Friday, November 30, 2018

plant propagation progress



Back in September I wrote a post about my plants, and there was this one that I had snipped off of another plant and attempted to get it to take root in water. I promised I would report back if it turned into a real plant and today is that day!! I dutifully kept changing the water once a week, rotating its exposure to the sun, and after about a month I moved it into a glass with a wider mouth. And then finally, this week, I planted it in soil!



Can you believe how beautiful it looks?! Look at all the new little buds! I can't believe that this actually worked, but now I'm so excited to try it again with some of my other plants whose pots are getting overcrowded with new growth.

This is going to be my first winter taking care of live plants and I can already tell that they need more water each week and some of them are looking a little droopier than they were in the bright summer sun. I hope they all make it through the cold dreary months okay. I'll definitely post another update on all of my plants as soon as spring is here again! :)



Thursday, November 29, 2018

don't sweat it



If you've been following me for a while then you know that I get VERY excited when dresses are made out of sweatshirt fabric. I've only found two (well, now three) fit-and-flare dresses in this fabric and I love them SO MUCH!! It honestly feels like I'm lounging around in a sweatshirt and sweatpants but to the world I look like I'm all dressed up. It's literally the best feeling.

I had actually wanted to wear this with mint tights and a mint belt but I couldn't find the tights, so I went with blue which I ended up liking even more! And I didn't want to break up the color on my legs so I just decided to rock Cinderella style and wear some clear heels!




dress - asos | tights - amazon | shoes - asos

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Style Idol - Barbra Streisand



Monday, November 26, 2018

walking in a winter wonderland



I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! Mine was really nice. Me and my mom packed up a lot of my Black Friday sale orders, and on Saturday night I caught up on episodes of The Good Place with my parents while working on some drawings on my ipad (including this My Favorite Murder button set!) And then last night I called it a night early and got cozy in bed with Arrietty and read for a little bit.

My sale in my shop ends tonight (code "MISTLETOE" for 30% off!) plus I have a special bonus offer on instagram and facebook so if you aren't already following me there now would be a good time to hop on! ;)

Also Modcloth is offering 40% off all $150+ orders for Cyber Monday (including sale items!) like this winter scene skirt and sweater. I am so obsessed with this skirt. The print is adorable (as someone from a Christian/Jewish family I love that there are people carrying both Christmas trees and menorahs!), it has belt loops built in, and it has a little elastic at the back so it fits like a glove. I'm definitely going to be wearing this a lot this winter!




belt - old | faux fur collar - h&m (old)

Sunday, November 25, 2018

don't you forget about me





Just a little reminder that my shop is a great place to find holiday gifts for your friends and family (or you know, treat yo' self!) You'll be supporting an independent artist, and getting a totally unique gift. Plus I promise my packaging is way more fun than Amazon's ;)

I'm offering 30% off all orders with code MISTLETOE. The sale ends tomorrow 11/26 at midnight, and you can shop right here.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

un deux trois



Now that holiday parties and fancy gatherings are just around the corner I thought it would be fun to use this week's Un Deux Trois post to come up with three ways to make a casual dress look fancy! For this post I'm wearing this white floral long sleeve dress from Modcloth.

Can you guess which outfit is my favorite? I'll let you know at the end! :)



Remixed item: White long sleeve floral dress from Modcloth

Belt: Old
Shoes: Amazon
Crinoline: Amazon

This is the most simple way to posh-up a casual frock -- add a crinoline! The silhouette immediately changed it from "quick errand run" to "cocktail party time!" and the black patent belt and matching shoes just make it even more classy and timeless. I can totally see Betty Draper wearing this outfit in the early episodes of Mad Men!



Remixed item: White long sleeve floral dress from Modcloth

Bell sleeve top: Dolls Kill (old)
Shoes: Aldo
Gold cat belt: Modcloth

For this outfit I wore a cropped glittery black bell sleeved top and cinched the waist with a gold belt. For the shoes I went with red velvet heels that match the red florals in the dress. I love that this look feels very fancy but the cats on the gold belt still keep it whimsical :)



Remixed item: White long sleeve floral dress from Modcloth

Skirt: Modcloth (old)
Belt: Amazon
Shoes: Bait Footwear

Here I paired the dress with a nice black midi skirt and then added a giant white bow belt on top. The shoes are silver glittery pumps for a little extra pizazz! This one is my favorite of the three. I think it's simple and chic (and I LOVE adding bow belts to pretty much any outfit!)

Friday, November 23, 2018

posh frock black friday!



Happy official start of Christmas season, everyone! There are a lot of sales going on today but just two that I want to mention here --

First of all, there's my own sale in my shop! I have lapel pins, Christmas cards and ornaments, art prints, patches, buttons, pocket mirrors, all kinds of stuff! It's all designed by me (and packed by me!) and it's all 30% off with code MISTLETOE. This is actually the biggest discount I've ever offered in my shop for Black Friday because I am really itching to pay off some medical bills, so I'm hoping 30% will be tempting enough to make that happen! ;D You can shop my sale right here.

And secondly, MODCLOTH! In my year of near-impoverishment I've very much cut back on spending, and I've been SO looking forward to having a little Christmas money from my parents and grandmom to treat myself! Modcloth is offering 30% off $100+ orders and (wait for it) 40% -- yes FORTY PERCENT -- off $200+ orders. Including sale items!! If you're a Modcloth fangirl like I am you know how rare that kind of discount is! You can shop their sale right here.

I have my eye on these socks, this sweater, this cardigan, and this dress. Also, the dress I'm wearing is from Modcloth and if I didn't already own it you better believe it would be on my wishlist! ;)




dress - c/o modcloth | shoes - aldo

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Recipe: Three healthy Thanksgiving recipes



Happy Thanksgiving! Today I'm sticking with my anti-inflammatory diet (what fun would a holiday be if I spent all night with an upset stomach?) and I thought I'd share the recipes I used for three of my healthy courses. I'm also making mashed roasted cauliflower (just steam-in-the-bag roasted cauliflower mashed with vegetable broth and roasted garlic) and seared salmon for my main course.

Keep reading for recipes for Pumpkin Custard (dairy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free!), Hazelnut Wild Rice Salad, and Cranberry Apple Relish (recipe courtesy of my mom!)



Cranberry Apple Relish
My mom has been making this for years and recently switched up the recipe to make it fit my anti-inflammatory diet, which was so sweet of her! My family eats pretty healthy for the most part, so it's pretty simple to make mostly-healthy recipes (fruit and sugar) into much-healthier recipes (fruit and maple syrup.)

You'll need:

1 orange
1 medium apple (my mom suggests gala or fuji)
3 c. fresh cranberries
3/4 c. maple syrup
1 Tbsp water

Grate zest from whole orange. Cut off any remaining pith from orange. Cut orange into chunks. Peel, core, and cut apple into large pieces. Combine everything in a food processor until finely chopped - but not mushy. Stir in maple syrup and water. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.



Pumpkin Custard
This is just like eating pumpkin pie without the crust! My Grandmom has Celiac so custard has been a Thanksgiving staple ever since she was diagnosed about 20 years ago. This year I adapted this recipe I found online so that it's not only gluten free but anti-inflammatory as well. And I made sure to use coconut milk (a lot of dairy-free recipes call for almond milk) since my brother is allergic to nuts.

You'll need:

1 1/3 c. light coconut milk
1 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. maple syrup
3 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. pink Himalayan sea salt

Preheat the oven to 325'. On the stove heat the coconut milk over low heat until small bubbles form along the edges. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and maple syrup. Then once the milk is heated, whisk it into the egg/syrup mixture one tablespoon at a time.

In a separate bowl, whisk the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt. Then whisk that mixture into the egg/syrup/milk mixture. Pour into a glass baking dish, and then put that dish into a slightly larger baking dish. Fill the outer dish with hot water until it goes halfway up the edge of the inner baking dish. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the top is mostly set. At the 1 hour mark I started checking on mine every 10 minutes just to make sure it was setting properly.

Remove the inner baking dish from the outer baking dish and cool on a wire rack until the pan is room temperature. Then refrigerate until ready to serve!



Hazelnut Wild Rice Salad
Several years ago my family had a similar salad from the prepared foods section at Whole Foods and we fell head over heels with it! Of course that meant that every time we went back afterwards they never seemed to have it again. Luckily I kept the ingredients list from our first order and recreated it at home! The vinaigrette was adapted from this recipe. This makes a pretty hefty batch of rice so you might want to halve it if you're not feeding a lot of people.

For the rice you'll need:

18 oz. Lundberg Farms Whole Grain & Wild Blend Brown Rice
(other wild rice will do, but this is my absolute favorite!)
1 1/2 c. dried cranberries
1 1/2 c. diced red peppers
1 1/2 c. chopped hazelnuts
1 1/2 c. chopped spinach
1 1/2 c. sugar free dried pineapple, diced

For the vinaigrette you'll need:

1/3 c. chopped hazelnuts
1 shallot (finely chopped)
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
a pinch of allspice
3/4 tsp. pink Himalayan sea salt
2 tsp. maple syrup
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. walnut oil

Cook your rice, and then combine all of the rice ingredients listed. For the vinaigrette, sauté the chopped hazelnuts, shallot, and extra virgin olive oil. Then whisk with the remaining ingredients. Toss with the rice and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.



I hope everyone has a wonderful and healthy Thanksgiving today! 💞

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Style Idol - Britt Ekland



Monday, November 19, 2018

fly me to the moon



I'm having a super casual Monday in leggings (they're corduroy!) and one of my new favorite sweaters (If you haven't heard Frank Sinatra sing Fly Me to the Moon, stop what you're doing and listen right now.)

Yesterday was my first day on the cash register at my new job and it went pretty well. I feel a little awkward interacting with customers but I'm sure I'll start feeling more comfortable soon. And it was nice to be so preoccupied that I totally didn't even think about all my worries ONCE while I was there. SO NICE!! When you're someone who is inside your head literally all the time, it's nice to get a break once in a while and it seems like the only way to do that is to be completely engrossed in some other kind of work.

On an unrelated note, today was my weigh-in day for Weight Watchers and I officially lost 20 pounds! I'm back around my normal weight now (I had gained a lot while I was sick this year) but I still have about 12 more to go before I hit the recommended weight for women my height. 20 pounds in 2 months isn't too shabby though! :D


sweater - joanie | leggings - forever 21 | shoes - asos (old)

Saturday, November 17, 2018

un deux trois



Did you know that Dolls Kill released a delia*s throwback collection? I just about died when I saw it. I collect their old catalogs (and scan them on my delia*s blog here) so this was SUPER exciting for me!! I have basically no money right now, but I also couldn't resist getting this dress (and this tote bag) and I already came up with three different ways to style it! :D

Can you guess which one is my favorite? I'll let you know at the end!



Remixed item: delia*s flower power dress from Dolls Kill

Sweater: Target
Collar: old
Shoes: Bait Footwear

I've said this a million times but I love when dresses have multiple colors that you can pull from to make a coordinated outfit. For this one I went with the pink and matched my sweater, belt, and shoes. I think the detachable collar is what really pulls everything together here though.



Remixed item: flower power delia*s dress from Dolls Kill

Top: ASOS (old)
Shoes: Karmaloop (old)
Sunglasses: Oui Fresh

This look is definitely out of season but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I love it anyway.



Remixed item: flower power delia*s dress from Dolls Kill

Belt: Old
Shoes: Aldo
Tights: Amazon

Last but not least, a simple outfit with colored tights and a matching belt. I pulled from the blue here and honestly I could have done un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, etc. today because there was the option to do a red outfit, a yellow outfit, a green outfit, etc. I can already tell this dress is going to get a lot of wear because it's just so easy to style it a dozen different ways.

Can you guess which one was my favorite? It was the first one with the collar! :)

Friday, November 16, 2018

are you kitten me



How cute is this one-eyed cat sweater?! It's from Modcloth and it was inspired by an employee's cat named Oscar. Are you ready to die of cuteness? Because here is a photo of Oscar wearing his namesake sweater. Eeeeeeee! SO CUTE!!! Now I feel like I need to figure out a way to make an Arrietty sweater.

I haven't eaten anything yet today except some gummy vitamins so my brain is drawing the biggest blank for writing this post. I just had so much to get done today that I jumped right into it without taking the time for breakfast or tea. I always spend August-October thinking that I have plenty of time to make holiday items and get my shop ready for Black Friday but then inevitably it's the week before Thanksgiving and I'm in a frantic rush trying to prepare. Today I want to finish up some classic movie Christmas card designs I've been working on (assuming I manage to get these done, I have TEN new designs that should be in the shop this weekend!) and even though they never really sell I also want to finish up two new calendar designs.