as I really do cook quite a lot.

This is the banana bread recipe I mentioned a bit ago in my 7 things post. The recipe is incredibly versatile...there are so many options for spicing, flavors, topping, ratios, etc. The recipe I started with is here, but you'll see if you compare that I differ quite a bit. Mostly what I'm trying for is a healthier (but still delicious) treat!

You'll have to forgive me too for the quality of some of the pics. There are no windows in the front of our apartment and the only lighting is gosh-awful fluorescents, so I'm fiddling with lighting scheme all the time with different lamps and bulbs to see what works best. This didn't turn out to be ideal!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas
• 3/4 cup sugar*
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

*Sugar is one of the things in this recipe that is extremely versatile. I have used 1/4 cup white, 1/4 cup brown, and 1/4 cup honey and it was delicious. This time I used 1/4 cup brown, 1/4 cup honey, and 1/4 cup that was half and half brown sugar and honey. We are attempting to cut out white sugar wherever we can here, plus the flavors of banana and honey are divine together!

1. Preheat oven to 375. You can bake muffin-style, loaf style, or in a round cake pan like I did. Make sure to grease whatever pan you choose.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Flour, baking soda, salt. I usually just eyeball the salt because I like to live dangerously. Set aside.

It's banana time.

3. In a separate bowl, add cut bananas.

You can mash your bananas in a food processor if you like, or you can chop into slices and mash with a spoon. We have a food processor, but in the spirit of fewer dishes I usually opt to mash by hand. I add big banana chunks, then I stab 'em a bit until they look like this:

Then you keep working at them. I alternate between stabbing, chopping, and smushing. Eventually it will look like this:

It's still very lumpy, but don't worry.

4. Add the sugar/honey, egg, and melted butter to the bananas. If you want to add spices, now's a great time. Cinnamon is an awesome standard. Nutmeg is delicious. Vanilla extract? Sure! Whatever crazy combo you can come up with will probably be delicious. Beat with hand mixer until well combined. The mixer will do a great job of finishing the banana mashing process and you should get a great smoothish mix.

5. Add your liquid ingredients to your dry ingredients. Stir them together and get everything incorporated. This is a fairly moist batter and will be slightly lumpy.

6. Pour your batter into your pan.

7. Now you have this beautiful blank canvas in front of you! What will you do with it?

Last time I made this, I warmed up a little Nutella and swirled that on top. You could do any number of things, chocolate chips, fruit/jelly/jam, dried fruit, granola, the list is endless really. I decided this time to please Michael (the man)'s voracious peanut butter sweet tooth and give that a try.

I warmed some peanut butter in a bowl until it was more of a liquid consistency. I also added some cinnamon to the peanut butter for flavor.

Then I did a little swirly drizzle on top. I left a portion blank to try the plain flavor of the bread.

Then I take a spoon and do a fancy swirl so I can imagine myself a pastry chef. :)

This is the very same technique I used for the Nutella version.

8. Almost there! Now just bake this baby for 18-25 minutes. What sugar variant you use with affect the final baking time. With 1/2 cup of actual sugar and only 1/4 cup of honey my baking time was about 4 minutes less. With more liquid, it took about 25 minutes. I usually set it for 18 minutes and just watch over it the last few to get the perfect balance of doneness.

Voila!

Delish. It's so simple and I think it can be a very impressive looking dessert with the fancy swirls. I also don't feel quite as guilty snacking on it, what with the bananas and all! :D If you give the recipe a spin, be sure to let me know what you try and how it turns out!

Enjoy ladies! See you soon!

Rosey

So here it is, the completed skirt. It came out all right. Everything is in the right place at least! The fabric has some pretty intense set in wrinkles I can't seem to get out. Bummer...Oh well, I'm giving it time.

Not feeling all that well today! I hope I can get over whatever this business is soon.

Hair Envy

Hello ladies! Sorry for the lack of posts around here lately, I've not been feeling all too well! I still don't feel that great, but I'm back in the swing of things at least. I've been doing a lot of plaster working and messy stuff at school the last few days so I don't have any nice outfits to share, but I do have a little project to show.

I've been working on this the last two days and all that's left is the hem. But darn it all, I forgot to take a picture of the pattern, so this really is just a wee peek until tomorrow.

You can see my embarrassingly crooked stitching there. *blush* That is the worst part, most of the rest of the waistband is relatively straight. I still feel proud of it for being my second garment ever, and I'm fairly proud of my first zipper! I learned my lesson about contrast stitching though. On another note, I've been experiencing quite a lot of hair envy lately, so I have several pics of beautiful 'dos I admire to share with you.

I always love pictures of real women! Just as glamorous and beautiful as the screen stars.

The lovely Constance Bennett

Joan Blondell, my favorite period actress.

See you soon with my new grassy-green spring skirt!

Chicken Piccata and an Outfit Post

Here it is, the first outfit post! Nothing spectacular though, I'm afraid. I wore this to work last weekend, and I was all about layering as a chill was in the air. This is the very first skirt I've ever made, it's a lovely flannel that keeps me pretty warm.

Less vintage, more vintage-inspired, but I felt good in it which is what really matters.

For dinner tonight my fiance and I had a little something special. Working on a cooking themed project for digital photography class was a great excuse to whip up a little chicken piccata. If you're like me and you love lemons and/or capers, then you will love this dish!

This is the recipe I used, but I served the chicken over pasta because I'm mad for the stuff. I also added some sage to the breading which gave the chicken an amazing earthy flavor. It was easy and fairly inexpensive, save the capers. We had it with a little homemade grape juice wine and it was a great night.

See you soon!