Ok, ok, so techically this isn’t ratatouille. But if ratatouille and vegetable chili had a love child, this would be it. I love ratatouille, but it doesn’t have the protein I need to support my active lifestyle. This is the perfect recipe for a hot summer day when you don’t want to be anywhere near a stove or oven (which has been pretty often in Wisconsin the last few weeks)…. Read More »
Maritime Escape
I am loving maxi skirts right now and narrowing down my search for the perfect one. The one below, from Reiss, encorporates the dip dye look that I’m so into right now. This would be the perfect outfit for our honeymoon next summer! Also, I’m going to be doing my first giveaway later in the week so keep checking back!!!
J Crew top $18 – jcrew.com | Reiss floor length skirt $240 – reissonline.com | Monsoon leather sandals $70 – monsoon.co.uk | Astley Clarke enamel jewelry $135 – astleyclarke.com | Monsoon bracelet $35 – monsoon.co.uk | Madewell braided belt $45 – madewell.com
New Sweetapolita Video Tutorials
My favorite dessert blogger, Rosie from Sweetapolita, has started posting video tutorials on her website! I’m always trying to recreate her cakes (like in this post), but they never seem to turn out quite (or even close to) as lovely as hers do. Hopefully her tutorials will help me take my cake making to the next level!
Here is her first tutorial for a Pastel Swirl Cake:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAMpdOcfzig]
This is what the finished product looks like:
Isn’t it lovely?
AMA Fashion Week?
This weekend I attended the annual meeting for the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago. At the meeting, medical students from all over the country came together to create this year’s policy platform for the organization. Issues such as sex education, tele-medicine, and caring for underserved populations were all discussed.
In addition to being serious about setting the advocacy priorities for the AMA, which lobbies on behalf of the interests of medical students and doctors, there was some time for play too. I kept myself entertained by shooting cell phone pictures of the do’s and dont’s of healthcare fashion. Although the AMA is not the place for cutting edge fashion, all is not lost for our future generation of physicians. In fact, most of the “don’ts” are physicians or their spouses!
Here are some of the best – and worst – dressed of the AMA.
Dip Dye Ombre Skirt DIY
I love reading (looking at?) fashion blogs like Pink Peonies and Atlantic-Pacific, but the idea of doing my own outfit posts had never crossed my mind until this week. For one, I don’t shop often enough to have new outfits to share. Secondly, I am not terribly photogenic and the idea of flashing my awkward mug all over the interwebs just seemed a little ridiculous.
Why did that change, you ask? A few weeks ago I made a skirt out of a pair of white pants that I never wear. Then, I got inspired to try to do an ombre/ dip-dye look. I was so stinkin’ happy with the result and wanted to find a way to share it. Pat agreed to take some snaps of me looking awkward modeling in the park behind our house. Luckily, Pat is incredibly patient and talented – he managed to make me look halfway decent!
Dip Dye Ombre Skirt
Note: This is a good project to do outside on a nice day because it can get pretty messy!
You will need:
Garment
Rit or other fabric dye in the color of your choice
Bucket
Salt
Laundry detergent
Clothespins
Disposable gloves
1. Using gloves, prepare dye bath following package directions. I doubled the amount of dye powder that the recipe called for because my pail was too small to hold enough water and I didn’t want to waste half a packet.
2. I’ve seen some sites fashion a wooden rod to suspend the article over the dye bath, but I am too impatient and not skilled enough for such things, so I just held it skirt over the dye bath. First, I held just the first inch of the skirt in the dye bath for about 15 minutes, until it became the dark purple color you see at the bottom. I think this is an advantage to doubling the dye concentration, as it is quicker and easier to get a deeper color. Note: You may want to do a test or scrap fabric to see what color your water is. I had a leftover pant leg that I used for this purpose.
3. I used some extra fabric to soak up some of the dye concentration so the purple wasn’t so dark before I dyed any more of the skirt.
4. Next, I very quickly dipped the skirt in the dye bath up to 1 inch below the distance that I wanted purple.
5. Lastly, I dipped the skirt slowly in and out of the dye back to fill in the gradient you see between the lightest and darkest parts. Each time I dipped a little less of the skirt in the dye bath.
6. Lastly, I dipped the skirt all the way up to the entire part that I wanted dyed. Because you have used up some of the dye to do the rest of the skirt, the water will be slightly lighter than in step 4.
7. Gently wring out only the area that is covered with dye and hang to dry using the clothespins. Make sure this is in an area where the colored drips won’t stain anything – like outside!
8. When the skirt has been hanging for at least a few hours, rinse with cold water until it the water turns clear, holding the garment so that the colored water doesn’t run over the non-dyed portion. A garden hose or laundry sink is good for this part, if you have one.
9. Hang the garment up with clothes pins again and let dry completely.
P.S. – I thought about doing a tutorial about how I turned an old pair of white jeans into a skirt, but it seemed like too much work when it’s so nicely explained here.
Tank: J. Crew | Skirt: DIY | Bracelet: This post (Similar here) | Watch: Gruen (Similar here)
J. Crew Wrap Around Bracelet {DIY}
Every time I log onto the J. Crew website or get one of their emails, I immediately want to purchase every last thing. Their looks are so stylish yet accessible and versatile! Unfortunately, I am not made of money and don’t have unlimited closet space, so purchasing one of every thing is not in the cards for me. I’m always looking for a way to get some of their looks with pieces I already own or can make myself. When I got an email a few weeks ago featuring this wrap around fabric bracelet, I knew I could make something very similar without the $22.50 price tag.
Here is what I did:
J. Crew Wrap around Bracelet DIY
You will need:
Scrap fabric – I used an old H&M top (100% cotton) I had in the Goodwill pile.
Thread in a matching color
Sewing machine (see below for a no-sew option)
Safety pin or chopstick
Needle
1. Cut your fabric of choice into 2 inch strips. Longer strips are better, but you can always sew multiple short pieces together.
2. If you have a sewing machine, fold your strips in half with the pattern side in. Sew a straight stitch along the cut edge to make a fabric tube. Turn the tube right side out with a safety pin or chopstick. (For an example, check this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn3YY4KYD9E). Repeat with as many tubes as you’d like to make the bracelet length of your choice. I had enough to make a total of about 6 feet of tubing.
3. Sew your multiple tubes made in step 2 together to make one long tube. To do this, I just sewed straight across and trimmed the edges to about 1/4 inch.
4. Fold the tube in half and make a knot at the fold to create a loop big enough to stuff a knot through to create a clasp.
5. Have a friend hold the loop or tack it to something sturdy and twist the two tubes together. Tie a knot at the end.
6. To make sure the twist didn’t unwind. I took a needle and did a simple hand stitch the length of the bracelet weaving in and out of each side connecting the two strands together. I did this very quickly, doing about one stitch every inch or so.
7. Wrap around your wrist, put the knot through the loop and you’re set!
Alternative No-Sew Method: If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can try to dampen the cloth strips and twist them together. This will result in a thinner bracelet with a bit more frayed ends, but generally the same result!
If any part of my instructions were unclear, please let me know and I will try to clarify!
P.S. – Check back on Friday, I’ll be doing a DIY post on the purple ombre skirt I’m wearing!