and another.

Just something I could basically live in during the fall/winter. At this point, I'm not sure when I'll even be able to wear something like this, but a girl can dream. I saw these Tory Burch boots on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and fell in love. Of course, they're way out of my price range and who knows if they'd fit like I'd want them to, but whatever - they're beautiful. I'm loving the emerald greens and rust colors I'm seeing so far for fall. Hoping I can find some fun pieces to add to my wardrobe. Or at least paint my nails accordingly. All I know is that I'm itching to buy a few fall pieces but cannot bring myself to do so when it's 113 degrees outside. But hey, we're supposed to have a cold front and rain later this week - cold front meaning 98 degrees instead of 110 or more. I'll take what I can get.

first polyvore set.

friday night dinner by chelseajordan featuring straight jeans

Decided to share the fruits of my new found obsession with Polyvore. I've heard about the site for a while around Twitter and some other blogs, but didn't ever check it out for myself. Finally, I caved and am very glad/a little worried that I did. It's slightly similar to Pinterest, in that you can collect a bunch of things from different sites in one place. But with Polyvore, you can basically build virtual outfits or just do a little dream styling. Now, this "set" contains a few items from places I've never heard of, which kind of defeats the purpose. I'm hoping as I learn more about the site, I can work towards only building sets with items from stores I actually shop at or that are at least on the same continent. But for now, it's just fun. I call this my 'Friday Night Dinner' outfit. If you know me and a little about my personal style, you know I stick to a pretty muted color palette and classic staples. This set stays pretty true to that with a few fun elements thrown in. Who knows, maybe this site will help me branch out and be able to try new things.

1. Reiss blazer - $370 
2. H&M scarf - $2.99 (euro) hm.com
3. Agent Ninetynine long tank top - $30 generalpants.com
4. Nordstrom necklace $68 nordstrom.com
5. Essie nail polish 'Sew Psyched' - $8 ulta.com
6. Dolce Vita pumps - $170 heels.com
7. J Brand jeans - $274 coggles.com
8. Tory Burch magnetic clutch - $142 (euro, again) theoutnet.com

As you can see, since some items are listed in Euros on websites I've never heard of, I have a lot to work on. But as an overall set - I like it. 

three things.

 [Fresh flowers and a fresh scent.]

[Fishtail braid.]

 [Rocky road fudge.]

Just a few things that made my week/weekend enjoyable. I love fresh flowers. I just wish I could find more varieties for a reasonable price. The only place I've even seen peonies, sells them for $6 a stem. No joke. So for now - Costco it is. I keep seeing everywhere that fishtail braids are back. I honestly did not remember how to do it. I'm actually not sure I ever did, since I was lucky enough to have two older sisters that didn't mind helping a girl out. So this video was a lifesaver. And finally, the fudge. This fudge will change your life. I grew up going to a place called Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw) in Michigan. It's the cutest place you'll ever see. There are NO cars (except emergency vehicles), only bikes and horse drawn carriages. And the entire island is about 8 miles in circumference - pretty tiny. The biggest draw though, is the Grand Hotel. Ever heard of 'Somewhere in Time'? The movie with Medicine Woman (Jane Seymour) and Superman (Christopher Reeve)? It was filmed here. But anyways, the hotel transports visitors back to another time period. With lavish grounds and immaculately decorated rooms, it's pretty incredible. There's a dress code for certain times of day and the five course dinner is an experience in itself. But even if you're not staying overnight, Mackinac Island is a great place for a day trip as well. It has a fun little downtown area, where JoAnn's Fudge is located. There are marble counters on one side of the shop where the fudge is made right in front of you and cases of the incredible creations on the other side. Anyways, my parents now have a place up in Michigan and were up there a few weeks ago and took the trip over to the island a couple of times. Hence, my yummy treat. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

tomatoes and cottage cheese.

I grew up eating this interesting combination. I always thought that only my family was weird enough to eat it, but I've recently come across some people that enjoy it just as much. But I also know that these two items are ones that people either love or despise. I have friends/family that won't touch either. Such a shame. Just thought I'd share it while we're still in the summer mood. It is definitely the time for fresh, easy dinners. These tomatoes were the ones I purchased during our day in Fredericksburg. They were perfect for this. And really, the recipe is - tomatoes, cottage cheese, salt and pepper. Doesn't get much easier than that. 

Enjoy.

cocktail hour.

Since I decided I wanted to lay low on Friday night of this past weekend due to having to get up early on Saturday, H and I opted for Chipotle and homemade cocktails (I then ignored him most of the night to work on an art project. Sorry, boo). H had tried a new drink after work at the golf club one day called the One Iron, so we decided to try it out. It's a pretty simple recipe, really. But still, very tasty.

Here are the ingredients:

• Vodka (Tito's for us)
• Fresca
• Splash of cranberry juice
• Fresh lime juice

And there you go. I think H did 2 shots of vodka since we were using tall glasses and only had one each. Then filled most of the glass with Fresca and a tiny bit of cranberry. Add a lime and you're done. 

Lovely way to start the weekend if you ask me. Already looking forward to the next one. 

three things.

[Fun print in my bedroom.]

[New Essie colors.]

[Zara clutch.]

This weekend was a whirlwind. Friday night, I stayed in and started an art project (more on that later) because I knew I had to get up early on Saturday morning. On Saturday, I got up and went up to Waco with my friends Angie and Traci to go to Landree's graduation at Baylor. Congratulations, Lan! We had a lot of fun on the drive there and back. I had to be back by 4 that afternoon to go to a work event here in town. We had an employee appreciation night at Main Event. It was very cool - we rented out the whole place and had it to ourselves. Then, H and I went to see 'Crazy, Stupid Love' afterwards. We both decided it's one of the better movies we've seen in a while. Super funny with some really sweet moments. Sunday morning, I went to brunch at The Park here at the Domain. We sipped mimosas (pineapple basil for her, mango ginger for me), sampled the buffet and were grateful for the misters on the patio. Afterwards, we went over to Costco to scope out their fresh flower situation. I've resorted to this since I can't seem to find a good selection at any farmers' market. It worked out pretty well. I got two dozen roses for the price of one dozen and Lan got a nice sunflower mixed bouquet. After I went home and cleaned them and put them in vases, I headed over to my parents' house to do some laundry. All in all, a really good weekend. I'll have a couple of posts with more detail about a couple of things later this week. These three things are just a few things that I've been enjoying the past few weeks. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend as well.

crispy parmesan asparagus sticks.

[Before baking.]

[Finished product - from original recipe.]

I found this recipe on Pinterest and decided I needed to try it. I got some asparagus Monday night on the way home from work and didn't eat all of it and I already had all of the other ingredients, so it was a no brainer. And it worked out well because H stopped and got sushi on his way over and these tasty treats play well with soy sauce. Definitely worth a try if you're looking for a new and super easy side dish. Enjoy!

P.S. H got word that he's starting his internship on Thursday. Exciting stuff.

fredericksburg.

On Saturday, H and I made the drive out to the quirky little German town of Fredericksburg. I've grown up going out to Fredericksburg at least once a year, either with family or for a few school field-trips. I'll actually be going out there again next month for our Strategic Planning meetings for work. But Saturday was purely for fun. We got there around 2, so we had a late lunch at a German restaurant/biergarten (of course) and then walked around Main Street and stopped in a few shops. I made some fun purchases in 2 of the shops - an alarm clock (that might actually make me get out of bed) and some new sandals/flats (both seen here). I've decided I can't wear the cute little one strap sandals that everyone is wearing right now, so these are a fun compromise. Anyways, after we walked around and pretty much melted completely, we stopped in a candy store to get something to drink and then took off down the road back towards Austin. Along the way though, there are some wineries that coincidentally, I've been to before on a fun little trip a few Christmases ago when I got to drive the family around on a wine tour because I wasn't 21, yet. Yay, me! No, it was actually really fun. But I've already said that next time, we're getting a limo or a driver or something. But since I don't know when that will be, I decided I wanted to try a couple of them on this trip. We decided to stop at Grape Creek and Becker. I'm pretty sure I've had wines from both places before and I remembered hearing good things about both of them from my family. We stopped at Grape Creek first because it was one of the first ones on the way out of town. The tasting room was jam packed when we got there, so we took it as a good sign. We got to try 6 different wines and our server was nice and let us try one more - a port. Not my favorite. They were all pretty good and H chose his favorite and bought a bottle. Next, we drove down to Becker, which is off the main road a little ways. The tasting room there was also really busy, but we found a spot to squeeze in at the counter and had 6 more tastes. We both decided we liked Becker a little more than Grape Creek. I chose my favorite at Becker and bought a bottle to take home. Both places also gave us a glass to take home, which was nice. After our tastes at Becker, we sat down for a little while outside on the patio. Luckily, they had misters going so it was actually pretty nice. After taking a breather (I could have probably taken a nap at this point), we headed off towards Austin again. On the way into Fredericksburg, we also saw a bunch of fruit stands where they were selling peaches (Fredericksburg is kind of famous for their peaches) and quite a few with signs saying they had homemade peach ice cream. SOLD. Sadly, the place we stopped at was out of peaches (say what?) but they did have some nice looking tomatoes and of course, peach ice cream. Overall, it was a really fun day. From singing really really loud in the car (have I mentioned H is slightly tone deaf...) to ducking into shops just to get out of the heat (riiiight) to getting to taste some Texas wine - I loved every minute. But the next trip will definitely be when it's not 107 degrees outside. Is it October, yet?

[Cute little German restaurant.]

[Yummy root beer.]

[Fredericksburg Library.]

[Museum of the Pacific War.]

[Becker Vineyards.]

[Tasty wine at Becker.]

three things.

Continuing with the trend of the number three, I've decided to try to list three things once a week that I either have, don't have but want, like, love, think is crazy, funny, or whatever else might pop into my head. The items will range from apartment finds to new recipes to clothes and accessories. So check back weekly to see a new list of three things I'm excited about at the moment.

[Empty frames to be used in a collage.]

[New fun sandal flats.]

[New alarm clock.]

sparkle nails.

[Essie - 'French Affair' and OPI - 'Bring on the Bling'.]

I decided I needed some pep in my step after this week. I feel like I’ve been going non-stop all week, so when I got home from work yesterday, I sat myself down and painted my nails. I’ve been seeing all over, this new thing with painting one nail a different color than the rest – specifically one nail in sparkles. I have all of these fun OPI sparkle colors that my friend, Tricia, gave me for my birthday last year. Ahh, that reminds me of what fun my birthday was last year. Tricia’s other present was that she flew out from Orange County for the weekend – something I didn’t know she had planned until she showed up outside my dressing room in Madewell. I’ll have to post the video later. Complete shock. Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting another present after that, but in true Tricia form, she had a lovely box with an incredible homemade bow waiting for me as well. We had talked about these OPI sparkle colors a few days before and I was so excited to see she had found them. As I’ve mentioned before, I try to dress on the conservative side for work, so I haven’t used these fun colors very often. But I figured this might be the perfect opportunity. Just enough of a hint to be fun, but not so overpowering that it ends up being the only thing my boss looks at. That and I decided to do it on a Friday, so a large part of the time it’ll be on will be during the weekend. I know, I’m way over-thinking this. Welcome to my life.

I think it’s a pretty fun alternative to a normal manicure – especially during the summer. As I mentioned here, why not take advantage of some fun summer colors? What do you think? Would you do it?

Oh, and I also got to see my favorite girl last night. We had a really fun dinner at Maggianos with my sister and brother-in-law. And now have leftovers for days. Yum. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

number three.

Does anyone else out there have a favorite number? Better yet, does anyone have a slight obsession with a number? Because I do. I’m not actually sure when it started, but for as long as I can remember, my favorite number has been the number three. I can remember playing the “I’m thinking of a number…” game and ALWAYS choosing three. At the time, I wasn’t really thinking of the context of the actual number. As I got older and started thinking about it, the number three became a lot more special to me. There are three girls in my family and I am the third child – the baby (as I’m reminded, quite often). Not only that, but my mom is the baby of three in her family as well. My grandma is also the baby of her family, but there were more than three. Still, I like the pattern. So my favorite number has become a special number and I’ve begun incorporating it into all different aspects of my life, just for fun. Here are some examples of things I’ve incorporated into my apartment:

 [Throw pillow.]

[Spray painted #3 used in a collage.]

Most recently, I stumbled upon something that is just too perfect for words. While perusing some of the blogs I read daily, I came across a favorite blog list on one of my favorite blogs. I started clicking on a few just to see what some of them were like. I’m pretty sure it was fate that I clicked on this one. This blog was talking about something called CODE rings. Of course, the one pictured on the blog was a #4, but I clicked on the link to the website just the same. Hoping. To my delight, they also have a #3. I think it is just precious. I’ve never been one for flashy jewelry, so the simplicity stood out first. I am, however, a sucker for meaningful jewelry. I’ve worn the same James Avery ring every day since June 20, 2003 when my sister gave it to me at the rehearsal dinner the night before her wedding. I’ve also worn the Tiffany’s ‘C’ she gave me for my high school graduation in 2006, religiously. Case in point – I think I’m going to start saving up for this little number (pun definitely intended). Anyone else have a quirky obsession with a number? Or any sort of collection?

[I want.]

[My little flower.]

horseshoe bay.

On Saturday of this past weekend, I drove out to Horseshoe Bay to hang out with my friend Kelsie and some other friends that drove down from Dallas for the weekend. They stayed at the Marriott at Horseshoe Bay, which is really nice. I have heard about Horseshoe Bay, but had never actually been. It’s just a little bit outside of Marble Falls – home of the famous Bluebonnet Café. Their pies are to die for. And the pot roast. Oh man, I might need to go out there soon and do a post on that. Moving on – like I said, I had never been to Horseshoe Bay, so I really didn’t know what to expect or have any expectations. I don’t think it would have mattered either way, because I thought it was a great place. We went over to another side of the resort to a pool that was right by the lake where there was also a little beach area and steps to get into the lake. Besides the $11 Pina Colada and the major sunburn on my neck/shoulder, it was a really good, relaxing day. Kelsie’s mom (my 2nd mom, her aunt and her cousin were also out there, so it was definitely a girls’ weekend. My kind of fun Saturday. I didn’t get my camera out too much, since I was a little worried about spilled drinks and large bodies of water, but I still got some fun shots. Check back later for a post about a few of my favorite things – this time, my obsession with the number three. Intrigued, aren’t you?

[Oh, Lulu.]

[Kelsie and Kristen.]

[Obviously related.]

[The girls.]

[Cannon balls.]

monday night meal.

So tonight, I ended up working late and wasn't in the mood to do much cooking. I had master plans earlier in the day to stop and get stuff to make chicken parmesan, but that might have to wait for a while. However, I did have some cheese tortellini in the fridge, so I just stopped and got some garlic bread, stuff for a salad and some wine. Easy enough. It turned out really well, which is no surprise since I put so much effort into it (sarcasm - noted). Either way, it was a nice meal to enjoy while watching our Monday night shows. I'll be back later for a weekend update and some other things I've been thinking about. Let's see if I can post something every day this week. Here's to trying! I hope everyone's week is off to a great start. 

cedar park farms to market.

On Saturday morning this past weekend, Landree and I went to the Cedar Park Farmers' Market in the Lakeline Mall parking lot. After we made a nostalgic trek through the mall to find an ATM (we were pretty sad that Limited Too is gone), we were in business to explore the market. It was a pretty compact market, but there were some pretty good options. Landree got some eggplant, hummus and some kind of Indian treats (Naan and something else that looked like a quesadilla). I got tomatoes. I guess I had some trouble committing to the market. We both decided we need to have a better plan in mind of what we want/need beforehand. We did get some lavender lemonade that was really good. Overall, it was a fun time, but I still want to try some of the other markets around town. San Diego, you ruined me.

milk and cookies.

Tonight was just one of those feel good nights. I stopped at the store on the way home, because I was craving a good home-made sandwich. So H and I had a quick dinner and then headed downstairs to the Apple store, because he had decided to get a new computer. It was a quick trip since he pretty much already knew what he wanted. By the way, I'm definitely keeping my student ID indefinitely. Or at least until I end up needing a new computer. Apple always seems to have a student promotion going on. Anyways, then we stopped by Starbucks for some shaken iced tea lemonade and headed up to my place to hang out and catch up on some shows. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and catching up on each other's weeks (he was back home in San Diego last week). At around 8:30, I decided to make up some cookies (straight from the package, of course). They turned out lovely (duh) and we had them with some nice cold milk. I don't know what it is about "fresh"out of the oven cookies that just make you feel good - whether they're store bought or not. Of course, I started to get really hyper right around the time H started to get ready to leave - sugar high, anyone? But still, worth it. I hope everyone had a nice night. Time for this girl to get some sleep. I'll be back tomorrow for a Farmers' Market update.

  [Yes, I realize that the milk is in juice glasses. And 

next to wine and salt. Still working on my picture staging...]

san antonio for the day.

                 [Baby Girl ready for the River Walk.]                         [Walking with Daddy.]

                                [Pretty church.]                        [Cousin Jared with his baby girl.]

                       [Kisses from Mackenzie.]                                          [Precious little one.]

                     [Cute little family (minus 2).]                              [Uncle Zack and Mackenzie.]

                          [Cousins and babies.]                                    [Emily Sue and Trynn Olivia.]

[Don't worry, there's an arm behind her.]

On Saturday, I tagged along with my sister and brother-in-law (and baby girl!) down to San Antonio for the afternoon. My cousin, Jared, graduated from Air Force Academy down there and was able to hang out away from the base for the day, so some of the family was down there. We met up with them and after some group pictures, I was past the point of being irritable due to hunger (Sorry, family members) so we walked down the River Walk a little ways and stopped at a restaurant called Cafe Ole. It was a nice meal of chips, queso and fajitas. Even though today's weather was extremely muggy, the River Walk was actually quite enjoyable. However, after a day of sweating profusely and being stuck in a seat most of the time, Trynn had had enough. We ended up making the drive back up to Austin right after we ate. Nonetheless, it was a nice afternoon of cousins and babies. Congratulations to Jared and I wish them the best in the next few months before he can go home to Arizona for good. He met his new baby girl for the first time this weekend and I'm sure he's ready to get home to his whole family.