classy black

It's that time...
for a decorating post. I'm just dreamin away..
At one point last year, we were supposed to be building a house. Actually first, we shopped for houses, then decided to build, then that didn't work out and we went back to shopping. And then we moved- renting a condo in Houston.
We live a crazy lifestyle.

Here's some black inspiration for ya'll..

via apartment therapy

 via decorno.blogspot.com

 via parlourhomeblog.com

via design-crisis.com

strappy

Ahhhh so true. BUT! Is there an exception??

I see a new trend a-brewin that really tickles my fancy... the lovely ankle strap!

zara

zara

Here lies my dilemma: I'm 5'1.5" Short stubby legs and thick calves, and certain trends just do not look good on me. Like... Bermuda shorts. Skinny jeans (I wear em anyway.. duh). The wide, boxy, short t-shirts that are in. Turtlenecks. Beanies (I have a round face, to top it off).

Heels are supposed to give you that height right??? But I'm pretty sure that having a strap across your foot "cuts" your leg and makes em look shorter.

But I tried these lovelies on below the other day and i LOVE them. But not on me =( And that makes me sad.

zara!

This girl rocks em... cuz she has skinny legs. (Well, and a great outfit...... and an awesome handbag instead of a toddler). 

thepinkpeonies.blogpost.com

Badgley Mischka- zappos

Steve Madden-Nordstrom

Tory Burch

j.crew

While on the subject of HEELS... why the freak are they so high lately?? I mean honestly, who needs an extra 6 inches?! (besides myself). Who can even walk in those, and to where are you going?!

Anywho.. Maybe the ankle strap is best suited for models. And tall girls. With skinny legs. Models. Along those lines, I've decided I have gone way too long without an important shoe staple: leopard flats. Maybe that's the best outlet here regarding my shoe craving. Make note. My birthday's next month ;)

old navy

yummy in my tummy

I love dessert. 

I love sugar. 

But I don't love jiggly legs and cellulite. 

So when I come across a dessert recipe that's CLEAN I get very excited. But sometimes they just do not turn out- like my black bean brownies I made one time... disgusting.

This recipe, however is awesome! It's like a peanut butter apple crisp.. yummy!!!

It's from a facebook page I follow: What the Whey, with a bunch of tasty recipes using protein powder.

This girl is the author.. again, I'll eat whatever she's eating to look like that! 

PEANUT BUTTER CARAMEL APPLE DELIGHT

Apple Mixture:
3 Medium Apples (I like honeycrisp) diced
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp Stevia

Drizzle:
2 tbsp almond butter
2 tbsp honey (I hate honey so I used light agave)

Topping:
1 scoop vanilla whey protein
1 cup quick oats
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/8 cup egg whites (I used 2 egg whites)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp imitation butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup Splenda brown sugar blend
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp applesauce


Directions:
Core apples and dice. Add lemon juice, stevia and cinnamon. Stir to coat and place in 9-inch baking dish coated with nonstick spray. In small microwaveable dish combine 2 tbsp all natural creamy almond butter and 2 tbsp honey. Microwave on high for approx. 25 seconds to melt. Stir mixture well and drizzle over apples. Set aside.

In small bowl, mix vanilla whey protein, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg, Splenda brown sugar blend, chopped pecans and salt. In a second small bowl combine egg whites, imitation butter flavor, vanilla, applesauce and peanut butter (melted). Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and spread topping over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees until apples are soft and topping is golden brown (about 30 minutes).


I determined this recipe makes 6 servings, at about 315 calories each. It's not super low-cal but it's got healthy fats and guilt-free... as long as you don't eat the whole pan ;)

Free art printables!

Back a year or so ago, I ordered an awesome print from an etsy shop- QA Designs- with Brazil on it. It's so cute, and I've been wanting more, of some of the states we've been to. Well the awesome girl who makes the prints has closed her shop (sad), but is so NICE to offer the printables for FREE.
Check out her blog here and get printing! (And thank you to this blog for the heads up!)

P.S. A reader asked where this lovely necklace was from that I posted a week or so ago...

It's from Urban Outfitters, and can be yours with the modest price of $375 ;)

swimsuit season?

Talk about a wake-up call...

This article is beyond awesome. I eat pretty healthy and clean most of the time, but I'd be lying if I never thought to my self, "Well, I can eat this piece of cake and really bump up my cardio tomorrow..." Nope, not the way to get a summer bikini-worthy body! (Cardio's severely overrated anyway).

By Kim Dolan Leto: a 40-something mom from Oxygen magazine

Are You Making These Common Mistakes?

How many times have you eaten something and said, I’ll work it off in the gym?” Before I educated myself I believed I could eat whatever I wanted as long as I worked out, but this is not true. You can’t out train a bad diet. Counting calories is a common tool for weight loss, but the source of the calories is the real issue. Last week, I heard a girl say to her friend, “time to burn off those Krispy Kreme Donuts.” While it’s true your body is going to burn calories as you workout, the way your body looks will be greatly affected by the type of calories you take in.

Consider the following thoughts:

• You can’t select and trade the calories you eat for the ones you burn. What you eat has EVERYTHING to do with how you look. (So TRUE!!!)
• There are the same amount of calories in a creme filled donut and a chicken breast, small salad, and sweet potato, however the body they produce is vastly different.
• Eating a diet of junk and doing solely cardio, will make you skinny fat.
• If you want tight-toned-dimple free skin, a clean eating plan, as a lifestyle, is paramount in achieving this.
• Skipping meals will not make you lose weight. Your metabolism will just slow down, store fat and use muscle to live off of.
• Quick weight loss is from water and sadly... muscle.
• Eating junk doesn’t satisfy hunger. Your body will still crave food, because empty calories from sugary foods do not provide you with the nutrition you need.

Have you ever thought if I skip lunch, I’ll save an extra 500 calories only to be so hungry at dinnertime you devour a pizza? Or have you thought if I eat that Pizza I’ll do extra cardio tomorrow? Does it work? I believe there really isn’t any way of getting around the lifestyle part of this. Eating a consistent menu of clean meals that are full of nutrition will support healthy and sustainable weight loss or muscle gain. We can’t out train our cheat meals. Yes, we burn calories, but you can’t look at a treadmill and trade one hour for one donut.

Do you believe you can eat whatever you want and then when you go to the gym you can burn that meal off? Do you play games with yourself? I did, and it got me nowhere. If you’re really serious about making a change, will you consider these points?

Crafty AND thrifty

This isn't my idea, I stole it, (from here) just like any other good idea. And I made a crappy, cheap, temporary version to adorn my walls for 4 months, cuz after that, it'll be garbage. 

This project cost me ONE DOLLAR. Okay mostly... I spent $15 (with a coupon) on the Martha Stewart butterfly hole punch which I wanted to buy anyway so I don't count that.

The foam board was from the dollar store.

And the colored butterflies? Yeah I jacked about 30 paint chips from Walmart. FREE

 I was going for a kind of colorful ombre effect. You like? If you're thinking, wow that must have taken awhile to tape those things on- cuz yes I did use tape. Didn't feel like running back to the craft store to spend money on those sticky backs to make them pop, but in the future when I made a GOOD version, I will go all out, rest assured!

 Hit up this bad boy this week- I went once in NYC and thought it was overrated. This time I still thought it was overrated AND overpriced. But hey, a "healthy" dessert that doesn't make you feel guilty? Done

These lovelies came in the mail this week (on clearance at Serena & Lily), because I REALLY needed something to corral my jewelry. I mean, you just can't have necklaces and earrings strewn across the dresser now can you?! I say unto you, no you can not.

A while back, I stumbled across these on Pinterest-

LOVE

mega ultra love actually

Not that I have a set of antlers lying around, but if I did find some, I'd DIY this thing up

I happened to find some beautiful already made ones on etsy and the colors are so awesome and chic.

It's decided. I must have a bright painted antler to adorn the fireplace I don't have

(tear)

quote of the day

Came across this online. I liked it so I'm sharing it.
Not digging her weird gray lavender hair, but other than that, Kelly Osbourne rocks.

Kelly Osbourne is featured in Glamour Magazine this month, where she opens up about feeling confident, insecurities and weight:

‘No we are not all Gisele Bundchen; we’re not all Beyoncé. But I can tell you even the most beautiful girls in the world have felt insecure. And just seeing the pressure my friends Kim Kardashian and Kate Moss are under makes me never want to even be the prettiest woman in the room. There is no such thing as perfection. Sometimes it’s other people’s voices you have to shut out. That’s what happened with me and Christina Aguilera, which people don’t understand.’

‘She called me fat for years. One night on Fashion Police I said, F*** you. Now you’re fat too.’ I didn’t say I wasn’t fat. I said, ‘Now you know how it feels’” And I’m sorry, but I stand by that. ‘Even now I don’t consider myself skinny. But I have put a lot of hard work into my body over the years, and in the process, I’ve really learned to love myself.’

… says Kelly.

Healthy TASTY chicken salad

Is there anyone that doesn't like a tasty chicken salad?! It's so good for summer, but they're usually laden with fatty mayonnaise and crap that doesn't do much for your waistline. I found a great recipe from the Food Network and tweaked it so it's CLEAN and healthy.. and guess what... it's delish! Like I kinda can't stop eating it

Ingredients:

4 cups diced cooked chicken

1 rib minced celery

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup slivered almonds

1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Really all you do is mix up the creamy stuff with spices, and add the chicken, celery and almonds and chill.

SO GOOD and fresh

You can plop it on top of some spinach greens, or wrap it in a whole wheat tortilla. And it's good the  next day for a sandwich!

It makes over 4 cups, and is roughly 320 calories per serving- and loaded with lean protein!

I'm picky about Greek yogurt. Chobani is AWESOME and doesn't separate or have some weird sour taste.

Happy Tuesday.

eThNiC

Since- I dunno, probably high school, I've always had people wonder what my ethnicity is. Usually they guess Spanish or some Latin country and I always find it interesting to see what they come up with. Actually more recently, I've gotten Hawaiian, and a fellow competitor backstage at my fitness competition asked if I was Asian. .. (????)

So if you know me, or my family, you'd just know I'm white. Of English ancestry. Nothin exciting! Sorry to disappoint...

(But I could speak some Portuguese for ya?)

Anyhow this post is kinda random but my trips to the mall out of boredom have led me to a trend conclusion:

Ethnic is IN

It kinda started out with chevron and ikat, and now Southwestern and tribal patterns are everywhere!

Which is interesting because I honestly used to HATE this stuff. Not that long ago even, and know it's really growing on me. 

And now I've got feathered earrings and ikat pillows, and want a Turkish rug!!

Which brings me to ponder upon this: Do I really like this stuff? Has it grown on me to the point that I actually do like it?

Or the fact that it's everywhere, and it's trendy, that makes me want to hop on board?

I don't know!!

 K I used to hate persian rugs- those traditional, oriental type that cost 1000's of $$. But I'm kind of in love with this rug from UO all of a sudden... weird.

Look at all this tribal goodness I stumbled across this week!

(I should link these, I really should. But I'm lazy. Leave a comment and I'll give you their source!)

 REALLY love these gap shorts...

I heart texas

So we've been down here in Houston for a week.. and I can honestly say this place rocks! The weather right now is to die for.. 80 degrees, breezy, great for walks and warm enough for the pool. And our apartments are also great. As well as our friends!

Carter's been hangin out with his buddy Kaden (and Leighton) pretty much everyday...

 I made some treats the other day- cake bites for our friends birthday. Soooo good. And only complete with Blue Bell ice cream. Only found in the south (I think). PS are you wondering if I've gotten fat since my fitness show?!! Um to answer that, yes... Okay not really. But my little "skinny" shorts have gotten tight and I'm avoiding the scale. So I'm self-conscious. But I'm trying!

 Mr. Carter was most excited about the sprinkles.. =)

 We went down to the boardwalk in Kemah. Anyone been there?? It's a fun little town right on the gulf, with a small aquarium, food, and rides. I love stuff like that.

 We had a fun day to say the least!