Friday Favorites - Steals and Deals

I have been trying to watch what I spend lately and have only made a few clothing purchases this year. I always find winter to be a boring time to shop anyway and am always looking forward to spring. Over the last few weeks I have hit the jackpot with a few deals that I couldn't resist! I have seen several fashion bloggers wearing this ruffle top. It's adorable and can be found on Shopbop for $100, Chic Wish for $50 and Amazon for $25! So I promptly bought the Amazon prime version and plan to wear it for my birthday in March! Another Amazon purchase I made were these perforated peep toe booties. I love the gray color and I bought mine for $20! Amazon confuses me with their pricing because they are now $44, but still a good deal. They are super comfortable and I have worn them a few times since our weather has been unseasonably warm lately.

I mentioned last week that I needed a few new sweatshirts to replace my college ones. I bought this coral one from H&M a few weeks ago and I'm embarrassed to say how often I've already worn it! It comes in 7 colors and is only $12. It's perfect for winter or spring.

I also bought this IND hat for $17 on sale at South Boutique. It's sold out there, but you can find it at Fira Boutique or the Aviate website for $35. The Aviate site has several other cities and color options. They even have children's sizes.

Lastly, I got these silver mules for Christmas from Express. I haven't been able to wear them until recently and I LOVE them! They are so comfortable and look adorable for work.

Update! I just found the striped ruffle top in pink and red stripe too! $21 from A'GACI

Mexican Chicken Quinoa

I love this recipe so much! Mexican is my favorite food. We eat Mexican more than any other type of food, so this has been on heavy rotation. This recipe is a great mix of flavors and it's healthy!  But what I like most about this recipe is that it makes a 9x13" pan and will last us 3-4 days!

This recipe and photo are from Well Plated. I changed the ingredients to make it spicier. I will note my changes below.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1lb of chicken cut into bite size pieces
• 1 Tbsp + 2 tsp of chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 can of Rotel
• 1 can of corn (and/or black beans)
• 1 cup of plain greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheese (could use mix of mozz and cheddar, Mexican, or some type of spicy pepper cheese)
• Fresh Cilantro (optional for serving)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13" pan and set aside.
2. Place 1 1/2 cups of water in pot with 1 cup of quinoa. Bring to a boil, once boiling lower heat to simmer and let simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Fluff with fork and set aside.
3. In a large pan heat olive oil over medium high. Saute peppers and onions for about 5 minutes. Add chicken and seasonings. Cook through.
4. Add garlic and Rotel.
5. Remove from heat. Add corn, black beans, yogurt, quinoa and 1/2 of shredded cheese.
6. Stir until combined. Transfer to baking dish and cover with remaining cheese.
7. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn heat to broil and broil until cheese is lightly browned. Keep a watchful eye, all ovens are different and this may take between 1-4 minutes.
8. Top with cilantro.

Enjoy!
 Notes: I use Rotel instead of roasted tomatoes. I sub a can of corn for black beans and sometimes use both. I usually use whatever cheese I have on hand, but spicy pepper cheese is really good!

 

Summer Sewing

Last summer I made two of the cutest dresses and for whatever reason, I never posted them. I love both of these dresses so much and can't wait for another opportunity to wear them. I made them both for a trip we took to Montauk for a good friend's wedding. My pictures aren't the best, but I still wanted to post.

 

Pink Gingham. You may remember I was obsessing over this style dress last year in this post. I ended up trying on the dress in Nordstrom and tracing the top onto a piece of paper in the dressing room. I knew I would never find a sewing pattern and needed a place to start. My mom helped me draft a pattern and I used a pattern I already had for the skirt.

This is the only picture I have from wearing it and it was too dark to edit the image properly.

 

Blue Stripe dress - I've had this fabric for a long time. It's really beautiful fabric! I even have a couple yards of black and white that I'm waiting on the right project to use. I decided to use the blue for this dress because I thought the pattern would be easy to match up the stripes. Matching patterns is harder than you may think. I used McCalls M7162 for the top, but had to add additional darts to make it fit correctly. Thank goodness for my mom, or I never would have been able to make it fit.

 

 I wore this to the wedding rehearsal.

 

So happy my mom came to the rescue and helped me finish both of these dresses, literally the day before we left. I couldn't have done it without her! Hopefully someday I'll have learned enough lessons to successfully sew and alter without having to ask her a million questions. Thanks mom!

I can make that!

I found myself stating "I can make that." as I looked through J.Crew's new arrivals for Spring and Summer. I love seersucker! I've made several dresses out of the material. This one shoulder with ruffle is right up my alley. I also really like the criss-cross back of this maxi. Both are adorable dresses that could be sewn very similarly to the J.Crew styles.

Red track pants - Outfit inspo

Dan and I went to lunch the other day for Valentine's Day and I saw a women wearing the cutest outfit. She had on red cropped track pants. They were the kind of polyester pants your middle school gym teacher wore, but the way she had them styled was so chic. She had on a button down white shirt and black leather jacket with black pointed toe mules. I loved her entire look and thought how comfortable those pants must be. I can't find them anywhere online, but I'm going to keep my eyes peeled.

Comfort Clothes

I love that athleisure is a trend and hope it stays around for awhile. I like that it's acceptable to wear sweats and leggings if you don't even plan to exercise! On days that I work from home or weekends I generally wear some sort of sweatshirt, jeans/sweatpants combo. Admittedly, I still wear my college sorority and school sweatshirts and could really update those with cuter options. I also like to have a few pairs of sneakers that are meant to be cute and not necessarily for working out. Here are some of my recent favorites.

Madewell overalls // BP Nordstrom striped top /South Boutique IND hat (I just ordered this for $17.00!) // H&M Ruffled sweatshirt //Ily Couture Mom sweatshirt // Gap knotted sweatshirt // Nordstrom Pink hat // Abercrombie jeans // H&M blush joggers // Nike Joggers // Nordstrom sneakers (comes in 12 colors!) //Adidas sneakers // Zappos Nike shoes //Nike vintage racers

Shoesday - Spring flats

I always want new flats for spring. When it's still too chilly for sandals but I'm over boots I love to wear flats to work and on the weekends. I'm really into mules right now. I got a cute silver pair for Christmas and can't wait to wear them this spring! Some of my favorite flats below for this spring.

Gap Mules // H&M Gold Sneakers // Target gingham sneakers

Kristin Cavallari gold Mules // Target pink sneakers // Steve Madden Blue tassel mules

H&M loafers // Gap lace up flats // DSW Gold oxfords

Bell Sleeve Dress

I love this style dress and am thinking about making one very similar. I have several patterns I could use and just add gathered bell sleeves. Here are two pattern options. Simplicity 8293 and Simplicity 8213.