lovely jubbly london

{home made} fashion friday

I love Anthropologie. I mean, who doesn't?! I have been drooling over some new tops from them like this one:

 

The price I didn't love. $100 on sale from $218. 

Quite a bit for a seemingly simple top.

So I thought, maybe I could make something similar..... 

Now, don't judge my fabric- I was smart enough not to use my new fabric when trying to make a top for the first time without any pattern whatsoever. 

It was a smart decision, since I did have to go back and redo a few things to make it wearable. So with my $1 a yard fabric I made this:

Pretty, cute right?

There are some things I would (and will) change when I make it with my lovely new fabric, but I am very happy with it! After trying to read several patterns and not having much success, I have realised it is definitely easily to DIY (design it yourself).

come to mama

I finished work early and did what any self respecting American would do...
I got myself a burrito.

summer steaks

Now that summer is almost over (September? See you next week.) the sun decided to give us yet another glorious weekend of weather. 

I ordered some USDA steaks for delivery Friday and sure enough the clouds came out. Typical after the lovely sun we had mid-week. Fret not though, Saturday and Sunday surely provided us with one of the best weekends of weather all summer. The husband got to make use of the bbq, we dined al fresco and indulged in my new favourite tipple- pear cider. I think this summer definitely belongs to the pear, it's delish! 

I do think the only thing we're missing now is a fire pit. It would allow us to dine outdoors on cool fall nights and it would come in really handy for s'mores... 

bohemian casual

Have you seen this style quiz? 

I can definitely see some of myself in the answer.

Here are my happy home colours:

 

In the last home we owned there was a chocolate dining room, a grey/blue bedroom and a sage kitchen with beige in other rooms so I would say this is pretty accurate!

king arthur's brownies

 

Thanks to Caitlin for being my chocolate chip supplier, I was able to make these delicious brownies. It was a very easy recipe and for a little something extra, I went ahead and threw in a few peanut butter cups before baking. Yum!

King Arthur's Fudge Brownies

1 cup butter (226 grams)

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan or your usual brownie pan. In a double broiler or in the microwave melt butter. Stir in sugar and return to heat briefly to help melt the sugar a little (but do not allow the mixture to boil) until it starts to look shiny as you stir. While the sugar is heating, add eggs to mixer bowl and beat with cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso and vanilla until smooth. Add the hot butter mixture to the egg mixture, stirring until smooth. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Add the chocolate chips right away if you would like them melted or continue stirring until the batter has cooled slightly before adding. Bake about 30 minutes until a tester comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Cool on rack before cutting and serving. 

If you are using a smaller, but higher pan, add 5 minutes or so to the baking time.

Recipe from King Arthur

fashion friday

the shrunken schoolboy blazer 4 ways

the prepster look with khakis and a scarf belt

ready for the office with pinstriped trousers

thrown over a dress

(new dress on clearance, not really liking it on)

classic with jeans

I never realised how hard it is to take pictures of yourself in the mirror until now... if I had a tripod these probably would have turned out better (and not blurry!).

The husband and I made it downtown last night for late night shopping and as you can see I made it back to the Gap. I love the shrunken schoolboy blazer and can see getting quite a bit of use out of it. Of course when we arrived, I didn't see it anywhere and asked someone only to be told it was sold out. OF COURSE. Figures, the one thing I really wanted right?! Well, we went upstairs and lo and behold there was one on the display. So the husband gets up on the platform trying to look at the size and a salesman comes running over wanting to know what we are up to. I'm like, we're just checking if the size is mine since you're sold out. He's all like, well I can let you try it on, but if you want to buy it you should try Regent Street or Piccadilly Circus. Of course, being the American that I am, I smiled sweetly at him and said I'm sorry, but I really want to buy this blazer, you're sold out and I'm not going to hunting through London to find another. *BIG SMILE* Since we weren't in America, he had to get approval from a manager and of course while he is over there talking to her, I'm smiling at them. As you can see it worked...I only wished there was a bigger size so I could try on for comparison, but I loved it and couldn't leave the only one behind not knowing whether I would find it again.

mind the gap

I think the Gap may have redeemed themselves with me when it comes to their new collection. I popped into the South Ken branch the other day on my lunch hour and saw so many things I wanted to try. I was short on time so couldn't try anything on, but I plan on going by the bigger branch soon to try on some things.

shrunken boys blazer (so cute with the lining on the roll up sleeves)

slim chinos (they may be too slim for my hips!)

boyfriend shirt (slouchy and soft)

shrunken cardi (love the black and white)

all images from here and here

books to movies

Finally a book I have read that is turning into a movie I actually think the husband will want to see. I'm still trying to convince him we need to see The Time Traveler's Wife, but I think I can get him to see this one with no problems: 

  

care package

Just in time for the warm weather some new clothes and goodies from the US arrived. 

(and of course some sewing supplies...)

summer weather watch 2009

I will admit to being skeptical when the weather people predicted barbecue weather for the weekend. Especially when it seemed like the next few days were full of clouds, fog and rain. 

Last weekend we planned for a barbecue and it seemed like as soon as everything was ready for the husband to light the grill the rain started. Being the man that he is, of course, he persevered and I looked out the kitchen window to see the grill flames through the shed window. Yes, the husband grilled in the shed. 

So this weekend was supposed to be full of the summer weather we have been waiting for and another bbq was planned. On Saturday the weather was mostly sunny with some clouds, but no rain. By the time we got home it was cloudy. Sunday we hit the jackpot. It was 75°F with a nice breeze all day.

lovely glorious sunshine = dinner à deux outdoors

 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!