Cue the Next Three Weeks of Crazy

I wish I had it in me to say "Happy Monday" to everyone, but I'm literally living for the weekend this week (more so than usual). Why? Well, I have a huge presentation tomorrow and a paper due Thursday (that I need to rock) and, completely out of the blue, an on-site job interview this week. A day and a half complete with a major project and a kind of casual corporate environment (seriously, what do I wear!?) so the whole thing, while very exciting, has thrown me for a loop. And, once this week is done, I have three final papers due the Wednesday/Thursday/Friday after that and finals quickly approaching once I've jumped that hurdle. May 19th is a looooong ways away.

So for today, I don't have anything major to post besides that fun little announcement that I'm probably going to be laying low this week. I do have an awesome grad gift post that I am hoping to post in the next couple of days (just need a little bit of free time to tweak it and publish it!). One of these days I will get it together and just sit down and write my posts in advance but for now... I will save all of my cute baby cow pictures from this weekend for another day when I need a pick me up!

Positive thoughts would be welcome this week :)

Last Formal!

Happy Friday everyone!

I have my last sorority formal tomorrow night so I thought I would share a preview of my dress. I bought it last winter from ASOS and luckily I found some pictures online of it in the other colors offered. 

I got it in the white and I am pairing it with nude pumps (wish I had some minimalist strappy heels!) and light green and gold jewelry. 

Our formal is Gatsby themed and I've been hearing rumors of lots of decoration boxes at my sorority house so I can't wait to see how the venue turns out! Hopefully I remember to take a lot of pictures (and hopefully they turn out) so I can share them with you next week. 

Also.... next week I'm going to have a huge post with graduation gift ideas, so keep an eye out for that! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

What I'm Loving Wednesday: GroopDealz

When did it become Wednesday!? I mean, I'm not going to complain because I can't wait for this weekend (my last sorority formal, waddupppp, and I have a handsome date to boot) but it still sort of snuck up on me! Anyways, I'm here today to share one of my favorite websites right now, GroopDealz. 

My obsession with this website has reached a new high, thanks to the knockoff J.Crew rose statement necklace I just recieved in the mail. If you aren't familiar, GroopDealz is a flash sale site, kinda sorta like Groupon and kinda like Etsy. They have a ton of cute, affordable jewelry, home decor items, gifts, and more. I mostly check it for the jewelry (they have some awesome J.Crew-like pieces on a regular basis) and for things like monogrammed items or iPhone cases. Today I'm going to feature my favorite pieces currently on the site! 

First, the J.Crew inspired rose necklace! Each necklace is $19.99 and comes in any of the colors features above: turquoise, black, mint, coral, gray, yellow, or white. 

I just got mine in the mail last weekend - I am obsessed! I can't wait to wear it. 

 Next up, this pave heart ring which is also a J.Crew dupe! I tried the J.Crew version last winter but I was in between sizes in the small/medium/large size system so I passsed. Then I found this ring on GroopDealz, immediately ordered, it and I love it. One of my favorites - it is small and delicate and I like it enough to make sure I won't leave it in a bathroom or something. Best part about this ring? It's only $3.95.

My last favorite: these solid color infinity scarves! Each scarf is $8.95 and you can pick coral, gray, mint, ivory, or yellow. These are perfect to add a pop of color to your spring wardrobe, and considering how many people are still stuck in chilly climates right now (seriously, where is spring!?) I don't think we are retiring the scarves officially yet! 

So these are my favorite items right now... let's see which ones end up in my shopping cart and in my closet! I am debating another rose necklace, this time either in yellow or mint! 

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Taste of Tuesday: Speedy Spaghetti + Cheesy (Garlic) Bread

Happy Tuesday friends!

I am finally (!!!!) joining in on the Taste of Tuesday fun! I love to cook (and am apparently pretty good at it) but I am really bad at taking pictures while I am cooking/hate my iPhone pics/my apartment's kitchen is normally not very pretty. Regardless, I have some things up my sleeve for the coming weeks so stay tuned! 

Today's recipe is for a very quick spaghetti sauce and cheesy (garlic) bread. I whipped this up after some trusty Pinterest searching (which, by the way, you should follow me! Click here to do so) and did a couple of modifications to fit what I was looking for. I adapted the sauce recipe from Gina at Skinnytaste (which is an awesome food blog - lots of healthy recipes that are family friendly) and the bread from a recipe submission website, Key Ingredient. When I say "adapted" in regards to the bread it is because I spaced and forgot to add the garlic to the cheese mixture. I added meat to the sauce because I was cooking for the boyfriend - next time I make this for myself I will make it without meat. The whole meal was boyfriend approved (even though I forgot the garlic on the bread!) and very quick. I think the most difficult part of making it was searching for the ingredients at my grocery store! Gotta love being on a college campus with limited shopping some days. That being said, everything turned out really well with what I could find on campus on a Sunday night! 

Speedy Spaghetti Sauce 

(can be made with or without meat!) 

*Adapted from Gina at Skinnytaste

1 tsp olive oil 

2 cloves of minced garlic (I used the kind from a jar)

2 15 oz. cans crushed tomatoes

1 small bay leaf (I omitted this)

1 tsp oregano (I subbed 1 tsp of pre-made Italian seasoning blend)

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (I omitted this - our store was out but there is some in the seasoning blend!)

Salt and pepper, to taste

*1 lb ground beef (or turkey or Italian sausage, whatever!), if desired (possibly consider adding chopped onions to this!)

1. In a saucepan or pot, add 1 tsp olive oil and heat over medium heat. When hot, add 2 cloves of minced garlic and saute until golden. (Try very very hard not to burn this! Use medium heat, not high)

2. Add crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, and herbs (either a seasoning blend or oregano and the bay leaf).  Stir until combined. 

3. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan/pot, and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

4. After the sauce has finished simmering, remove from heat. Remove the bay leaf from the sauce (or don't, if you want to surprise your guests) and add the basil. 

5. Adding meat: While the sauce is simmering, heat 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan. Salt and pepper your ground beef (or turkey, etc) and add it to the pan once it's hot. Brown the meat, adding more salt and pepper as needed (I normally add more salt and pepper before I stir/flip the meat to brown the other, already seasoned side). Once the meat is fully cooked, drain off the fat and add to the sauce, stirring to combine. 

*Served 2 people with leftovers. 

Cheesy Garlic Bread

(awesome with or without garlic!)

*Adapted from Key Ingredient (which has a recipe to serve more people!)

1 small baguette (I used La Brea Bakery's French Demi Baguette - one of my faves!) 

      * You could also substitute slices of a larger loaf of bread if you wanted to

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tbsp parsley

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste (I used a sprinkling of each)

1. Preheat your broiler (I used the high setting). 

2. Slice the baguette in half lengthwise. 

3. Mix the melted butter, parsley, minced garlic, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. 

4. Spread the mixture on each half of the baguette. Place the bread onto a baking sheet or a baking dish. 

5. Place under the broiler for about 3 minutes (time will vary depending on your broiler - make sure you watch it otherwise it will burn!) until the bread gets crispy and warm and the cheese is bubbling, golden, and melty. 

6. Let cool for about 3 minutes, slice, and enjoy! Garnish with some extra parm if you wish :)

Hope you enjoyed these recipes! Making this sauce was waaaay easier than I expected and much tastier than jarred pasta sauce (which is good in a pinch). I am addicted to the cheesy bread now and can't wait for another excuse to make it. 

Some Wisconsin Weekend Shenanigans

Hi everyone! 

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! I'm linking up today with Sami from Sami's Shenanigans for the Weekend Shenanigans link up. 

My weekend started on Thursday afternoon. I had a 7 page paper due and a meeting with one of our deans to figure out a graduation requirement snafu, so once I was done on Thursday I headed home to relax. I finished the last few current episodes of Revenge, took a long hot shower, made some high waisted denim shorts (check 'em out below!), and waited for my boyfriend to get into town! Once he did we hung out and watched an episode of Game of Thrones (he's really behind!) and fell asleep reeeeally early... very exciting, I know! 

Friday was way more exciting - I got my first pair of cowboy boots! They were my birthday present from my boyfriend. He unexpectedly had the day off so we had planned on making a road trip to a store a few hours away to find some but we got lucky and there was a horse expo in Madison so we only had to make a 15 minute trip (and pay an arm and a leg to get in) instead! These Ariat boots were the winners - I liked the plain brown leather, classic look, and minimal ornament. I wanted something simple so I wouldn't feel pressured to be "matchy matchy" with a certain color on the boot and instead get used to working them into my wardrobe as a "brown boot" and not a "cowboy boot", if that makes any sense. 

Ariat Heritage Western R-Toe

Brand new and fresh outta the box!

Since we were at the horse expo and because it was cold, we walked through all of the barns on the way back to the truck. I got to indulge my inner child and pet all of the horses and relive the days where horses were the coolest. The best part was when we discovered MINI HORSES! They were pretty much the size of my childhood golden retrievers - could you imagine having one!? I wanted to take all of them home and their full size counter parts... if only. 

Once I got my boots, my boyfriend and I headed back to campus because I had to work (woo!). He hung out at a local... establishment and befriended one of the .... drink pourers and basically had a grand old time while I was doing my thang at the store. Since I gave him my keys to my apartment, he decided that instead of making me walk home and buzz myself up, he would come and meet me at work to walk me home (cue the awws). While he was waiting he may or may not have looked like a homeless man, which once my co-worker and I figured it out, gave us a pretty good laugh. After he picked me up, we went to a local barbecue place and got dinner. We were both wayyy too hungry to snap a picture of our food before we started eating so I only got a picture of the cider I tried, ACE Fermented Berry Cider. I liked it, it was tart and light and almost reminded me of wine. A nice change of pace from the craft beers I normally drink! The boyf and I both got pulled pork sandwiches with a side of mac & cheese - I mixed some of my pulled pork into the mac & cheese and topped it with some BBQ sauce... yum! Can't wait to try making my own version of that soon. 

ACE Cider (click for website)

Saturday was the big show day. It was my first cow (or any animal) show so I was kind of quiet and followed my boyfriend's lead all day. I was trying not to stand out too horribly as a newbie/"city slicker" and I was trying to stay out of everyone's way as they prepped their cows for the show. While the weather was supposed to be in the 50's and sunny, it ended up being very windy and very very cold in the show ring itself. The boyfriend and I were not exactly prepared for that and we should have worn another layer under our jackets.... we were in need of some coffee and extra warmth (read: Bailey's) after a couple of hours. Once we got some of that we were set for the remainder of the day. I learned some handy dairy cow judging things from my boyfriend (he's kind of really good at it.... national college champ kind of thing kind of good) so hopefully by the end of the summer I will have learned a thing or two! His knowledge plus my art history background (see, I knew it would pay off someday!) should make it a bit easier for me to learn. After the show, we headed to dinner at Red Robin (#yum) with his best friend and his girlfriend. We were starving and absolutely demolished our food plus two extra baskets of fries (whoops!). Once we got home we were in such a food coma plus completely tuckered out from our day that we took a looong nap and ended up missing out on everything going on that night.

Sunday was uneventful. I almost missed work (oops) and when I got there it was so slow I only stayed for a couple of hours before leaving. I did get a white oxford and tried on a couple of sweatshirt tees - super comfy and casual! I love them and will be picking up two (green and gray) later this week. When I got home I relaxed and watched a couple of episodes of Smash - I love the show and cannot get enough of it! I also decided (on a spur of the moment whim) to cook my boyfriend dinner because he had a rough day at work. I had a serious craving for pasta and instead of heating up some jarred pasta sauce (obviously I had to do better than that for the boyfriend!) I checked Pinterest for some spaghetti sauce recipes. After consulting I came up with a pretty good version! Not my grandma or mom's recipe, but it did in a pinch. Seriously - it was so easy I have no idea why I ever bought jarred pasta sauce in the first place! I even made cheesy garlic bread from "scratch" and despite me completely forgetting to add garlic to the topping mixture, my boyfriend loved it. "It will be even better the next time you make it because you won't forget the garlic!" Hey, if he's happy then I'm happy. 

Look for the recipe coming soon!

Whew! Well forgive me for being a little bit late on this one - hopefully I can make it up with some of the awesome things I have planned for this week! 

Finally Feeling Better! (& Weekend Shenanigans)

Yo yo yo. 

I'm finally back. I've been sick for over a week now, and I can't believe how long I have been sick or how horrible I felt. This is the most sick I've been in ages. I was A-OK freshman year when I had pneumonia (complete with a week long 104 fever and I wasn't able to lift my arms above my shoulders for fear of the stabbing pain in my chest) compared to this icky cold I had. Is this what happens when you get older? Oh boy... 

Watch the latest episode of Revenge on Hulu!

My life has mostly consisted of the ABC show Revenge lately. I can easily go through three or four or five or six episodes in a single chunk of time (I had a lot of sleepless, unable to breathe nights last week. I could barely breathe when I was sitting up with my face over a boiling cup of water trying to get the steam to loosen things up. TMI? Sorry!). I'm pretty caught up in the story (so many twists and turns!) but I love Emily Vancamp's character's style and in season 2 there is a new handsome British man who kiiiiind of gets me in the same way Tom Hardy does. Swoon. 

Onnnn to the weekend! Where I sort of felt way less sick! 

Saturday: It was my sorority's Mom's Weekend, and since Sunday was also my birthday, my dad decided to join her in coming to school for the weekend. I was kind of lagging with everything since I was still feeling not 100%, so we skipped the planned event for my sorority (oops, we missed out on picture frame making...) and went to breakfast and ran some errands. 

My monster breakfast from Saturday... so so good!

We had breakfast at a local restaurant, The Original Pancake House. This has been one of my family's favorite spots since I was a freshman - we will definitely miss it once I graduate! I was feeling a classic diner food kind of breakfast, so I got scrambled eggs, sausage links, and cheese covered hash browns.  Ohhhh my goodness, those hash browns were even more delicious than they looked. I am tempted to try and recreate them at some point in time but I am afraid they will never compare... After breakfast we went to the mall where I exchanged a shirt and my mom got me one of the calf hair bangles from J.Crew as a birthday present. We did a little bit of browsing (ah, fathers... always good for keeping those spending habits in check in their presence, am I right?) and then headed over to Target to pick up some of those boring necessities. 

Wild Side Wide Bangle, here and Vintage Cotton V-Neck Tee in Stripe, here

The big event of the day was going out to dinner with my parents and my boyfriend.  We went to a local supper club and had the best steaks ever. Well, I guess I can only speak for myself but it was hands down the best steak I've ever had, so I will assume everyone else's was fab as well. Yum. I want to go back riiiiiight now. Anyways, after dinner we headed to a local bar to meet up with some of my friends and their moms. Said local bar was the same bar my boyfriend and I had met at exactly six months earlier. Yep, we totally took advantage of that cheesiness and also their Long Island special.... let's just say Sunday morning was kind of rough. 

My outfit from Saturday night... cool mirror pic, I know. 

Sunday: Sunday was my official birthday. Woo! Honestly, I'm not really a fan of my birthday. It never seems to be one of those opportune times of the year - there is always something else going on the day of my birthday and/or the weather sucks so most of the time I just use it as an excuse to be lazy and indulgent. Oops? Anyways, once I recovered from my evening out, I had a lovely FaceTime sesh with my old roommate! It was so nice to "see" her and catch up on life. My parents picked me up after that and we went to lunch and hung out for a while. After we ran a couple of errands, we stopped back at my apartment to open the presents they bought me and say goodbye. 

My mom always gets me as many roses as I am years old (so this year, 22) and makes me special sugar cookies. She only bakes these cookies for birthdays! They were super easy for her to make and send with us to school for our birthday treats when we were younger (our elementary school allowed us to pass out a treat to our class on our birthday) and I would rather have these cookies than a cake. The roses are beautiful and add a really nice touch to the table next to my bed. The corner is kind of empty and the flowers look so nice against the white wall - I'm going to be super sad once they're gone! 

So that was my weekend! Hopefully I can get back to regular posting this week, or at least Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting! 

Under the Weather

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are off to a great start in your week. I am unfortunately feeling sick, so I'm taking a mini break from posting but will still be reading everyone's posts and leaving comments. Until I get better I will be consuming copious amounts of soup, OJ/juice (which actual juice and not juice cocktail from concentrate is extremely difficult to find on campus in smaller bottles instead of jumbo cartons), water, and all of the vitamins and cold meds (okay, so this last one is a normal dose, not a copious amount) necessary to get myself feeling better! Just in time for my birthday this weekend....

Speaking of just in time for my birthday, I heard it's supposed to snow here in Wisconsin. Seriously. WHY. I just wanted to wear a sparkly skirt and heels out sometime next weekend but I guess that won't be happening. Lame.

If you have any surefire get well soon remedies, let me know! I'm all ears.