Day 14 -- Cyberbohemianism

I tried today to take part in the mixing of prints trend that is happening right now.

I even took the time to mimic the stripes of my maxi skirt in my bangle stack. See?





This is a bit out of the box for me, but I ended up really loving this outfit. The combo of the jersey striped skirt and the pixelated rose print on my top felt so comfortable, contemporary, and bohemian at the same time!


I had to do a little fashion mcgyvering to make this boxy top fit, but I think it works... Right?

I don't think my outfits have deteriorated yet this week, I've just started approaching dressing a different way.

Day 13 -- Flora and Fauna

Almost didn't blog today, but check me out in that tiny mirror. Imagine that you can see the photorealistic flower print on this chiffon dress. It's pretty cool. I


You can kind of see the floral print below. I love that it features my favorite flower, pansies.


Look at my face! It has flowers hanging off of it! And there's flowers behind me! Incredible!


So sleepy! I've still got five days to go before my weekend... Gotta love working 7 days in a row. Watch as the quality of my outfits deteriorate...

Day 12 -- Green Machine

Today I went for a bit of a throw back 1940s girl at the carnival look. Maybe it's because I watched The Notebook last week and I love practically ever outfit Rachel McAdams wears in that entire movie... Who knows!



In any case, I opted to later a striped button down (tied at the waist), over a strapless jersey dress from American Apparel. I wore my neutral slippers to kind of match the beige stripes on my shirt.







While at work, I put on a pair of earrings with some crysoprase in them to match my dress, and a stack of silver and warm grey to echo my blouse.







Added a little clipy to my hairs to make me feel more old-timey.

See ya!

Housewifery

Here are the recipes from today.

Since I'm such a bad water drinker, I'm trying kick my juice addition with this flavored stuff. I filled our little spicket with a couple of jog fulls of brita water, half a sliced cucumber, 1 small sliced lime, and a handful of mint. It's so refreshing over ice on hot days like today!

Okay, so I'm not the most experienced baker when it comes to using yeast, but I read a few recipes on pinterest that didn't actually look too hard, so I adapted them into this super easy recipe.

Easy Crockpot Bread

Ingredients:
6 cups all purpose flour (plus a little extra to work with)
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups room temperature water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Garlic salt, parsley, flaxseed, poppy seed, sesame seeds, or whatever else you'd like to top the bread with

1. Mix flour, yeast, and salt together in a large bowl. Slowly pour in water and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. You might not need to use all your water -- I left out about 1/3 of a cup. You want the dough to just come together.

 

2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 3-4 hours or until about double in size, full of bubbles and smells of yeast.  I'm impatient, so I put the bowl on the stove to be warmed by the pilot light of the oven.

3. Punch the dough down in the bowl and place on a well floured smooth surface. Gently knead the dough with floured hands until the outside of the dough is coated in flour and no longer sticky to the touch. I probably folded my dough together less than 10 times -- you don't need to overwork it at all!

 4. Flour a clean dishtowel and place the dough inside to rise for another hour or two. I put it back on the stove to rise again.

 

5. After an hour, the dough should be about double the size again.  I shouldn't have tied my cloth so tight! The dough was trying to escape!

6. Grease the base and sides of the crockpot with the olive oil and drop your bred in there. Gently shape the dough into a mound a sprinkle whatever you like on top of it. I used garlic salt because I can't get enough of that stuff!

7. Set your pot to hot and let it cook for 3-4 hours with the lid on. (I popped the stone ware in the oven at 400 for about 20 minutes right at the end to brown up the crust a little bit.)

8. Turn your oven and crockpot off and pull the stone ware out. Let it rest. Make sure the stone ware is cool to the touch before you try to do anything. Carefully pull the bread out, slice and enjoy!

I also made veggie soup for dinner. Super-duper easy. I keep calling it refrigerator soup in my head because I just pulled everything out of the fridge, threw it in a pot with some chicken stock, and boiled it until it was done.

Day 11 -- Holly Housewife

Today I caught up on all the things I had planned to do yesterday before I was whisked away to the beach.

I had some top-secret business related errands to run, but in between I managed to go grocery shopping, re-organize my fridge and pantry, make iced coffee and flavored water for the week, whip up some pretty amazing french bread pizzas for lunch, make a loaf of bread, and a pot of soup.

Felt pretty domestic, if you ask me. 

I picked this little number up second hand last year, and it's come into heavy rotation in my schulmming-it wardrobe. It's Gap from the 90s, but it definitely has a 50s housewife feel to it. These sandals are comfortable and I have no other excuse than that.

Alex caught me cleaning in the middle of all my cooking. I'm always struggling for ways to cover up my hair on the days I don't wash it, and this little do-dad from Anthro definitely fit the bill. It's just a cute little beaded clip, but I pinned it on top of my hair tie just to make myself feel like less of a bum for wearing a ponytail.


I'm about to post some of the recipes from today, so definitely check that out too...

Day 10 -- Don't Rain On My Parade

Well, plans change, so y'all avoided seeing me sport leggings as pants for one more day.

Alex and I took a drive down the coast to Laguna Beach. He kindly snapped these photos of me after we has a little seaside seafood snack.




On my days off, I try to take advantage of clothes I can't wear at work. There's hardly a dress code where I work, but screen tees are strictly verboten, so most of mine rarely get worn.

I won this "don't don't don't" tank top from Vague in a Facebook contest.




After I put this top on this morning, I got really stuck as to what else I could wear with it. Most people would be like, "duh, jeans!" But, duh, I don't wear jeans! I mean, hello?!

I dug this berry beauty out of the depths of my closest and was actually pretty happy with the way the pencil shape worked with the tank top, so I didn't question it.




I finished the outfit with something else I can't wear at work -- this amazing California necklace by Maya Brenner (Thanks, Alex!!), some cheapo earrings from F21, my go-to every color flats, that MJ bag i wont put down, and some William Rast sunnies I picked up for 92% off at Nordstrom Rack!

See you tomorrow...

Day 9 -- Same Shoes, Different Day

Okay, so today I'm guilty of repeating my accessories from yesterday. Nude goes with everything!! So sue me.


This dress is probably one of the best thrift store finds I've had since moving to LA. When I lived in Boston and worked in a consignment shop, picking up great deals was so easy! The designer duds were right there and an employee discount was at my disposal! Since leaving that job, my wardrobe has definitely suffered. My go to place to pick up new fashion finds has become chain stores like Forever 21 and H&M.

There is a great resale store in my neighborhood called Wasteland and they generally carry pretty incredible gently used designer pieces. I've picked up a couple DVF dresses there, as well a Dolce Vita pumps, and a Marc Jacobs bag. This little number is by -- what is quickly becoming my new favorite brand -- All Saints.


I love the exaggerated pocket detail on this dress as well as the ikat weave. This peachy pink color is one of my favorites to wear; I love how femme it is and the way it complements my rosy complexion.

I was feeling a little lazy today, so my hair looks like a pineapple and I could barely manage to sweep on a lick of mascara. Oh, well.

Tomorrow's my day off and I plan on only leaving the house to go grocery shopping. So, put your shades on, because I might blind you by wearing leggings as pants.

Careful, now...