my cherry amour

galentine's day

2012-02-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

hello, cherries!

suddenly, it's february, and my least favorite holiday in the world is rapidly approaching. i won't explain why i hate valentine's day, but it's not for the normal reasons, i promise. maybe it is a little, but not primarily.

imagine my excitement, then, when i found this: http://occupyvday.tumblr.com/. i love the variety of people on this site, sharing their messages.

usually on february 14th, i celebrate oregon's birthday instead. indeed, last year we did a whole entry on what we love about oregon. and while i am totally thrilled to celebrate oregon's 153rd birthday this year, i'd like to propose an alternative: galentine's day!

okay, so i wanted to call it "palentine's day" because it should be about all your pals, not just the gals...but apparently "palentine" is not really the right word to use in this situation...

the thing is, i don't really mind the aesthetic of valentine's day - i love pink and red. i love cute things, cards, hearts, crafts, and baked delights. it's just the message behind it all that i really dread.

so now, let's reclaim the things we love about february 14th without all that other stuff. ready? galentine's day, 2012...here we go:

make some beautiful cards, like skinny laminx:

from design sponge

or hand-painted, per the direction of designsponge:

from design sponge

or something like this, done on paint cards (as seen on casa sugar):

from casa sugar

bake some delicious sweets, like these red velvet woopie pies:

annieseats.com

try your hand at COOKIE MOLDS (if these aren't the coolest things i've ever seen, then i don't know what to tell you):

from the bakerella

or throw out the hearts, ditch the pink (blasphemy!) and the baked goods. grab the most wonderful people you know (romantically or platonically), and have a really great adventure.

what are you going to do this galentine's day?

cookie cookie cookie starts with "p"

2012-01-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

hi folks! happy new year. i know the holidays are technically "over" (does anyone else think unnecessary scare quotes are hilarious, by the way?), but my craving for holiday goodies is not, so i thought i'd share my favorite cookie recipe. they're called pfeffernusse, they're swedish, they're hard and peppery, and i always have the ingredients for them. win.

important note: this recipe has been (barely) adapted from this cookbook, which i love.

ingredients
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (i'm making these today, and i'm going to use whole wheat flour, since i ran out of all-purpose. i'll let you know how it goes)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
8 tbs butter (at room temperature)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (the recipe calls for light, but i always use medium)
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp finely chopped orange zest (sometime i skip this when i don't have any oranges, but it's definitely better with it)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

directions
1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a sil-pat.
2. in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and pepper.
3. in a large bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. beat on medium speed until well blended.
4. add the honey, egg yolk, and zest. mix until well blended. add the flour mixture. mix on low speed until blended.
5. At this point, i would chill the dough in the fridge for half an hour or so. i've found that this recipe works better when the dough is cold.
6. once chilled, place small balls of dough on the cookie sheet (the cookbook calls for a mini ice cream scoop, which would probably work great. i usually use a tablespoon). leave about 2 inches between each one. press gently on each ball to flatten it slightly.
7. bake until the edges are light brown, about 14 minutes. put the cookies on a cooling rack, and sift powdered sugar over the cookies.

these are suuuuuper good dunked in hot chocolate or tea. happy (extended) holidays!

nailed it

2012-01-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

hello cherry amours!

so i, like many others in the interweb world, am slightly addicted to pinterest (this is not a cute way of saying i'm obsessed...i really am only slightly addicted). over the break, i decided i would attempt to make some of the cute and fun things i saw on that website. now that the holiday season is over, i would like to share with you all the pinterest adventures i went on. usually, my crafting adventures are more like this:

which is to say that they're awesome.

let's divide these adventures into baking and not baking. tutorials are linked to each project.

first...not baking!

fabric key chains:

anna and i tackled these during our crafy day. i started them with the intention of making one for every person on winter camp staff. i made this one and stopped. it was hard.

camera strap cover

somehow theirs just looks so much more crisp! how? tell me your secrets, design sponge.

and now...baking things!

hot cocoa cookies

i made these with dear friends jeff and emily. i'm convinced ours would have looked just as good if i had split one in half and let you see all the gooey delicious-ness inside. you'll just have to trust me, though. they were amazing.

candy cane cookies

(i don't have a link for this...let me know if you want the recipe!)

these were delicious, but a little more crumbly than i would have liked. another recipe i found calls for brownie mix instead of cocoa powder, and that sounds way better. if anyone tries that before i get to it, let me know how it goes.

and lastly...

orange (and lemon) slice jello shots!

we tried these beauties for new years. as you can see, colleen, illustrious author of running and then blogging about it, approves. there was a little bit of adventure involved - using champagne instead of vodka, putting ice cubes in the jello to set it faster, setting the jello outside because it was colder than a refrigerator. but in the end, with a keen eye and a sharp knife (really important, it worked out very well! we did orange champagne jello in the orange slices and raspberry champagne jello in the lemon slices. let's take a closer look...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. and no disposable cups, so they're eco-friendly too!

kristen was instrumental to the slice-cutting process. without her steady hand, the project might not have been so successful. we had more jello than oranges, so we put the rest in cupcake tins for fun little jello mounds.

if you ask me, these projects were highly fantastic. i pronounce myself (and all of my friends who helped with these projects)...pinterest master! now that school has started i doubt i'll have time for many crafty adventures like this...but if i do, i'll send them along.

bisoux!

quick pretty things

2011-12-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

i love shopping for christmas presents, i really do. but while i was out shopping for other people, i happened to find a lot of things that i really liked. don't worry - with the exception of the owl wallet, i was able to restrain myself. but i still thought i'd quickly post some of my favorite things i saw while out and about...

and now, a few quick pretty things that caught my eye today:

chrysanthemum vase. i love the color combination of aqua and orange, and the pop-art feel of the flower.

anthropologie.com

penguin books postcards. i would love these for decorating, and for sending!

anthropologie.com

this is kind of a must-have for me, since puffins are my favorite bird. love it. covet.

anthropologie.com

these plates seem like the perfect intermediary between adult plates and fun plates.

anthropologie.com

a pop-up book of the little prince!!! can you believe it?? almost as good as my illustrated copy of the life of pi.

all over the internet

coeur de pirate's second cd (blonde) came out november and i completely missed it. check it out and listen to some tracks..

while we're talking about french things, i also found out today that they made a movie of one of my favorite books. i am a little worried that the movie poster says "freely inspired by the elegance of the hedgehog," however, i still want to see it. watch the trailer!

reusable produce bags! these i really need and want for my farmers market trips. and let's face it, i probably won't make them on my own.

papersource.com

paper source's annual calendar is always beautiful.

papersource.com

and finally, the one non-gift thing i did let myself purchase: a new wallet with a lyric from one of my favorite songs! heaven.

papersource.com

the end. merry merry!

tis the season for sequins

2011-12-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

ah yes. here we are. there's a chill in the air, peppermint chocolate things everywhere, and love actually is appropriate to watch again. it's beginning to feel a lot like christmas...

one of my favorite things about the holiday season is the plethora of really sparkly styles that magically rebloom every year. let's take a few minutes to embrace the sparkle, and love the sequin.

i want this dress for new years. real bad. it's my number one scout-out for after-christmas shopping.

bananarepublic.com

glitter ballet flats from j.crew. a little on the spendy side - i got a pair from gap last year for $10. but i also found a really great DIY for adding glitter to shoes here. don't forget a coat of spray-on acrylic to lock it in!

jcrew.com

i have no idea where this skirt came from, but it's been on pinterest and i'm obsessed with it. i love the spread of the sequins.

pinterest.com

glitter and sparkle doesn't have to just be for clothes, as we know. i tried this at lush the other day and loved it. it's got a subtle level of sparkle, and it smells delicious - like an appletini!

lush.com

apologies for the less-than-pro picture, but i didn't feel like getting my real camera out. this is my own sequin DIY - and a prime candidate for Take Back the Tack! i had this old sweatshirt from urban outfitters with this fun bow printed on it, but i wanted to rev it up a little for the holidays. i found a bunch of black, silver, green, and red sequins and sewed them on by hand. it took me approximately three episodes of grimm to finish the whole thing. gluing could work too, but i think sewing would probably last longer.

i recently discovered lauren conrad's beauty blog, the beauty department. i love this idea for sparkly nails! a little unconventional, a little glitzy, a little perfect.

thebeautydepartment.com

also love this eye makeup tutorial.

thebeautydepartment.com

and while we're on the subject of eye makeup, this glitter eyeliner from sephora seems like a must-have for me. it's like ke$ha meets the holidays.

i could go on and on - there are so many fun glittery things out there! but i'll leave you with these and encourage you to go explore your own sequiny sparkly style. have fun!

four holiday albums i need right now

2011-11-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

she and him. fact: i liked this band before "new girl."

(more potentially embarrassing fact: i also like "new girl").

world christmas. apparently, this cd is fantastic. i believe it.

the muppets may be the single greatest thing they've ever done, and the muppet christmas carol is my favorite christmas movie (anybody see the new film yet?). i would listen to this all the time.

pink martini's joy to the world album. actually, i already own this. and it's awesome.

what's your favorite christmas/holiday cd? (true story: i'm pretty intrigued by this hanukkah album).

also, do you listen to holiday music before thanksgiving, or do you wait? cheers, loves!

make your own crayon explosion

2011-11-22T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hello!

It's high time for another DIY post around here. This time, I'm going to talk about my experience making this:

I found the original tutorial here, but made some amendments to make it my own. Here we go!

1) First I bought a really cheap canvas, and a $1 box of crayons. Crayola has prettier colors, but their crayons cost approximately six times as much as Craft Store Brand crayons, and I don't think the colors are six times prettier.

2) This was - no joke - the hardest part. It's possible that non-discount crayons come out of the box already all lined up by color, but that's something that's included in the other $5 that I didn't spend. So all the crayons in the box were mixed up in no logical order. I took out all the blacks and browns because those are downer colors, and proceeded to line all the rest of them up in some sort of color order. This took me about a day. I would line them up on the ground and walk away. And come back and think, "what kind of blind person put that color next to that one, when it clearly goes over here?" And then my dad would come by and kindly inform me that I was obviously colorblind and this was a shade of indigo, not blue. Etc.

3) Once they were lined up to the best of my abilities, I took a hot glue gun and made a little strip of glue on the canvas. And stuck down the crayon. And strip of glue. And crayon. Approximately 50 times.

4) This is where I start to deviate from the original directions...they suggest using a hair dryer to heat the crayons, but I disagree. My brief attempt at using a hair dryer caused a momentary severe panic attack when pink crayon wax started to fly everywhere. Which leads me to the next step...

4b) Put down a dropcloth/plastic bag/anything. You'll need it, trust me.

5) Once that crisis was averted, my brother bought me a tool akin to an embossing wand (I'm fairly confident an actual embossing wand would work too). This was great because it blew really hot air at a very low speed. This gave me a lot more control over where the wax was going. This step actually goes really quickly - the crayon wax doesn't melt...doesn't melt...doesn't...then suddenly gets shiny and melts really fast. It was kind of like a game - some of the drips started going down the canvas too far and I would zap them with my wand and stop them in their tracks. Super fun. I played around with trying to influence the direction of the wax trails, etc. This step is a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure, so you can play with this as much or as little as you want.

Now it looks like this:

6) At this point, you can pretty much do anything. You can leave it. You can buy another pack of crayons, flip it around, and do the other thing from the other side. I chose to use some left-over fabric paint and stencils from a different project to paint a quote over the whole thing.

So anyway - that's it! There are a million different approaches you can take - I'm keen to try some smaller single-color ones over winter break. But this is the basic approach! Good luck!!

my cherry amour poll!

2011-11-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

hullo loves.

i'm taking an extremely quick break from endless, endless studying to ask what (to my addled grad school brain) suddenly seems like a very important question:

foxes or owls?

i ask because i feel like both woodland creatures are having a moment right now. so which do you prefer, and why? i have very strong opinions on this, by the way, which i'll share in a later post. that is all. cheers, loves.

fall festivities

2011-10-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

so it's not quite fall yet in palo alto - it's still 80 degrees and sunny, with no fall foliage to be seen. regardless, i've been thinking about fun fall looks that i would love to start piecing together.

i've made a smorgasbord for the occasion:

neon colors were my favorite thing for summer, but now that it's fall and the tans have faded, i'm looking towards bold and bright options that are a little more seasonally appropriate. circling around, we have some beautiful deco bangles from j.crew that might be an option once they go on sale, but would add a great contrasting color to an outfit. next we have a knit cream colored circle scarf from h&m...i love circle scarves, especially ones that are warm, but a little lighter. and this cream color is kind of dreamy. the gold accent necklace is also from h&m, which i like because it matches the hardware on the shoes.

next, we have sinful colors nail polish in big daddy - tangerine is my favorite color for fall, and i got this nail polish about a month ago to test out how much i actually like tangerine before investing in tangerine colored clothing. turns out i love it.

these pants, from the gap, combine two of my favorite denim styles: skinnies, and a little bit of flare. i don't go for boot cuts because they don't flatter my figure, but i really like how clean and elongating these pants are. i also like these cole haan loafers - i'm not usually into brown, but they look really nice with this color palette. plus they have some sort of nike air situation going on, so they're meant to be really comfortable. and they're on sale.

and lastly, the blazer of my dreams, from jcrew. the color is fabulous, and i love the thin collar that you could pop without looking like a tool. the asymmetrical pockets are awesome too.

so that's the fall look i aspire to achieve, once the weather turns more chilly and my pocketbook turns less empty. what fall looks are you excited to sport in the coming months?

i can't afford it friday

2011-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

i can't afford it friday is back with something i've been wanting for a looong time. friends, i give you: the home stylings of thomas paul.

these pictures were actually really hard to get, so i only added three. i highly recommend you check out his website to drool over the rest. i especially like the melamine, scarves and accessories, and pillows and home sections. happy coveting. cheers, loves.

in memoriam

2011-10-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

this post is lovingly dedicated to nerds everywhere. science nerds...

word nerds...

and nerdy nerds.

rest in peace, steve. you made being a computer nerd oh-so-very cool. may the world be blessed with a bounteous supply of dweeby smart kids just like you, forever and ever, amen.

p.s. i'm writing this on my mac.

tote notes

2011-10-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

friends, i bring sad tidings. my beloved and incredibly fabulous orange tote bag which i got at my step-brother's wedding has gone the way of all the earth. and since my only remaining powell's bag is stuffed full of rock climbing gear, it's time for a new tote. here are three etsy shops with promising options, all of which are $20 or less:

1. idiopix

i was sold on this shop when i saw the categories by which it was organized: anatomy, asian/orient, floral/birds, sealife/animal. etc. and yes, they make more than just octopi totes. i'm a sucker for the cephalopods. ba-doom ching.

2. squarepaisley design

fact 1: i will be referencing not one, but two different etsy shops with "paisley" in the title. fact 2: these totes are delightful. i particularly like the hedgehog. fact 3. this shop also makes insanely charming (and quite inexpensive) onesies, so friends-with-babies and friends-with-friends-with-babies, take note.

3. paisley magic

mustaches are awesomely silly. peacocks and giraffes are just plain awesome.

4. topshop bonus!

friends, i regret to say that this final tote is no longer in stock. however, i present it to you anyway because it is just that wonderful (and who knows... maybe it'll come back).

cheers, loves. happy toting.

ephemeral bad-assery

2011-10-04T11:53:00.001-07:00

hullo loves! i've had this post in my back pocket for a while now, and I'm really excited to share. some of you have probably seen this already, since it's been making the internet rounds, but if you haven't, then you need to. the end.

so i do not have a tattoo. i expect that i will never get a tattoo. while i've seen some i really loved (for example, see maggie gyllenhal in stranger than fiction), i'm just not that interested in something that permanent.

my marriage excluded. obviously.

anyway, even though i'm not interested in a permanent tat (are we still calling them tats? were we ever calling them tats?), i have a deep, nostalgic affection for temporary tattoos; as a kid, nothing in my sweet little wholesome life felt more vaguely illicit. so i was thrilled when i followed a link to tattly, a shop that excusively offers what it has termed "designy temporary tattoos." the best part? they're super cheap, with $5 buying you a set of two delightfully quirky, often colorful, pieces of ephemeral bad-assery. in the words of my dear friend, kathayoon, "let's browse:"

i would put the camera on my shoulder blade.

octopus tramp stamp!

rocket man would go on my shoulder.

kitchen utensils obviously need to go on ankles and feet and other sharpish places.

delightful, yes? and no, by the way: i have not actually bought one of these yet. but when i do, it will probably be this guy, because i like the way it seems both vaguely sleazy and comfortingly bookish.

which one would you wear where?

cheers, loves.

mea culpa

2011-10-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

dear amours,

so, summer happened. and it was insane (due to my crazy job, which unfortunately i can't name because i'm paranoid and i really need them to give me a good recommendation). i hardly ever saw my spouse, or my cat, or anything except windowless rooms, reluctant students, and cranky parents. with a few exceptions, good times were had by none. all of which is just my way of saying that i'm sorry for my ridiculously long absence (although obviously kathayoon took good care of you). but now i'm BACK (from outer space) with lots of good stuff to share including, as my apology to you, a week of posts. a whole week! because i love you. and I'm sorry. so stay tuned, my friends. it's going to be great.

cheers, loves,

haylie

take back the tack

2011-09-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

let's take a break from the sample project to talk about another one of my favorite things: tacky clothes.

one of my favorite fashion moves is to take something seemingly tacky and turn it into something surprisingly fun, cute, and classy. bows are a perfect example. bows can be really tacky. for example, my aunt's prom dress:

amazing bow.

but lately i've been seeing a lot of great bows around. these bows are still big, but also really wearable and adorable. let's browse...

there are bows on skirts:

modcloth.com

bows on shoes...

modcloth.com

bows on onesies (are onesies a thing now?)...

modcloth.com

bows on dresses...

on sale at katespade.com

bows on purses...

on sale at katespade.com

even bigger-than-usual bows on dress pants

jcrew.com

i found a really cute shirt at gap last week that could have a big bow on the collar (if you tied it that way), but it only came in the exact same color as my skin. bummer.

so in my first installation of our new series*, take back the tack, i challenge you to find bows! reclaim the tacky! bow down to the bow! let me know what you find - the bigger, the better. you can even make some and attach them to your clothes, if you're super crafty.

and my favorite bow so far?

this amazing hot pink tulle hair bow headband, which belongs to my fashionable friend emily. pretty fab, if you ask me.

*hopefully. let's see how long i can keep this up.

this is only a test: part three

2011-08-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

so now that you've all taken my advice on eye shadow, let's talk a little bit about skin care.

this story should sound pretty typical: i am obsessed with having perfect skin, or at least with tricking my body into thinking that i should have perfect skin. i was not blessed with great skin and was constantly reminded of this for most of my adult life. i went through a series of drugstore facial cleansers (neutrogena, etc.) before finally settling on a 10% benzoyl peroxide cleanser. the big pro of this wash was that it made my skin relatively blemish-free. the big downside was that it bleached my towels. just in case you're not following, something that bleaches your towels should probably stay away from your face. but nothing else had the same results, so i stuck with it.

in our sample expedition, we happened across the body shop. first of all, the body shop is the best place for samples ever of all time. my bathroom is covered in little tubs with green lids because they love to make you samples of things. on our trip, they made me a samples from a whole skin care regiment: seaweed facial cleanser, seaweed toner, seaweed moisturizer with spf 15, vitamin c boost, seaweed clay mask, vitamin c microderm abrasion, and a tea tree oil blemish fighter.

this may seem like a high-maintenance regiment, but only the first four are to be used on a daily basis.

it's been over a month and i've been using this line every day. to make a long story short, my skin has never looked better! it's just as clear as it was with the benzoyl peroxide, but it's brighter, smoother, and pretty much just better. also the seaweed stuff smells really good and the vitamin c skin booster feels amazing.

i ended up going to body shop and getting the cleanser, toner, and moisturizer. it would normally cost more than the drugstore stuff, however body shop has sales very often, and so i got a buy-two-get-one-free deal and it all together ended up being $21. i'm planning on getting the vitamin c boost and the blemish fade soon.

the moral of this story is that body shop is great. they make you lots of samples, their products are nice, and they are a solid company. big recommend!

until next time...!

this is only a test: part two

2011-08-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

finally, a review!

so first of all, the sample project continues to be a huge success. currently, i have 60 product samples taking over my room and bathroom. i've divided them into skin care, lotions, hair products, foundations/tinted moisturizers, primers, eye makeup, perfumes, and miscellaneous (mascaras, blushes, lip color, etc). it's overwhelming kind of.

the first thing i'd like to review is eye makeup!
i've tried a lot of eye things. my favorite eye things include:

urban decay deluxe eyeshadow in freakshow...

image courtesy of amazon.com

i have darker features and i really like this color - it's noticeable, but not insane. i can wear it to work and not feel like, well, a freakshow.

i especially liked this eyeshadow when paired with bare escentuals eye color in true gold:

image courtesy of google

in fact, of the five bare escentuals eye colors i am sampling, i like this one the best. it layers beautifully on top of other eyeshadows. for the record, i also tried queen phyllis, trophy wife, desire, chameleon. all were awesome. but this wins the most.

lastly, the hunt for the elusive eye primer! working outside all day means that my eyeshadow usually disappears by 10 in the AM. i sampled three different eye primers and the winner is...*drumroll*...bare escentuals prime time eyelid primer!

image courtesy of amazon.com

not only does this primer make it so my eyeshadow lasts through camp, it also lasted through a day in chicago humidity and - get this - a 5.5 mile run. that's right. i went running yesterday in 80 degree heat for 5.5 miles and i still had eyeshadow on at the end (with no creasing!). CRAZY.

in the end, i probably won't get the urban decay shadow because it's not a color i can wear all the time. but i am planning on getting the b.e. eye color and definitely the primer.

next time, i'll talk about my whole new chemical-free skin care regiment. it's really exciting, i promise.

also, a few of our readers started their own sample-sprees so we'll be posting their reviews as they come!

bisoux!

this is only a test: part one

2011-07-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

this is the story of an adventure.

a few weeks ago, i ran out of foundation. usually under these circumstances i would go to target and take a gamble on a new product. i have nothing against buying makeup from target, but i feel like i have a difficult skin color to match and so trying to find foundations and powders is a little bit challenging. instead, i decided to go to the mall. but being super indecisive and really cheap, i couldn't commit to anything. my indecision turned out in my benefit, however, and by the end of the trip, i had come away with a small collection of samples:

included in this collection was r&b hair product and flying fox shower gel from lush, a super silky setting powder from sephora, and a mineral veil & powder combo from bare escentuals.

later on, i was telling MCA reader amanda about this trip and she posed an interesting question: how many free samples could you get from one day at the mall?

this seemed like a challenge that had to be accepted. so today, miss amanda and i went to our local mall with the vision of spending nothing, getting lots, and most importantly, getting the opportunity to try out a lot of products that we'd never tried before.

our first round was at macy's, where we were super unsuccessful....no samples to be had. a little while later, however, we ended up at the body shop, where the staff was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and nice. we also hit up bare escentuals, sephora, l'occitane, origins, and crabtree & evelyn. at each stop, we added more to our loot, and became increasingly curious about how we would like these products once we used them. in the end, our treasure trove is impressive, exciting, and a bit daunting!

let's review!

from bare escentuals, we got...

- flawless definition volumizing mascara

- pretty amazing lipcolor

- pure radiance face shimmer

- a 10-day trial of their original foundation with brush

from l'occitane:

- brightening moisturizer mask

- protection lotion

- hydration cream

from nordstroms:

- MAC strobe liquid

- oh lola! by marc jacobs perfume (came out this morning!)

- clinique cleansers

from body shop:

- seaweed toner

- seaweed facial cleanser

- vitamin c skin boost

- pink grapefruit body butter

- vitamin c microderm abrasion

- tea tree blemish night fade

- seaweed matte spf moisturizer

- seaweed face mask

from origins:

- zero oil cleanser

from sephora:

- bare escentuals eyeshadow in queen phyllis

- stila illuminating tinted moisturizer

- stila one-step correcting primer

from crabtree & evelyn:

- eau de toilette in iris, lily, lavender, and rosewater

- rosewater body lotion

- citron body scrub (x2)

- citron body souffle (x2)

oh my gosh so much.
and so, following the success of this adventure, we are unveiling our multi-part series: this is only a test. in the next few weeks, i'm going to be testing out these products and letting you know which are my favorites. i don't intend on commenting on anything i don't like - everyone has different preferences and i don't want to give anyone a bad name. but do expect a full review of my favorite things!

let the adventure...continue!

get fancy

2011-06-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

oh my goodness. hey so guess what...turns out being back in portland and working at camp is precisely 29348234 more time-consuming than being in a doctoral program. every time i think i have something to write about, i either don't like it, or don't have time to actually write it. but it's time to make sure you know i'm still alive.

so putting flowers in your hair is nothing new. it's often times more romantic in theory than in practice. there's nothing more elegant and feminine than putting a fresh, beautiful flower in your hair. long or short, no matter the color, it works. but it's also extremely short-lived when your beautiful fresh flower wilts into an oozing brown mess. before about a week ago, though, i was opposed to the alternative: fabric flowers. i've been seeing them everywhere lately, though, so i'm starting to come around. etsy is a great place to search for a hair flower that fits your style. i like this one:

available here

i'm in love with this one and sad that it's not available anymore:

formerly from jcrew

however, the other i bought this one on supersale from jcrew. somehow a picture doesn't exist on the internet, so i had to quickly take one myself:

i love this one because it's a brooch, a hair thing, AND (though you can't *really* tell from the picture), it's neon orange.

lastly, a few months ago i made a flower brooch that i plan to start wearing as a hair flower. it was super easy - i took a length of thick ribbon and randomly folded it in on itself a bunch of times, pinching the folds together. i then randomly sewed the bottom a bunch of times so that it stayed in the shape i wanted. i then cut a few inches of pearl bead string, folded it in half, and sewed it into the middle. it looks like this:

i've seen tiny hair flowers to borderline fascinators...it seems like this accessory is experiencing a revival. fancy, fun, and perfect for summer!

bisoux!

(p.s. sorry the formatting is off on this. blogger is not cooperating and i'm way too tired to work any longer on trying to fix it....maybe i'll do better next time. or maybe blogger will. either way.)

bits and tids

2011-05-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

i had big plans to write an entry this week on reusable fruit bags, but decided i'd like to make some of my own before i write that post. instead, i'll leave you with a few tidbits:

first of all, the new album by death cab comes out tomorrow. thanks to a friend here at school, i got an early start on it and i have to say, it's gorgeous. it makes me want to close my eyes and just let the music fill my room. npr is doing a first listen today/tomorrow...check it out.

secondly, in anticipation of summer, i'm considering getting this hip pack* for work at camp:

thoughts? can i pull off a hip pack? can anyone pull off a hip pack? or should we just let this trend die once and for all?

third, and last, i read on NYT today that espadrilles are the sandal of the summer (yeah, this is what i spend my 20 articles a month on). okay - but wait - i feel like espadrilles were the sandal of last summer. and two summers ago. someone somewhere is really indignant about making espadrilles catch on, and by gum, they will keep saying they're the sandal of the summer until they actually are.

alright, well here are two pairs that i would wear:

From nordstroms.com

from target.com

okay, wait, i lied. that wasn't the last thing. this is:

my friend posted this video a few days ago and i love it. it re-inspired my scarf wearing, for sure!

a bientot!

*new marketing: it's not a fanny pack. it's a hip pack. get it? because it's hip. and it goes on your hip. not your fanny.

haylie's summer dreams

2011-05-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

kayaking and camping.

picnics and learning to can.

ginger beer and oh my, this strawberry cake.

fireflies and beach days.

cheers, loves, and happy summer. let the wild rumpus start.

stamp attack

2011-05-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

welcome to our very second craft entry! i promised this entry in my very second post, when i said that i really love rubber stamps and embossing (giving stamped images texture and shine).

well.

here we go.
this is my stamping workspace. i made it just now out of a part of my floor. it has everything i need: a hard surface (book from the library i should be reading for my dissertation), a nearby electrical outlet (for the embosser), and my materials!

let's talk for a minute about the materials. first, we have an embossing wand:

this embossing wand was a gift from my friend kristen, but you can get them at paper source. it's like a hair dryer in that it gets really hot except it doesn't blow air very hard so your embossing powder won't go flying everywhere.

next, we have embossing powder:

also from paper source, this is what goes on top of the ink to make the stamp look, well, embossed. you can get it in lots of colors, including translucent, so the color you'll get from the embossing is just the color of your ink pad. my embossing powder is a nice, bright white. i only have this one, but next i want to get a blue sparkly one.

and of course, you have to have stamp pads:

and stamps!

i've really wanted to get into stamping for a long time, but the stamps were always prohibitively expensive. i started getting them as gifts (the sprig, bunny, and elephant are from my friend chris, the dragonfly is from kristen, the heart ring is from renee, and the ant is from my old boss) and then i started finding the sale bin (the bird one i got for a dollar! put a bird on it!) and growing my collection that way. the last stamp is clearly the most amazing stamp ever made; kristen had it made for me in madagascar. it's my seal of approval.

okay! so what do you DO with these things? i like to make stationary with my stamps. first, you stamp the image on a piece of paper (an envelope, in this case):

then, you cover it in embossing powder (really quick, so the powder sticks to the ink before it dries):

covered!

shake the excess powder back into the tub. that stuff is like gold.

then, wave your magic embossing wand over the image for 5-7 seconds. you'll see the image start to raise and become shiny.

tada!! i tried to capture the texture in the picture. i hope you can tell. it feels really cool.

and it's that easy! let's look at all the things i made in 10 minutes.

and there you go! so fun. happy stamping!

the queen of prints

2011-05-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

boujour, amours!

today i'd like to chat about a lovely local (to portland) designer, rebecca pearcy. as the founder and president of queen bee creations, rebecca's faux leather bags are super popular in the city of roses. i personally preferred bags from the now-defunct skull cat design* but, her's are lovely, and you can't seem to throw a stone in portland without hitting someone who has one (not that you would want to).

but now, rebecca is rolling out a new line of textiles that are TDF (to die for!). i'm obsessed. right now, she's doing simple totes and tea towels. i really want this one:

photo courtesy of queenbee-creations.com

BUT more than i want a cute little bee who loves portland, just like me, i want this:

photo courtesy of queenbee-creations.com

could it be anymore perfect?? it's yellow AND it has ginkgo leaves, which you know i love, if you've read our extensive side-bar biographies. it's a little steep for a grad student budget, but not unmanageable. also, my birthday's coming up...!

perhaps even more exciting, rebecca is considering selling the fabrics (which she prints herself) so that people can make their own beautiful things with these prints. i'm already making a list of the things i'd want to create...

if you want to see more, (like a really adorable scissor print, and a put-a-bird-on-it print) go here!
if you want to read the oregonlive article about rebecca pearcy (and peruse the photo gallery, which i highly recommend), go forth. pay special attention to the scissor pillows. i love those.

i really want to go to her studio when i get back to oregon next month. expect a follow-up entry when i do!

bisoux!

*i have to show off the skullcat bag i have because i love it and it cost me a whole day's paycheck but it was worth it. aren't you just a little bit jealous?

hats off

2011-04-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

in honor of the royal wedding, let's talk about...hats!!

i secretly really love hats. they're hard to wear not-in-the-winter, though, because they can instantly make you look overdressed. somehow, the moment you put on that one accessory, people start saying, "a hat? oh, so now you're a hat person?" or "what are you all dressed up for?" things like that. they're probably just hiding their jealousy that you can pull of hats, though, because hats are awesome.

so with a nod to want-it-but-can't-afford it friday, let's talk about what philip treacy hat i would have worn if i had gone to the royal wedding.

from polyvore.com

or maybe....

from philip treacy's summer 2011 collection

that one. yes. i love that one. wearing a hat like this would require me to look demure pretty much constantly. it's hard work, but someone has to do it.

ahh. if only. well, and while we're talking about hats, no discussion of hats would be complete without a nod to the kentucky derby. if i were going to the derby, my hat would look like this...

from hatagories.com

for the derby, that might be aiming a little low. but it's black and pink and shimmery and a little bit tacky. just my style.

happy friday!!

doncha think?

2011-04-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

llama font. let me tell you, amours: this is a good time had by all. and don't you think it's true, by the way? foxes and llamas. very in right now.

book candy

2011-04-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

hullo there, amours. remember me? alas, finals approacheth, and with the added bonus of not only a heavy school load but a heavy work load, i've been running ragged for quite some time. in fact, the only reason i have time to write now is because i'm waiting on a book from the library's special collections. so here i am! i've missed you.

faithful readers will remember that, being a literature student, i appreciate a beautiful book cover. so i had to share these extraordinary embroidered (embroidered!!!) book covers by jillian tamaki. they're making the blog rounds, so you might have seen them before, but i thought i'd throw them up here just in case. the one of black beauty literally made me gasp.

may all books be pretty and lend themselves to easy essays. amen.

cheers, loves.

zoo to-do

2011-04-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

as a "happy monday!" i'd like to show you some beautiful vintage zoo posters from around the world. my friend chris in new york sent me the link to these yesterday and i thought i'd pass them along to you...

those are just a few of my favorites. the rest can be found here, at flavorwire. i have two half-page vintage poster replicas from the copenhagen zoo hanging on my wall, but i would love to decorate my house with some of these!

if you want some of your own, all posters and zazzle have some pretty reasonably priced pieces.

happy monday!

guys. guys. drop everything.

2011-04-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

i just discovered this website:
TAGXEDO

i'm already trying to think of ways to incorporate it into my research, but it's SO FUN. i made a word cloud for MCA:

apparently we like neon things.

you can also make them be shaped like animals, continents, lots of different shapes...

like a baby elephant!

so fun. and free.

happy word clouding!

magnetic fields

2011-04-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

you'll be happy to know that i made it to my office and have returned with enough photos to write our first crafty post!!

so crafts are my favorite thing. in my mind, a fun activity is to start crafting after lunch and keep crafting late into the night. usually i like these craft days to involve friends, buffy, and chipotle.

over christmas break, i went to craft warehouse seeking inspiration. i like craft warehouse better than joann or michael's when it comes to chain craft stores. the inspiration i found led me to create this:

a magnetic message board with cute glass magnets! so let's break this down a little bit. it's very easy, and totally fun!

first, the message board part. you need:

- a big sheet of metal, this one is about 12"x12"

- glue (elmers will do)

- paper to cover the metal (i just used a single piece of 12"x12" paper)

- block of wood (alternatively, you could attach some string or wire and hang it)

in order to get the glue to lay flat, i used a sponge brush and watered down the glue just a little bit, so it was more easily spreadable. cover the sheet evenly with glue, then stick on your paper! that part is done. so easy.

now the next part, making the magnets, is probably more important because you can use them with or without the magnetic board....on your fridge, metal desk, and anywhere else far away from your computer. for these, you need:

- glass drops or glass gems (often used for home decorating)

- diamond glaze or another clear paper adhesive

- paper of your choosing (preferably a little thicker)

- magnets

- hot glue gun

for this, put a small circle of diamond glaze on the back of the glass drop, in the center. it doesn't have to cover the whole drop. immediately (or pretty quickly) press it down onto the part of the paper that you want to see through the glass. press it down so the glaze spreads over the whole back of the drop. let it dry (should only be a couple minutes), then cut the paper around the glass drop. use a hot glue gun to fix magnets to the back of the paper.

and voila! so simple! here's the craft warehouse instructions for the magnets, though they do it a little differently. both ways work! let's look at some pictures of the final product...

i'm a big fan. they're completely addictive because they only take a couple seconds each to make, and they're wonderful gifts. you can also use stickers to write words on the paper, or use your own art! (these are all made from craft paper). before you commit to a design, try moving the glass drop over a couple different areas of the paper - that way you can get a sense for how it'll look before you apply the glaze!

good luck!! happy crafting!

tasty tide-over

2011-04-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

so i am planning on doing my first DIY crafting post tomorrow...or soon...but before i can write about this specific craftiness, i have to take pictures of it. and my samples are in my office, which is all the way down the street.

so while i gather up the energy to make the long trek over to my workspace, i thought i'd post a quick little follow-up to a recent post we did! if you remember, katie hawkes told us about the wonders of coconut milk, amongst other things. well, i was inspired to try some of her ideas so i make mango sticky rice! truthfully, i used basmati rice so it's a little less than sticky, but it's SO GOOD. here's how it got made:

1/2 cup of rice in the rice maker with 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of coconut milk, and roughly 1/8* cup of sugar.
while that's getting nice and cooked...
1/2 cup of coconut milk with another 1/8 cup of sugar, brought to a boil (this becomes the sauce).
chop up a whole, ripe mango.

when the rice is done, put it on a plate, arrange the mango slices on top, and pour the sauce over the whole thing.

VOILA. instant delish.

stay tuned for impending craftiness coming in the next couple days!

*okay fine, not an actual measurement. but i put in 1/4 cup and it seemed a little too sugary, so i suggest trying less.

color me neon

2011-03-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

hello cherry amours! apologies for my absence - i spent the last week exploring cape town, south africa with my dear friend, julie goodness (1/2 of the megafauna t-shirt team). i was hoping to pick up some style and design things to share with you guys while abroad. to my great surprise and excitement, i found a british style magazine touting just the fashions that i had previously planned to write about anyway. hooray!

so let's talk about color. this conversation could go in many directions - color combinations, color palettes, shades, etc. specifically, i want to talk about neon colors, for two reasons: 1) neons are my favorite color group, and 2) they are the new colors for spring/summer 2011, by my research.

i feel like a lot of people shy away from neon colors because they feel like neons don't compliment their skin tone. it's absolutely true that neons should be approached with caution, lest you look like a madonna-ripoff. if you are neon-shy, i would suggest starting with some neon nail polish, like these from milani cosmetics (found at target, CVS, etc):

Photo from milanicosmetics.com

currently, i have neon yellow and neon pink. i've found that many of the neon colors, for some reason, chip easily, so you might consider pairing them with a no-chip top coat. neon nails are a safe starter, and they look GREAT with a healthy summer tan.

if you're a bit more bold, you might consider this neon sports bra from target - i have it in pink, and i'm highly considering the orange as well.

while not exactly for the under-funded, american apparel has a fair amount of neon colored stuff - awhile back i got my first piece of neon clothing from them, the jersey bandeau tie-it-a-million-ways dress in "coral" (though i like to think of it more as "radical red"). when it comes to neon clothes, i like to think of it as a treasure hunt, trying to find the best and brightest pieces wherever i go. let me know if you find anything you love in neon!

and lastly, my double dog dare to you (and myself!) is neon colored lipstick. i haven't tried it yet, so i don't have a ton of suggestions, but the best place to start would probably be with corals (if you have light brown hair, fairer complexion), fuschias (if you're darker, like me), or pinks (which pretty much look good on everyone). start at your drugstore, that way if you don't like it, you only spent $5. with neon lipsticks, downplay everything else (make-up and outfit). i'm going to start with something like this...

or this...

and work my way up from there....

good luck! have a bright and colorful day!!

anywhere but here monday

2011-03-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

it's absolutely freezing in dc on this sad, sad monday morning (unlike other places, like, say south africa!!!), and i'm feeling some serious wanderlust. although i have a rotating mental list a mile long of places i'd like to go, um, now, iceland is always in the top three. i'm either one-eighth or one-sixteenth icelandic (i forget), a heritage i'm super proud of (one time in undergrad i had an assignment that involved heritage, and when i told my professor that i was icelandic he said "of course you are!" it was awesome). iceland seems breathtakingly beautiful, don't you think? and if that isn't enough, it also has a 99% literacy rate. so it's mysterious, wild, and well-read. sold.

inspired by iceland video from here

fun fact: this song by emiliana torrini is my very. favorite. song. ever.

cheers, loves

spring chicken

2011-03-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

whoa - with kathayoon gone to africa (lucky lucky duck!) i guess the blogging responsibilities have fallen to me. sorry i've been gone so much... grad school will get ya, it turns out. but today i have a new idea to run by you. did you ever play with barbies growing up? i was never much of a barbie girl myself. most of my barbie memories involve our rabbit, sadie joyce, ripping their hair out to make nests. i also vaguely remembering assembling them into a small community before stopping all over them a la godzilla. in fact, does anyone have barbie memories that aren't gruesome? or that might just be me. anyway, i digress. the point is, one of the few things i remember actually liking about barbie were all of the different jobs she did. pet doctor barbie!* doctor barbie! research scientist barbie! i admired her ability to try on so many different hats. actually, maybe that's not a good metaphor. i admired... her ability to explore so many different career options. i also admired her ability to walk, given her proportions and all.

so. here is my idea. remember my post about artist supplies? i had a really good time putting that together, and i think the reason was because it allowed me to be a little bit - deep breath - like artist barbie. so i think i'll make this a regular thing. and today being the first day of spring and all, i've decided to take the plunge. behold... chicken farmer barbie.**

keeping chickens by ashley english; barnheart shirt by jenna woginrich of cold antler farm (the original barnheart!); swedish flower hens from greenfire farms; beater jeans from your bottom drawer; heirloom seeds from terrain; tall hunter boots in merlot. oh hunter boots: when oh when will you be mine?

what are your fantasy careers?***

*veterinarian barbie was a little much, i guess.
**i need to come up with a better name for this feature. thoughts?
***that sounds a little racy... but you know what? bring it on.

let the good times roll

2011-03-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

in a few hours, i'll be south africa-bound, on a journey to the other side of the earth. but before i leave, i wanted to leave you with a little something i love.

a lot of my friends don't think a lot about perfume, and that's totally logical. it's expensive, it can be a bit frivolous, and there's a high risk you might end up reeking of chanel no. 5 like your grandmother. but i am here to propose a solution, and a rationale. first, the rationale.

a few years ago, i found a sweatshirt in the back of my car. it could have belonged to any one of my friends, it was cute and small. so it sat and sat and no one claimed it. one day when i was cleaning out my trunk, i took it out. after examining it and failing to determine the owner, i gave it a quick sniff. i knew instantly who it belonged to - it smelled like her perfume. from that point on, i because obsessed with having a signature scent. something lovely that people smell and say, "that smells like kat!"

but finding a signature scent is not a job to be taken lightly. i had a lot of perfume - one of my best friends had a stint working at the perfume counter at macy's - but none of them seemed signature-worthy. then, i went to sephora and happened upon these:

Photo courtesy of Sephora

rollerball perfume! at less than $20 a pop, these are amazing. i bought this juicy couture one to try out the scent and voila! fell in love. i now own the Real Thing, but i keep this rollerball in my purse at all times, for travel or touch-ups (though i'm not really enough of a grown-up to remember to touch up my perfume yet. some day...).

so if you're keen on smelling like lovely things, but don't want to commit to a $100 bottle of perfume, try these little buddies. just roll them over the insides of your wrist and neck, and you're set to go! highly recommend.

adieu, my cherry amours! i'll be back in a week with some cape town styles...bisoux!

honey, we have guests

2011-03-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

i would like to present to you our very first guest post from san diego native katie hawkes, author of the world is delicious. after reading our charismatic megafauna post, she decided to write up some of her favorite things for our blog. according to katie, "some of [these things] are super cheap, some less so, but when i think about spending money i always ask myself: how many times will i use this, and if i paid a penny/a dime/some other reasonably tiny sum every time i used it, would it be worth it? and all of these things TOTALLY are."

thanks, katie! and without further adieu, here is her list...

coconut milk.

it's kind of weird and a lot of people don't use it because they don't know what to do with it, but here are some high points:

1. it's vegan, if you're into that;

2. it's freakin delicious;

3. it can swing either sweet or savory, a rare and phenomenal bi-gustatory quality. and 4. if you're trying to impress people (and even when you're not), it makes ordinary things extraordinary. here is a list of ordinary things that are incredible with coconut milk in them:

rice (substitute for some of the water when you cook it)
oatmeal (also substitute for some of the water)

pancakes (substitute for some of the water, and then for even MORE awesomeness add chopped fruit, like apple or banana or pretty much anything)
mashed sweet potatoes (add while mashing, toss in some cinnamon/ginger and honey/brown sugar and butter - HELL YES)
any kind of sweet squash (butternut, pumpkin, etc)
soup (especially chicken broth-based ones, and ones that involve citrus ingredients)
substitute for the liquid in anything you bake (eg. banana bread)
curry (just add ready-made curry paste)
any kind of smoothie or shake (+ rum = pina colada time!)
cook/marinade chicken or any kind of seafood in it, +lime = awesome.

guava paste.

i don't know if this is available in all grocery stores, but since i found it in a generic connecticut grocery store where you ask for quinoa and get nothing but quizzical looks, you might be surprised. it's probably in the hispanic foods section. it is mad cheap usually, like less than a dollar. AND IT IS DELICIOUS. It's kind of like solid guava jam. you slice it. it's good with cheese and crackers, melted with any kind of dessert, with cream cheese in puff pastry, and it can also add an interesting sweet/tropical note to savory things, like chicken or pork recipes. it's another one of those things that is not actually that special if you think about it (or if you're from a tropical country), but no one's ever heard of it here in the US and pretty much any use of it (even sliced and slapped onto some random hors d'oeuvre) will immediately impress people with your worldliness and culinary savoir faire. WIN.

powdered buttermilk.

it can be found in the baking aisle usually - you may (like me) have never actually noticed it, but it's not uncommon. originally i got this from [my friend] julie, who changed my life with the pancake recipe on the side of the canister, and whose mom gave me some as a present, but then i realized that you can add it to pretty much everything you bake, and it makes things at least 70% moister/more awesome. things i've added it to include not only pancakes but also cornbread, banana bread, and various cakes and cupcakes. the internets have great ideas for stuff to do with it. just get some and see where fate leads you. your life will be better. seriously.

pure beech jersey knit sheets

image from bed bath & beyond

according to BB&B, "these unique sheets are made from a modal™ blend, which is a high-strength fiber regenerated from the beechwood tree of europe. the result is a fabric that is extremely soft and light as silk." although they're a little on the pricey side, at least for me ($50 for a set of full sheets/pillowcases), they are SO WORTH IT. and if you're super poor, like me, you really only need one set, haha. they're even softer than flannel, and much lighter. basically if you like going to sleep at night embraced by fluffy clouds and rainbows and happiness, these are for you. CAUTION: purchase with care. if you acquire these, you may never want to get out of bed again. ever. it can be problematic.

REI.

so, REI is basically one of my favorite things in life. although known by many as the Really Expensive Item store (which, okay, it is), it gets a bad rap, and i want to clear things up. if you are at all into stuff that might even tangentially be called "outdoors-y," it is THE place to get things. here is why:

(1). if you need a general class of thing (like hiking boots, or a backpack, or a flashlight, or a coffee mug) but are kind of clueless about what precisely will most enrich your life, the salespeople know EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING and will hang out with you for a like a million years and listen to all your needs and concerns and existential quandaries, and then recommend exactly what you need, and then (if necessary) fit you for it and make sure it's exactly right. they have no incentive to send you home with something that's not right for you because

(2) you can return EVERYTHING. ANYTIME. after ANY AMOUNT OF TIME. and if you're a member ($20 for a lifetime membership), you don't even have to keep receipts to get a full refund or exchange. so basically once you buy something there, you have it FOREVER. oh, and i've never tried it, but i've heard that if you buy something there and lose it (and you're either a member or have the receipt), they'll give you a mad discount on a new one.

(3) you can rent some things for really reasonable rates, like rock-climbing gear, or bike stuff, or a whole slew of things. you know, if you're just trying something out and don't want to invest in the equipment quite yet. And lastly,

(4) stuff is expensive, but the key is being an expert stalker (which, come on, you probably already are. right now you're reading a style blog and you probably checked facebook within the last ten minutes. who are we kidding). things go on sale all the time. there is an outlet (rei-outlet.com) which periodically has coupons (eg. extra 20% off one item), and members not only get a 10% dividend on anything they buy full-price, but there is usually a once- or twice-yearly member coupon for some percent off a full-price item. in sum, there is rarely a reason to buy anything full-price. in the last year i have worked at a zoo and a national park, and on any given day at either of these jobs i was wearing at least 90% REI stuff.

and that's katie's list! if you have a list you would like to submit, or even just an idea, or one single thing, send us a comment!

happy tuesday!

hope

2011-03-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

i find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. i do not judge the universe.

-dalai lama

dearest cherry amours, i hope you and everyone you love are safe. it's a small world, after all. cheers, loves.

charismatic megafauna

2011-03-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

today i would like to write about something very near and dear to my heart:

other people giving me presents.

a few months ago, i opened my mailbox to find a package full of the most amazing shirts i have ever seen. these shirts were made by my dear roommate julie goodness, and our former next door neighbor andy melien. andy had been talking about making these shirts for awhile, but i never imagined they'd end up so glorious. i wear my shirts with pride and get envious looks every time i do. let's look at some pictures of pretty people modeling these shirts...

here are some pictures of the shirt-making process...

one of those is probably mine! as you can probably tell, they've gone global. in my neck of the woods, i've been sporting these four designs:

the neon pink color of this one is absolutely my favorite, plus it has an elephant (ancestor) on it.

i also really like that one because the silver is kind of sparkling against the navy blue.

but that one is probably my favorite, for the awesomeness factor. (did you know that spell checker will get you for sparkly, but not for awesomeness?).

anyway, these shirts are great. mine are super comfortable and perfectly fitted, even with a tank top on underneath (for added length). andy screens them himself, which makes them roughly 10,000 times better than anything you could get in stores. if you are desiring some of these for your own, andy says he is going to post them on etsy in the coming months. rest assured that i will forward that etsy shop onto you when he does.

happy tuesday!

a little tide over

2011-03-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

i'm waiting on a couple things before i make my next post, which will be very cool and special because it's about something you're never seen before (unless you're one of the three people that owns this mysterious thing)!

in the meantime, i stumbled across this jacket on modcloth (when procrastinating) tonight:

Photo courtesy of ModCloth

one of my least favorite things about spring fashion is all the pastels that suddenly show up. vintage, dusty pastels are pretty. easter pastels are not. at least, not on me. they look good on people with fairer complexions, which again, is not me. so i've been on the hunt for bright spring pieces. i recently purchased this cardigan in green thumb, and love it.

i'm back and forth on this one though - worth it? what do you think? must-have, or skippable?

ebert says you can draw, and so do i

2011-03-03T06:11:00.000-08:00

many of you probably already know how admiring i am of roger ebert. he's part of the reason i'm at grad school - i fell in love with criticism through watching his show as a kid (how that translated to literature is a different question for a different day). i read all of his reviews as well as his blog, and i was recently touched and inspired by a post called you can draw, and probably better than i can. "everyone can draw until we are told or convince ourselves that we cannot," he writes. we start out drawing everything we can see until the day comes when it is pointed out that our drawing of a dog, for instance, looks nothing like a dog. Then we begin to believe we cannot draw." his point isn't that we can all draw realistically and accurately, but that that needn't be the goal. instead, here is what he suggests:

begin with a proper sketch book. finish each drawing you begin, and keep every drawing you finish. no erasing, no ripping out a page, no covering a page with angry scribbles. what you draw is an invaluable and unique representation of how you saw at that moment in that place according to your abilities. that's all we want. we already know what a dog looks like.

i find this incredibly inspiring and have been thinking about it a lot over the past few days. i love to draw (although i lack any and all representational abilities), and i should do it more. on the hunch that maybe you do, too, i've gathered us some supplies.

1. artist's scarf. because cold necks stifle creativity
2. derwent graphic pencils
3. pencil pouch
4. moleskine sketchbook
5. (french) seagull tote for carting your supplies to all of the lovely and interesting places you want to draw
6. Inspiration by the immortal quentin blake (plus klutz books!)
7. watercolor sketchbook kit for when you're feeling especially inspired

go forth and create (and leave the eraser at home). cheers, loves.

a totally non-academic reading list

2011-03-01T05:08:00.000-08:00

whoa, folks. it's gotten busy around here (i can't speak for kat, of course, but i bet it's busy in palo alto, too). between papers, presentations, an unfortunately timed cold, and two upcoming conferences, i'm barely managing to do the reading for my classes. i certainly haven't been diving into any of the following, all of which have been on my list for a long time. le sigh. read them for me and tell me how they are, ok?

*packing for mars by the insanely wonderful mary roach.
*the botany of desire by the also crazily wonderful michael pollan
*i know i am, but what are you? by samantha bee (of the daily show)
*the bucolic plague by john kilmer purcell.

*note: all links provided by powells. support independently owned businesses!
*second note: for mary roach's daily show interview, go here. and be advised: this is probably my favorite thing ever.

cheers, loves.

can't-afford-it-friday

2011-02-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

sigh.

true confessions: i'm obsessed with kate spade. you're probably thinking...wasn't she a thing when we were in, like, high school? maybe. i was too busy trying to tame my traffic cone hair back then to focus on my clothes. but i am making up for lost time and love. her.

i mean, it's pretty easy to tell why. the prints! the styles! THE COLORS. it's like someone looked inside my brain and found all the things i love and put them in a designer. everything is so BRIGHT. she makes it look like summer all year 'round. but, of course, it's completely out of my reach. one day, a long time ago, i found a pair of lace-up-the-leg red canvas kate spade flats for $20. it was the best fashion day of my life. but, since that was the peak, it's all been downhill from there and i'm left to only lust at the things i'll ~~never~~ someday when i'm rich and famous be able to afford.

didi heels

anemone josie dress (anemone!)

cobble hill leslie handbag

piper stud earrings

crystal kaleidoscope necklace

happy friday!!

your best friends' clothes

2011-02-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

sorry for the absence! i decided to take four days off from grad life and head back to portland. my "happy birthday, oregon" entry made me nostalgic, i think.

but today, i would like to talk about your best friends' clothes. and how to make them your own.

over the summer, my friend zoe (with umlauts) was thinning out her closet in preparation for a trip abroad. when i was at her house one day, she had put out a collection of dresses that she was giving away. i managed to get away with an excellent checker print belted dress from england, and a lovely teal h&m party dress. i don't have pictures of these things right now, so i drew you a picture (but not of the checker dress, because that was too hard):

isn't it pretty? it also sparkles which makes it perfect for the evening times.

a few weeks later, my friend colleen was also cleaning out her closet. i ended up taking away a blue cashmere sweater, and a lovely pink spring skirt, both from j.crew. here is my artistic interpretation of those pieces:

in other news, drawing things on paint is hard. i don't know how hyperbole and a half does it.

i really like swapping clothes with my friends because i really hate thrift stores. i really hate thrift stores because i am a germaphobe, especially when it comes to other peoples' germs, especially when they're people i don't know. the benefit of swapping clothes with my friends is that i know zoe and colleen are clean, hygiene-observing people, so my germ-alarms do not go off.

organizing clothing swaps with friends can be as all-out as organizing a whole event with food and wine, or as simple as just putting things in bags and letting someone sift through them while you do other things. give it a try! and let us know what treasures you come away with....

comfort tuesday

2011-02-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

hullo loves. like everyone else in the country, i have succumbed. i'm sick. i know it's been a while since you've heard from us, so i thought i'd quickly throw together my four favorite things for sick, rainy tuesdays.

1. capri blue volcano candle, currently burning next to me. the description cracks me up: tropical fruits, sugared oranges, lemons, and limes, redolent with lightly exotic mountain greens. hilarious.
2. yogi tea; egyptian licorice blend. totally sweet. totally delicious. it probably also has a hilariously overwrought description but i'm too lazy to get the box. maybe later.
3. stranger than fiction. my favorite film in the history of ever. really. wonderful for everyone, but especially delightful for literary-types.
4. warm and fuzzy blankets. i've got my eye on these pretties from mexchic.
5. (bonus) my cat, creature, on my lap.

what comforts you when you're sick? feel better, america.

cheers, loves.

i can't afford it friday

2011-02-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

hey loves. remember those slick glasses from a couple weeks ago? well, here's what i'd wear them with.

*top and bag from ruche

*jeans, heels, and hat from anthropologie (hence the appropriateness of this post for "i can't afford it friday"

*and of course, my beloved fleet foxes

print palooza

2011-02-17T05:23:00.000-08:00

apparently, an entire week has gone by since i've posted. yowza. i'll try to work on that, shall i? anyway, here are two lovely print shops for a pretty thursday morning.

the brilliant magpie

the brilliant magpie is a huge etsy shop with tons of watercolor prints by amy abshier reyes. and although i think these postcard-sized prints are lovely and interesting on their own, the price tag certainly helps: $5 for a gen-u-ine art print. these would make great gifts, don't you think?

the animal print shop

i am absolutely obsessed (really) with sharon montrose's animal prints. i want all of them (although maybe especially the camel... or the fox... or the geese... or the kangaroo... and holy crap, when did she add the baby porcupine?). just as a note: i gave a friend of mine the baby giraffe print at her baby shower for the nursery, and it was a huge hit.

cheers, loves, and happy thursday (it's the new friday).

postscript: if you check out anything from that embarrassingly gushy list, it should be the baby porcupine. trust me.

happy birthday, oregon!

2011-02-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

so, here's something about me: i really despise valentine's day. this is saying something, considering how much i like the color pink. but being single on valentine's day is like being muslim on christmas (which i also have experience with): you can choose to celebrate it in your own way, but in the end, the holiday's not really meant for you.

which is why i am thrilled to let you know that oregon and arizona's birthdays both fall on february 14th. this is great because it gives me something to celebrate. so in honor of oregon's birthday, here are some fun and lovely things that come from the beaver state:

1. great music.

picture from pitchfork

oregon is home to literally thousands of bands. i'm choosing to feature the decemberists because even though they've hit mainstream, they're quintessential portland/oregon. other notable bands from oregon (or with band members from oregon) include blind pilot, blitzen trapper, elliott smith, yacht, sleater-kinney, pink martini, the dandy warhols, menomena, starfucker, the thermals, and yes, courtney love. she grew up in portland!

2. amazing food and drink.

pretty much anywhere in oregon has great food and drink. the coast has awesome seafood. eastern oregon is home to the deschutes brewery. and portland has tons of brewhouses, distilleries, the mcmenamin's brothers pubs (highly recommend the kennedy school and the cornelius pass roadhouse), amazing desserts (especially at the rimsky-korsakoffee house, the pied cow, pix patisserie and papa haydns), great dinner (old spaghetti factory was born there, also montage and a good selection of ethnic foods), and great happy hours (portland city grill suddenly becomes classy AND affordable, and bartini is a favorite).

the cornelius pass roadhouse, one of my favorite spots

3. wonderful arts and crafts

you don't have to go far in oregon to find beautiful things. saturday market is full of fun crafts of all kinds, for all kinds of prices. two of my favorite oregonian artisans are beggar's tomb silver (i am obsessed with those brushed silver ginkgo biloba earrings) and yed omi (she makes the jewelry i wish i could make).

ginkgo earrings from beggar's tomb silver, image courtesy of that site

4. a million other things, like...

- tillamook cheese

- pendleton blankets

- marionberry everything

- the oregon country fair

- bicycle culture/rancher culture/cowgirl culture/outdoorsy culture/hipster culture

- farmers markets and farms galore

- everything roses

- moonstruck chocolates

- burgerville sustainable fast food

- oregon wines and vineyards

- and a dozen other things that i'm sure i'm forgetting.

so happy 152nd birthday, oregon! thanks for everything, we love you!

can't-afford-it-friday

2011-02-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

okay. get ready for a can't-afford-it-friday double feature.

so i've never really been a tiffany kind of girl...i like their things just fine (i'm a sucker for silver), but i can't get behind how much they charge for their pretty things. i just finished reading (don't make fun of me) lock and key by sarah dessen...nothing like a little teen lit for a grad student. anyway the main object of significance in this book was a key-shaped necklace and as i read, i started thinking about how i really liked the sound of it. if i had the dough, i would drop it on this (tiffany & co fleur de lis pendant):

Picture courtesy of silverjewelryblog.net

and secondly, i LOVE pretty prints, and i REALLY LOVE this one:

Picture courtesy of the Keep Calm Prints Gallery

i am constantly longing to be at the beach and this would be perfect in my future dream beach house that doesn't exist yet. or on my wall. bring on the beach!

happy friday! bisoux!

it's funny 'cause it's true

2011-02-11T06:53:00.000-08:00

Print by Casey Ohngren. Want.

yellow owl workshop stamps

2011-02-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

valentine's day cards did not happen this year, to my sadness and embarrassment (i looove making cards). i had the greatest idea, too... maybe i'll throw together a digital version and post it here. however, lest you think i've lost my crafting mojo, i wanted to share these delightful (and relatively inexpensive, especially if you use them a lot) stamp sets from yellow owl workshop, a store which, p.s., also sells amazing cards and pendant necklaces.

there are about a gazillion more of these, each of which is delightful. just sayin'.

cheers, loves.

fun with food

2011-02-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

my cherry amour for this week is my new waffle maker:

Image from the Googs.

i bought this waffle maker in an after-christmas sale for really cheap. i'd never made waffles before, but there were elephants involved in this adventure, so i decided to give it a try. let's look at a picture i took of the wafflely part:

as you can see, you can make elephant, lion, and clown-shaped waffles. the clown ones are a bit weird so i usually just end up with a lot of cats and pachyderms. it heats up quickly, and the non-stick iron works like a charm - clean up is extremely minimal. i don't have any pictures of the waffles i made because i ate them all, but rest assured that they were the cutest waffles of my life. making waffles is now a critical part of my sunday morning routine. highly recommend.

if you want more information, click.

and if you have any waffle recipes you'd like to send my way, i would much appreciate.

bisoux!

sunday supplement

2011-02-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

a little something to tide you over until our next post...

from the stylings of jason polan, as seen on design crush.

don't you love it?

i can't afford it friday

2011-02-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

hullo amours. i'm thrilled to introduce our first ever regular feature. we're calling it "i can't afford it friday." kathayoon and i are dedicated to featuring design and style that is actually accessible for those in our income brackets on this blog, but that doesn't mean we can't dream. so every friday kat or i (or both of us) will feature something we love, something we can't live without... only, we have to. 'cause it's too expensive.

first up are these wood frame glasses (with clear lenses!) from la garconne ($208). i don't actually need glasses, but have always wished that i did (don't think i don't hear you groaning, glasses wearers). i would have absolutely no problem donning a pair of poser glasses, especially if they were as pretty as these. in fact, i think they would make me more believable as a phd candidate. can i consider them an investment in my intellectual future?

glasses from la garconne via i am a greedy girl. le sigh.

cheers, loves.

airbnb

2011-02-01T05:42:00.000-08:00

i think our blog's motto (style, fashion, and design for the overambitious and under-funded) is particularly appropriate, in my case at least, when it comes to travel. my travel plans are invariably overambitious (a week's stay at a cottage in the woods! yoga class every morning! in-house massage!) and deeply under-funded (helloooo two nights max at the hyatt). so i think my absolute obsession with airbnb.com, a website in which real-life people list real-life properties, including full apartments/houses and room to rent, is understandable. many of the apartments/rooms are shockingly affordable (although there are some fantasy apartments, too), and you can list your own place (note: if i had discovered this sooner, i would absolutely have listed our apartment in portland anytime I knew we were going to be out of town). anyway, see for yourself (note: these are all full apartments/homes for rent. there are many, many rooms for much cheaper):

"apple a day" schoolhouse in andes, ny: $105/night

101 central apartment in reykjavik, iceland: $123/night

pacific view cottage in occidental, ca: $110/night

and one fantasy:

oliko suite on santorini, greece: $534/night (but it accommodates 4!)

cheers, loves.

Reed diffusers and Sephora

2011-01-31T18:11:00.000-08:00

this weekend i indulged in a little bit of retail therapy - the kind that starts out as a quick trip to target to get some shampoo and ends with me seriously contemplating how much i want groceries versus how much i want a new scarf. but let's discuss two things that came out of this trip:

reed diffusers

i've been obsessed with reed diffusers for about six months now. i feel like i always see them in really classy homes - the kinds that are owned or decorated by interior designers. a good (pay attention to that word - it's important) reed diffuser instantly adds a sort of modern elegance. plus, the scent is nice too. also, i feel like they were all over the place during the holiday season. lastly, i noticed that they were always a little out of my price range. specifically, the one i had my eyes on was from pottery barn, which most definitely made it out of my price range. while at target, however, i went to the dollar section to see if i could find some cheap frames for my office. i didn't find frames, but i did find mini reed diffusers for a dollar! my choices were vanilla and strawberry champagne. i couldn't resist the enticing promise of strawberry. i got it and quickly set it up in my bathroom (clearly the classiest place for a diffuser):

pros: i like the way it looks and it almost satisfies my desires for an elegant reed diffuser. i say almost because...

cons: my bathroom smells like a middle school girl's locker.

i'm willing to live with this for now, until an upgrade comes my way. but from cherry amour to cherry amour (me, to you)...it might be worth not paying $1 to get a less tween-y diffuser, if you are looking for one.

the second thing i'm going to say is probably not going to be news to anybody, but i thought i'd mention it anyway. i accidentally left my favorite eye makeup at home in portland. it kills me to buy something i already have, so i went to sephora in search of a new favorite. after two days and trying on basically every brand in the store, i came back to the sephora brand. this happens to me a lot. i think sephora's really great, because you get to try things on and that's fun...but the best thing about sephora might be that their house brand actually has really great makeup at a relatively good price. this is what i ended up getting (in carine 26):

pink, sparkly, perfect.

that's it for now, i think. a bientot!!

five of haylie's favorite things

2011-01-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

1. chunky knits

photo via glamcanyon

i just re-learned how to knit after a long absence, and i love it. after a long day of grad school, there's nothing better than digging my fingers into soft thick yarn to actually make something. and since it continues to be insanely and disgustingly cold in my part of the world, there's also the always important warmth-factor.

2. foxes

tragically unaffordable ring via odette

it seems like foxes are popping up everywhere lately, which suits me just fine since they're basically my alter-ego animal. not only are foxes crucial to both a movie and a band that i love, they're also cropping up in toys and jewelry. love.

3. pretty paperback covers

to the lighthouse by virginia woolf. it's my favorite woolf

i'm generally pretty happy with my chosen life of words, but sometimes pictures are nice, too. especially when those pretty pictures can be found on the front of cheap paperbacks i have to buy for my classes.

4. miss moss' color comparisons

via miss moss

miss moss' color comparisons are my new favorite internet thing. she combines vintage photographs with old paintings (most of which have been new to me, so, bonus) and i. love. it. extra bonus points because "miss moss" sounds like a prim, no-nonsense, dear abbey type.

5. the national botanical garden

Photo by me!

things i love about the botanical garden: 1. it's free. 2. it's warm! 3. i can sit in plant bliss and study for hours and no one bothers me. 4. it's convenient to my metro line. 5. in the warmer months, i like to sit in the outdoor garden and study/eat lunch/take a nap.

those are a few of my favorite things!

cheers, loves.

five of kat's favorite things

2011-01-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

i have a lot of favorite things. here are five of them:

1. french macaroons

picture courtesy of bakerella, the new, better martha stewart. i love her.

i read somewhere that macaroons are the new cupcake. this would be alright with me. the first time i had a french macaroon was at papa haydn's in portland. they're affordable, elegant, fun, and the perfect portion. the kind i had was made with ice cream on the inside, which made it even better. plus, you can get them (or bake them! which i have yet to do) in lots of fun colors. the perfect dessert? maybe.

2. short hunter boots

photo courtesy of any one of a hundred online shoe stores

it took me a little while to muscle up $115 for these puppies. but now that i have, i'm so glad i did. i used to be dedicated to those cheap (colorful and fun) galoshes that turn up every rainy season. but when my third pair cracked and split after a year, i figured it was time to invest, once and for all, in quality rain boots. these are perfect for my west coast life, they're totally waterproof, and the glossy black is reminiscent of paddington bear. plus, the short style will look so cute with dresses and skirts in the spring.

3. knit caps made with baby yarn

i tried to take a picture of this hat, but everything looked like a myspace shot. this hat was made for me by one of my best friends. her reasoning was that baby yarn is softer and lighter, perfect for california winter wear! so far, she's been completely right. all my other hats left over from my connecticut life are way too heavy, but this one is perfect! last time i checked, knitting was still a thing so if you're crafty, you can make one yourself...but if you're not, consider befriending a knitter...

4. handmade stationary

another one of my christmas presents was an embosser with all the fixings. i've only just begun to play with it, but it's SO EASY. a little embossing powder goes a long way, stamps last forever with minimal abuse, and the embosser is a one time purchase! the possibilities with color, stamps, and textures are endless. rest assured that there will be more embossing-related entries in the future. everything for this embossing project was purchased at paper source, but this kind of stuff is also available at your local craft store.

5. star lanterns

last, but certainly not least, star lanterns. i saw my first star lanterns when i was in copenhagen last winter, and then again in england last spring (it turns out that when you're a grad student, people pay you to go places sometimes). i fell completely in love and finally bought my own at fuego in downtown portland. every night i turn it on and it instantly makes my little bedroom seem more homey. highly love.

so those are five of my favorite things. what do you love? leave us comment and let us know!

bisoux!

bonjour!!

2011-01-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

hello!
welcome to my cherry amour, our new blog about style, design, fashion, crafts, and other things you love.

who are we?
we are kat (kathayoon) and haylie, two graduate students who met in portland and bonded while working together at the oregon zoo. recently, we have both begun new graduate careers on opposite ends of the country. i (kat) am in california, and haylie is in washington d.c. for more information about us, read our sidebar. that has everything you need to know.

what's this blog all about?
haylie and i like really cute things. but we also don't have tons of money, on account of being professional students. this blog is about style/design/fashion/crafts that you can actually have. there are roughly ten-thousand style blogs out there (i know because i've read them. all.) but most of them talk about fantastically pricey, limited edition style. others talk about designs you can only create if you are a closet art genius. we promise you, dear reader, that we will try to be practical yet one-of-a-kind. we are underfunded and overambitious. we are just as crafty as you are and love to share our secrets.

what kinds of things are you going to post?
stay tuned...next up, haylie and i are each going to post five of our favorite things. just so you can get to know us better. from there? it's a surprise...

a bientot!!