Not Just For Playing Dress Up

So this one time I got a tutu for my 16th birthday. Sounds strange, but it is a totally normal thing I would ask for. I recently discovered Space46 and their tutu's on Instagram. I think I know what I'll be asking for on my 21st birthday.

I've seen images of tutu's on some of my favorite bloggers. They pair their's with cozy knits making them acceptable for everyday wear.

images via Marcus Design and Pink Peonies

Space46's skirts are made up of long layers of tulle, creating the perfect, modern ballerina look. They claim "any day is a good day for a tulle skirt," and I agree. 

images via Space46 Boutique

Then there is the girl who started it all.

image via cosmopolitan

Tutus aren't just for playing dress up.

xo annie

Old Fashion Sugar Cookies

If you didn't already know, sugar cookies are my favorite kind of cookies. I know that may seem bland or boring, but I love them. I've posted a few times about my signature iced sugar cookies, but today I'm giving you a new recipe!

They are a simple cookie but packed with flavor. The combination of almond and vanilla extract makes them mouth watering! They are friend and family tested and approved so you need to make these and try them for yourself!

My laptop is one of the most important tools when I bake.

The dough is crumbly, but bakes up perfectly.

The cross fork technique gives them rustic look and creates little crevasses for the sugar to sit in.

Old Fashion Sugar Cookies adapted from Eat, Live, Run
yields 3 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. baking soda
4 cups all purpose flour

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Combine the two sugars, then add the vegetable oil, extracts, salt, eggs and baking soda. Whisk well to combine. Add the flour and stir to combine. The dough will seem crumbly and dry (I had to get my hands in there to finishing combining). Use a cookie scoop or roll out ping pong size balls of dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Make a cross with the bottom of a fork then sprinkle with sugar or colored sprinkles. Bake for 8 minutes.

Annie

Calligraphy

Two Saturdays ago I finally got to take a calligraphy class. Learning calligraphy has been on my bucket list for forever. When the shop I worked at in high school posted back in November that they would be hosting one of the fabulous Blue Eye Brown Eye classes I knew I had to do it, and let me tell you it was worth every penny. 

We got there to find a place setting that included a letterpress card made by our wonderful teacher Lauren, an ink pod, washi tape (disguised to help the pod from falling over), 3 nibs, an offset pen, neon pink scratch pad, and an envelope full of templates, grids and a list of Lauren's favorite products.

This girl really knows how to package things. I mean, come on how cute is this presentation?

We started the class learning simple peaks and valley strokes. We then moved in to learning two letters at a time. Once we felt comfortable, Lauren would give us two more letters to practice until we made it through the whole alphabet.

Unfortunately, being back at school has caused my days to be pretty filled, but last night I was finally able to pull out my supplies and get some practicing in. 

Being left handed made things a little challenging, but I was shocked to see how much I could improve by the end of class. Look, Lauren even instagrammed my left-handedness. My hand is famous, it got 296 likes!

Focused, in the zone, or secretively posing?

I "totes" had the best time learning calligraphy and can't wait for the advanced class to learn uppercase letters. I'm already signed up and counting down the days! Make sure and check out Lauren's site to see more of her amazing work!

xo annie

Bites of My Life

Week one of second semester, complete. After switching a few classes around I finally got a handle on my schedule. It's been harder getting back into the swing of things than I thought. All of a sudden I have homework assignments piling up and don't know what to do about it. 

Luckily with it being MLK day we are off today which means a short school week. I'm hoping this long weekend will give me enough of a break to jump back into school ready to go...we will see.

-Being back at school meant the return of packaged yogurt or instant oatmeal. No more luxurious baked eggs or pumpkin smoothies.

-I was at Barnes and Noble looking for some school supplies and of course found myself lusting over the walls of colorful cookbooks. 

-Tried my first green juice from the new juice bar in OKC called Organic Squeeze. Although the juice tasted great, I was starving about 15 minutes later.

-Had the best breakfast with three of my best friends, one who was in from out of town on Friday. These "breakfast sliders" were silver dollar pancakes with fluffy eggs and bacon stacked inside!

-Sunday I met up for church and brunch with my parents. We talked about my summer plans and I scarfed down this frittata.

-Ended the day with court side seats cheering on the Thunder! I was up close and personal with Rumble the Bison more than a few times.

So many things are already different or changing during this semester. In all areas of my life, might I add. I continue to find out more about myself and what I really want in life. As random as, having the biggest urge to read a book. If you know me, you know I hate reading and haven't read for pleasure, probably since high school. Like I said, things are different.

Random thought: A friend told me the other day she "wants to be good at a lot of things and the master of nothing." I loved this and really think it fits my outlook on life. Why settle on one thing when you can have an umbrella of skills. Just something to think about.

xo annie

Mediterranean Feast

Great minds think alike is a phrase used far to often between my sister Kathleen and I. We always find each other blogging about the same thing, or texting each other about something the other one was also thinking. We constantly find each other on the same wavelength.

Saturday night was my last night at home and my sister and I wanted to cook a big meal before I came back to school. Instead of waking up to see we both posted about our meal on the same day we decide to tag team the post. We cooked up a big Mediterranean feast with a falafel salad and baba ganoush. I'm posting about the falafel and Kathleen is taking care of the baba.

If you don't know, falafel is a traditional Mediterranean dish made from chickpeas and spices, then formed into a ball and fried. My falafel didn't quite come out as planned. I found an authentic falafel recipe, but I think you have to be an authentic Greek to get falafel like they do. When we went to pan fry them they started to fall apart. Although, we were still able to savor a few to top our salads with. Despite their appearance the taste was great. 

You can find the falafel recipe here.

Our salad consisted of cucumber, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion, feta and topped with a tahini dressing.

We used this recipe for our salad! 

The salads turned out great and were just like my favorite falafel salad from Saturn Grill.

I topped mine with sriracha to kick it up a bit. And because I really love sriracha.

Check out Kathleen's post here to see more on our baba ganoush. Baba ganoush is basically hummus made with eggplant. The eggplant is roasted then blended with tahini. We served ours with big slices of pita and cucumbers. We also topped it with pomegranate seeds, not sure why, but that's what it showed in the picture so we went with it. We followed this recipe.

How pretty does this table look? Our Mediterranean feast was a success! Dinner was followed with numerous episodes of Gilmore Girls and a little game.

p.s. Make sure and check out Kathleen's post to read more about our feast!

xo annie