Pinterest

So my cousin told me about this cool website called Pinterest. It's kinda like flickr but it is for way more than just pictures (which flickr might be also, I'm not too familiar with the site). I'm still trying to figure out everything on Pinterest but so far I really like it.

As far as I know it's invite only so if you're interested just let me know and I'll hit ya up.

In the meantime you can follow me if you want to :)

xox

Here comes the bride. . .

Lately I feel as though my life as been consumed with weddings. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, it's just a fact. Being recently engaged, I now realize how much more work there is to planning a wedding than just daydreaming about the big day. I have enjoyed looking at venues but still haven't found the perfect one. I had a nightmare the other night that I wouldn't be able to find a wedding dress that I would like or look good in. There are just so many things to think about. I want all my guests to have a good time, so I want my wedding to be fun. And creative. And personalized to Daniel and I.

Current Favorite Wedding Themed things

Colbie Caillat's song - I Do

Emily Giffin's novel - Something Borrowed <-- Although it was definitely not what I was expecting!

TLC's Say Yes to the Dress, Bridesmaids - I hope never to be as obnoxious as some of those brides and that my bridesmaids aren't mean to me!

Theknot.com - Best website EVER. It is really helpful and I love it.

Classic Beauty

Beauty is subjective. I think in order to have true beauty, some of your beauty must come from within. Beauty does not have to be over the top. I think it is simple. Beauty is being yourself and loving who you are. Beauty does not have to appearance, although I think a lot of people classify it that way.

Here are some of the women I think are classic beauties of the past.

Ginger Rogers: 1911 -1995

She became most famous for dancing with Fred Astaire.

I have not seen any of her movies but it is on my to do list.

Shirley Temple: 1928 - Present

When I was younger I was absolutely obsessed with Shirley Temple.

I own many of her movies on VHS and I can remember singing along to them.

I still picture her as the cute little tot who sang about animal crackers.

Marisa Berenson: 1947 - Present

I had never heard of her before watching the movie Cabaret.

While watching the movie I noticed how pretty her eyes were.

Elizabeth Taylor: 1932 - 2011

She was an fashion icon. Her love of jewelry is known by many.

She was married many many times. And she was gorgeous.

xox

Fashion Spotlight: LBD

Usually the ads I get when I'm on facebook are annoying or totally unrelated to something that I would like, but I kept seeing an ad for modcloth.com and I thought it looked interesting and I decided to check it out. I really like a lot of what this site has to offer. Even though I rarely do, I enjoy the idea of dressing up and I can't wait until I'm in the "real" world and I can hopefully have a job that allows me to dress in cute business-y attire and fun dresses. So while I was looking at modcloth I came across these little black dresses that I want so badly! Of course, I was told once by a friend that I wear black too much and I should experiment with colors, but these dresses aren't plain even though they are black.

1. This dress was my first LBD discover

which initiated my search for others. I love the

crossover "webbing" that this dress has. The view from

the back is really pretty too.

2. I love the detail on the top of this dress

and how the bottom flares out.

3. This LBD reminds me of a dress

from the sorority life game on facebook.

BTW, this week the free songs on itunes are really good!

The songs are called Happily Ever After by He is We and Hey Alli by Runner Runner

Fred Flare.

I love fredflare.com, I think that they have the cutest trinkets and gadgets. Once I have a job and can afford to buy fun stuff, I will definitely be making some purchases at fred flare. Here are some items that I found recently that I think are really cute.

1. Personal Library Kit

Okay so when I was younger I basically did this but I didn't have a nifty kit to help me out. I made a 'library' card for my sister and wrote down what she checked out from my library and in most of my books I stamped my name, perhaps so she didn't try and claim them as her own.

2. Singing in the Rain Shower curtain

I love the movie and I would love to have this in my bathroom someday! I think it is really cute.

3. Microphone Tongs

I would have waaaay to much fun with these bad boys. I love to cook/bake and whenever I am in the kitchen I usually have my ihome with me blasting some upbeat, fun music. I have used pots and stirring spoons as my 'microphone' before and to have these tongs would make kitchen singing so much more fun :)

xox

Fri[ed]day

Last summer when I went to T.G.I. Friday's for dinner I was told to try the green bean fries. I have to admit I was a little skeptical but as soon as I tried it, I knew I was in love. About a month ago, instead of going out for dinner, my boyfriend and I decided to cook a meal together and I wanted to have burgers and green bean fries. I found a recipe online that claimed equivalence to Friday's creation, so I had to try it. We didn't have a fryer so instead we put about an inch of vegetable oil in the bottom of a pot that would be used to cook pasta, a fryer would make this much easier because then the fries would be in a basket, instead Dan had to fish them out with tongs, but it worked out regardless. The longest process was breading each bean because you have to dip the green beans in 3 different bowls of ingredients which takes a while. But I will say that they were well worth all the work because they were delicious and in my opinion better than Friday's (but maybe that is just because we toiled over these fries for at least 40 minutes and I was hungry) We did not make the wasabi-ranch sauce, but there were directions for that too.

Here is the recipe! Enjoy :)

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk
4 cups chicken broth
6 to 8 ounces fresh green beans
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup plain, breadcrumbs (like Progresso brand)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 to 12 cups vegetable shortening or oil

1. Prepare beans by bringing 4 cups of chicken broth to a boil. Boil beans in the broth for 15 minutes and then plunge them into ice water to keep them from getting too soft.

2. Combine beaten egg with milk in a shallow bowl. Measure 1 cup of flour into another shallow bowl. Combine bread crumbs 3/4 teaspoon salt, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder in a third shallow bowl.
3. Working with a small handful of beans at a time, remove them from the ice water and coat them with flour. Shake off any excess flour. Dip the beans one at a time into the egg and milk mixture and then coat each one with the breadcrumb mixture. Lay the coated beans on a plate until all of them have been breaded.
4. Heat shortening or oil to 350 degrees F. Use the amount of oil require by your fryer.

5. Fry the beans in bunches for 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on a rack or paper towels, then serve them up with the wasabi-cucumber ranch dip. <-- If you are interested in making this the complete recipe can be found here.
Serves 2 to 4 as an appetizer.

This is our finished product. :)

xox

FROZEN

With all the snow we've been getting (and ice? what is that about?) of course my first reaction would be to decide that I want to get frozen yogurt. Who does that? Well, I guess I do. So it all started when I was driving down Route 3 and I saw this store sign that said Cups and then had what appeared to be little cupcakes on the sign, but at a closer look, I saw that they were not cupcakes, they were little cups of frozen yogurt. I saw this sign probably 3 months ago and never went in to check it out. But this past Sunday I finally took the plunge. After a hectic drive through Jersey City to scope out the land, I (and my roommate) ventured into Cups on a cold day. I thought that this little shop would be deserted. But I was so wrong. It was a very happening place to be and it was so festive with its purple and green couches and wall decorations. And then of course there is the yogurt. There were probably close to 20 flavors there and I wanted to try [almost] all of them. I was in a sugary mood so I put cookies and cream, red velvet, cake batter, and chocolate yogurt all into my little cup. And then there were tons of toppings to choose from! Cereal, candy, fruit, chocolate sauces. . .you name it, they probably had it. The best part about this place is you can do the whole process yourself. Then to check out, you put your cup on a scale and depending on how many ounces you get, that is how much it costs. (I got 13 ounces) And you get this nifty purple spoon, which I saved because I do things like that. So I can't wait to go back and I want to take all my friends and family there because it was just that good. :)

Here is a picture of my froyo from Cups

I am obviously not a professional frozen yogurt dispenser,

next time I will try to make it look prettier.

xox

Music[als]

Lately I've become very aware of music that is played in the background of TV shows or movies. When I hear a song that I like I'll write down pieces of the lyrics that I can catch and then google it later to find out who sings it. Two of my new favorite songs are from different episodes of season 1 of The Vampire Diaries. The songs are Down by Jason Walker and The Mess I Made by Parachute

This semester I'm taking a class on the history of American broadway. Last week we watch a clip from Fiddler on the Roof, a movie that I haven't seen in ages! We were required to watch a movie called Yankee Doodle Dandy, which is about the life of George M. Cohan and the influence he had on broadway. I never realized that certain patriotic songs like "Over There" and "You're a Grand Old Flag" were written by Cohan and they were sung on broadway. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this movie and found it really interesting. For this week we have to watch an operetta, and I'm not sure how much I will like that.

xox

Disney!

Photo from Disneywiki

Even though I'm 21 years old I still have a major love and obsession for everything Disney. My sister and I play Disney Scene-it all the time which is a lot of fun. I would love if there were major competitions for it. :) I am by no means a Disney expert (though I would like to think that I know a fair amount) there are still many of the classic Disney movies that I have never seen, like Song of the South, and new movies that I want to still see (Tangled). Recently I rewatched 101 Dalmatians & The Rescuers and I realized how sad both of these movies actually are. Sure when you're little Madame Medusa and Cruella De Vil are both scary villains, but seeing them as an adult opened my eyes to what I did not see as a child. The Hunchback of Notre Dame's villain, Claude Frollo, is also very frightening; not only did he consider drowning Quasimodo as a baby because of his hideous features, but he was the cause of Quasi's mother's death. But, kidnapping and skinning dogs are not exactly happy thoughts either. Disney movies usually end in a way that leaves the villain defeated and the underdog victorious. Let's face it, if Phillip hadn't killed Maleficent or if Eric hadn't rammed into Ursula with his ship, then Disney would be showing us how evil prevails and not how love conquers all. Of course Disney isn't like real life.

L: Cruella De Vil
T: Claude Frollo
R: Madame Medusa

FredFlare.com has some cute Disney Couture jewelry
that is reminiscent of movies from my childhood.

1. "One Bite" Apple Ring
From Snow White


$48

2. Drink Me Necklace

From Alice in Wonderland



$70

3. Shark Bracelet
From the Little Mermaid
$58

I am also obsessed with Disney songs. I have been known to burst into Disney songs at random, and I have quite a few on my itunes. My favorite Disney princess is Ariel so here is a cover from Traci Hines of Part of Your World. She has a ton of Disney princess covers on youtube, her user name is TraciHines.

New Year, New Plans

I realize I'm a little behind to be posting new years resolutions, but better late than never I suppose. I'm not calling my resolutions "resolutions", instead I would like to call them goals.

Right now my goals for this year are:

1. Graduate from College.
2. Go to the gym 3-5 times a week.
3. Watch less TV (this is a slow work in progress).
4. Take a cooking/baking class.
5. Find a job that I like.

It's hard to believe that I'm already in my last semester of college. These past 4 years have gone so quickly. Right now I don't feel sad that I am almost done, my attitude is the sooner it's over the better, but I guess that is because I am a bit annoyed with Montclair, my first week back has felt like a month. It will be weird knowing that after this summer is over, for the first time in my life I won't be returning to any type of school. It's scary though, knowing that soon I'll be in the "real" world where work won't be canceled for snow and instead of homework, I'll have other types of projects. I really feel like I should still be in high school. Instead, I will be getting my diploma in 115 days. So weird.


xox


What I'm listening to: Do you love me by Guster