Just Delivered: Sephora!

Last week I made a somewhat pricy order on Sephora.com and I have been impatiently waiting for it to arrive ever since (especially since it shipped the very next day). I just Instagrammed what's inside so I thought I'd share with you!

1. Jurlique Moisture Replenishing Cream (link)
2. Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish (link)
3. (sample) Anthony Shave Cream (for Jeffrey)
4. (sample) Stella McCartney L.I.L.Y fragrance
5. (sample) YSL Touche Eclat 
6. (deluxe sample) Tarte Lights Camera Lashes! (100-point beauty bonus)

I just used the very last smidgen from my Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish sample so I'm happy to get started on a brand new bottle! And now I can take it from my Beauty Wishlist and dream up some new beauty wishes! 

Hmm, maybe I should post about my little splurge at Ulta yesterday...

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DIY to Try: Nail Polish Box

Credit & Source: The Beauty Department. Read full instructions here. 

I love this idea! I don't know that I have enough nail polishes to fill a whole shoe box, but I assume any hard cardboard box would do. If you have the time and patience, this could even be a fantastic way to present a gift to someone. Isn't it wonderful when you receive a gift that looks so pretty you don't want to open it?

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Pre-Party Cleanup

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We're having my parents over tomorrow for a birthday/book/couch party. In the grand tradition of inviting people over our apartment is transforming back into the clean and beautiful space we like it to be. If only we could maintain it to the standards we're willing to let people see it in!

The Perfect Sunday

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A Clean Desk in Under 17 Minutes

I decided to take my own advice yesterday after complaining that my bedroom was becoming too big of a mess. So I took it upon myself to just focus on one area: my desk. I sit at my desk all day, every day, for hours on end. Between blogging, social networking, correspondence and school work, this is my true classroom/office. Here is a before and after look at how I cleaned my desk in under 17 minutes.

Before: as you can see, my desk gets cluttered very quickly.
Books, my iPad, supplies - they all fall victim to lazy organization.

And after! Everything has a place and there is a place for everything.

I purchased these Martha Stewart boxes at Staples a few months ago.
They stack perfectly on top of each other so I can store my jewelry underneath the post-its.

These don't fit in the pencil/pen caddy, so this larger box works perfectly!

Extra supplies: wall unit for my Macbook Pro, the HDMI converter
for my iPad, and my Square card reader. 

I converted some old JewelMint boxes into handy organizational boxes.
Like the martha Stewart ones, these can also be stacked. And the velvet
lining helps keep everything in place! 

The view from my chair.
It's a lot easier to sit here and work when there isn't a lot of clutter!

On the keyboard tray to the right: school work.

On the keyboard tray to the left: iPad, a notebook, and my other laptop.
Oh, and my crappy phone!

The next cleaning project to tackle? The top of my dresser. It's even worse than the desk was (if you can imagine!)

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Midnight Snack

Cream cheese spread on a (cinnamon) graham cracker and topped with grapes.

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Photos: Pretty in the Bedroom

The other day I blogged about prettying up our bedroom with some new purchases. Here's a breakdown of what we did:

• New sheets and (2) pillowcases 
• Curtain (plus rod)
• Decorative pillow

Doesn't seem like much but the sheets alone took up more than half our budget. I think the best deal we got was on the curtain panel, and I really think it lifted the look of the bedroom considerably. It's not picture-perfect yet but I think we're on our way. 

Undressed window on the left, finished product on the right. And I love the way the sun comes through the curtain in the morning! The light is so soft and really brings out the floral pattern.
Curtain: Botanical Burnout, Target.  Rod also from Target.

Fieldcrest Luxury 450 Thread Count Solid Soft Sheet Set  in Grey, Target. 

Adding a touch of femininity to the room. The grey sheets were a compromise  but Jeff let me have my way with the curtain and decorative pillow. Ultimately I think he feels I made the best choice. 

Top: front of the pillow. Bottom: back of pillow
They aren't different colors. My camera is senile.
Simply Shabby Chic Embroidered Euro Pillow, Target. 

Credit: Target.com
View of the pillow that wasn't taken witha  senile digital camera. 

In addition to the new purchases, we also removed the tiled garden table that I had been using as a bedside table. While I'd like to have the free space available for storing extra pillows and bedding, right now it's being used for the portable air conditioner.

The bedroom hasn't received the kind of attention that the other rooms have, but I think we're now in a position to build on the few items we have purchased. We only have so much room to work with and because we're coming from two different households, we have two different sets of furniture. One of the more exciting aspects of living with someone is building everything together. I really like shopping for home furnishings with Jeffrey and I can't wait to see what else we come up with!



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Pretty in the Bedroom

Tonight we picked up a few good deals from Target to pretty up our bedroom. That was the room we had paid the least attention to. We've also made some minor changes to the furniture layout throughout the apartment. I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

Photo Post: Our Terrace Garden

Jeff getting ready to plant our new gardenia bush.

Our recent purchases: a dwarf lemon tree, gardenia bush, and these two planters. I am loving the large planter for the dwarf lemon. So beautiful!

I can't wait until this yields some fruit!

He's wondering why I'm taking pictures of him, lol.

Clearly he's doing all the work!

The daisy seeds I planted weeks ago are finally starting to sprout!

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Spring in Our Neighborhood

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Sausage and sun dried tomato rigatoni topped with mozarella

Mini Food Post #2

Jeffrey seems to have a flair for plating his culinary creations and this dish he recently made was no exception. The saffron in the tuna turned it a lovely yellow color, but it really popped when he topped it on purple mashed potatoes. And the whole dish popped again when he put it on this marigold plate. It was delicious, too! 

 

And here was our haul from the Farmers Market last weekend. The shallots are new to me but they are working out quite nicely. I made guacamole for the very first time Monday night and I was having a bit of difficulty getting the flavor just right. Turns out all it needed was pancetta (and pancetta fat). So delicious!!

 

 

Mini Food Post

 Some of my recent creations. I have been infusing a lot of Italian flavor into regular meals and the result has been very delicious!

 

Keeping Up the Apartment

Jeff and I have a habit of only cleaning our apartment when guests come over. Which makes me think that maybe we should invite people over more often. Anyway, we always promise ourselves we would maintain the neat look of our home after the party but never succeed in doing so. Well, four days after our birthday part for Jeff's Grandmom, the apartment is still looking decent. If the maintenance man knocked on our door and wanted to come in to repair something, I wouldn't go into a passive-aggressive mood about the cleanliness of the apartment (like I usually do). It's really worth it to keep the place clean when it has things in it that you love. And after going through our January budget it's clear to me that we spent too much money on buying things for our kitchen and dining room. But at least everything looks great, right?

 

One of the biggest purchases we have made is this rug that we found at Home Depot, of all places. Jeff pretty much fell in love with it at first sight. He said it reminded him of a Van Gough painting. Coming from someone who knows little about art I felt his connection to the rug was romantic and sweet. So we went well over budget and made the purchase. I then found this welcome mat one aisle over and since it was only $12 we decided to get it. I love the two pops of orange and yellow! 

 

 It still amazes me how much of a difference a 5 by 8 rug makes. Since our kitchen-dining-living room is one open floor plan it was a bit difficult distinguishing one place from another. With the rug placed down under the dining table there is a proper and lovely separation of dining room and kitchen. Even though it doesn't necessarily match the wall color, it doesn't clash with it or detract from it.

While there are no immediate plans to make any more purchases for our apartment, I remain on the lookout for a great deal. The more put together and lovely my apartment feels, the more put together and lovely I feel. 

Hopefully our next get together/party is just around the corner. I have invited my mom, grandma, and uncle out to celebrate another birthday: my 29th. I wouldn't even mind cooking for it!

 

First Batch of (Monster) Cake Pops

I joked to Jeff that instead of calling them cake pops we should call them cake BAM! because they came out huge. Usually it should only take a bite or two to consume a cake pop and these take about 4 or 5. However, regardless of their size they did come out super delicious and I'm proud to say that both the cake and frosting were completely homemade from scratch. The only pre-made products are the candy melts and sprinkles. They take up the entire bottom shelf of our refrigerator. I told you they were huge!!