Valentine Nail Art

/

I am a very spirited person when it comes to almost everything. I like to really get into things, which includes painting my nails to match whatever holiday is coming up. Red and blue on the Fourth of July and red and green for Christmas. Last year I did a similar Valentine design, but with the traditional red and pink. I'm keeping things a little more subtle this year, but still celebrating the holiday on my nails!

For this nail design all you need is a good beige and white nail polish. I recently bought Essie's "Sand Tropez," and it is without a doubt my favorite nail polish I have ever had. I've had it on my nails for about 2 months. As for white, L'Oreal's "I Will" #220 is a great and doesn't come out streaky. 

Start with a good coat of your beige polish. I always do two coats of polish. (Please ignore my wrinkly dry hands and hangnails.)

Now for the heart. I don't use any special tools or toothpicks. Just get a tiny bit of white polish on the end of your brush and make a little angled mark, to form half of your heart. (Cue "Half of My Heart" lyrics by John Mayer.) The shape of most brushes is kind of rectangular, so use that to make the half. You don't have to make any strokes. I'm sorry if I just talked in circles and that didn't make any since at all.

Repeat the step again, making an angled mark on the other direction to form a full heart! Wait for your heart to dry then top off your nails with a top coat. Now you have subtle but spirited little Valentine nails!

Annie

Calligraphy Class Numero Dos

/
I signed up the second I heard Lauren was coming back for another round of her Blue Eye Brown Eye Calligraphy workshop! I had such a blast the first time, I couldn't wait to "advance my skills" and learn the basics of uppercase letters and using color ink. 
We got to use neon pink ink (and take it home) which was pretty much reason enough to want to take the advanced class. 

The first thing Lauren taught us was how to mix our own gouache. Gouache is what colored calligraphy ink is called. it comes out of a squeeze bottle about the thickness of paint. You then water it down and mix it to get the perfect ink consistency.

Here is Kat stirring vigorously at her gouache. The class was filled with some new faces and some familiar faces from my first class. We all had similar interests in art, blogging, workshops, paper goods etc. I had a great time chatting away with the other creatives in the class. 

Before Lauren started teaching us uppercase, we played around with the colored ink and refreshed our memory on lowercase letters. I'm so mad I've been so busy and haven't had much time to practice.  I am making a promise to myself from now on to practice at least once a week. I don't want to lose the skill now that I've finally started learning. 
I'll be honest I got a little frustrated in this class. I was having a bad writing day and couldn't ever get my letters flowing. I also kept getting globs of ink all over my paper. I'm determined to keep practicing to get my letters up to speed. 
Lauren was such a great teacher and encourager. She kept calling me "famous Annie" because she has had so many people in her classes know me. I had so many people ask me about the class after the first time I took it, so I loved being able to refer them to Lauren to have their own chance at learning! Besides calligraphy she had great advice for starting a business, networking and working hard to get what you want. 
And now for a quick peek at some of the goodies at Chirps & Cheers (the host of the class). This store seriously puts me in the best mood every time I visit. Partially because of the amazing products, but mostly because of the owners, Sweet Sami and my shop mom Susan!
Now I'm off to practice my writing.
xo annie

Bites of My Life

/
bites38.jpg
Last week was cold in Oklahoma. We had 3 rounds of snow and average temps in the 20s. I had a test, a project and a big stack of homework. Looking back, it was still a great week. I was able to cook a lot, so I have lot's of food pictures. After a few birthday celebrations this weekend, I drove to Edmond on Sunday for an advanced round of a Blue Eye Brown Eye calligraphy workshop!
I'm hoping for warmer temps this week and plan on getting in lots of Olympic watching! Here's a quick recap from last week.

-I couldn't stop thinking about chocolate one night when I was studying so I had to make a quick run to Sprouts. I went for a mix of dark chocolate covered blueberries and cranberries.
-My friend's mom makes the best chocolate chip cookies, but her version with mini chocolate chips and crasins are my favorite. It made my day when my friend brought a bag back for our room.
-With the freezing temps all I wanted to eat was soup. I made this 5-ingredient white chicken chili for a snow day dinner.
-A friday morning coffee date at my favorite local coffee shop, Crimson & Whipped Cream.
-I don't know if you saw, but during the Grammy's, Oreo started a hashtag #sendmeoreo. If you were one of the first 20,000 to hashtag it, Oreo would send you an email asking for your address then they would send you one of their new flavors to try. Lucky me, I made the 20,000 cut and got their chocolate chip cookie dough flavor delivered to me on Friday! They are yummy and have a slight butterscotch taste. My next mission is to try the new golden oreo rice crispy treat flavor.
-Spaghetti squash carbonara for dinner during the opening ceremonies. I used this recipe, but subbed the bacon with pancetta.
-I had leftover pancetta from the carbonara and had been wanting to make a version of this fried egg salad. I did spinach, crispy pancetta, grape tomatoes, homemade vinaigrette and a fried egg on top for Saturday's lunch!
-Learning uppercase letters and how to use color ink at the advanced Blue Eye Brown Eye calligraphy class. Thank you Lauren for another amazing class!
-Taste testing an Arbonne protein shake at get together to learn about the products. If you haven't heard, Arbonne has a new nutritional line with great benefits.
-Harpers Bazaar launched their emoji app. You can download them in the app store. My favorites are the Valentino heels and the soul cycle bike.
Check back this week for more on my calligraphy class and some Valentine inspiration!
xo annie

Snow Day Soup

/

This recipe is so easy and so yummy! I love chili, especially white chicken chili. With all the snow and cold weather we've had, it was the perfect snow day dinner! I used Gimme Some Oven's recipe and it turned out perfect! 

White Chicken Chili
serves 4

Ingredients:
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups cooked shredded chicken (a rotisserie chicken is perfect!)
2 cups salsa verde
2 (15 oz) cans of Northern beans
2 tsp. cumin
optional avocado, cilantro, green onions and cheese for topping

Directions:
Put the first 5 ingredients in a pot and simmer on medium until the soup is warmed through. Takes about 15 minutes. That's it. Really it's that easy. I strongly recommend topping with cilantro and avocado! 

Here is a look at the original recipe. Make this soup tonight and enjoy it while watching the Olympic opening ceremonies!

Annie