friday finds: take a dive
It’s officially swimsuit weather [in Texas at least] which means it’s time to A. get into shape and B. go shopping. I prefer B. I’ve rounded up my favorite swimming attire to hit the river beaches in style!
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
1 | 2a | 2b | 3 | 4a | 4b | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
I know that staring at a bunch of starving models isn’t your idea of a good time on Friday [unless you're a guy, then party on!] so I tried to show as many suits sans models as possible, but some shops don’t allow it. So apologies if anyone is offended by the loads of skin bearing, or mad they ate that second donut this morning.
Happy Friday!
happy birthday ombre!
Derek laughs at me every time I use the word “ombre” because he assumes I’m referring to someone from the wild west. When in fact I’m referring to the crazy-popular trend of dying/painting/arranging things in a gradient. His response “so why don’t you just call it a gradient?” Because “Happy Brithday Gradient!” doesn’t sound cool okay?
I digress.
So I wanted to bake my birthday cake this year, and decided to attempt an OMBRE cake. Sadly I only had one 6″ circle cake pan so I had to bake each layer one by one, but 4 hours later we were in business! I was genuinely surprised at how well it turned out. I am not a cake baker by any means. Cookies and muffins I have down, but cakes? Not so much. So needless to say I was elated, that it actually turned out right! Let’s just let the pictures do the talking, shall we?
The bottom layer was a little crumbly, but it was also my first layer to bake before I mastered the technique. If you’d like the recipe let me know 
It was so much fun to bake! I never feel any different on my birthday, but being able to master this baby felt pretty good. So far 26 is looking great!
**EDIT**
Since so many of you have asked, here is the recipe:
VANILLA CAKE – YOU WILL NEED:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil)
1 cup buttermilk
6″ circle cake pan
parchment
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a medium bowl add dry ingredients, stir together, and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and oil, beat.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk. Beat until just combined. Scrap down the side of the bowl. The batter will be thin.
- As evenly as possible divide your cake batter into five equal sized bowls.
- Add your food coloring. This is where you can experiment! I left one bowl alone to be the “white”, then added one drop in the next bowl, two in the next, three in the next, and so on. The darker you get the more they start to look the same so my fifth bowl ended up having 6 drops or so to create a better variance.
- Pour your darkest color into the cake pan and bake for 12 minutes, when it’s done let it cool for a few mintues and then dump it out onto your parchment. I only had one cake pan so I had to do each layer separately, but if you have a couple in the same size, this part should fly by. Each layer will be prepared the same way, working from the darkest to the lightest color.
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING - YOU WILL NEED:
2 sticks unsalted butter (softened)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, half and half or milk
4oz cream cheese (half a pack)
DIRECTIONS:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute)
- Add cream cheese and salt
- One cup at time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition
- Add vanilla
- Add about 1 tablespoon of cream and continue beating
- Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, one cup at a time
- Add an additional 1-2 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached. Continue to beat another minute or so. The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.
- When all of your cake layers are baked and cooled (being cooled in VERY important or you’ll have a slippery mess!) place the darkest layer on the bottom of your cake stand and spread a thin layer of icing along the top (to act as glue) and the sides
- Then place the next lightest layer, and frost. Repeat until all five layers are stacked and frosted with the lightest layer on top.
- Once all five layers are stacked and frosted you can add a generous amount of frosting along the sides and top of your cake.
- Voila!
wedding wednesday: mexico + south and central america
In continuing with our Honeymoon search [if you missed last time we covered The Caribbean], we’re expanding our horizons this week and covering the next region on our map.
This week: Mexico + South and Central America
Patagonia Pros: sun doesn’t set until 10p Cons: very cold, similar to Alaska To do: glaciers, mountains, |
Rio de Janeiro Pros: big city feel with beaches Cons: expensive in December To do: rain forests, cable cars |
Machu Picchu, Peru Pros: entertain yourselves Cons: expensive in Dec., To do: explore ruins, hiking, |
Galapagos Islands Pros: very unique animals Cons: slowly disappearing, most island is protected To do: yacht trip around islands, scuba, snorkel, kayak |
Cozumel, Mexico Pros: cheap in Dec., best Cons: only 3% developed To do: diving, archeology, |
Buenos Aires, Argentina Pros: incredible food Cons: dinner starts after 9pm To do: drink Argentinian coffee, |
Belize Pros: best weather in Dec., few tourists, locals welcome tourists Cons: high in Dec. To do: hiking, rain forests, tubing in caves, mayan ruins, diving |
Costa Rica Pros: friendly locals, best coffee, adventure, best weather in Dec. Cons: To do: volcanos, repelling, zip |
Playa del Carmen, Mexico Pros: never rains, few tourists Cons: expensive in Dec. To do: scuba, snorkel, mayan |
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Pros: cheap in Dec., best weather in Dec. Cons: To do: snorkel, shopping, exploring |
Los Cabos, Mexico Pros: best weather in Dec. Cons: expensive in Dec. To do: golf, ride horses, white |
Cancun, Mexico Pros: cheap in Dec., best Cons: VERY touristy To do: mayan ruins, Chichen Itza pyramid, windsurfing, shopping |
Acapulco, Mexico Pros: cheap in Dec., best Cons: drink bottled water! To do: cliff diving, parasailing,
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All images via The Knot
After lots of research we’ve narrowed it down to Belize, Costa Rica, and Buenos Aires. We have friends from Argentina who always tell us amazing stories about it, which is why we’d love to travel there! Have any of you been to any of these places? We’d love to hear what you think about them. We’re by no means 100% on any of these places yet, or even the region for that matter!. Next up is Hawaii + Pacific Islands. Stay tuned!
my new roommate
So… I have some news. I officially have a new roommate.
Okay so he’s not really my “roommate” because we don’t argue about the other one throwing parties, or bringing boys over, or eating all of the food I just bought, or sitting in the dark waiting for me all night to come home [freaky..]. Clearly I’ve had roommate issues, probably 75% only child syndrome and 25% crazy roommate syndrome.
Instead I get to live with my best friend who just so happens to be my future husband. There is a lot of adjusting to do and organizing to take place [which is why things have been a little boring lately on the blog], but we have LOADS of projects up our sleeves. We will also have lots of tips and tricks on making the most of a teeny tiny apartment with negative storage.
After only being a two days into this whole new living arrangement my feelings are:
excitement that we’ve opened this new chapter in our lives
fear that he’ll realize how much hummus I really do eat
uncertainty about when he’ll decide to go home each night [oh wait.. he lives here!!!]
neglect for all of my ceramic animals who are now homeless because Derek has filled both of my bookcases with.. you guessed it, books! the horror!
ecstatic that both of our closets fit inside one teeny 5′x3′ closet. It’s a miracle I tell you!
jazzed that I’ve accumulated cool things like a record player, Eames hang it all, and 500+ spices [the boy loves to cook!]
apprehensive about some of the CRAZY projects I have planned, but grateful that Derek is being patient and letting me try them anyway
So that’s what we’ve been up to. How was your weekend?
PS: our yard sale pile is growing and growing. We’ll post photos of some of the merch later on this week. Message me if you’re interested!
PPS: today is my 26th birthday! Yay!!!! 
a simple reed diffuser hack
I’ll always remember my first encounter with a scented reed diffuser. It was my first summer at an Interior Design firm back in college. We were buying up accessories at ZGallerie and I was hooked! They add a pop of color, sent, and an overall sort of zen feel. Something so small may seem rather insignificant to the average person, but they really are a must have.. especially in a bathroom. Ever since that summer my mom and I would always stock up on our favorite scents, especially when they went on sale. I mean you can look in her bathroom cabinet now and see a couple different varieties to choose from. It’s a sickness really.
While styling my parents’ recently hung bathroom shelves, we realized that one giant reed diffuser just wouldn’t do the trick. It was too big and bulky on the small floating shelves, and created way more attention than it needed. Plus seeing the same old bottle with the same little silver cap in every room get’s a little showroom-y. So we decided to break it apart and make our own mini diffusers.
We stared out with the usual aqua reed diffuser from Pier1 [similar to this] and gathered our supplies.
I measured the halfway point on each reed and cut them using regular kitchen scissors.
Then I placed my funnel in each jar and poured in the fragrance oil about 3/4 of the way full.
Then all that’s left to do is divide up your freshly shortened reeds and voila!
This project was super simple and only took us about 5 minutes. I just love how they look more personal now and less store bought. Plus with the reeds being so short, they soak up the liquid fast and your room will be smelling oh so fresh in no time! I need to do this with a couple of the reed diffusers at my apartment, maybe with some fun thrifted jars? Have you done any simple hacks lately?
