Thursday, December 29, 2011

In the Absence of Isabelle...

 Days spent out and about on the public transportation system. I feel like it may be time to get a student fare card? Yes, I think so.

 Drool worthy Jeffrey Campel "sleigh" shoes.

 My dear friend Lillian and her understandable adoration of cats.

 Francesca's cards. I want them all. Something about the colored words perhaps?

 Coupons. I adore these.

 Getting lost on the streets of Chicago. At night. Typical

Boston, where I spent Christmas with my family.
While there I went on a Grocery expedition, here are the photos that I took to entertain myself while shopping with my parents for Christmas Eve dinner.

This Olivia's lettuce made me way too excited.

 Organic or not? What is the different really?

 Again, far too amused by this. A touch of color? When the table cloth is white? Yes.

 If this has existed a while and I have simply never seen it I feel ashamed.


 Beano? Is it better than Pepto Bismol?

 16 ounces of Marshmallow Fluff? I'm in.

 Unfortunately our cart did not include that Marshmallow Fluff.

 Meat slicer in action. Actionshot. Actionshot. Actionshot.

 So talented at naming flower bouquets. I want this talent.

Providence, Rhode Island. I adore this city. Even though it's a little strange, I still adore it. For no reason in particular actually...
 This dog took up most of my effort. My uncle should thank me for thoroughly tiring out his dog.

Once I returned home from (the snowless) Boston, this is what I found. My cat. Anxiously awaiting.

Hope the Holidays were happy, and the New Year will be happy as well. xx.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Little Bit of Print

(Urban Outfitters dress, Velvet cardigan, Nordstrom belt, Betsey Johnson shoes, Francesca's Collections earrings)
I absolutely love this dress. The perfect fit, gorgeous print, and soft fabric make it an essential. I splurged on it last spring while shopping downtown with friends, hoping that it would pay for itself by becoming a staple in my closet. It did. I wear this all year long, using different accessories to make it season appropriate. Wintertime calls for layers, layers, layers! Otherwise known as thick tights and lots of cashmere.


Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas Indeed


I (Isabelle) hope you all had a fantastic and amazing Christmas this weekend! I came back to Chicago just in time for the holidays and was greeted by this beautiful tree and some fantastic gifts. Among them were these Aldo booties that I can't wait to wear and a nail polish assortment of gorgeous holiday colors. This Dylan's Candy Bar case for my phone actually smells like sugar, and it looks great, too! It almost brings you back to that candy wonderland (which, if you're ever in New York, you should definitely check out). It'll be a Christmas miracle if I manage to keep this case in one piece longer than the last two.

Happy holidays!


Friday, December 23, 2011

Summer Flair

(Old Navy dress, Piperlime belt, André Assous sandals, Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglasses, Nordstrom bracelets) 

My family and I spent the holidays in gorgeous St. Martin, and it was nice to be able to wear sandals instead of tights and sweaters for a change. This dress is one of my favorite things to wear at the beach. It's colorful, lightweight, and comfortable! Humid air means my hair expands exponentially, so it's either messy buns or braids while I'm here. So, I'm armed with a truckload of hair ties, anti-frizz spray, great sandals and sunglasses. Summer in December has never been better!



Thursday, December 22, 2011

Holly Jolly



What says the holidays like gingerbread and sparkles? I (Liv) love cookies and when you dip them into hot chocolate or tea they just melt. I am however, perhaps unreasonably picky about my cookies. Especially gingerbread. It has to be crunchy, but chewy and soft. It has to be sweet, but hot and spicy. Luckily, I trust the Food Network for things like this, so I decided on this recipe, in the hopes that 111 positive reviews would prove true. They did. My royal icing, used here, turned out perhaps a little too thick, but it worked. It is now finally starting to feel like Christmas. 




While my gingerbread chilled in the freezer (I was impatient and not prepared to refrigerate for longer), I decided to entertain myself. How do I do that? Make homemade marshmallows. The recipe called for unflavored gelatin which I had seen in my pantry for as long as I could remember. When I looked at the package it told it had expired in '09, so I pretended not to notice that and carried on with the recipe. Unfortunately, that poor expired gelatin failed me. It did not harden enough, so it left me with overly sticky marshmallow fluff. The gelatin has now been replaced with a new box, expiring '14. Now, I am not one to let a recipe fail... ever. Even if it totally illogical for me to keep going, I will anyway because I absolutely refuse to fail. So after sticking the marshmallows in the coldest part of my freezer for a few hours I removed them, without any improvement on the solidified front. So I worked a few magical tricks over the course of about 2 hours until I had about thirty beautiful, hardly sticky,  peppermint marshmallows. They too are magical, like myself, because they make perfectly average hot chocolate into peppermint hot chocolate. How is that for holiday magic?




Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Feature: Grace

 (J.H Collectibles sweater, Aritzia skirt, Topshop shoes, Tiffany & Co. necklace)

Our gorgeous friend Grace showed up looking like everything we love: preppy, edgy and colorful. Once we laid eyes on her outfit, it came to us: features. In the future, we will be featuring people we see at school rocking their casual attire, or just on the street looking exceptionally excellent. Grace is our lucky first official feature, absolutely and positively working her navy blue rib-knit, hot pink pleats, and floral Mary Janes (so adorable we cannot even handle it).



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

High Hopes



At my (Liv) perfectly average height of 5'5", I am absolutely in love with high heels. I love the spring in my step when I wear them, and generally the boost in height I get. However, where my mother exceeds in her parenting is when she forbids me on a certain height of heel, which I do not appreciate very much. So this morning, while looking through the Target catalogue, I found these pumps for $24 dollars, and that I do appreciate. Unfortunately, they are not exceedingly pretty, decent perhaps, but not beautiful. So I made it my mission to find the nude, black and red heels I desperately want, for more than ten times the price of the dull Target heels. I attempted to find basic heels, in basic colors, but with a twist. Believe me, this was unbelievably difficult because my brain continued to spaz and alert me, "Ohhhhh preeetttyy".

Nude:
        Valention Vitello Pump $645                             Brian Atwood 'Maniac' Platform Pump $595
Jessica Simpson 'Francesca' Pump $69.90

Black: 

    Sam Edelman 'Ulysa' Pump $59.90                                                  Burberry Platform Pump  $495
Betsey Johnson 'Dita' Pump $59.90

Red:


    Gucci 'Betty' Platform Pump $520                                     Jessica Simpson 'Francesca' Pump $43.90
 Boutique 9 "Victorie' Pump $129.95



 I thought I should also mention my true love (I am irrevocably in love with ombre):

Prada Dégradé Platform Pump $720