Shadow Art

I'm loving this shadow art from Fred Eerdekens, a belgian artist. it's so whimsical and amazing.

Source: creativetempest.com via Shelly on Pinterest

Escape

I'm craving an escape from the city and the winter blues. Below are just a couple of destinations I'd love to run away to. Where would you like to go?

Source: sunsurfer.tumblr.com via Shelly on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Shelly on Pinterest

Source: superstock.co.uk via Shelly on Pinterest

Source: piccsy.com via Shelly on Pinterest

At the National Portrait Gallery

Just Beachy

So every single one of my facebook friends have all decided to go on beach vacation at the same time (yes all 400 of the I swear) and post meticulous accounts of their day-to-day beach activites. So unfair when all I'm craving is a little sun. Hopefully the little collection below will help me beat the winter blues without running off to St. Barts.

Just Beachy by sundaygirl27 featuring yves saint laurent sunglasses

Milly, $265
Violet Lake swimwear, $225
Rachel zoe shoes
Saint Tropez floppy brim hat, $54
Yves saint laurent sunglasses
IMAN Luxury Moisturizing Lipstick Iman Red, $10
Decorative Seaside Shells Decorative Accents Wisteria, $26
Chevron Bar Earrings by Lori's Shoes - New Arrivals - Lori's Designer..., $19
Thick Woven Chain Bracelet by Lori's Shoes - JEWELRY - Lori's Designer..., $15

Desserts from Restaurant Week

Last week the boyfriend and I headed out to two different restaurants for Restaurant Week, PS7 and 2100 Prime, which is located in the Fairfax Hotel.

Food wise I thought both restaurants we very good and we got good sized portions at both. At PS7 we did end up having to wait 30 minutes after our reservation time for our table. So I definitely reccommend trying to get as early a seating as possible if you do go there.

I actually was surprised by how much I enjoyed 2100 Prime. Formerly, the Jockey Club, it still has horse pictures on the wall and the most intricately carved wooden bar that I have ever seen. It was very low key and great place to spend dinner with friends whom you haven't seen in a while and want to catch up with. Also, they definitely had my favorite dessert hands down.


The vanilla cheesecake from 2100 Prime. It was like a giant oreo cookie.


I don't specifically remember the name of this dessert from PS7, but it was something along the lines of "chocolate, toffee, fudge and caramel, oh my!"


The lemon fluff dessert from PS7. Holy pajamas was this lemony. It was kind of refreshing after the chocolate etc. dessert.

Orange and Navy Color Block

I was really inspired by this orange and navy color block dress from Top Shop (as I'm sure you can tell). Now that I'm beginning to think a little bit more about spring I really just want to wear a lot of color block. How cute would it be to paint your nails half orange and half blue?

Orange and Navy Color Block by sundaygirl27 featuring open toe sandals

Wal G block dress, £34
Dolce Vita open toe sandals, $190
Ruby Kats 24 karat gold jewelry, $155
Vionnet double buckle belt, $468
See by Chloe mohair shawl, $164
essie nail polish - meet me at sunset, $8
essie nail polish in mezmerised, $8
Celine red leather colorblock passport cover BLUEFLY up to 70% off..., $91

Giambattista Valli Couture Collection

What's black, white and magenta all over? The Giambattista Valli Spring 2012 Couture Collection. A couple of my favorites are below.


(image via Fashion Gone Rogue)


(Image via Style.com)

Fashion MacGuyver

No clear nail polish. No hairspray. My fix for stopping a run in my stockings today.

Culinary Adventures: Making Cheese!

For Christmas I got my boyfriend this adorably packaged cheese making kit from Make Cheese on Etsy. All you need is a gallon of milk and everything else is in the bag. The particular kit I purchased can make 8 batches of mozzerella.

This is what an entire gallon of milk looks like in a cast iron pot in case you were ever wondering.

After a bit the curd starts to form and you being to think about Little Miss Muffet. So this is what she was eating?

Then you drain off the excess whey and it begins to take on a more cheese like consistency.

Eventually you end up with mozzerella. I'm sorry to say ours ended up looking a little bit like brains, but it was still very tasty.

You can then make ricotta with the left over whey and oh my goodness this was so delicious. It was so creamy. Definitely my favorite part.

The finished ricotta. We didn't actually eat it with the avocado. I just thought they looked cute together.

Finally you can make a norwegian cheese called mysost with whatever is left over. I don't think my mysost was made correctly as I kind of ended up something that had the consistency of dried plaster of paris. Not exactly what you want in your cheese.

So that was our culinary adventure last weekend. It only took about a half an hour to make the mozzerella and ricotta and I think they turned out pretty well. I'm definitely looking forward to the next seven batches!

Not related to the cheese, but also a culinary adventure in and of itself we also made pizzas from scratch. Really, though, I just wanted an excuse to post this picture because I think it's awesome.

Snow!

It snowed for just a few hours in DC on Monday and I had a chance to snap this pretty, pretty picture of the Library of Congress. I was kind of sad the snow melted so fast. I haven't had a chance to wear my snow boots at all this year.

Outfit Snapshot

Smocking and polka dots

Nail Fun

Two tone metallic nails using OPI's Keep Me On My Mistletoes and Already Famous with a matte top coat.

For New Year's Eve I Pretended to be Martha Stewart

Inspired by the book "Atlanta Cooks for Company" published by the Atlanta Junior League Music Club in 1968 my Boyfriend and I decided to throw a 1960s themed New Year's Eve Party. We had a menu of throw back cocktail party foods based on the menu provided in the book and I made most of our decorations by hand. Everyone dressed up in their best swanky 60s cocktail attire. It was a really fun way to ring in the new year.

The Menu:

Bacon Wrapped Tidbits (basically different stuff wrapped in bacon and baked. Yum!)

Deviled Eggs

Cocktail Wieners wrapped in Puff Pastry

A Good Old Fashion Cheese Ball (So easy mix two packages of cream cheese with 2 cups shredded cheddar, splash in so Worcestershire and hot sauce, form into a ball and roll in crushed pecans. It was a hit!)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Crudites (in a top hat no less) with three types of dip

Shrimp Cocktail (served on a shell shaped platter of course)


As you can see we weren't the first ones to use the New Year's menu

For the decorations I scoured the Internet for home made decorations that would fit into the look I was going for.I decided on a red and gold theme to match our vintage cocktail glasses.

First up a banner saying "Cheers!" I wanted something that could work for both Christmas and New Years. It really made our apartment feel festive. For this I just created a pattern and printed it out on alternating red and gold paper. Then I cut the circles out and used double sided tape to fix them to the wall. I think it came out great. Also, we had the Yule Log up during the entire party and it added a nice cozy atmosphere. Did you know that the Yule Log has credits? It totally does.


Next I used the excess paper to create a garland. I used this tutorial as the basis for my garland. My boyfriend was big help on this one. It was actually somewhat tedious cutting out all those circles and gluing them to the string. Luckily we had plenty of "It's Always Sunny..." to get us through.


We put the garland on our little tree before Christmas and then moved it over the bar between our kitchen and dinning area for the party. I like that it was so versatile.

Finally, I fell in love with these tissue paper pom poms that I saw at a party store a few months ago and figured there had to be a way I could make them myself. Of course Martha Stewart, ever so reliable, has a tutorial for them on her website. I loved having the option of choosing the colors I wanted for them. It was pretty easy to do as well. Probably the most difficult/annoying part was ironing the sheets of tissue paper. You probably don't have to do that, but I think it makes them look a little bit nicer. I love how this look so much I may keep them up permanently.

So that's the run down on our party. I was excited that everyone was game for participating in the theme. It was a great group. I've already started planning next years. Any suggestions on the theme? Great Gatsby perhaps?

Outfit Snapshot

Patterned tights for work. Love 'em

New Year's Resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions is to get more involved in the community and meet new people. It's one of the main reasons I'm teaching a course at the Hill Center starting next week. I'm really excited about being able to share my experience with others and hopefully meet some friendly new faces.

What's your resolution? If it happens to be "learn something new" you should stop on by.

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