TODAY'S LOOK - 7.4.2012

Obligatory 4th of July outfit! Personally, I just love this. I always had thought that blazer was navy but I looked at the threading and buttons and it turns out it's a light black. That means I can wear it more often now! I'd write more but I gotta get to my celebration activities :0) hope everyone has a fun day!

DRAWINGS BY KATE POWELL

Kate Powell is young yet she is an extremely talented artist hailing from West Yorkshire. Could you believe that she's only sixteen years old? To be that young and so skilled is really inspiring to me. She's given the members of the band The Horrors works of art and one that is even going on display in their studio. Could you blame them? I've been following Kate on Tumblr for quite a bit now and each piece she posts, she gets better and better. Every time she posts a new piece, I'm so amazed at the thought of someone being able to produce such beautiful creations with their own two hands.

You can follow Kate on tumblr and purchase prints of her work at society6.

STYLE INSPIRATION: SPIKED

Bedazzling garments and accessories with large, sharp spikes has become all the rage. I can totally see why! Just by pairing a few spikes with something so very feminine, like a floral dress, you instantly look like such a badass. What's even cooler is they go with practically everything! It's that perfect little addition to any outfit for a bit of an edge.

Oftentimes I find myself going through my closet and pulling something out while thinking to myself "oh, this would look cool with some studs or spikes on it." Of course it would look awesome but I don't think I can make the commitment of permanently altering any of my clothes. I guess I'm a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to that kind of stuff! Although, I have a pair of Jeffrey Campbell Martini Spikes expected to arrive in the mail soon. I think those will give me my spike fix!

photo credit: tumblr

HEY! REMEMBER ME?

I know it's been a long time since I've posted on here and I apologize for that! I've been busy with summer school, being with friends and family, or doing a whole lot of nothing. I promise to start posting again somewhat regularly. My goal is to make at least one post a week. If I fail to do that, I'm giving you all permission to hold it against me!

So what exactly have I been up to?

• I tried to find a job for the summer. That was a total bust. 
• Working out like crazy. I now go four days a week to the gym and it's really paid off. Last month I lost seven pounds and an inch off of each my stomach, hips, waist, and shoulders. Woohoo!
• Almost every Thursday I play bingo with my grandma and I won $500 one night! I treated myself with some new clothes and makeup and some of it will be set aside for a new tattoo. 
• My friend gave me her Netflix login info and I've been watching anything and everything on there. I've become obsessed with Mad Men, but don't give me any spoilers because I'm only on season two!
• I've been buying movies like crazy off of Ebay. I can't believe that I used to buy them anywhere else! You can find brand new and unopened DVDs for something like six dollars!
• Sleeping, and lots of it.

So, that's basically it. I haven't really been doing anything too exciting but I'm enjoying my break. I have a lot of ideas for new posts already and I think I'm going to start doing more makeup posts. The one I wrote about the Gareth Pugh MAC collection was a big hit and I think it would be nice to hear reviews from someone who is making their own purchases as opposed to some reviewers who have products sent to them by companies. It's something I've thought about for a while and I'm going to follow through with it. Keep a lookout for my first post ;)

Anyways, I hope you've all been well and enjoying the summer. You'll be hearing from me soon! xoxo

DRAGON'S EGG

Last week I decided to pick up some stuff from Lush since I had a gift card that I had received for my birthday. Of course, I wanted to get another bath bomb. As soon as I walked over to the display, there was one scent in particular that was calling my name. It smelled so citrusy and delicious; I just new I had to have it. I started picking up different bombs until I found it: dragon's egg.

This bath bomb was so much fun to use! And it's HUGE. I cut all of mine in half so I can get two uses out of them. I later learned that dragon's egg is lemon sorbet scented, but I would say there's a bit of ginger in there as well. It's full of confetti dots, unfortunately they dissolved really quickly, and glitter! To make this bathing experience even more luxurious, the bomb turns the water a gorgeous shade of orange-gold. These pictures really don't do the color any justice!

BLUEBERRY AND GREEK YOGURT PROTEIN POPS

If you're like me at all while in the kitchen, chances are that one of your go to appliances is the food processor. It's one of the quickest and easiest things to use and there's so much you can do with it! The other day I decided to do a little bit of experimenting of combining ingredients that I could throw in my beloved food processor and then freeze to make popsicles. So here's a recipe for what I came up with, it's the first one I've ever written!

Ingredients
12 oz of Greek yogurt – I used two containers of Chobani’s black cherry yogurt since that was what I had in the fridge, but you could use whatever flavors you wish.

3 oz of organic blueberries – Not quite an exact measurement. I had about half a container left so I just threw the whole thing in.

1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder – I used Eas.

1/4 cup of TVP (textured vegetable protein) – I used Bob's Red Mill.

1/2-1 tablespoon of honey – Again, I just threw some in. You can adjust this to your liking.

recipe makes five 2.5 oz popsicles and each one has 12.4 g of protein!

1. The first thing you do is put the TVP in a food processor and blend until it’s powdery. I don’t know if everyone is familiar with what TVP actually is, so I’ll explain briefly. It’s little grains of dried and defatted soy flour that’s packed with protein. They’re crunchy, but they absorb liquid extremely well and have virtually no flavor so they work well in just about anything. This has been a huge part of my diet ever since I stumbled across it while browsing through my grocery store’s gluten free section. I add it to basically everything!

2. Add protein powder, yogurt, blueberries, and honey. Blend ingredients.

3. Spoon the mixture into a popsicle tray. I used this one by Progressive International.

4. Stick the tray in the freezer for… a while. I wasn’t really paying attention to the time when I froze the popsicles and I just left them there overnight.

5. Enjoy! Note: To make it easier to remove popsicles, run warm over the tray.

PLAYLIST - PARTYING WITH THE CLUB KIDS

partying with the club kids from jeezny on 8tracks.

Just recently I saw Party Monster for the first time and I've fallen in love with it. Although I live a completely different lifestyle than the club kids, I'm rather inspired by their confidence to be so carefree. Sure, they wear some pretty tacky outfits, but you've gotta give them props for being able to wear whatever they want and not be worried about what everyone else thinks.

Here are eleven electro-house tracks to help you channel your inner club kid. Time to throw a little glitter on and go dancing!