Pretty in Pink and Sweet Butternut Squash Taco's......

I love the color pink and I'm not afraid to hide it :) Funny thing is, when I was younger I hated pink. I liked boy colors like blue and green. I still do love those colors but I have found quite an enjoyment with pink since then. The older I have gotten I have become more in tune with my inner girlie girl and today's outfit definitly shows that.....

I decided that I would pair this dress with my white cardigan to add more of a clean look and also my black flower wedges. Usually I walk to work and the day's I'm not working I am on campus all day so I rarely get to wear heels or wedges, but on Friday's I treat myself by driving to work and wearing nice shoes :)



By adding the white cardigan to my outfit I thought a great pearl necklace would finish this outfit really nicely. When wearing longer necklaces, I don't really like to wear big earrings so I stuck with a small pair of flowered crystal earrings...

I added my FAVORITE lip color and lip gloss to finish up the look....

Dress: Ross

Cardigan: Forever 21

Shoes: TjMaxx ( Steve Madden )

Necklace: Forever 21

Earrings: TJmaxx

Lipstick: Wet and Wild " Just Peachy "

Gloss: Sephora " Nude "

**Now who ever said you can't look good on a budget!!!!**

BUTTERNUT SQUASH TACO'S

Earlier this week Dan I bought a butternut squash from the store and we were honestly oblivious on what to do with it. We roasted it the first night which was yummy-yummy-yummy, but last night we decided we would make taco's from the left overs. Dan and I make sweet potato taco's all the time and didn't think this would be much different. It wasn't that much different except I can honestly say I liked the butternut squash more than the sweet potato version. We also added our black bean mixture we have recently come up with which we seem to crave quite often.

Once put together we added Queso Fresco, pickled red cabbage, tomatoes, red onion, grilled white corn and hot sauce..... SOOOOO good. I am still drooling about it now....

We have also really been into making our own tortilla chips lately, so of course we made a batch because what compliments tacos more than chips???

Enjoy!!!!!!

Harem Pants.....

Hey Everyone!!!

So, today I wore a new clothing item I have never tried and got many compliments.. I was actually very surprised...... Harem pants.

When I bought them I was all about them, but when I brought them home I wasn't so sure I made such a great decision. The past few weeks they have been tucked into my pant drawer. I would look at them everyday and have the thought to myself......" maybe today is the day?" It never was.

I was too worried of what people would think, and that I would look like a dork so I kept them in the bottom drawer until.... today....and I'm glad that I took the chance.

When I first put on the outfit this morning I paired the pants with a pin striped tie button up. I added a chunky belt and my sequin shoes. I loved it. I think it looked very sophisticated and put together. However, because it was a school day I decided it might tone it down a little bit so I took off the pin strip shirt and threw on a white t-shirt....

Yepp... I'm in to it!

For my jewelry choice I decided to go with gold accents to match with the brown pants....

( I know this is the shirt I was wearing previously, but I kept the same jewelry on )

Pants: Forever 21

Shirt: Nordstrom Rack

Love Bracelets: Forever 21

Earrings: Forever 21

Necklace: Nordstrom Rack

I think if you have ever had an interest in them, you should do yourself a favor and buy a pair. I got so many compliments on how cute they were today I couldn't even believe it.... I wonder what they will look like with boots?

What do you think about Harem pants???

Playing catch up....

Hi eveyone! My plan was not to blog for a few days, but I looked at the traffic of my blog and it looks like a lot of you guys like it. I have had more people than expected keep coming back to see what I have posted so I decided I would just let you in on what I have been doing th past few days.....

Nothing too exciting of course, but I did want to share this. It's a flower I walked past on my walk home from work the other day. Soooo beautiful!!!!!

Can you even believe it's real? I made it the background on my phone because I would love to look at this everyday :) Makes me happy....

Dan and I have also done some GOOOOOOD cooking the past few days....

Monday night we made a meal I have been wanting to make forever and ever but Daniel was always afraid of it so I couldn't make it..... but he finally gave in and we both loved it.... ready to hear what it is?????

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Pumpkin Pasta.

Soooo good. I thought it would be more sweet and always the thought of pumpkin pie wrapped around my head but it was so much more complex. It was creamy, spicy and just yum yum yum! The perfect dinner coming into the fall season. I will be making more of this meal in the future. If you want to be a little daring look up a recipe and try it. There are tons of ideas out there on how to make this dish!

The second meal we made was even more amazing. A full Chinese course meal. Chicken lettuce wraps and the BEST fried rice I have not only made, but eaten! It was so fresh and non greasy. I HATE greasy Chinese food.

I usually am not a fan of making Chinese food from scratch because it never turns out like restaurants, but this time it did. Do you want to know why? Because we bought a TON of things to make it....we wanted it legit. My favorite quote of the night from Daniel was " you seriously don't want to half ass this...." He was right. I didn't. We took the time and the money, which wasn't even that much... and made a GREAT authentic tasting meal....

I haven't really documented my outfits the past couple day's so I decided today I would. Like I have said in the past, I LOVE the colder weather. I love wearing jackets and boots I guess I just love wearing things that cover me up....

I didn't wear anything too special today......



What really brought my outfit to life was my necklace and of course my choice of lipcolor.....

I think wearing a statement necklace is such a wonderful way to add to an outfit. Give it that right amount of pop without being too much......

 ( The photo doesn't do it justice. They were bright/red pink....)

Lipstick: Wine by Wet and Wild

Gloss: Lancome Juicy Tube in color "Vente"

Thanks to everyone who decides to look at my blog! It really does mean a lot. The people who let me know how much they like it and enjoy what I am doing... this is for you! It's hard to put yourself out there completely sometimes and you guys make it so easy with all your incredible feedback! THANK YOU!!!

Who says bright can't be fall?

When the fall season comes around people automatically think "wear dark......" Of course the darker colors are perfect for fall, but I also think that you can wear lighter colors and more vibrant colors when mixed with something darker to even out the color balance.

March of this year I bought a shirt that was a bright melon pink. A beautiful shade of pink I must say. I bought it with a pair of white shorts thinking it was sooooo Miami. Well with this color combination, I didn't wear it often. It was a little too flashy for my style. From that day to now I have only wore the shirt twice, but today I thought I would give it another chance and I'm proud to say I think it worked out well.

Pairing the shirt with something more subdued, like black jeans really mellowed out the brightness of the shirt and really complimented eachother.

I paired the outfit with my new grandma pearls and my new "love" bracelets from Forever 21.

The gold works as a perfect accent.

Sometime this fall you should pair something bright with some other clothing piece that is a darker hue and see how it turns out. You might be surprised at how well they look together :) and how you can transition summer colors into the new fall season...

Shirt: H&M

Pants: TJ Maxx

Jewlery: Forever 21

Lipcolor: Nude from Wet and Wild * it's a great color when you choose not to wear any other make up*

Sunday Funday.

Today was a fun day. I love Sunday's. They are the only day's I get to spend from morning to night with my boyfriend. We get to sleep in, drink a cup a joe and then usually have a dual laundry date. So romantic, isn't it? 

Today we went grocery shopping for the week which is always the most exciting part of my Sunday. I love lurking the store for new items and gear myself for the " healthy " week ahead of me. I think I am a pretty healthy eater for the most part, but starting Friday night... I'm doomed. Glass after glass of wine. Dinner out. Cookies and this weekend way too many fries to count...... The Sunday healthy grocery run puts my head back into place as I prepare to get back into my cleanse routine......

On Sunday's we usually make a trip one mall or the other. I don't know why? Both of us feel like we deserve to buy something for ourselves on Sunday's? It's kind of like our church I guess?... Today Dan, my boyfriend bought a pair of the Desert Boot Clark's that he has been dying to buy..... he looks sooo handsome in them. They are adorable! I myself bought a scarf from Urban Outfitters. I have ALWAYS wanted a scarf like this. It's different, and reminds me of being out on the sea. I'm not sure why? I think it would just go great with my new navy blue blazer..... I'm so excited...

Today I also watched the trailer for a new movie coming out " The Rum Diary." I love Johnny Depp and I am so excited to see him play this character. " The Rum Diary " is actually my favorite book. It has been for years. It's one of the only books I have read in my life that I just couldn't put down and wanted to read more than once, which I gladly did and will do again before the movie releases. When Dan and I first started dating I found out how much he loved the book himself. It's one of the things I loved about him when we first met. Today, the two books sit next to each other in our book collection....

On Sunday's we usually make a pretty rock'n dinner as well. I think Sunday's make you want to feel homey, like when you lived with your parents. Today we made a meal that we wanted to reflect the new fall season arriving to us...... So we cranked up the new Feist album and started cooking. Here's what we came up with:

 Oven Baked Chicken with Roasted Fall Vegetables.

Butternut Squash is something I have never personally cooked with before in my life, it was scary but it was fun trying something new. After tonight's meal, I will be making this type of squash more often in the coming months.

What you will need: 

1 Butternut Squash

1 Bag of Carrots

1 Bag of Brussel Sprouts

Half of a Red Onion

Half of a White Onion

2 Breasts of Chicken

For the Chicken Rub:

Whole Grain Mustard

Yellow Mustard

Lemon Juice

Minced Garlic

Rosemary

Sage

Salt

Lemon Pepper

To start I preheated the oven to 450 degrees. 

I then started with the squash. I cut in in half and scooped out the seeds. When I was done with this I used a potato peeler to take off all the outside skin.

When that was all done, I cut the squash into cubes and put them in a pan with olive oil with salt and pepper. I added to the same pan the brussel sprouts. To prepare these, you just need to cut off the bottoms and the first layer of leaves, then I half them length wise. In the other pan I put the bag of carrots and the cut onions with also olive oil accompanied by salt and pepper. I put into the oven.

While they started cooking I started working on the chicken. Most everything I make I come up on my own. I like to experiment with flavors and honestly I HATE reading recipes. So I went to the fridge and grabbed items I thought would work well together. I grabbed rosemary from my deck garden and also added sage from the pantry. I think the perfect match is rosemary and mustard. Holy crap delicious. Of course I didn't know how this would turn out, but it turned out lovely.... 

I then just smothered the chicken and cooked for about 20 mins. After that amount of time everything was cooked to perfection. The vegetables were soft and the chicken was cooked to the middle.

I plated and served.....

A wonderful meal to end a wonderful day :)

Now let's take after Lemon and kick off those shoes, curl onto a blanket and enjoy the rest of the night :)

Winged Eyeliner....

I am such a huge fan of winged eyeliner. I think it adds such a fun effect and it changes it up from the regular eyeliner routine. Just by running your eyeliner brush a little more off the eye it gives you a whole other type of look. A darling look.

I tried the winged eyeliner today, I love it.....

What do you think about winged eyeliner?

Saturday-Saturday- Saturday.

Today I took my niece Alabama out for a girls day. I had so much fun. I don't get to see her often, so it's nice to spend one on one time with her and hear how a 13 year old's life is.... We started the day off with some Cafe Rio, obvious I'm sure, but she had never been there before. I got my usual vegetarian salad with corn tortillas and she got the barbacoa taco's. I told her they were a must! She really enjoyed them so I hope so goes back with her friends to eat them again. Usually I don't spend the money on a drink when I go to places like that but Alamaba wanted one and I thought, what the hell, it's a Saturday with my niece. A slight celebration. If you don't know, there is a soda machine there that looks like it's straight from outer space. I have never used it for my fear of soda, but she urged me to take a chance today so I did. I got a Diet Coke with raspberry. Odd? Yes! Don't do it.

After lunch we went to the Gateway to see the flick of her choice which was, The Help. I cried my eyes out, but I didn't feel so stupid because so did Alabama. It was such an awe inspiring movie and if you haven't seen it.... see it! When the movie ended we decided we would take a walk through the mall to get some more alone time and so I can see into the mind of a 13 year old's style. We of course went to Forever 21 and guess what? I'm not ashamed. Neither her nor I can get enough of the store. I think the reason I like it so much is because it's so inexpensive and I know that if I don't like what I bought 6 months later, I don't have to feel guilty about giving it away... We only looked at jewelry, but that's all we were interested in looking at. Alabama had found these adorable gold hoop earrings that looked great on her. She informed me that she had never owned a pair of hoops and I feel that every woman needs a good hoop earring so I bought them for her. I also bought some things for me..... What do you think??

A pair of grandma looking pearls, some gold cluster hoops, mint nail polish, a set of bracelets and a pair of pink bows. Yes, bows. Maybe it was because I was with a 13 year old all day, but I had to get them. Definitely going backwards from my ideas of getting an older look, but I just had too.

Silly???

Lastly, after I dropped her off I remembered I needed to get some blush because mine at home had run out so I stopped at the store on the way home. If you know me, I wouldn't say I am "cheap" but like my clothes I don't always think that you need to spend a TON on money on something you don't know if you are going to like in a few months. I have been wanting to experiment more with lip colors so I grabbed two colors I actually loved. Sadly they are "Wet and Wild" colors, but honestly they were the ones that I liked the most in the whole store. They are a matte finish and don't have any sheen or glitter. These are the colors I chose:

Wine and Bare. 

They were very fall appropriate colors and I can't wait to wear them soon.....

What a Good Day!

Date night.....

Dan and I don't go on many dates anymore. Me being gluten free means that going out to restaurants isn't too much fun. I don't like having to constantly eat salads, or to ask for my meal with many, many substitutions.....so we choose to cook dinner every night. Also, it's healthier and more fun for us.

Last night however we went to our new "favorite" eatery, Vertical Diner. It's a diner in a very weird part of town. If you didn't know it was there already you would NEVER find it. It's a restaurant where I know I can eat a majority of the menu and they are soooo nice and helpful. The diner has this very nostalgic feeling. All the people there make you feel like you are at home with your family and friends. The lighting also adds. It's dim. Both times we have gone there however there have been bugs. First encounter was with a daddy long legs that had been covered in dust and had been missing a few legs. I grew up with my father always telling me to never kill a daddy long legs, so I took it into my own hands to save the little guy and take him outside and place him on a flower. I sure hope he survived. Last night there was a case of a few fruit flies around our table. Nothing too crazy though and personally I think it adds to the natural feeling of the place, but don't say I never told you if you decided to go there for a meal.

As usual, and I'm not sure why, I ordered a salad? My usual. Maybe because I am not used to being able to order other things, it was out of habit. I ordered the " Chef Grille Salad " with portabello mushroom.  I wanted to order chicken, but later found out because it's a only vegetarian restaurant the chicken isn't real chicken... its gluten. So, for your sake if you are gluten free - don't order the chicken. I had it served with their homemade lime vinaigrette and it was delicious!!!

Dan got a black bean burger with guacamole and cheese. What's really cool, is that they make all of their products, so the black bean burger was something they themselves put together. I tasted it and it was wonderful! I highly suggest.

We also decided to get a side of their " spicy fries " with their homemade ranch dressing which were very spicy! Usually I am afraid of ranch dressing, but because the woman said it was vegan I wasn't so spooked and ended up loving it. Yum Yum Yum. Another plus is that they serve liquor. Glasses of wine are only 3 dollars, yes I said 3 dollars and nice full strength beers are around 4-6. Not bad ladies and gentleman.

Dan and I are not always ones to grab dessert after meals, and because I am gluten free there is not much I can choose. Our server however said that she was gluten free as well and that they have just started serving gluten free ice cream sandwiches. All I can say is AMAZING! They themselves make the chocolate cookies and stuff them with raspberry ice cream and roll them in coconut... uhhhhhh soooo gooood. I will be going back just for that! The cookies are so big that you can share them with someone else as well......What's better than ending the night with an ice cream sandwich and a tall boy ( for people who aren't gluten free ) or a glass of red wine..... :) Enjoy!

Vertical Diner

2280 S West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115-2631
(801) 484-8378