Daily Outfit: 6

Fiona Bennett: Hat Maven

I love these hats by British hat-designer Fiona Bennett.

Daily Outfit: 5

Channeling the 1950's

The Adventures of Pinocchio-Roberto Innocenti

While studying abroad in Germany, I found this postcard at a local art museum and have been carrying it around since.  It always seemed like such a beautifully sad illustration; there's was immense desperation and hopelessness conveyed in the picture but done in this poignant way that resonated with my heart at the time; and I simply loved the colors.  By Italian artist Roberto Innocenti, who still lives in Florence with his wife, you can see more of The Adventures of Pinocchio at:  Cizgili Masallar: Children's Book Illustration Blog.

Daily Outfit: 4

Special Sauces for Ice Cream

I adore ice cream.  Hands down, I do.  I once went on a month-long bicycle trip, with a friend, with the hopes of getting super buff.  We ended up eating our way through the gelato side of Europe.  I found these amazing recipes for ice cream on A Beautiful Mess blog and had to post them for future reference.

Sea Salt and Honey Caramel Sauce, makes about 1 1/2 cups.

• 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoons water, 6 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup cream (heavy cream or half and half), 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 tablespoon coarse grain sea salt.

In a pot combine the sugar, honey and water and cook over medium heat. Be sure to stir the mixture as it heats up and allow this to thicken for 4-5 minutes (the sugar will just begin to darken in color). Now add in the butter, cream and vanilla and bring to a low boil. Continue to stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sea salt. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

 Red Wine Chocolate Sauce, makes about 1 cup.

• Needed: 1/2 cup red wine (any kind you like or have on hand is fine!), 1 cup dark (or milk) chocolate chips, 1/4 cup light corn syrup.

In a pot simmer the wine over low/medium heat. Allow it to cook for about 8 minutes, it will reduce some. Turn the heat down and add in the chocolate and corn syrup. Whisk vigorously as things begin to melt, then remove from heat and continue whisking until every thing is well incorporated.

Photos and recipes straight from A Beautiful Mess

Daily Outfit: 3

Simple makeup (foundation, mascara, and brow pencil), hot pink lip (Revlon Fuchsia Super Lustrous Lipstick), and a retro hair-style complete with lots of bobby-pins and a curling iron.

Hair Tutorial: Gibson Tuck

An easy hair tutorial for the Gibson Tuck via Simply Stardust

Daily Outfit: 2

 

Ok, it's only Day 2 of my month-long experiment and I've cheated; I added another piece of clothing.  There's one thing I've learned about Texas in the 6 years that I've lived here: during summer it may be blistering hot outside but it's still necessary to carry a sweater every where you go.  It's true!  It'll be 101 degrees outside and you go into a movie theater where it's 56 degree and freezing!  This is the case at work, air conditioning on full blast makes it absolutely vital for me to grab a sweater on the way out the door in the morning.  So I just had to add one more piece of clothing to the roster.

The Night Circus

I will be the first to admit that I am a total pushover for teeny-bopper series; I got sucked into the Twilight series.  It was terrible but I couldn't put the damned thing down; next I inhaled The Hunger Games which was much better than the first; lastly I've become engulfed in The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which was much better than the first and second mentioned.

It begins:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Get it.  That's all I have to say.  And next thing you know, they'll probably make a movie out of this one too.