super easy vegan

Double Rainbow Soy Cream

Very Cherry Chip

around $4 at Sunflower Farmers Market

An absolute lifesaver during summertime (and that time of the month) is soy ice cream.  I thought that I would never cheat on Ben & Jerry but this stuff is the bee's knees. You would never know that this kind of soy cream wasn't made with milk...and with cherry & chocolate chips, it's unreal.  Same amount of sugar and calories, of course.  Just because it's cholesterol free, it doesn't mean that you can hoover down half a pint on a Sunday night while watching Weeds.... oh wait..... 

Highly recommend. 

Packing for Lollapalooza

Ecote Sidewinder Bucket Bag

On Sale at Urban Outfitters for $30 (was $60)

Super steal!  I just bought this bag after eyeing it for months and the $60 price tag.  It's the opposite of an investment piece so I bit my lip and waited to see if it went on sale.  Sure enough, the online shopping gods smiled down upon me and marked it %50 off. It's absolutely perfect for concerts and making the t-shirt & jean shorts ensemble a little more interesting.  I would snag it, especially if you live in Native America (tribal & fringe trends never go out of style here). 

Photo Credit:  Urban Outfitters

God Bless Instagram (@vhub)

My pup Stella in the new space chair at my parents' house. 

Tuesday in Tulsa

I took the day off today to have a mini-roadtrip in Tulsa.  A much needed break from the world of data entry & Microsoft Outlook.

 Last night, me & a group of friends went to see Beach House at Cain's Ballroom....which in itself was phenomenal.... but the night continued until the wee hours (hey, Monday was technically my Friday) resulting in Moscow Mules at Valkyrie and a $40 Whataburger order at 1am.  Today we walked around window shopping at Utica Square and wound up at the Philbrook Museum for a couple of hours.   Here is my new favorite place in the 918.      

super easy vegan

Veggie Roll  $6.25 

Sunflower Farmers Market

In an effort to prevent health problems & also being disgusted by our culture's overuse of animal products,  I have tried for the last 6+ months to make at least 1 meal out of my day vegan.   I usually choose breakfast because you can easily do a PB&J with toast, fruit smoothies, coffee w/ almond milk, etc. You also typically eat breakfast at home so it's easy to avoid menu-depression or people asking why you're trying to lose weight ((rolls eyes)). 

The other meals are not as easy since it seems like 95% of menu items have cheese and/or meat in them.    I'm going to try to post my finds that make the 1+ Vegan Meal Per Day Challenge easier.  At least in my eyes.

The Veggie Roll, or sushi in general is an option I always forget about.  Asian food is great for staying dairy free but it typically has a lot of pork & seafood in the dishes.   Veggie Rolls are almost always available at the grocery store AND they're cheaper than the options including fish.  It's the closest you can get to "fast food" because it's ready to eat, fairly cheap AND pretty much every grocery store carries them now.  Add some Sriracha & soy sauce (unsure if those sauces are vegan actually...)  and you're golden.  

Summer Hair

Julia Stenger by Greg Kadel

Vogue Germany February 2012

I am so sick of the hair-to-the-butt-beachy-ombre trend.  It's unrealistic & unobtainable for 90% of the population. 

So how cute is this hair cut?   Much more original than the Lauren Conrad clones.


Photo Credit

Lunch Staple

I'm in a super "domestic goddess" mood this week.  I blame ye old ovaries for ticking at me during my physical prime.  Quiet, you.  Give me 8 more years.

I wanted to share my staple lunch recipe that I use constantly.   It's a cheap, vegetarian & healthy sandwich that includes:

1 whole wheat bread/bagel/english muffin

2 tomato slices

5-6 cucumber slices 

1-2 Tsp of Kraft Sandwich Shop Mayo - Hot & Spicy

1 slice of Swiss Cheese 

The beauty of this sandwich is that one tomato, one cucumber, one package of cheese, one bottle of mayo & one loaf of bread will make several of these puppies.   Depending on ingredients, it typically stays under 500 calories but only losers count those.  

Seeing Red

Window Shopping at Urban Outfitters

After a particularly hard & hurtful day at work, I decided to treat myself to an imaginary shopping spree at Urban Outfitters.  A shopping spree consisting of purely red & black, hip & non-office appropriate attire (and a vinyl storage rack I actually need for home..... hey, I can be practical and mad). 

Jeffrey Campbell Foxy Spike Platform Heel (size 8 of course) $185

Truly Madly Deeply Cutout Back Tee (size small) $39

Cooperative High-Rise Denim Short (size medium) $49

Mini Storage Rack (for my screamo bands on vinyl...kidding) $39

Nom de Plume by Yaya Ivy Dress (size small) $69

If only those fake smiles resulted in more $$$ to buy these things with.... 

(individual pics, photo credit: Urban Outfitters)

wishlist

$69

www.lorisshoes.com

Mondays tend to hover under a blanket of seriousness.  I usually wear black to work on Mondays.  Perhaps it's a fashion pun on "back to work"....or mourning the retirement of denim and hooker shoes for the next 4 business days.  

The materialist in me feels like this bag would make my Mondays better.  I think I need it.   It is one of the coolest-least-expensive-most-expensive looking bags I've found in a while.

....oh and it comes in yellow.  badass. 

Photo Credit: Lori's Shoes 

How To Be Cute with Little Effort & Little Money

Cucumber Water

Buy a glass carafe ($3 at Walmart).

Buy a cucumber ($.88).

Chop the cucumber into slices and then chop a few slices into quarters.  Place a quarter into each slot in an ice cube tray.  Throw the rest of the slices into the carafe and add water to both.   2 hours later, you will have the most adorable drink in the world and you did it for mmmmm $4 or less.  You also did it with supplies from Walmart.  Bonus points for drinking it out of an oversized wine glass that sometimes holds ice water at fancy restaurants. 

Chicks & Succulents

What is it with the succulent/indoor terrarium fad these days?  They're all over the blogs this year and now these little desert plants are popping up in fashion shoots (photo credit thestonecoldfox.com).    Now I'm not saying anything negative since I'm tending to two plants of my own... however I thought it was an interesting point to bring up.   Plants can go in an out of style?   What?   Such an wild idea.  Perhaps the trend spawns partially from the Pintrest craze and the "green", eco-friendly movement.  I have no clue.   Anyway, it's cool to have plants as fashion items.  Way better than feather hair extensions. 

flower crowns

Made these flower crowns for a friend's fashion show.  

Land Of Beautiful Girls

Viva L'Instagram.

How cool is this car, man?  And by car, I mean the license plate. 

"Kansas, Home of Miss America, Land of Beautiful Girls"

Found this gem outside Penn Square Mall. 

Post Summer Camp Music Fest

This is the last pic taken of my beautiful velvet kimono jacket before she was destroyed in the washing machine......  Looking for a fabulous replacement.  

All in all "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful."

Cheap Friday: Hair Flower

The Icing $7

Ok.  I'll admit it.... I shopped at The Icing today in Penn Square Mall.  It's full of tacky & trendy jewelry & purses but they have some legitimate gems there.   I signed on to Summer Camp Music Festival next weekend and I needed some cheap hair accessories that I could lose/ruin/combat crazy hair.  I won't talk of what all I bought (think pink & blue hair extensions) but this barrette will translate to every day life if it survives the trip.  

I found this guy in the back with many other fake floral hair clips.   It's an off-white flower with a secure hair clip attached.   I figured it will look cute pulling back sweaty bangs or stuck on the side with some beachy waves.  We shall see how it goes! 

Trying Out B.B. Cream

$38, Sephora

Somewhere in between college graduation & landing a high-stress job at an oil & gas company,  I developed an unwelcome case of pizza face.  Becoming an adult included the large amount of worry over work emails, deadlines, bills, budgets, credit card statements, etc....etc....etc.... Throw in a large amount of coffee & little sleep, and you've got major skin problems.  

After trying every harsh 3-step plan in the book, I decided to try the less-is-more approach.   This brought me to B.B. Creams (aka Blemish Balms):  moisturizers with moderate coverage, SPF & lots of yummy skin smoothing ingredients.   I wanted to stray from thick foundations and lots of concealer so I chose Boscia's oil-free cream.   I love this brand, although it's slightly expensive.  It tries to use natural ingredients and generally has great reviews.  PLUS, this cream is oil-free which is very important.

I've used it for days and can honestly say that this stuff works wonders.  It covers your problem areas and keeps your face hydrated but not greasy for LITERALLY the entire day.  I've only had to add concealer to one or two places in the past week and I'm already seeing improvements.  I think the key to clearing up blemishes is simplifying your makeup & skincare routine and oil control.  Boscia's B.B. Cream is the way to go.

Super Moon

The Cinco de Mayo Moon over Oklahoma City is phenomenal tonight.  I hope you get to see it. 

D.I.Y. Hand Towel Bow

In an effort to turn my fabric scraps into something useful and pretty, I whipped up a hand towel bow for my kitchen.   Paper towels aren't the greenest thing in the world so I try to use hand towels in my kitchen and bathroom.   I decided to make the average hand towel a bit cuter so I added a fabric ribbon to the middle and tied it onto a drawer knob.

I used a 20" x 7" inch scrap and cut it into two skinny strips.  However, if you had one long strip, that would work too.   I sewed the strips into tubes, pretty side facing each other.   I used a safety pin to turn the tubes inside out and finished the ends by tucking them in and sewing across the top.  I attached the strips to the middle of the towel and sewed about 4 rows of stitches across.   Tie the bow around a handle and voila, you have a pretty hand towel.  

Cheap Friday: L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion

$8

I adore suntans.  Absolutely.  But the skin cancer & early aging that come along with sun bathing worries me a bit.  Also, I work 40 hours a week and don't necessarily have the time to bake by the pool.  My Saturdays and Sundays are incredibly precious to me.   Spending them half naked covered in sweat (well to some people that sounds awesome) isn't something I'm interested in.  I would rather be sewing, cleaning my house or exploring Netflix in my air conditioned living room. 

For the past two years (or maybe 3) I've been a HUGE advocate for L'Oreal's sunless tanning line.   The Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion is my absolute favorite and looks beautiful after the first application.  The tint shows you where the lotion is AND makes you sparkly.   I like to use it after a shower on a Friday night and then once again on Monday or Tuesday to keep the color during the week. 

At 8 bucks and maybe 10 applications, it's a total steal.  (I also think they're on sale at the May and 50th CVS right now).  

NOTE:  Like all sunless tanners, you will start to see the color flake (especially between your boobs where your bra rubs all day)...It's weird.  It sucks.  But just apply again and it will camoflauge it.   Much better to have slightly splotchy cleavage than freckles and wrinkles.  

Decorative Pillows (24" x 24")

$36.50

I have been desperately needing to decorate my house.  Because I live alone, I can do whatever I want to the place, but since I play the bills alone, I can't really afford to decorate it.  To camouflage my hand-me-down couch from my bachelor uncle, I set out on my lunch break yesterday to buy fabric for some throw pillows.   With coupons to Jo-Anns, I bought two 24" by 24" pillow forms and 2 yards of home decor fabric.  I chose this modern print with white, black & chartreuse colors called "Making Waves" by Waverly.  

I followed the "Craft Gemini Tutorials" video on YouTube to learn how to make an envelope pillow case.   This is a simple way to make a pillow cover with a hidden opening so you can change out the fabric easily.  If I wasn't busy talking on the phone or watching Netflix all night, I could have finished the project in under 90 minutes.  

I honestly have no constructive criticism for this pattern.   If you follow the simple mathematical formula and the maybe 5 steps it takes to make, your pillows will turn out nearly perfect.  It's a better alternative to store bought pillows because (1) those pillows are $30 a piece while mine were a little over $15 each, (2) you can make them LARGE which is a much more expensive look and (3) you can change out the pillow cover when you redecorate and you don't need to buy new pillows.  

D.I.M. The Tent Dress

In an effort to save money, make wearable clothes & tackle the DIY blogs on the Internet, I dove into the "Simple Cotton Top" project from the girls of A Beautiful Mess.   Their instructions were incredibly simple and easy to follow. The patternless-pattern called for simple width and height measurements and a couple yards of fabric.  I liked the fabric I chose for the projects so much that I just added length to the tops and created dresses for Spring. Super cheap.  Super easy.  My experience:

1.  The maxi dress. 

I used a fabric with a bit of stretch to it.   Although it is harder to work with than 100% cotton, the fabric hangs beautifully and feels so much softer.   I made the shorter dress first and discovered that I cut the fabric too wide (25 inches) so I made the maxi a little bit thinner.  Small mistake.  Once I completed the dress and tried to walk in it,  I had to do the Geisha-shuffle since the opening was too narrow.  I would follow ABM's instructions regarding the width (take half of hip measurement and add 5-8 inches) with the full-length version.  You could also add side slits.  Also, I lined the entire dress since it was a bit sheer.  This created a nice weight to it so the dress didn't move too much around the bust line.  I was able to leave the arm holes long to make the cut more interesting and sexy.   

2.  The short dress.

I used a stiff batik fabric for this dress.  As I previously mentioned,  I had a little too much fabric so I would aim for a more narrow cut.   This dress was so easy and simple to make since I didn't line it.   It was initially33.5 inches long but I ended up hemming it.   In the end, it was a cute short dress that was about 30 inches long (or shorter).   

Paired with cool sandals and a ton of bracelets, you can avoid the "pillow case dress" look that is really popular for toddlers.  I might try some different variations with ribbon as straps or perhaps a halter.  We shall see...

Cheap Friday: PictureShow App

$2.00

In an era of vanity & camera phones, Instagram singlehandedly popularized the self portrait.  With its dozen or so filters, it turned us into amateur Warhols & food photographers (what's with all the brunch pics?).   One of my favorite apps to make yourself look far more interesting than you do is the PictureShow app.  You have endless editing options like cropping, light leaks, and retro photo frames.   My favorite option is the random photo editor which uses pre-set combinations to transform your previously average photo.  You never know what you're going to get but they're all pretty rad.  Here are some examples.   

phish eye

After a good amount of stalking A Beautiful Mess Blog, I was inspired to use my Lomography Fisheye camera again. As 2009 impulse buy from Urban Outfitters, the thing was only used once and forgotten after I was only happy with a fraction of the photos. After reading her entry on toy cameras and the owner's manuel again, I feel like I have a better grip on its capabilities.

Here are a few of the photos from the first roll of film (i was having a bangs moment in 2009, forgive them) . I will update with a new post on this new roll. So excited

Hobbies

They save you from boredom. They save you from loneliness. They save you from those teeny tiny apps on your phone you check every 2.5 minutes to see if you have a notification, retweet or "like".

They make you independent. They make you creative. They turn into passions and maybe careers.

I started sewing classes in January because my grandma Maxine was the most amazing seamstress in her day and I inherited her old Kenmore sewing machine in 2010. I also chose sewing because it's productive, creative, cost-efficient, and has nothing to do with going to bars.