Bites of My Life

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After making it through the tornadoes at the beginning of the week, the first days at my internship, and fun times with friends at the lake, I closed up the weekend eating dinner on the couch and watching the premiere of The Bachelorette.
The beginning of last week was heavy. The tornadoes that hit my state caused chaos and sadness. I sat with my eyes glued to the TV as the storms stirred up around us. I'm lucky to have been safe throughout the storms, but not everyone was as lucky. After they passed, I then had to watch the footage of the damage they caused in Moore. Tuesday morning, as I was driving to my first day of interning, I saw first hand the damage the tornado left behind. The scene was hard to look at. Everything in the tornadoes path is now just a pile of debris. I can't even imagine how those directly affected are coping.
Oklahoma has a heavy heart for all those who lost so much from the storm. It is amazing to see how our state has come together to help and benefit our neighbors. Beside the sadness the storm caused, there has been so much hope from the generosity of our state.
I started my internship last week and I am loving every bit of it. I only work two days a week, but I wish I worked more! Everything I have already had the opportunity to do has been a blast. It is exciting to be doing work in my major and actually enjoy it. I know I am going to continue to benefit and learn so much throughout the rest of the summer.
Wednesday after interning, I met a new friend in the city for a fun girl dinner. We met through a mutual friend and instantly hit it off with everything we had in common; blogging being one of them. Check her out here. I think our waiter came by about five times to see if we were ready to order, but we hadn't even looked at the menu because we were too busy chatting!
Friday, I headed up to the lake to meet a big group of friends for Memorial Day Weekend. A big thanks to my sweet friend and her family for hosting all of us all weekend. We spent most of our days sleeping in, eating a big breakfast then spending all day out in the sun on the boat! It was the perfect way to kick off summer. Unfortunately the weekend had to end and we packed up to come home yesterday; not leaving before my friends surprised me with cookie cake and a singing of "Happy Birthday" for the big
2-0! With it being my birthday I came home and treated myself to a mani/pedi and a home cooked meal. My roommate and I then watched The Bachelorette and went to bed early. A big birthday dinner with the fam is on the agenda for tonight!
Now can we just talk about The Bachelorette really quick. Did they purposely pick the weirdest guys for Des to choose from or did they just lower their standards this season? I'm sorry guys but don't try to win your way to your potential future wife's heart by giving her hashtags you made up, make her do dance moves that almost make her dress rip, or by showing up in a suit of armor. I can say, I'm on team Ben! He won me over when he had his cutie son jump out of the limo with him. This will yet again be another interesting season.

-homemade shrimp and grits for a dinner with good friends
-Lily Pulitzer showing their love for us in Oklahoma. #prayformoore
-view at my weekend getaway
-Memorial Weekend at the lake!
xo annie

Long Weekend

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I'm off to the lake for the weekend and I am thrilled to get away for a bit. Unfortunately, it looks like it may be a rainy weekend. Despite the weather I know it is going to be a great couple of days away. Not to mention, I get to double celebrate Memorial Day and my birthday! Do you guys have any fun plans for the long weekend? 

Here are a couple links to entertain you on your days off!
-I've been loving my shorter hair, but tempted to cut it even shorter. What do you think?
-My favorite summer side dish. Perfect for a Memorial Day Barbecue!
-How stinking cool are these ice cream roses? If only Braum's scooped my ice cream like that...
-Sprinkles Cupcakes limited edition Red Cross cupcakes. 100% of the proceeds go to the American red Cross to help with the Oklahoma tornado relief efforts.
-I still have a goal to learn calligraphy this summer, but I've been faking it in the meantime.

Enjoy the three day weekend, eat a hamburger, and get ready for the official start of summer! Happy Memorial Day!

Summer Pasta Salad

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I can't thing of anything more appropriate for lunch in the summer than a classic pasta salad. I found a recipe that included canned tuna and various veggies. I adapted it a little to take advantage of the things I had on hand and I came up with a super easy summer pasta salad. I thought about calling this "whatever you have in the fridge pasta salad," but that's a little long and unnecessary. But, you really can throw anything in whatever you have on hand. Some red peppers or spinach, even some chopped carrots or celery would have been a good.
It keeps in the fridge for a few days, so it's the perfect thing to make at the beginning of the week to have on hand when you need to grab a quick lunch! This is the original recipe that inspired my pasta salad, but below is my version. I love the use of canned tuna as opposed to chicken which you find in most pasta salads. There are no real measurements because I was just throwing things in. You can alter this in anyway, so add in and flavor it however you want.
Summer Pasta Salad 
with tuna, tomato and feta:
serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side
whole wheat shell pasta, cooked
1 package or can of tuna
big handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
feta cheese
yellow onion chopped
about a tablespoon of fresh chopped basil (I was running short so I threw in some dried basil as well)
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Cook your pasta. While it is cooking chop your herbs, tomatoes and onion. Throw everything together and their you have, simple summer pasta salad!
Whip this up and stick it in the fridge for lunch this week!

xo annie

Sold on a Sale

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J.Crew is killing it this season in my opinion. I went in the store last week, but had to leave because I didn't have enough time to try on all the things I wanted to. I went back later and found most of my favorite items in the sale area. In addition to their sale items, all women's apparel is 20% off in store and online. If you are a student they even let you double up discounts! Below are some of the things I picked up. 
j.crew purchase history
The tweed top will be perfect with black cropped pants for my internship. 
The stripe popover will also be good for work, but it is also great paired with shorts or white jeans. 
I'm about to wear out this black dress. It is made out of their thick cotton and has an exposed zipper in the back.  It is a great transition piece. I plan to wear it with a cardigan for work or church, or my jean vest for everyday. 
I am a sucker for spring sweaters. I am naturally cold blooded so I can wear sweaters when it is 80 degrees out. The neon is actually more pink in person which I love.
Besides the things I picked up, these are a couple of the other things I tried on. 
I love this maxi but decided to leave without it because I felt like I could get something similar for cheaper. Although, I just discovered it on sale online, so I might be going back for it. 
The neon skirt is absolutely perfect and I want it, but I'm afraid I wouldn't have an occasion to wear it so it got left behind. 
These flared shorts are too cute, but they were unfortunately out of my size. 
Lastly, I originally tried on this dress in navy. I loved it but had to narrow it down between this one and the black dress. The black seemed more practical so I left with it instead.
Don't forget, 20% off all women's apparel. Use the code LOOK20 if you are shopping online. Their Factory store is also offering up to 40% off everything. Who can pass up a good sale? I know I can't.
xo annie

Bites of My Life

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Brace yourself for a lengthy post, I am in a sharing mood and feel the need to tell you every detail about my week. 
Another great week has come and gone. Summer has been too good for me so far. I spent most of my afternoons running errands and working on some DIY's and recipes, then spent my evenings on patios enjoying the beautiful weather with friends.
The middle of the week I got to have a fun lunch with my mom and grandmother followed by some birthday shopping. J.crew is having some serious sales you must check out. 
Later in the week my family and a good friend of mine tried a new asian fusion restaurant to celebrate my sister's new job. The food was incredible and the atmosphere was very chic and modern. We started with the chicken lollipops for an appetizer, then I went with the curry salmon and chai tea moouse for dessert. I typically choose the fish dish on a menu and I love chai tea so I left a very happy camper. 
*Side note, I tried a dirty chai tea for the first time last week and it may be my new favorite drink. The name really startled my mom before she knew what it meant, but "dirty" only means adding a shot of espresso. If you haven't tried a dirty chai I highly recommend it!  
I worked all day Friday and Saturday, but Saturday afternoon we got a visit from the cutest puppy Millie. There is something about puppies that can really just turn your day around. 
Sunday consisted of making and delivering lots of homemade oreos. I made the discovery of oreos dipped in almond butter and I think it changed my life. Being allergic to peanuts I was always jealous of the scene from The Parent Trap when Annie and Hallie dip their oreos in peanut butter. The combination seems sinful. Now that almond butter has come in to my life I can pretend like it's the same thing! 
After a pleasent afternoon, Oklahoma was hit with some crazy weather and I spent a portion of the evening in a bathroom taking cover. More storms are predicted to hit today. Oklahoma weather is always keeping us on our toes. 
-best friends cheering on the Thunder
-sweetest German Sheperd, Husky, Lab mix puppy making a stop at work
-my attempt at growing fresh herbs. We will see how this goes...
-sunday night comfort food
Now for a final food recap, as if I haven't talked about food enough already. Here are the links to my recipes. Last week I made brown butter whole wheat waffles, chocolate chip cookies for two, vanilla orange biscotti, quesadillas (These actually ended up being a disaster. I filled corn tortillas with spinach and black beans, but they wouldn't crisp up. They came out of the pan a soggy mess. Although, my roommate and I ate them anyway and the flavor was actually delicious. They were almost like a flat enchilada. We quickly renamed them "quesiladas" and devoured another one). I did a remake of a chipotle rice bowl, tuna pasta salad (recipe post coming up), oreos, and ended the week with easy chicken fried rice! Having a kitchen has been my favorite part of summer I think. I am going to apologize now for the excessive foodgrams I've been posting.
I hope you guys have a great week! I start my internship tomorrow. I can't wait! Stay tuned for more recipe, DIY's and fashion posts this week!
xo annie