Style Update

So I've been doing a pretty good job on 2 of my 3 style goals for this spring.  I've been rocking the winged eyeliner, and with the help of this little product, I think my eyelashes have even gotten a little thicker too! (However, the eyeliner dries up after I apply it to one eye and then I have to close the tube and let the makeup "sink" back into the brush for a bit, which is kind of a pain in the ass. Thinking I may just buy another one so I can have one for each eye...)  And thanks to my new gel manicure kit, I've been sporting chip-free plum, navy blue, and taupe nails over the last couple of weeks.  I haven't branched off into nail art so much yet, but this week I spotted a gold glitter gel polish and so I do have my ring fingers on each hand all blinged out! 

Also, awesome new rose gold first knuckle ring from Catbird!

My main style falilure?  That third beauty goal that I'm just totally dropping the ball on?  My hair, which has been in a ponytail for all of this week, and was in a bun most of last week.  BORING!  My Bridget Bardot inspiration is definitely still a style I want to try, but fitting the time for an updo into my morning routine has proven troublesome.  So I'm thinking something like maybe these instead?  They're just minor variations of my go-to styles, so I'm hoping that they won't be too much more of a time investment than what I currently spend on my hair.

We'll see how it goes...

(pictures from here, here, here, here, and here)

Swim Season

Red Bandeau | Yellow Balconette | Mara Hoffman V-wire

The recent warm weather in Houston has been delightful lately and it's just about at that point where I'm going to want to start making frequent use of the many pools I have access too.  It seems like I only really have one wearable swim suit right now, though, so I'm thinking of doubling up.  Here are a few options I'm considering.  I'm pretty much leaning toward the yellow one right now (surprise, surprise, right?) but the Mara Hoffman option (one of my favorite swim suit designers) is so unique I'm having trouble saying no to that one too.  Decisions...

Mini Anchor Tank | Vivid Bits Maillot | Green Racerback

Almost More Fresh Air Than I Can Stand

My friends invited me on another trip to explore the great Texas outdoors this past weekend.  We went to Brazos Bend state park, which is HUGE (Texas sized, if you will...) where we hit up the nature center (I got to touch a baby alligator!), had a picnic by the lake, went on a wildlife filled walk on one of the many paths, and then checked out their observatory, which also had a pretty great set up.  It was a really nice park and I'm definitely planning on going back with my bike sometime - the paths were perfect for bike rides - and I'd love to go check out the observatory at night too, see me some galaxies and supernova remnants! 

They're also known for their wildlife and we definitely saw a lot of it.  Gators everwhere!  As well as a number of birds, a huge fuzzy caterpillar, rabbits, turtles, and frogs.  We finished up our trip with a walk back to the car from the observatory, where I spotted a snake in the bushes and proceeded to BOOK IT out of there at top speed, which is still amusing my friends to no end...

Happy Passover and Happy Easter!

As is typical, these two holidays intersect once again - which growing up always meant I couldn't eat the ham or my Aunt's incredible homemade fried rice at the Easter celebration with my dad's side of the family.  Torture!  The one redeeming aspect is both holidays place a high importance on chocolate...  Although I no longer keep strictly to the dietary restrictions of Passover, I do like to reflect on the importance of the holiday and I usually "celebrate" in my own fashion by making my grandma's chicken soup with matzo balls.  Last year I also found a fantastic recipe for homemade macaroons as well.  This year,  I've found a couple of recipes I plan to try that upgrade the lowly, cardboard-like matzo to new culinary heights:

Chocolate Covered Matzo with Candied Kumquats and Toasted Coconut
Herb Infused Olive Oil Matzo
Chocolate Caramel Matzo - aka Matzo Crack
and another variation with Sea Salt, Candied Ginger, and Rosemary
Egg White Matzo Brei with Leeks (a savory, yolk-free variation on a Passover favorite!)
and a Basic Matzo Brei recipe (also yolk free!) that I can sweeten up with sugar and syrup, like my grandma makes!

Bon Appetite!

Aubergine

I love that word - SO much prettier than "eggplant".  Aubergine...

I counted an aubergine amongst my purchases from Cental Market on Sunday and I've decided that tonight I'm going to turn it into a delicious Baba Ganoush.  I found an approximate recipe depicting how I make mine here, but I don't cook my aubergine quite the same way.  I use a dry, non-stick frying pan on the stove top (I supposed if I had a gas stove I'd go his route, but I've been stuck with electric cooking appliances since I was in Florida...), I get it rip-roaring hot and I use tongs to rotate the eggplant until all of the outside is charred and softened.  I don't cook/roast it at all past this stage.  I wait til it cools a bit and the charred skin just peels right off.  I then cut off the softened flesh from around the perimeter and just leave the seeds attached to the uncooked core (I'm not at all a fan of eggplant seeds so this method is perfect for me).  The rest of the ingredients are pretty standard, I always have lemon and cumin hanging around as well as garlic (I turn the garlic into a paste for better integration into the dip) and I hauled my tahini with me all the way from Florida, so at least now I can claim it was worth it.  I also reduce amount of the other ingredients a bit since the elimination of the seeded area significantly decreases the aubergine ratio.  And just zipping it all together in the food processor makes this a quick, tasty (and low calorie) snack!

Da Funk

It's been coming on for a little while now.  Every so often I'd notice I was feeling bored, dissatisfied, maybe a little lonely.  And then all of a sudden today it hit me full on and it's official: I'm in a funk.  Maybe it's just a mid-week hump day thing.  And the weather's been kinda crappy lately too.  Plus there's the fact that I went from TPS "expert" to someone who knows nothing about ECLS, which makes work slow and I'm still trying to get excited about what I do - that's 5 days/week.  Also, I've been trying to be so proactive about exercising, eating healthy, exploring Houston/Texas, and, counter-intuitively, I think that has also contributed to why the funk has set in.  I may be seeing results with the exercising and eating, but they're REALLY slow.  And I want to feel great now, so that has me bummed out.  And I'm making the effort to explore, but I don't have a lot of people to do it with.  My friends here are awesome, but they all have their own lives too.  I figure since I'm conscious of it and being proactive to improve my situation that my funk will just wither away on it's own.  But when it hits you all of a sudden *WHAM* - it's rough...

(picture from here)

On a Yellow Kick

So in addition to my awesome Saturday spent combing Texas for wildflowers, I also had a pretty fantastic Sunday.  After finally getting around to making a trip to the recycling center (my apartment complex doesn't recycle, but I do.  So I take my cans, bottles, cardboard, and paper down the road on my own), I showered up and put on a pretty dress for a trip into town.  You see, Sunday was the first day of April, and since my birthday is in April, it was the first day I could use my new supply of birthday coupons!  Yay!  So I headed to my favorite store, Anthropologie to spend a bit of my tax return!

I got these three beautiful dresses - it's hard to see but the one on the left is covered in little bumble bees!  I also just found out that it went on sale, as did the dress in the middle, which has kind of a 1920's silhouette to it - gotta call and see about getting some of my money back!  The one on the right is the light and floaty with pretty white embroidery and just so perfect for spring and summer!

I also snapped up this gorgeous blouse with a draped collar (you can see where the yellow obsession is coming into play) and these pretty little sandals that I've been fixated on for a couple of weeks now - the beading on the heels has been calling to me!

I topped off my Sunday with a trip to Central Market - which is like whole foods on steroids!  It is huge (the produce area alone is the size of a normal grocery store) and filled with fresh and delicious foods!  I snapped up some golden beets, purple carrots (when you cut them open the core is orange, which makes for a stunning visual), and fennel which I roasted up for dinner when I got home with some onion and zucchini - YUM!  I also got an incredible fresh tuna steak which I had with the roasted vegetables that night as well as some fresh basil which I made into pesto for a pasta dish last night, a salad from the awesome salad bar (mixed greens with roasted corn, chick peas, grilled chicken, artichoke hearts, red onion, shredded zucchini and a garlic vinegarette) which I ate immediately after I checked out on the expansive patio in front of the store, and a gorgeous bouquet of my favorite flower, ranunculus.  Also in yellow!  One of these days, when I'm not on a diet, I'm also going to go on a shopping spree in their crazy awesome bread and cheese sections...

Texas Bluebonnets

Saturday's trip to Brenham, TX and the surrounding area to see the bluebonnets was a phenomenal success!  The sight of a field just filled with these violet-blue blooms and spotted through with fuschia, yellow, orange and red (the orange and red were indian paintbrush, and I think I loved them almost as much as the bluebonnets - such pretty colors!) is just so breathtaking.  We also fit in side trips to a lavender farm where I picked up some tea and culinary lavendar, to Washington on the Brazos state park, and to the Rose Emporium, a combination flower garden/store where I decided to try my hand at growing lemon thyme and heirloom tomatoes.  Poor plants are probably doomed to die, though...  My favorite parts, though, were the random stops we made for an absolutely perfect flower-filled field, a small house surrounded by tall grasses and spots of color, and longhorn cattle grazing in field of bluebonnets.  Check out the pictures below!