coconut milk chia seed pudding.

This recipe is so easy to make, and saves you lots of caSh.  For some reason chia seed pudding is always around $7-$8 for less then half of this recipe... if you can even find it at your local cold pressed juice establishment. Just think ahead and let your seeds soak overnight. It's well worth the effort it.

1 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 banana (this will make it sweet)

1 tbsp hemps seeds

1 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes

froyo on a stick.

frozen peaks FroYo on a stick. yum!!!

cotton candy with rainbow sprinkles. 

Bleecker & Laguardia

image via frozen peaks

image via frozen peaks

tiny apartment: manhattan kitchen.

Living in Manhattan certainly has his advantages and conveniences, but one of the most compromised luxury of mine is definitely the space.  It can be very frustrating and challenging at times, but generally all worth it end.  I'm currently living in a 7-floor walk up (yes, you read that right) apartment bordering Little Italy, Chinatown, Soho & Nolita.  

When I look across the street I see Di Palo's Italian Meat & Cheese shop, to my left Ferrara's Italian Bakery,  I can hop down the street for a super cheap Chinatown massage (it's really not that shady)  or walk to the bank past a questionable fish market through a  sea of Chinese people freaking out over $2 socks from a street vendor. What's up with that?  And then of course all of your classic shopping on Broadway is just a few more steps the other direction where you will find things like Starbucks, TopShop & H&M.  It's really is a great location with so many different identities! I can't imagine living anywhere else. 

Which brings me to today's post.  Luckily my fiance is incredibly handy and he has the most innovative ideas when it comes to saving space.  He get's so creative that sometimes I don't even understand his vision until it's complete.  Having limited cabinet space he built a 3-tier shelving system with a pipe on top (see the last picture) to hang pots off it.  Basically everything in our kitchen is visible so I have to keep it aesthetically pleasing.  

Keep checking back for the rest of the apartment as I plan to photograph the rest soon.

There is 1 ikea hack that is pure genius.

SHOP SIMILAR

 Here are some of my favorite things in the kitchen, 

some of them aren't exact but similar... just incase you like what you see. 

1. Handmade Copper Tumblers 2. H2O Tumblers  3. Ikea Dinnerware  4. Warm Tobacco Pipe Candle 5. KitchenAid 5-Quart Mixer in Pistachio 6. Copper Pitcher 7. 100 Foods to Stay Young 8. Make Your Place 9. Meatless

my mint green metal canisters are sadly sold out but they were from pier1. 

if you are ever able to track them down they match the pistachio kitchenaid perfectly. 

4th of july. long weekend.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of july!

I shot this for GLOSSYBOX this past week in Washington Square Park.

Last month's box was a custom stars & stripes design. perfect for july 4th!

blackberry chia seed pie.

My first pie(s)! I was inspired by a pie recipe on the first year blog but made a few changes to the presentation & filling.  I love chia seeds (because they are so good for you) that I add them to everything and luckily it worked out will with the pie.

Crust

1 cup flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp butter, cut into small cubes

1 egg yoke

1 tbsp soy milk

Mix the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt together.

Cut the butter into small cubes and add them to the mix too. Mix it all together with your hands.

Add the egg yolk and soy milk in as well. Once the dough is mixed, form a ball, wrap it and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Not longer as it will get hard. 

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Filling

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries (organic)

1/8 cup sugar

1/8 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp chia seeds

Egg Wash

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water

1 tbsp sugar for sprinkling on top

In a medium bowl, mix the fruit, sugar, cinnamon, flour and chia seeds together.

Next, take your dough out of the fridge and (if you're making 4 mini pies like me) section it into 5 pieces. 4 for each crust and the extra for your star cut outs.  I didn't use a rolling pin for this recipe at all, I just used my fingers to mold the pie crust into the pie pan. I did add a little extra flour, but it was too sticky to use the rolling pin. Fingers worked just fine.

Split your fruit filling into your four mini pies and flatten out your extra piece of dough. Using a variety of star cookie cutters, start cutting out different stars in whatever size you like and mix and match till you get a design you like. I got my cookie cutters at Sur La Table for $6. 

After you're happy with your stars, use your egg wash and brush a thin coat on top and sprinkle with sugar. I didn't use nearly as much as the recipe suggests, but it's your world. 

Now just pop them in the oven for 20 minutes, 

let them cool enough to take them out of the mold and serve up your festive pies!

chanel. eye candy.

talk about eye candy. this bag is amazing.

no diy attempts will be made. ever. i'll just stare at this picture till i get tired/sad. 

www.chanel.com

image via purse blog

city braids.

hair by sean gallagher for serge normant grand street - in the great lawn at central park

summer is here & so is humidity. 

lock your hair up in a fun braid for a frizz free - no fuss summer hair solution.

summer soltice.

Happy first day of Summer! 

Yesterday I went shopping at Old Navy for shorts in an appropriate length for a 30 year old to wear. Generally there styles are more 'work appropriate' then most of my clothing, so I figured I'd have good luck in the shorts department and I was right!

1. tula 2. old navy 3. old navy 4. coach (similar)

jazz age lawn party.

at governors island in june & august... my favorite day(s) of the year! 

here are a few highlights! i'll finish the commentary later.

more after the jump 

diy. dylanlex.

DYLANLEX INSPO

Not my best step by step DIY tutorial, but forgive me. 

I've been out of the habit of blogging and made this back in February. But none the less, I'm back & am pretty proud of this!  I'm so obsessed with DYLANLEX, I was actually going to buy the FALKOR necklace and justify it as a 'wedding expense', but they don't have a showroom and I found out that it weighs 1 pound so I had to give up on my dream. 

Keep reading after the jump...

so in January we're gettin' married. diy invitations.

Wedding planning so far...

I've been engaged now for just over 8 months and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on things.  They say the average cost of a wedding in New York City is $76,000 (anywhere else U.S.A. $25,000).  I don't know about you, but in my book $25k still seems like a lot.  But, at some point you just accept the fact that it's going to cost... and hopefully all be worth it. 

That being said, we're striving to spend more along the lines of the national average, but we'll see how it all unfolds.  We definitely have our work cut out for us.  I have plenty of resources in the city, so I fully plan to use them.  But, being that I have recently entered my third decade of life, and none of my city friends are married or engaged, I haven't been given any wise words or friendly advice on how not to have a wedding in the city that costs a million dollars.  

So I'm really excited to share my experiences with you, and hopefully add some inspiration to your own weddings.  One thing that I've realized is going to be really important for me... is to not bite off more then I can chew.  I am well aware that if I try to DIY everything, my head will probably explode, so I really have to recognize some of the choices I make and think objectively if it will literally make me go crazy.

The first thing I am 100% DIY'ing are my wedding invitations!

I found this great Portland based etsy seller named

PAPER SUSHI 

that makes these amazing custom wedding invitation suites, that are stamps.

You buy the right kind of paper and ink, and you have everything you need to print them yourself.

So it's perfect incase you forget a few people, you can just make a few more.

This full suite + the save the date are $240 & available here.

  

the blend by fred segal.

The Blend

These are my favorite new (to me) fragrances this summer & the concept is so absolutely genius.

The idea is to create an entirely customizable fragrance experience.  I got #5 for my birthday, (which is a lovely intoxicating floral) but have yet to actually use the 'blends' as intended, but #5 is amazing all by itself. 

You can purchase the 10 piece set for $150 or a la cart for $38.00 each.

gel manicure & metallic striping.

Here are the exact products I used to create this design.

1. Red Carpet 'Prep' $3.99

2. Sephora by OPI gelshine 'base coat' $17.50

3. Red Carpet 'White Hot' $9.99

4. Sephora by OPI 'what's a tire jack?' $17.50

5. Sephora by OPI 'top coat' $17.50

I cure each layer for 120 seconds, I might not need to do it for that long, 

but I don't want to take any chances.

You will also need a UV lamp but you can literally use any UV lamp to cure your polish. I'm sure some of them are less harmful then others, but mine is a simple one I found on eBay for $35 a few years back.

The last thing you'll need is some silver metallic nail striping.  Which will cost less then $10 for a few spools. I just use my cuticle scissors (and try not to touch the sticky side) to size each piece across my nail bed. Then I then press down the corners to make sure it's secure with my fingers and then sandwich it between two layers of top coat.  

I do occasionally get a small amount of lifting in the corners but I've sort of figured out to just add extra top coat. But it'll last longer the thinner the application.

Very last step: 

Use a cotton ball with nail polish remover on to and sweep across each nail to remove any weird residue and really make your nails shine. I know this one sounds weird, but I saw my manicurist do it and it really works without messing anything up.