|| What I’m Lovin’ Right Now ||

Posted in Books, Fashion, Food, Fun, Inspiration, Shoes, Treats by C.

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I am what you call a late bloomer. Suffice to say that I’ve always been this way across many areas of my life. What someone accomplished at age 16, I didn’t until 18. What someone achieved at 28, I probably won’t until…well, I couldn’t say. The one area it seems I crossed the finish line “on time” or before many others, was that I graduated from college (cum laude!) with my Bachelor’s Degree at age 22 and had a full-time job offered to me as soon as I walked off the stage practically (but even this began another 2 year journey toward finding my dream job in the industry). The point being that blooming later in life can be disappointing or liberating depending on what subject we’re talking about at the time.

What I find most fascinating as I get older, is how much more I find myself embracing my femininity. This could open a world of debate about what is defined as “feminine” and whether or not women should even be boxed into such stereotypical terms. So for the sake of opening that can of worms, I’ll acknowledge this off the bat and share my story anyway.

While I’ve always managed to keep myself looking presentable when it came to style (though mine was of the jeans, t-shirts, and even overalls variety in college), I wasn’t one of the first girls to embrace bras, make-up, and dresses as some of my peers were during my developmental years. While yes, I eventually ~~was forced~~ learned to become friends with bras (and now consider them BFFs, in fact), my relationship with dresses didn’t really take off until recently. Unless there was a special celebration (or I was 5 with pigtails) you wouldn’t catch me in a dress too often.

Somehow, very likely due to mass media, fashion blogs, magazines, films, TV…Society…The Man!…I feel like I’m finally embracing a new style and it’s turning out to be much more feminine that I’ve ever experienced personally. There were a lot of reasons looking back that it took awhile for me to be comfortable enough in a casual dress while running errands or getting to a place where I even wanted to wear a polished dress to the office. That’s another post, for another time. The interesting thing is that while I have grown of love the perfect summer dress or a great skirt, I find that I’m still slightly more conscious of myself than if I were in a pair of jeans. Perhaps there is still part of me fighting “The Man.” This means, you likely won’t ever see me go full Zooey Deschanel – though she totally rocks that look.

When I came across these awesome looks above*, it got me to thinking more about how to incorporate my new evolving style as we move into the warmer season where dresses are a great piece to have handy. My number one rule in anything I purchase moving forward is function and comfort.

Cheers to embracing whatever your definition of femininity is (or is not) while still managing to fight “The Man.”

And to all you late bloomers out there, our time will come. xx

here’s what i’m lovin’ right now

|| ShoeMint’s Lindsey Heels. Though I, personally, could never walk in them.||

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||Being you.||

|| PopSugar Fitness’ Lightened-up 7 Layer Dip.|| cf202f84c3870fc5895c6a52feec4f02

a5045eaf81108dece7a04f52372063f7 ||A clever and easy way to store reading glasses or your favorite sunnies.||

||Daily Candy’s 19 Books That Celebrate L.A.|| e13b06087dd777f3209308075df7f6f6

||Martha Stewart’s Italian Fries.|| 9b8dde564653afb92f9e647a5c1b251e

|| Intricate pink manicures.|| 6d600fbdf189afe8b3eb23e76e64b88b

*sources to dress images: out & about, office, beach, brunch.

27May2013

Memorial Day

Posted in Holidays, Life by C.

Here’s to barbeques filled with grilled chicken and corn on the cob. Here’s to longer days leading to warmer nights spent in nature on the grassy knolls of the local park, or on a beach towel staring at the endless oasis of the ocean. Here’s to cocktails with good friends. Here’s to pretty pedicures in flip-flops and iced lattes in hand. Here’s to the beginnings of many Friday nights to come taking in the next summer blockbuster. Here’s to fresh flowers filling the air and the sweetest of fruits on our tongues. Here’s to good books, to good times, to memorable moments on ferris wheels.

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And most importantly, today, here’s to reflecting back on the men and women who have lost their lives in sacrifice of our country.

Happy Memorial Day.

Here’s the beginning of greater days to come.

24May2013

Highlights

Posted in Documentary, Film, Fitness, Life by C.

This week has been pretty high and low for me. Things have been going very well at work. I had an amazing performance review a few days ago and feel like I’ve gotten to a place professionally where I’ve worked my booty off enough to prove I’m ready to take it up a notch and my boss is in complete support of that. Yay!

However, physically I’ve been extremely lethargic. I just haven’t had any energy lately. Simply put, I’ve been dragging. Headaches keep coming and going, my allergies are insane thanks to all the pollen in the air, and I wake up tired most mornings. No bueno. So I’ve been spending the last few days trying to figure out what’s off balance with myself and my life lately that’s causing this prolonged fatigue.

Well, I try to get to bed at a decent time and usually get my 8 hours. Admittedly though, I’m the lightest sleeper ever. Every noise wakes me up and there are times I’ll wake up 3 times in the middle the night – but this hasn’t been too much of an issue lately. I make a good effort to eat well, though there’s always room for improvement. And off the bat, I’ll admit where I have been the absolute worst is in my exercise habits lately. Outside of my yoga classes, I know I should be doing more cardio. I try not to stress myself out too much, but this is a weaker area for me and my perfectionist disposition. I drink plenty of water, but something that I stopped doing that seems to make a difference is taking vitamins. This has been my train of thinking on the issue.

So I did what any normal person would do and Google’d it. 🙂

I read WebMD’s Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Energy and instantly found areas where I have been having no-no behavior (like skipping meals). 😦

So the long holiday weekend will be spent resetting some my behaviors to work on my energy levels; seeing the most anticipated summer blockbuster on my list, Fast 6 (no laughing!), and getting some errands done. I hope you all have a relaxing and fun-filled Memorial Day weekend! xx

Here are some of my week’s highlights:

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{ Mindy Kaling’s book has been making life a bit funnier.}

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{Seeing Sarah Polley’s New Documentary, Stories We Tell.}

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{New changes coming on my blog. Doing a little research first.}

23May2013

Let’s Do Lunch

Posted in Food, Handbags, Lunch by C.

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A goal of mine has been to stop the bad (and expensive) habit of buying my lunch most days of the week. While I eat pretty healthily overall, I find that when I bring my own mid-day meals, I’m eating better portions and healthier options more consistently.

Not to sound like a complete infomercial, but I have found the perfect solution to transporting meals on the go that I just had to share with you! As the perfect Christmas gift (that I didn’t know I even needed) from last year, the Sachi Market Tote has made taking my lunch to work a stylish breeze. This insulated tote conveniently folds down when not in use, so much so that when I first opened this gift, I thought it was a make-up bag. The insulation keeps food or beverages placed inside hot or cold longer, which means if I forget to put my food in the fridge once I get to work, ideally everything should be a-okay.

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What I think we often forget about when taking our own lunches to work, is the flexibility to customize meals however we choose. While I’m one of those strange people who actually like salads, they can become pretty mundane after a while (paging: caesar salad). I’ve been experimenting recently with easy and yummy ways to invigorate the classic salad and I’ve gotten lots of satisfaction with simply adding berries to mine. (In general, my rule is fruit and nuts do wonders to enliven any salad).

So, the aim of today’s post? One, part of the fun when making the “responsible decision” to take your lunch to work is that it should be functional and stylish, insert referenced tote here. And two, change it up! Eating the same thing everyday is not only totally boring, but unnecessary. In my experience, if I don’t change it up, I’ll happen to glance at the café menu at work posted online daily and say “Ooh, they’re serving mac and cheese today!? Well, I can save what I brought for lunch today and eat it tomorrow…” (Somehow I justify this, don’t judge.)

So, let’s do lunch! My new favorite, super delicious, and easy to make salad if you’re in the market for a quick suggestion?

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22May2013

|| What I’m Lovin’ Right Now ||

Posted in Accessories, Breakfast, DIY, Food, Home Decor, Inspiration, Treats by C.

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As a gal who had a birthday recently, I was bummed that I didn’t come up with the awesome idea myself to incorporate my love of donuts into the celebration! Now that I think about it, I haven’t even had a big birthday cake, donut-inspired or otherwise, on my actual birthday since I was a kid. But don’t feel sorry for me, I make it a point to enjoy frosted covered carbs more often than I probably should – and this is a year-round phenomenon. When stumbling across this super cool concept, I looked up other donut cakes (oh, the joys of being unproductive on Pinterest) and made a collage of ideas before instantly experiencing the worst donut craving of my life. (It was a rough half hour!) Suffice to say, I’ve decided what I want to see next year on my birthday (candles and all) and it fits somewhere in the range above to give you a visual reference. Who says birthday cakes are just for kids? I’m going with the argument that if they are, I’m one at heart…and that counts. So there!

here’s what i’m lovin’ right now

|| Everything about this room…even though I tend to lean more toward dark, dramatic spaces.||

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||Looking ahead to better things c/o C.S. Lewis.|| cbdc5f2d0bad0e9bfe514e19424c0917

500944ea09c7dbd8be01060f8b21741e || Essentials for a relaxing Saturday afternoon.||

||An awesome DIY storage solution for small bathrooms. All you need is a “shadow box” from a craft store, some paint, and nails. Full details here.||

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9c909be3d0525fdc601759f9a721cb90 ||Coralia Leets’ White Drusy Stone Post Earrings. Details here.||

||Maple Bacon Pancakes from blogger, Laicie, over at A Thousand Threads. Yummy details here.||

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21May2013

Television: Out of the Box

Posted in Explore, Fashion, Fun, Museums, Television by C.

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Where: The Paley Center for Media

Location: 465 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills

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If you’re in the area looking for something fun and inexpensive to do on an otherwise uneventful L.A. weekend between now and 2015, take a trip to The Paley Center for Media (after a stop at Sprinkles for a cupcake fix, of course!). They are currently hosting an exhibition highlighting 60 years of Warner Bros. Television. Television: Out of the Box, takes guests outside the confines of your TV screen and into the actual series. Costumes, props, scripts, set re-constructions, photos, and (sorry to say) a pretty mediocre audio tour welcome you as you walk into the mid-sized gallery space.

Enjoy the legendary history of how now famed Warner Bros. Television Studios came to be through a visual journey of its beloved sitcoms, prime-time dramas, and even the first stints of reality based programming. Spend some time analyzing just how small Jennifer Aniston’s waist really is as you look closely at one of her trendy Rachel Green ensembles, smile at the huge collection of staff badges for everyone from George Clooney to Angela Bassett as they solved the medical conundrum of the week at County General Hospital on ER, hang out at Monk’s Diner (minus Jerry and the gang), then sing-a-long karaoke style to some of the most well-known opening credit sequences from your favorite shows.

“In West Philadelphia, born and raised…” (Don’t even get me started. This song will be in my head all day!)

In short, it’s an entertaining way to spend an afternoon. The staff was extremely friendly and passionate about all things TV. What most impressed me is how vast the catalog of WB television programming actually is when you take it in collectively. Some of the shows that made my childhood and teen years were thanks to the production arm of Warner Bros. Television. Without them, Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Sisters, Gilmore Girls, Living Single, ER (though I gave up a few years on this one before it actually went off the air), Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs among others were staples in my life for many years.

A note about the audio tour: while I know how much work goes into creating any form of media, especially these types of tours, this one is pretty bland, but it is free if you want to check it out to prove me wrong anyway. The equipment that the center uses desperately needs an update, and overall I found the level of the content to be pretty surface and un-engaging.

Otherwise, what a treat! If you make to it to the exhibition between now and 2015, please drop me a line! I’d love to know your thoughts.

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{Rachel Green Costume / Friends 1994-2004.}

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{Cast signed final shooting script / ER 1994-2009.}

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{Lynda Carter Costume / Wonder Woman 1976-1979.}

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{A nod to all things WB Animation. I loved Animaniacs!}

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{And your host (me!) hanging out on the famous Central Perk sofa from Friends.}

17May2013

Highlights

Posted in Accessories, Breakfast, Film, Food by C.

It’s my first week back into the “real world” after a short break. It’s been pretty chaotic getting back into the swing of things, but as the week comes to a close I’m beginning to find my stride again. When I think about the highlights of my life lately, I think about how much one can accomplish if you just put one foot in front of the other and get it done. By nature, this is equal parts easy and difficult for me to do. I very much have the personality that I like to meet any challenge and won’t back down until it’s to my satisfaction, but there are those times I let procrastination settle in – particularly when it’s something I don’t feel like dealing with anyway. For example?

…My air-conditioning. Since I moved into my own place (away from the constant breeze of west side living), my A/C has been deciding to work properly only when it feels like it. The problem is that I’ve been letting it behave that way for a year. I finally got to a place after a 100 degree preview last weekend of what’s to come and decided that it was time to address it with my landlord once and for all. Of course, when they came to test it to see what the trouble was, it worked swimmingly (don’t you hate when that happens?). Despite this, I told myself I was not going to accept it any longer, even if it meant having to press the issue. I was now in a space to deal with it and when I’m in that space, nothing can stop me (blu-hu-ha-ha-ha!). I marched downstairs and told my landlord with a polite, but firm tone that I wanted it replaced. They changed it the next day. Mission accomplished.

On a different note, you might have noticed a little make-over to All that Glitters this week. Thanks to my friend Tonya over at Budget and the Beach, I’ve been thinking a lot about our recent lunch where the talk was all about blogging. More to come as I develop a new creative and visual approach to my site. I’m so excited to share my ideas with you!

A few other smiles that made my week (that interestingly involved breakfast food on two occasions)?

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{The BEST pancakes I think I’ve ever had from Du-Par’s on 3rd street.}

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{Cranberry Orange Muffin and an Intelligentsia iced latte from Graffiti made my Sunday morning as we made our way to see Iron Man 3. It was an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up…for the muffin, the latte, and the flick!}

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{Enjoying a thoughtful handmade birthday present.}

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{May’s Birchbox is here!}

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{A super cool belated birthday card from a friend.}

Have a great weekend! Star Trek Into Darkness – TONIGHT! xx

15May2013

|| What I’m Lovin’ Right Now ||

Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Food, Handbags, Lunch, Travel, Treats by C.

Exactly one week ago, it was raining here in L.A. I had my heater on curled up with a warm cup of coffee slightly bummed that it had the audacity to actually rain during most of my stay-cation. Two days ago, I walked outside headed to see Iron Man 3 and nearly melted at the nearly 100 degree temperature. I know compared to some parts of the world, we’re very blessed when it comes to weather and I won’t argue that. I learned what COLD was when I walked outside my cozy hotel room in Boston one week before Christmas a few years ago. I can still feel the prickles on my skin just thinking about it and have such deep respect for those that aren’t complete weather wusses like I am.

Aside from the fact that our electricity bills hit their peak in the coming months, gas usage seemingly goes the opposite in my experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the “it’s too hot to cook” excuse and promptly took myself out to eat out of fear of turning on the oven. Seeing as how I’m now older (and ideally wiser) this won’t be an excuse for me anymore. When I stumbled across 20 Nutrition Experts’ Favorite 5-Minute Meals from Shape.com, I knew there were some real treasures to keep in mind; and while some of these recipes do call for oven use, The Everygirl’s 12 Simple Breakfast Recipes was a welcomed find. The point being, if in the near future you see me consistently using said excuse above as a reason not to cook (and I’m sure I’ll do it because I did last weekend), please feel free to forward this link to me as a gentle reminder.

here’s what i’m lovin’ right now

||Santa Fe Salad // Full recipe here.||

Toss together 3/4 cup organic greens, 1/4 cup pico de gallo, and 1/2 cup each rinsed and drained canned black beans and thawed frozen organic corn. Top with 1/4 sliced avocado.

||Baked Oatmeal //Full recipe here.||

Ingredients
1 -1 ½ cups of rolled oats
¼ cup of chopped raw pecans or walnuts/combination of both
¼ cup raisins, soaked in water for a couple minutes until plump
1 cup of Granny Smith Apples, cored and diced into ½ inch pieces
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
A pinch of salt
Substitute various fruits and nuts based on preference

||Something to think about.||

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||Where I wouldn’t mind being at this exact moment.||

||Sole Society – Cassidy Medium Weekender// Deets here.||

||Bistro Electric French Press Coffeemaker. // Deets here.||

14May2013

Making Arrangements // Part 2

Posted in DIY, Explore, Fun, Home Decor by C.

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Where: Moe’s Flowers

Location: 8101 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood

Floral arrangements make me happy. I’ve been doing well with keeping a pretty consistent presence of fresh flowers around my home to keep the goal of my Spring Project festive and alive. Admission: 99% of the flowers in my home are from Trader Joe’s (you can read about my success with TJ’s flower arrangements here) and I usually don’t spend more than $6.00 or $7.00 ($8.00 max if I’m feeling frisky) for a bouquet at any given time. I’m more than okay with this, especially when I recently learned just how expensive making a hand-picked bouquet of flowers can be. After all, while they do make me happy, they do just die.

One of the cool things that I’ve always wanted to do and that I actually got to do for my birthday last week was custom-design my own bouquet. It was a very sweet surprise from my boyfriend so that I could have them to enjoy during my stay-cation.

We headed over to Moe’s Flowers in West Hollywood and I was in heaven the moment we walked into the shop. The scent drew me in immediately as I saw basket after basket of roses, lilies, peonies, and everything else you could image in many colors for the choosing.

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{Interior – Moe’s.}

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{My pickings.}

There really is an art to making arrangements that in retrospect, I would do differently in the future. While I did think about how the final product would look once I placed everything in a vase, next time I would pay more attention to the art of hand-picking flowers that compliment each other a bit better. Placing a dahlia among some roses wasn’t terrible, but because of how a dahlia sits facing forward, it took some fussing around before I could get it how I liked (which meant splitting my bouquet into 2 different vases). Further, grouping extremely long stemmed larkspur with a full and bushy hydrangea flower is probably something I might also pass on doing in the future as well.

Two interesting things I learned when asking advice of the florist as she assembled my bouquet that I thought I would share with floral lovers alike that I never knew:

1. Flower food doesn’t extend the life of flowers. In fact, she assured me that many professional florists don’t use it! It’s a gimmick.

2. What IS more important to extending the life of flowers is changing the water and re-clipping the stems (at a slanted angle) DAILY, if possible.

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{One of the 2 vases of fresh flowers that I got to look at all week!}

3May2013

Highlights

Posted in Explore, Fashion, Food, Fun, Handbags, Life, Treats by C.

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Another busy but great week under my belt. Although, I feel like I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath lately and I’m exhausted. I’ve been getting to bed at decent times, eating well, and did stick to my yoga class this week, but I am in total need of a B.R.E.A.K.

The good news is that I am beyond excited for my mini-vacay next week. I really want to use the time to recharge and reflect on my next steps personally and professionally. I’ve even decided to write a list of goals (big and small) that I want to accomplish over the next year, something that I want to do in celebration of my upcoming milestone and to appease my “love-to-cross-things-off-my-list” O.C.D. personality.

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One big highlight within this week of complete chaos, was spending a quiet afternoon in the 90210 (window shopping only, of course). My boyfriend had never been and we wanted to check out the new ice cream craze so we rolled it into a short trip. Rodeo is such a fun street to stroll down and analyze: 1) who in the world can actually afford this stuff? 2) given the limited number of people who can, how do these businesses manage stay open and survive recessions? and 3) if I had the money, would I really spend $5,000 on a handbag? (If I were totally loaded – I could see I probably would, but would find it pretty surreal and strange when that day comes). My first purchase would be the classic Chanel Quilted Calfskin. The one thing we actually could afford was the ice cream and you can read more of my thoughts on the new Ice-Cream Lab here. I give it a year….tops.

This weekend will be all about celebration: prepping for my little b-day getaway and treating myself to a few splurges here and there that I’m still trying to decide upon. And in honor of Cinco De Mayo, at least one margarita and a trip to my favorite Mexican restaurant is in order.

Since next week will undoubtedly be a bit chaotic with birthday stuff and the fact that I’m giving myself some much-need relaxation time, you might not see me post everyday as usual. Rest assured, I’ll be back with lots to share with you!

Have a great weekend! xx