sugar cookies

Every year my dad and I make a few types of Christmas cookies that we give away to friends, but we're always sure to save some for ourselves as well. It's one of our holiday traditions, and I always love baking with him. This year, the sugar cookies went faster than ever, so the other night I decided to make another batch.
Even though Christmas is (sadly) over, I thought it would be fun for my boyfriend and I to decorate them with some of the red and green decorations we had leftover from the first round of baking.

We stared with a basic sugar cookie, and frosted with royal icing. I first piped the outline, let it dry, and then flooded the rest of the cookie. After that dried, we used some sparkling decorating gel in green and red to decorate the plain white cookies.

We had a lot of fun baking and decorating, and it brought back a little bit more Christmas cheer!

kelley

wine tasting

After all of my friends from high school came back into town for Winter break, we celebrated my friend Michelle's birthday by going wine tasting. Being from a place where so much wine is made and vineyards are everywhere, people were surprised that I had never been tasting before. We visited five wineries, and I had a wonderful time.
Now I finally have a better grip on what types of wine I like and don't like. The wineries were all so cute, and I had a great day. I can't wait to go again and try a few different wineries!

kelley

diy spike pump

A few weeks ago while shopping, I spotted some amazing Sam Edelman pumps. The heels were embellished with spikes and rhinestones, and they were just gorgeous! I tried them on and fell in love, but I still couldn't justify spending $225 on myself when Christmas was right around the corner. But I decided that I could try to make a pair myself. I knew that I had a similar pair of black pumps that I had bought on sale and never worn, and I figured I could get some spikes, studs, and rhinestones from the local craft store. Unfortunately, the spikes ended up being harder to find than I thought. I found some online, but they were too long, and wouldn't create the look I wanted. I finally found a bracelet at Forever 21 that had studs that I could take apart, and I set out to recreate the shoes.

Sam Edelman Pump - $225

I started with a plain black pair of suede pumps. I also bought some super glue, and some bracelets that I could cut apart and use the stones. The bracelets I bought were $15 a piece, and I needed two to have enough pieces. The one on top is the full bracelet, and the smaller portion underneath is one that I had been cutting at. I also bought these small glitter sticker-back decorations from Michael's that I mixed in with the studs. You could be creative and use other bracelets, craft accessories, or anything you think would work together.

I tried laying out a pattern that I could then glue to the shoe, but it ended up being easier to just pick a piece and glue as I went along the shoe. The difficulty that I had was that my studs from the bracelet had a hallow back, so I had to be very precise with the super glue on the rim of the back of the stud. The glitter circles were a lot easier because they had a flat back. I would recommend looking for pieces that have an easy back for you to adhere to the shoe.

They didn't come out quite as fabulous as the Sam Edelman version, but they were fun to make and I'm happy with the results! Now I have the urge to make more shoes... I'll have to brainstorm some more ideas!

merry christmas!

Every year on Christmas Eve I have trouble sleeping. No matter how old I am, I'm always so excited for Christmas Day. Or maybe it's the sugar from all the cookies I've been eating...
This year I was lucky enough to give and receive so many wonderful presents. Here are a few of the beautiful gifts I received this year.

Jessica Simpson Bendie Pump

One Line a Day Journal



Marc by Marc Jacobs Enamel Logo Disc Studs



Snoop by Sam Gosling



Urban Decay All Nighter Spray



Tory Burch Case

Calvin Klein for Nordstrom Wool Coat

I had such a wonderful Christmas with my family, and I hope you all had a great holiday season as well. Keep an eye out for a post with my after-Christmas-sale purchases!

kelley

the look for less

I love a good deal. So when I can copy a look for a fraction of the price, I feel like I've accomplished something. The other day while in Forever 21, I spotted a pair of glitter pumps that reminded me of a pair of Steve Madden's that I had almost bought a few months ago. When I turned them over and saw the price, I just had to have them.

Steve Madden 'Caryssa' - $100
Forever 21 Glitter Pump - $16

Both have a fine multi-glitter that covers the entire shoe. The Forever 21 version is slightly lighter than the Steve Madden, but I prefer it that way. And at $16, what kind of shopper would I be to ps

summer lovin'

I can't belive it, but today is the very last day of my summer internship. These past 6 weeks have been amazing, and have gone by so quickly!
Now it's time for me to head back down to sunny Santa Barbara for the rest of summer! With the beach on my mind, I thought I would do a little swim shopping.

Zimmerman Frill Bandeau Bikini - $196

L Space 'Lola' Bandeau Bikini - $132 on sale for $93.80

Tibi Algonquin Stripe Cover Up - $227

I love these classic and simple suits! If I get the blush one, I'll have to make sure I maintain a nice tan.. as of now I have a wondeful cube tan (aka no tan). Hopefully I'll get some color in the next few weeks down in beautiful Santa Barbara!

kelley

the look for less

Ever since I tried on my friends black Pleasure Doing Business skirt for the first time, I've been in love. These skirts are magical. They are so tight that you might think they couldn't look good, but they hold you in in all the right places and create an awesome silhouette. I bought my first one last year in bright pink, and I absolutely love it. So much in fact, that I bought the same skirt in navy.
In addition, I came across a bandage skirt with the same look at Forever 21 one day, and just had to snatch it up.

On the left is Forever 21 - $12.80

And on the right is Pleasure Doing Business - $124

Forever 21 had the bandage skirt in black and white and in black and royal, both of which Pleasure Doing Business also makes. I picked up the black and white from Forever 21 - how could I not at $12.80? Now I have to be honest, it's really not as nice as my Pleasure Doing Business skirts, but it is exactly the same look for about a 10th of the price. Is that a deal or what?

kelley

oh no

I've been a bad blogger. I haven't posted in over 3 months, and that is just not cool. AND I missed the one year anniversary of my blog! But I guess that's what you get when you're a slacker... I'm sure my millions of followers have been quite upset. And by millions I mean 5.
Regardless, I don't like giving up on things, so let's see if I can give this another go shall we?
Here are some of the things that have kept me busy in the past 3 months and away from blogging:
-fulfilling my duties as current president of my sorority
-squeezing in as many classes as possible before my senior year so I can take it easy :)
-catching up with friends and family
-dedicating hours to my summer internship (that's right! a real-life job! well, internship, but you know what I mean)
Hopefully I'll be able to post more frequently! I've got some good things I'd like to share, so I hope to see you soon :)

kelley

iPad!!

I am the proud owner of an iPad! Now that the iPad 2 has been released, the original iPads went on sale, and I just can't resist a sale! I've only had it for about a week and I'm already in love. It's even fun to check my e-mail and update my calendar! Today I ordered an adorable case for it, and I can't wait for it to arrive! I'm not positive about the color, but I hope it looks as good in person as it does online.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Jumble Logo iPad Cover in Taupe - $38

kelley

back to basics

Lately I've been in a shopping mood. I think it's because I'm sick of school and this dreary weather has me wanting some fun and shiny new things. Because my current list of wants is so long, I'm trying to cut it to some basics that would be actually beneficial to get, as opposed to some random fun tidbits. Being creative with my spending :)

Marc by Marc Jacobs Metal Aviator Sunglasses

Longchamp 'Le Pliage - Large' Tote

Toms Classic Glitter Slip-On in Nude

North Face Khumbu Jacket in Black

Pretty good editions, right?

kelley

whodidly world

Last year a friend introduced me to the cutest cupcake shop in Montecito called Whodidly. Since then, I've become a bit obsessed. I loved watching them on the Food Network show Cupcake Wars, and loved devouring their delicious cupcakes even more. Since my first visit to Whodidly, they've opened up a shop in Santa Barbara that's closer to my house. The new shop is called Whodidly World and it's right in the middle of State Street, so it serves as a wonderful shopping break.
Last week my friend and I went for the first time to see their new location and enjoy some yummy treats.

The storefront and some of the flavor options including two of the
Valentines specials, Marry Me and Chocolate Covered Strawberry

The two cupcakes we got all wrapped up and up close
The one on the left is the special Marry Me
The one on the right is Scrumdidly

The experience alone was worth it! The store is adorable and filled with pink, glitter, candy, and fun. The Marry Me cupcake was a chocolate cake with coconut frosting and pink coconut on top. I have to admit, it was the ring topper that got me. The Scrumdidly was a vanilla cake with cookie dough in the middle and hot pink vanilla buttercream frosting. Both cupcakes are obviously adorable, and they were also very sweet. The cake on both cupcakes was amazing, it was very moist and dense. The frosting on both was also very good, the coconut was light and the buttercream was delicious. The Scrumdidly was a little too sweet for my taste because of the cookie dough center, but overall it was an amazing experience.
Whodidly World also as the option to make your own cupcake. You get a warm vanilla, chocolate, or red velvet cupcake, and you can add as much frosting, toppings, and candies as you choose! They even have frozen yogurt that you can add! I think I'll have to try this next time I head to Whodidly!

kelley

it's a pleasure

I am the proud owner of a shiny new Pleasure Doing Business skirt!
Ok. So it's not shiny, and I don't actually have it yet. But I ordered it!
I've been coveting my friends black and turquoise PDB skirts for months now, so it's about time that I bought one of my own.

Pleasure Doing Business 5 Band Elastic Skirt in Fuchsia - $92 on sale for $42

Oh, and did I mention I got it for over half off? I got it from ideeli, a fabulous discount site for members only. But don't worry, anyone can join! I check the sites I belong to daily, and scoring something awesome makes that dedication worth it! The only downside is that you have to wait about a month to get whatever it is that you ordered. I ordered my skirt this morning, and it isn't supposed to ship until February 16th-23rd. Oh well... worth it!
It feels pretty cool to have the same skirt as an Olsen twin seeing as they were my idols all those years ago. I can't wait to get my new skirt! Now I just have to go shopping for some new tops to go with it...

kelley

is there anything better...

...than pink sparkly shoes?
I don't think so. And pink sparkly shoes are exactly what I got yesterday from my extremely thoughtful and creative friend Vickie. I don't have a picture of them because she took them back to perfect them (they seemed perfect to me!), but she does have a picture of a similar pair she made on her blog plan A from here on out.

How adorable are they?! I'm so proud to have one of the very first pairs of Vickie's shoes because she's sure to someday be a famous designer :) I can't wait to show them off!
Thank you so much Vickie! You have no idea how much I appreciate and LOVE them!

kelley