Accidents

{My poor baby :( }

Wednesday morning did not start out all that hot. After coming up over a little hill to find a row of stopped cars, my brakes locked and I crashed right into the SUV in front of me. Thank goodness no one was hurt...well no one except my set of wheels. Luckily there was no damage to their car, but unlucky for me, their trailer hitch jammed my front end in. Its times like these when you realize who's there for you. My friend Chris and my boss came though like the champs that they are. One call to my boss (solely to tell him I clearly would be late) and he was in his car to come pick me up without hesitation. I could not ask for someone better to work for, honestly. After a day of phone calls, tows and tears, my car will need quite a bit of work but hopefully it'll all work out without me having to sell my eggs,  blood, organs, etc. 

P.S. Yes, the accident was completely my fault. Yes, this is my first accident. And yes, I feel like one of those stupid drivers that everyone complains about, even though I was wasn't speeding, wasn't on my phone and was going the speed of all the cars in front of me on the back road, with a safe distance between me and the car in front of me. 

Purge and Organize

I know cleaning out the closet is one of the hardest tasks for women. We are pack rats and hoarders to say the least. Now, let me preface by saying that I've always been good about cleaning out my closet**. Twice a year I donate to Goodwill and I'm fairly reasonable with knowing if i'll ever wear things again. But last week I did a HUGE purge of my closet. I was like, Amber, it's time to get real (only I said it in my head rather than out loud, because god forbid I look more like a crazy pants than I already do). 

I ripped off the band aide and got rid of almost all the t-shirts I'd been stockpiling for years. I'd always had the hope of making a blanket out of my t-shirts, because I have so many from high school and college and because they all have special memories for me, but after three years of saying that with no action, I had to be realistic. So I only kept the ones that were super special and sent the others on to a life better more fulfilling than sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I also purged dresses, dress pants (since I no longer work in an office requiring business casual), blouses and shoes that I wasn't in love with. And with all the free space I cleared up, I was able to better organize my closet, rather than my usual piles of clothes stacked on the top shelf, causing an avalanche of fabric when I pull one item out of the stack. Needless to say, when I was through, I was pretty proud of myself (as I pat myself on the back...metaphorically of course. Again, working on reducing the crazy factor)

**I have always had an organized closet. All my hangers must be white and all my clothes must be color coordinated in descending order by sleeve length (tanks, short sleeves, 3/4, long sleeves). Heels are always paired together. Scarfs and belts are also always organized together. Sometimes I'm a little anal.

Lookbook: Catalog Model

Dress: J Crew; Shoes: Khols; Belt: Urban Outfitters; Jewlery: Fossil, Forever 21

I swear I have more clothes in my closet than this dress (as seen here and here), but its my go to when I want  to be comfortable but not look like a hobo. I really like it belted because it doesn't do much for my shape when I wear as though I'm a J Crew catalog model. Maybe its because I'm not a model...but that's neither here nor there. This outfit was perfect for running around all day with work, bridesmaids duties and craft time (I made 23 aisle arrangements for my friends wedding. The glue gun and I are quite close.) And don't let the heels fool you. Truth: wedges are a girls best friend. Or is that diamonds? 

Bmore, Part II

So what starts out with dancing and ends with dancing?

A day with Angela!! 

As I mentioned last week, Angie and I hit up Bmore for some exploration, drinks and dancing. While getting ready, Ang decided to bust out the moves and get the party started. Well after a day of exploring Hampden, visiting Charm City Cakes, walking around the harbour and a brief shopping trip to UO, we hit the bar and had a blast refining our already one-of-a-kind amazeball dancing abilities. 

During the process we somehow interrupted a bachelor party, which totally worked in our favor because the dudes were hysterical. They were dancing crazy (Is there any other kind) and we even made a dance circle and took turns jumping into the center. Clearly we were the coolest kids at the bar ;) Days like these remind me just how much I miss living with my best friend and all the crazy adventures that are possible. One day people! One day we will be reunited...for good!!

{Shopping and coffee in the harbour}

{Why hello Mr. Bachlor from out of town}

{Do you think they have security cameras to see all the idiots that pose outside their door?}

Blossoms in Bloom

I am so in love with D.C. If I could live in any city, I'd be here. I just love the museums, the atmosphere, the people and the scenery. And I've always wanted to check out the cherry blossoms in the spring, but never seem to catch it in time. Well when boo came to visit, he had mentioned going to D.C. and clearly I hoped right on board! And can I say, we managed to not do anything while there. Nothing! I had wanted to check out the art museum, but after getting lost, looking at the blossoms, realizing we were beyond starving, running over to Georgetown, grabbing Chipotle and Pinkberry, it was 5p and the museums were closed. So we just headed home. Kinda stunk but I like just walking around the city. Spring just sucks the winter grouch right out of ya sometimes :)

P.S. Boo came prepared with presents. He bought me this Tiffany's bow ring I've been crushing on for a year. Why you ask? Just because. Isn't he sweet?

Spring

Happy first day of spring! 

I am more than stoked for warm weather, flowers in bloom, long walks with Zoe, and picnics outside during lunch. 

(Washington DC post to come)

Cookbook: Roasted Chick Peas

Have you guys ever tried roasted chick peas? Well they're quite a tasty snack. To quote the wise Mr. Pringle, once you pop, you just can't stop. They're a great source of protein and just something nice to munch on when you're desperately trying to not reach for your favorite bag of chips or oreos in an attempt to trick yourself into thinking you'll actually be able to fit into that cute bikini this year like those smokin victorias secret models (or is that just me?). Plus, they're super simple to make. There are a million different variations on the interweb and pintrest, but I just used some salt, chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and olive oil. Pop in the oven on 350 for about 15-20 min, flipping them roughly every 5-8 min (a.k.a. shoving a spatula in the oven and just moving them around the pan). Presto! You now have yourself some roasted chick peas. You can thank me later. 

Lookbook: Car Change

Dress: Target; Shirt: Marshalls; Jacket: Target (old); Tights: Unknown; 

Boots: Simply Vera; Belt: Forever 21

I tried on 13,420 outfits before deciding on this one. Ang and I were spending all day/night in Baltimore, so I needed an outfit that lended itself to an impromptu car change (without mooning the entire street in Fed Hill) before the bar. Also, walking around all day, I wanted to be comfortable. And whats more comfortable than a easy-breezy dress? Though so. And thus, an outfit was born. Thank goodness the weather was warm and wonderful or else walking around all day would have created two very cranky incognito tourists! 

Weekend

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was full of relaxing on the couch, giggle fits, tea, movies, parade festivities (i.e. food), dishes (I don't know how the boys sink gets that bad!), guitar serenades and a whole lot of quality time with boy.

Damn you Monday!

Cookbook: Green Smoothie

Have you guys ever jumped on the green smoothie train? Well, this chick has and I couldn't be happier with the trip. Green smoothies? Look like shit. Taste like awesomeness. 

My friend Meaghan told me about this recipe one day and when Ang came to visit, I thought it was the best time to give it a whirl. The proof in its deliciousness? Ang sucked it down in 2.4 minutes. Success!

Don't let the fact that veggies are involved fool you. There is enough fruit involved that the spinach only really affects the consistency and honestly, you can get past it. Have you guys tried the green smoothie? Thoughts? I've heard you should use kale too. Ever tried that?

B-more, Part I

yea, we set up self timers in antique stores to take photos together with tons of people around. what's it to ya?

Sooooo pumped that my BEST friend came into town. We were both in some serious BFFL+LASM (best friend for life + lover and soul mate...you've never heard that abbreviation? weird. I think its pretty popular...or maybe that's just in my imagination) time and what better way to spend our time together than exploring good ol' b-more. Sure, I've been to Baltimore a number of times, but obviously I'd never experienced Baltimore Angie style. We legit hit up pretty much every borough of the city. We started in Hampden and holy hell this place is so freakin cute its unreal. Antique shops, book stores, coffee shops...its a girls dream! We had such a fun time leisurely exploring the shops and mentally decorating our future girltastic joint home future homes with items so far out of our price rang, we'd have to hit up another area of b-more in the night time to score some cash if ya catch my drift (and i think you do ;). I definitely wanna go back to this area and do some future exploring but since we only had one day of fun (damn you long distance relationship we've somehow become involved in involuntarily), we had to mosey along to another area near John Hopkins University for some yummy (and probably unnecessarily healthy) grub.

Isn't she just the bee's knees? Love!

Lookbook: Ombre

Sweater: Gift from ang, Jeans: American Eagle, Denim Shirt: American Eagle, 

Boots: Simply Vera, Watch: Fossil, Belt: Forever 21

Welp. I took the plung. I went ombre. 

I was so hesitant to try the whole ombre thing because 1.) I just started dying my hair a couple months ago so any radical change produces hesitation, 2.) my hair is short and i've never really seen short ombre hair, 3.) I was nervous it'd look sloppy or just not what I wanted. But I decided to go for it and I'm a fan. Its not exactly what I wanted. I would have liked for a lighter blond instead of the yellowy color, but since my hair was dark before, this is what my hairstylist Katie could produce. Apparently there are two ways to achieve this (something I was unaware of). You can either color the tips or color the underside of your hair. I colored the tips. Apparently that is unheard of but I say the heck with it! Granted I pretty much can never straighten my hair or it looks weird but I like the change and I feel its going to be sticking around for awhile. 

P.S. My coworker LeAnn took my outfit shots outside the salon and since she didn't know what to do, she just moved the camera around with 344.6 different angles (and since she wasn't taking her photographer job seriously, I obviously couldn't take serious photos. ah duh!)