Valentine's Day is less than a month away, so it's time to start planning! While I have several heart themed DIYs coming up in the next couple weeks, I thought I'd start out with a drink to get us all in the mood.
Ingredients:
3/4 oz chambord
1 oz citrus vodka
1 oz cranberry juice
To Make:
Pour chambord, vodka, and cranberry juice into a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously.
Strain into shooter glass and serve.
These pink Cupid Shooters are perfect for a Galentine's Day celebration, or for you and your girlfriend to drink before you get in the uber to your double blind date! Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything...
I've been loving all the pink and red in stores recently; Valentine's Day is so festive! How are you celebrating this year?
Over the weekend, I was able to take a quick trip up to DC and go up in the Washington Monument. Considering I've lived near DC a couple different times and have never done this, it was definitely time.
It's finally gotten chilly around here, so of course I was happy to be wearing a sweater and coat. I love the fact that pink has been such a huge trend this winter, especially in outerwear. I paired it with a burgundy sweater and nails, and a gorgeous holographic bag that I got for Christmas (thanks, Ryan!).
The view from the top of the Washington Monument was incredible; you could see all of DC from the top. I highly recommend going if you get the chance! And if you can make it during a not-so-busy time of year like we did, you'll definitely have a better experience. There were only about 10 of us, so we never had to fight for window space or felt like we were being rushed out.
DC is such a cool city and it has so much history. I always forget how close it really is and how quick it can be to visit (as long as you can dodge the traffic), and I plan on taking advantage of it more often!
This post might seem like it's coming a little bit out of left field, but I've actually been holding on to this one for about a year, so bear with me. In my final semester of college, my thesis project centered around the ideas of exploring non-traditional subcultures. I narrowed down my list of ~15 subcultures down to just 3 for the final product (Barbie, Scrapbooking, and Harry Potter Fandom), but I couldn't quite let go of disco subculture. I had spent a ton of time looking into the world of disco, and one thing that really grabbed my attention was a legendary New Year's Eve party held at Studio 54. They reportedly imported 4 tons of glitter and straight up dumped it on the floor for the night. It was four inches deep; the owner described it as feeling like you were "walking on stardust," and countless celebrities testified to still finding glitter in their clothes months later.
I absolutely could not stop thinking about it. Four inches of glitter. That's ankle deep. What's it like to walk around in heels in glitter like that? How did they import it? How did they get it off of everything after NYE? Were they actually able to get it off of anything after NYE? Insanity.
I came up with the crazy idea to build a glitter sandbox—not huge, but big enough to take a few steps in. I just really needed to know what that was like. While dropping disco subculture from the project meant also leaving behind the glitter sandbox, I'm still holding out hope that I can do that one day. But for now, I'm settling for a scaled down version–a glitter zen garden.
I think zen gardens are beautiful ways to add a decorative element to a desk or a side table, and their calming effects are always welcome. However, a traditional wooden zen gardens wouldn't really work with the glittery aesthetic I was going for, and after a short search, I found the perfect clear acrylic tray (from The Container Store) to hold my sparkles.
This DIY is more of a put-it-together-yourself than a do-it-yourself, but I think it still qualifies.
You will need:
a clear acrylic tray–make sure it doesn't have holes/handles cut out of the sides or the glitter will just spill out!
black glitter
diamond vase filler
zen rake
To make:
Pour the glitter evenly throughout the tray. Assemble the diamonds/vase filler attractively in the glitter sand, and use your zen rake to comb through the glitter! Easy peasy.
I searched everywhere for a metal zen rake, but couldn't find one (that kind of goes against the entire point of zen gardens, being natural and all that), so I spray painted mine. If you know someone who can make me one, let me know!
I used clear vase filler that's shaped like diamonds in place of the rocks that usually occupy zen gardens. I think it goes well with the clear tray and the whole thing kind of has a futuristic vibe.
I love having this on my desk; I always like to challenge the context of the way people look at glitter. The only thing this zen garden needs is a pop of hot pink. Maybe I can find some pink gems...
Generally, I tend to stick to my standard of curling my hair in the winter and letting my natural wavy texture take precedence in the summer, but sometimes you just want it off your neck or you want to try something new or you're just having a bad hair day! And that, my friend, is where braids and fishtails and twists come in to save the day.
This is one of my favorite styles to wear when I need to get my hair out of my face but still want to look cute. Only pulling half my hair back gives me a chance to show off whatever earrings I'm wearing and keeps me from touching it constantly.
I made this short video to show you how it's done. It's my first ever hair tutorial, so I'm by no means an expert; but I thought it would be helpful to see it in action rather than just still photos!
Let me know if you try this hairstyle, and tag me on instagram so I can see! Do you have any hair tutorials you'd like to see?
If reading more books this year is on your list of resolutions, this post is for you! This is a short list of what I've been reading recently that hopefully inspires you to pick a book up yourself. I've linked all the titles on Amazon, but if you can find them in your local bookstore, that's even better!
The Martian | Andy Weir
If you saw the movie with Matt Damon, then you already know what this is about. Astronaut (and engineer and botanist) Mark Watney goes through a dust storm that nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate, leaving him with no way to contact Earth and not enough resources to survive long enough for anyone to reach him. Despite the seemingly serious subject matter, this book is hilarious. I was totally not expecting it to be as enjoyable a read as it turned out to be! And of course, the book is always better than the movie, so I highly recommend picking this one up. Side note: As I was reading it, I found the whole thing vaguely plausible–mostly because I know next to nothing about space travel/engineering/etc. But I looked up Andy Weir and found out he's been working as a programmer and software engineer since age 15, as well as being a lifelong 'space nerd' and lover of subjects like relativistic physics, so I felt a little more justified in finding it believable. And knowing it was written by a legitimate nerd like me made me love it even more!
The Defining Decade | Meg Jay
I read this entire book during my layover on New Year's Eve, and it was a little stressful, to be honest. I recommend breaking it up into sections (the book is divided into three major ones) and taking a little more time to digest it. It's all about how (and why!) to approach your twenties with intentionality, and not to embrace that "thirty is the new twenty" mindset. The research, counseling sessions, and stories she shares make the content easy to read and understand, and it's motivational as well as a wake up call. It's a great read, and not a perspective I've ever really seen before.
I Suck At Girls | Justin Halpern
Justin Halpern is also the author of Sh*t My Dad Says, a book born from the twitter feed he created when he moved back home. This book is just as hysterical. He takes us through his encounters and misfortunes with girls and women, from his first kiss to getting engaged. Even though the book focuses more on himself than his father, he still weighs in with hilarious and expletive-ridden advice, so don't worry! I Suck At Girls is a great read and really easy to race through. Definitely recommend if you want something funny and light!
The First Husband | Laura Dave
The book opens with Annie watching Roman Holiday, a movie she has a love/hate relationship with–love because it's a great movie, hate because every time she watches it, something horrible happens. True to form, as soon as she finishes the movie, her long-time boyfriend Nick breaks up with her. Three months later finds her married to Griffin, a sweet chef who moves them to Massachusetts to open a restaurant. When Nick asks for a second chance, Annie is torn. It's a great book for asking all those questions we torture ourselves with every day–should I have answered that call? Should I have said yes? Is he/she "the one?" The extremely likable characters in this book make it a pleasant read.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear | Elizabeth Gilbert
I'll admit: I didn't read Gilbert's Eat Pray Love. And I'm only part of the way through Big Magic so far, because I've been reading it with a highlighter in hand. But the way she writes about the creative process is inspiring in and of itself. She dismisses the unnecessary drama often surrounding "tormented artists," and encourages all those who are called to create to accept their call and approach it with openness and eagerness, even when there's no immediate reward in sight. She emphasizes that you don't have to quit your day job to instill creativity in your every day. This book has been really inspiring to me so far, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who's been struggling with their creativity or inspiration recently.
Want more? Check out my previous What to Read post!
