Best. Purchase. Ever.

Leggings: Gap
Sweater Coat: Banana Republic
Scarf: April Daze
Button down: H&M
Boots: Anthropologie
I probably shouldn't even tell you this story, for fear of my life.  Retail doesn't have many perks, but one of them is that customers return items after the season is over, and they usually get discounted.  While looking in the Anthro shoe closet one day, organizing the heels, etc., I saw these in a corner.  They were two seasons old (we sold them in the fall, and it was the end of spring), in my size, and seriously discounted.  As in $20.  I practically ran to the register to pay for them.
Here's a better look:

These shoes made the late night closings worth it.

 

These photos were taken about an hour after my 10k, and my hair was totally rocking.  So much so, I decided to forgo makeup.  Hence the lack of close-ups.

Christmas Decor in DC

Merry Christmas!  John Paul and I decorated our place a couple of weekends ago, and it looks really cute.  This is our first year with a tree, so we don't have a ton of ornaments.  We just used some silver and different colored balls from Target.  The ornaments with sentimental value will come later.

A red beaded necklace spruces up a table lamp.

The sentimental pillows, though, are under control.  Thanks Grandma in North Carolina!

We used some leftovers from the tree to make the mantle look even cuter!

Garland along the bookshelf, and a Santa-hatted antique fan, make the room even more festive.

 

Merry Christmas, y'all!

World War Z

This novel, by Max Brooks, perfectly fits in with my taste in post-apocalyptic literature as of late.  It's modeled after The Good War by Studs Terkel, which is a collection of firsthand accounts of World War II survivors.  There are fictional interviews with  everyone from deep sea divers to the doctor who treated the first reported zombie case in China, and it's all just so intriguing.
So the premise is that Brooks has written a UN report about the zombie war that destroyed governments and societies all over the world, but his supervisor thinks the report has too much human interest.  Brooks has taken out the personal interviews and put together his own book, which describes the effects of war on several aspects of life.  Brooks hears from a US soldier who fought in the well-publicized Yonkers mission, a failed military attack against zombies; a black market surgeon in Rio who accidentally gives a man an infected kidney; the man who helped blow up a bridge between Iran and Pakistan to stop the flow of zombies into the country.  The book is broken up into several sections, describing the beginning of the zombie infection, then the way countries deal with the outbreak, and the eventual rebirth of society.
Though there's not really a plot here, it's fascinating to see the way an author thinks the world will react to an attack of this magnitude.  Obviously, only read if you're also in a post-apocalyptic mood.
Oh, and think a zombie attack is even mildly possible.

Christmas Cookie Party

A couple of weekends ago, some friends came over for a Christmas sweets get-together.  What does that involve?  Sugar cookies cut out in Christmas trees and snowmen, lots of sprinkles, Trader Joe's holiday supplies and apple cider.

A cute apron doesn't hurt either.
People decorated cookies on individual squares of aluminum foil, we made peppermint hot cocoa, and Tara brought over almond-flavored sparkling wine (oh Lordy, supertasty!).

The leftover treats: sugar cookies, peppermint sticks, candy cane Joe-Joe's, fleur de sel caramels, and chocolate-covered shortbread.

They're pretty cute, no?

10K! 6.2 miles! 10000 meters! A lot of steps!

I did my first 10K yesterday!  It was a cold and wet morning, the race started at 7:30, and it allowed me to eat everything in sight the rest of the day.  All in all, I was incredibly happy and proud that I finished, not with a bad time either.  John Paul denied my requests for him to rip my legs off because they hurt so badly...I've decided to forgive him and love him anyway. 

My good friend, Christina, suggested we run  the Jingle All the Way 10K (http://www.runwashington.com/jingle-info.htm) as a way of motivating us out of the apartment when it's cold out.  We've been getting together to run a couple mornings a week, and done a couple of long runs on Sunday mornings.  The run isn't for a particular cause or charity, purely a fun run.  People were dressed as Santa, elves, reindeer, even a snowman!  A great time was had by all.
When all was said and done, John Paul drove me home and I sat right inside of the fireplace to warm up.  Winter is rough.

Layers, layers, layers!

Sweater vest, tank top, thigh-highs, cardigan: Gap
Skirt: Urban Outfitters
Shoes: Gianni Bini
Coat: J.Crew
Scarf: Ann Taylor
Well, winter held off until December 1.  Since then, it has been flat-out cold in DC, with flurries predicted today!  It's time to break out the layers and start bundling up.

On Saturday, John Paul and I spent our day out and about: saw Black Swan, Christmas shopped, painted pottery in Alexandria with Summer and Luke for her birthday (so fun!), decorated our home for the holiday, and went to dinner at Eola (I could write an entire entry about my wild boar ragout and pork belly croquettes). Needless to say, this outfit had to work for outdoors and indoors, as well as be willing to put up with some paint and walking.

 



These heels are nice and chunky, so wearing them all day wasn't a problem. Ribbed thigh-high socks are a great alternative to tights; they're not itchy and breathe a bit more. The coat stayed on for outdoors, while the cardigan could be taken off in the warm painting studio. I like the pops of red to bring in some color!

Spiced Pumpkin Cake

So you know that my mom, sister and I were in charge of desserts for the Thanksgiving dinner held at Andrea's new house (so cute!), and they were aching for the pumple.  I was desiring something hearty and not overly-sweet, and this dessert from November's issue of Real Simple was calling my name. 

As much as I enjoy pumpkin taste, I'm not wild about pumpkin pie; sometimes it's just too silky and rich. Baked goods, like pumpkin muffins and cakes, are much more up my alley. Add in my love for Bundt pans (they always look impressive and pretty!), as well as a thick lemon glaze, and I was done for.



 

 This cake turned out beautifully: dense, perfectly spiced and a beautiful, deep orange color. Be sure to grease your pan within an inch of its life, and use some flour, too. You'd hate for half your cake to stick to the pan! Also, be sure to let it cool completely before even attempting to slide it out of the pan.  All of those are hard-learned tips, I promise.

This could also work as a brunch offering, with some berries scattered on top. Or dress it up with a chocolate glaze, instead of lemon. Go nuts!



The Pumple

I wish you could have seen my face when my mom and Haley explained their excellent idea for Thanksgiving dessert.  You would have seen confusion mixed with huge amounts of doubt, as well as a headshake.  Or two.
Let me back up.  My Uncle Rob and Aunt Nesi were in charge of turducken.  If you are like anyone in my office (who now thinks my family and I are completely nuts), you probably don't know what that is.  Simply put, it's a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck stuffed into a turkey.  A TURkey-DUCK-chicKEN.
Taking that into account, Haley and my mom thought they should make a cherpumple.  What the what?!  A cherpumple is a cherry pie baked into a spice cake, pumpkin pie baked into a chocolate cake, and an apple pie baked into a vanilla cake (pies and cakes can be switched up as desired).  All of these are stacked on top of each other and frosted with a cream cheese frosting.  Please see their inspiration on youtube.

After some heated discussion, they were talked down to a pumple, excluding the cherry layer. 
I got to Florida on Wednesday evening, and we didn't start on the pumple until about 8:30.  Because you're baking a pie inside of a cake, the cooking times were essentially doubled.  The apple layer took about 40 minutes, and the pumpkin layer took a full hour.  During the pumple baking, we baked a pumpkin spice cake, in case people didn't want the pumple.  I was the most skeptical of all.  At 12:30A, we finally collapsed into bed.

On Thanksgiving day, my mom cut into the pumple and it looked...pretty.  The pies seemed to smile at us from inside their respective cakes.  The apple layer was delicious, and the chocolate layer was a bit rich, but edible.  I was astounded.
But won't be making it again.  Too much trouble to explain the name.

Heritage F21

Dress: F21
Belt: H&M
Shoes: Michael Antonio
Forever 21 has a very cute new line of pieces that look vintage and heritage-y.  While I do feel like I'm wading through a ton of lackluster clothing to find something in my style at the store, this entire line felt very fresh and cute.  It was well-priced to book!  Anyway, this dress was my favorite, and, therefore, went home with me.  I'm thinking it'll also look great with leggings and brown boots, unbelted.

I wore this on Black Friday, when I wandered around Downtown Stuart with my mom and Sari. So much fun to try on outlandish shoes and oogle the goods at April Daze! I really did have a lovely time back in Florida; the company alone was worth the plane ticket there.

 

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

via

 



This novel, written by Aimee Bender, is definitely a derivative of Like Water for Chocolate and a little of bit The Catcher in the Rye.  I realize these aren't the same types of books, but hear me out.
Rose discovers, at the age of nine, that she can taste the feelings of whoever made a meal.  Every person whose hands came in contact with the food, from the migrant workers who picked the oranges to her mother who made the fruit salad, is subject to Rose's skills.  She can taste that her mother is having an extramarital affair when she tastes the guilt and exuberance in a chicken dish; she knows that the French couple at her favorite restaurant truly love to cook because of the way the flavors marry in a recipe; she waits until her favorite lunchlady comes on duty to eat, because her sorrow is so real that it covers the blandness of cafeteria food.
The plot (if you can call some very loose connections to actions that) centers around Rose, her desperate mother, her almost-agoraphobic brother, Joseph, her distant father, and George, Joseph's best friend.  Rose gradually becomes accustomed to tasting people's feelings, although she doesn't socialize well; so much of her interactions with other people happen through her eating that it doesn't seem to occur to her to reach out.  George is the only character the reader will want to connect with because he is firmly situated in reality, in stark contrast to Joseph, who literally disappears into furniture (the description in the book left me very confused.  I had to read it several times to get what Bender was trying to say).  Although I generally enjoy works that seem almost ephemeral and weightless, this felt uneven.  Bender seems so intent on making this novel filmy: she doesn't use quotation marks, so the words seem to drift on the page; the characters' gifts are so abstract and almost distracting (the revelation about 4/5 into the book about her brother's disappearing act and her father's lack of interest in his own), it makes Rose seem a bit dull; and, moreover, nothing happens.  Rose's life is depressing and thoroughly introverted; why make her the main character if she can't seem to do anything?
Perhaps I wasn't in the right state of mind to really enjoy this book, but I was left wanting.