Lisa Frank, the greatest artist of the 90s

snapped a quick photo with my phone of how I did my nails this week (before I cleaned them up, ew) . All hand painted! It took a while and my right hand of course looks a bit wonky... years and years of doing my nails about once a week and I'm still unstead. It's kind of like how I always mess up my eyeliner even though I do it the same every day. Weird how that works.

back

How predictable...
So I took a bit of a hiatus because I am too lazy to take, upload, edit, and organize pictures all the time. I wish there was some sort of all-encompassing program for that. Something that would instantly crop and retouch every image to perfection with one click, while I sit back and eat hot cheetos without worrying about smearing spicy orange powder all over my laptop. Unfortunately no such thing exists, so for now the solution is to just not bother with editing anything until I'm a little more comfortable with this whole blogging thing. I have to admit, the sheer amount of work and motivation it takes to keep up with something this time consuming (it severely cuts into my Watching Buffy Reruns time) is extremely overwhelming to me. Baby steps, baby steps.

Enough about my boring life, onto the clothes! I did a bit of discount shopping last week, at thrift stores and the Urban Outfitters outlet. Finding bargains is actually fun for me, and I have this whole philosophy about being able to find decent clothes for really cheap if you 1) know where to look and 2) know how to branch out and style things differently. Actually, I hope to do a post on that later so I won't blabber on about it now. As for last week, I found some great stuff, if I do say so myself:


crushed velvet crop top???? yes please. This was from UO and was only $10...considering it was probably like $70 originally I'd call that a steal.


I assure you that these high-waisted light cotton trousers are much more flattering on me. However, it's still too chilly to debut them outside so you'll have to wait for proof on that one. These were $10 too.


100% silk scarf for $2


I wish you could see from the picture how glorious the belt on the bottom is. The hardware is a bit tarnished, but it is PONY HAIR!! It takes a boring black belt to a new level and I can't wait to use it to add some texture to my monochromatic outfits. These were each around $2 though I don't remember exactly.


Now THIS. THIS. This is a miracle that came down upon me and I'm not sure how or why but I'll just drink up the glory and not question it, for my own sanity. I was browsing the faintly vomit-scented shoe racks at the Salvation Army and coming up empty-handed, as I am wont to do when surrounded by square-toed slingbacks. As I was turning to leave the section and the store FOREVER (ok, maybe just for a few weeks) I spotted (ha) leopard print out of the corner of my eye and turned around to find THESE BABIES. Leopard. print. loafers. I had been looking at pairs online just the week before and had been almost prepared to spend $70+ on some because I wanted them so badly. I had even put a pair into my cart on some site, but I backed out last minute because of the price. So to find these, in perfect condition, the ONLY pair, in MY SIZE, it was just one of those moments.... those shoes were meant for me. AND THEY WERE $6!! PLEASE EXCUSE MY YELLING, I AM TOO EXCITED.



And finally, this horrible shirt with a print of nail polish bottles, lipstick, makeup brushes, and little hearts. This was $3 but it's a size 12 so the sleeves go past my hands and it hangs pretty unfortunately on me. I couldn't resist the print though, so I snatched it up and I am now in the process of removing the sleeves in an attempt to tone down the print and make it a little more wearable.

Well, that is all I have for now. I've got some food posts lined up once I get the pictures uploaded, and I'll probably start spamming with pictures of my cat pretty soon because I have about 300 pictures of just her that I need to go through... perhaps I should get more hobbies. Ta for now!

my queen, my love, my baby

This is Artemis, my precious kitty. Expect her to appear frequently-- I can't stop taking pictures of her silly little face. Luv her.


Here she is perched on my boyfriend's lap. It's one of her favorite spots. Unfortunately he is highly allergic to her, but he still can't resist letting her purr and sleep on him while he works.

Ciao

to see me

Yes, three posts in one day. Watch it quickly turn into 0 posts in 6 months-- I hope not, it's just that I have a track record with these things. I've abandoned all previous blogging attempts in the past because I find the process of uploading and editing pictures (when necessary) to be completely and utterly tedious and boring. So I hope I'll start enjoying blogging and become caught up in actually updating. Not to mention every camera I've ever had has been a crappy point-and-shoot model with pretty low picture quality... I just never felt the things I had to share were all that impressive or interesting. I always said a camera was the thing I really needed to get this blog thing going, and now that I have it I really have no excuse.

A month into the new year and I've been pretty bad at keeping my resolutions. I didn't make any serious ones, but I did vow to be more motivated and to not give up on things so quickly. I am very flighty and absentminded, and I end up abandoning projects quickly-- be it crafts, cleaning, or trying to get off my ass for long enough to get a better job already (I work at a bookstore, and my body and health have been paying dearly from being on my feet all day), I'll drop it if it becomes too much of a chore. Looking for a job is hard and, as is everything that's worth it in the end, tedious. I have this thing where I can't stand tedium-- call me crazy, right? Well, anyway. One thing that makes me feel more motivated while not boring me to death is putting together outfits that make me feel good, or making an effort with my makeup. I like to do my makeup, I find it soothing and it's become a daily ritual that prepares me mentally for the day ahead. I apply all of my products in the same order, dusting and blending and powdering myself into the disguise of someone suited to go out in public. When I add in a great outfit (if I do say so myself) I feel a bit more ready to go out in the world and get things done. My new tweed coat from H&M, to which I attached a fur collar from another coat I got for cheap at Forever 21, has been making me feel very glam lately, even on dreary days:

please don't ask me what this face is

nor this one

American Apparel double-u neck dress; Forever21 sweater and fur collar; J.Crew delicate elephant necklace; H&M Boots, sunglasses, and coat; Urban Outfitters bag-- on sale for $10!; scarf from Venice, Italy when I was 9 years old

BDG skinny jeans; Forever21 sweater; NastyGal headband; pashmina from Marché Bastille in Paris ; thrifted Franco Sarto boots that look kind of hideous in pictures but are actually cute

So this is how I look some days. Lots of black. occasionally simple jeans and a sweater, and maybe somethings weird on my head. Face the world!!

Sunday Night Cooking

My boyfriend and I took the night to whip up some culinary creations. An embarrassing number of these were taken from Alton Brown recipes as we have a slight obsession with Good Eats. The others we made up ourselves, they turned out to be delicious experiments!

raspberry and blackberry cinnamon muffins

sardines marinating in their oil with red wine vinegar, lemon zest, cracked pepper, and parsley


sourdough toasting

sardines on toast with avocado, coarse salt, and lemon juice

the start of homemade limoncello and sour mix... pounds of zested and juiced lemons


zested

adding the vodka, it now has to steep for seven days before we add the sugar syrup. I'll report back with the finished product!
I made pseudo-sour mix with some of the lemon juice from the zested lemons. I added in the juice of a ruby red grapefruit for a little variation... normally sour mix calls for limes and lemons in equal parts, but I used mostly all lemon with a bit of grapefruit and I think it turned out pretty well. I tried out a cocktail with the mix, vodka, a splash of campari, grapefruit seltzer, and maraschino cherries for garnish.

All this combined with the breaded zucchini I just had to have this afternoon, I'm pretty stuffed. I can guarantee I'll be drinking more of this sour mix, though... until next time!

First

I can't be bothered with much of an introduction. But I am Ann, I live in Chicago, and I love to make food. Enjoy yourselves.