Glitter Thursday- An Ode to the Bracelet I Did Not Buy

Last night I was fortunate enough to receive an invite to an event at the J-crew Copley Place store. Tom- the head of womens design for the company was in attendance, along with tons of jcrew fanatics, dressed to the nines. All-in-all, it was an unbelievably fab event.

I am, however, in a deep state of depression this AM as I did not walk out the door with the worlds prettiest, sparkliest bracelet. I tried this stunna' on:



...and had to be physically dragged out of the store before I could slap any plastic down to buy it (thanks Kelly). Hmmmm me thinks it could be time to apply for a part time job at that joint for the discount.....

The Charles River and Toscanini's

My, how tardy to the party this post is..... Super busy just trying to make my way up the ol' corporate ladder during the day then consuming exactly 0.5 glasses of pinot before passing out on my couch every night- Yes, it's true, being 24 and living in a big city is just as fabulous as it sounds...

Believe it or not, I did leave my apartment in Brighton recently. I didn't just stop there though, I traveled all the way across the river to Central Sq. in Cambridge. It's kind of unspoken between the post-grads in Boston that crossing the Charles River is a lot to ask of a person. I can guarantee that if you ask someone of my age and financial status to come "hang" across the river, you'll be met with the exact following response:
1. A long sigh
2.You'll be asked for an explanation of what is so great that it requires sitting in Harvard traffic
3. WILL there be parking? If not, don't waste my time. And, no, I'm not taking the green line to park st, then just hopping on the red (or vice-versa for my Cambridge/Somerville peeps), i'd rather spend that hour napping
4. Most likely, I'll end the convo by trying one last time to have the friend in question just come to me... but I'm also a pinch selfish at times. Sue me.

I digress, anyways, I went to Cambridge to help a friend complete his "I am the1%" Halloween costume by scouring through the Garment District. After we found his garb, I decided I wanted to look for costume ideas at the salvation army down the street (PS never went out for Halloween due to a random rib injury- made a drinking game out of Hocus Pocus instead- we'd sip our wine any time the witches acted confused by modern times). Never made it to the salvation army because we stumbled upon Toscanini's instead.

Toscanini's is a little shop specializing in gourmet coffee, quirky ice cream flavors and bistro-type eats. My P.I.C and I sampled peppermint mochas made with hot fudge; they were insane- you literally had to use a spoon to scoop out leftover fudge when you had gotten through your drink. Then... we sampled their ice cream.

I truly believe that, every once in a blue moon, some mysterious greater power is all, "I'm over watching Amy curse in her car as she sits in traffic and blasts angsty Tay Swift. Whilst funny, it's also pitiful. Maybs, I'll help her cash in those karma points she earned when she waved for an extra paper towel to emerge for the lady behind her in the paper towel line this morning..." The ice cream at Toscanini's, my friends, was definitely a reward for some good karma. I sampled the 'brown butter pumpkin sage' flavor while my friend tried the 'goat cheese brownie'. Both were close-your-eyes-and-make-an-awkward-stomach-rubbing-motion-in-public incredible and completely worth the voyage across the bridge.

What pumpkin ice cream & peppermint mocha heaven  looks like

more pumpkin ice cream heaven...

brownie goat cheese titillating-ness

random pic from our trip to Toscanini's. How does one not  file  away such strangeness in their iphone as a fun convo-starter at parties? 

Glitter Thursdays

Let it be known far and wide that I am not a fan of Thursdays. People treat Thursdays like the weekend is just around the corner and drop casual pleasantries to eachother like, "Hey, it's Thursday- on the downslope, huh? Yeah!" or "Thirstay Thursdayyyyy!" But they're completely wrong. We have 2 more days, people! Not to mention, my days of Thirsty Thursdays have, for the most part, turned into me weighing the delicious thought of a few margs with friends against the idea of having to get up early on Friday... womp, responsibility. Even my favorite stores like the J-crew outlet act like it's basically the weekend, sending me taunting e-mails telling me to buy things that I can't even buy until the store opens on Saturday!!! Sorry, J-crew factory outlet, 2 days of waiting is just enough time for me to talk myself out of buying this necklace... maybe....errgh, it would look smashing with many different outfits...

The only thing that Thurday signifies to me is that I still have 2 more days of waking up early, 2 more days until I can become comatose in front of some sort of Bravo marathon, and 2 more days of traffic... don't even get me started on the traffic. Thus, it's time to give my Thursday blues the boot via my favorite embodiment of pure happiness: GLITTER!!! Glitter is all that is right with the world. Whenever I'm thrust into a situation involving glitter, my thoughts instantly shift off of anything negative. I mean it's kind of hard to be a pessimist when all you can focus on is finding elmers glue and an available surface you can smear the stuff on then glitter-ify within an inch of it's life.

SO- I present to you 'Glitter Thursdays'. Every Thursday I shall find a new sparkly item that extends it's lustrous hand and lifts me of out my not-done-with-the-workweek rut, to share with my many readers.

So let's start 'er off right. This weeks feature is perhaps the greatest item that's ever been engulfed in glitz: My Steve Madden Glitter Pumps


I got these babies last Christmas and have, truthfully, only had 1 occasion to wear them on. But if you include the many hours of playing dress-up alone in my room, then you can consider these puppies more than worth the investment. Also, you don't even need to wear them to have fun. You can just hold them up to your light and watch it dance off the millions of multi-colored sparkles.

Another perk of these shoes is that, if you don't receive them as a gift like me, then you can spend minimal amounts to have your very own pair. The interwebs is full of glitter heel DIYs like this one, as well etsy shops that'll pimp out your shoes for you at a fraction of the Steve Madden price.

Now, cue the harps, if anyone's looking to provide me with a glitter heel upgrade for say Christmas 2011, look no further than right here. Siiigh.

Fall and Budget Failure

oh m'lordy, I've been too scatterbrained to sit down and write a proper blog post in awhile- forgive me? bffs still? 4eva? Welp, I have some fall treats for you which should help.. they're really nbd except, OH YEAH I CARVED A SCARY-CAT-PUMPKIN

MEOW

Anyone who knows me (or who has even past me grumbling getting into my car the past few frosty mornings) knows I'm not so-much a cold-weather type of gal. I believe my best friend, Michelle ,put it best when she described me as "too precious to be cold" on Sunday. That does not mean, however, that I reject all that is autumn. Actually, based on the below images I've captured over the past couple of weeks, some people might even refer to me as a fall-champion...

twinkly pumpkin displayed at my parents abode

perdy fall trees

apple crisp. been doin lots o' bakin' due to the cold weather lately. Cue peculiar-ly tight pants

I love nothing more than a soy latte  when it's cold in the  morning.  this beverage choice will  switch to a peppermint mocha come mid-november

artsy pic of my boots and coat I took at Keith's soccer game. I was trying to look busy on my phone so I wouldn't have to run after the soccer ball that had just flown by me. dangerous stuff, those soccer games...

pumpkin beer and a hot dog  at Oktoberfest in Somerville this past weekend. This feast was followed up by more pumpkin beer and nachos. Again, cue tighter pants.

So, as you can see, when it comes to the changing of seasons, I'm winning. What I'm not winning at is money management. Could have something to do with my affinity for lattes and shoes..... but what I think it really is, is "the man" taking a swipe at me. And while, admittedly, "the man" keeps me in a comfortable supply of forever 21 and skinnygirl margs, he sure knows how to break a girls heart when he takes it away. What I'm saying is, once again, I need to cut back on some (every) things. Which is what leads me to my newest blog project, entitled: Amy's actually-using-the-groceries-I-buy-instead-of-wondering-why-all-of-my-produce-has-gone-bad-as-I-stuff-leftover-sushi-into-the-fridge get rich quick plan. It's pretty self- explanatory. I've found a few recipes to support this scheme and made this chicken ropa viejo recipe last night and it came out great, left me with tons of leftovers and was only about 300 calories... cue pants loosening?

13.1

So the day came and went and it was beyond perfect. I knew I'd feel relieved proud to have accomplished something that seemed so completely out-of-reach just 12 weeks ago, but what meant even more was the support from my family and friends throughout the process as well as on race day. So, yes, the run was fairly miserable and the non-stop hills and unexpected mid-80s weather did not make it any easier, but hey! I finished and had such phenomenal people running with me and waiting for me at the finish line.

That said, this post is dedicated to my family and friends, to whom, i make the following two promises as my gesture of thanks for your support:
1. After a bad run, when teetering on the edge of a high school gym class flashback/ flood of tears, I promise to remember that I'm now a half marathoner. Hopefully that should spare you all from my "mood"
&
2. Fear not, none of you will have to lay an eye on my blackened runners-toenail for another second. I'll be painting over it. Originally, I viewed it as a trophy for all of my hard work but now that I have a MEDAL (nbd), I can now see it for what it truly is.....

Thanks again to everyone for coming out!

best moment ever- FINALLY finishing

me exactly 2 seconds after finishing the race. Just the picture of  radiance

amazing poster created by my BFF, Michelle. Check out her amazingly  addictive blog  here !

Mac & cheese, banana bread, and 1 day to go....

So. AaaaaaaaaAAaaAaaaaaAh, the day of reckoning has almost arrived. Yes, the BAA half marathon is TOMORROW...... Fastest 12 weeks ever. There are no words for how nervous I am but luckily I had some cookin' to do today to keep my mind occupied. My awesome boyfriend is hosting a BBQ for my running cohorts: Kelly and Callan and I, right after the race. I offered to come baring a few goodies. Decided to go with Mac and cheese since we're gonna deserve us some cheesy goodness after burning a couple thousand calories. Also, whipped up some banana bread since I've had a ton of bananas lying around in an attempt to "up my potassium"- runners term, very technical.

Anyways, I used this recipe for the Mac and Cheese: http://www.mrshappyhomemaker.com/2011/09/extra-creamy-mac-cheese-quest-for.html
and as you can see below, it came out super creamy and delicious


For the banana bread, I used this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giadas-weekend-getaways/flours-famous-banana-bread-recipe/index.html  We only had brown sugar to use so the bread came out a little dense but the taste is absolutely dreamlike. What a happy little mistake not having regular granulated sugar turned out to be. I'm imagining this recipe made into some sort of banana bread pudding with homemade whipped cream in my very near future.



Then, there's every 1/2 marathoners most important pre-race meal:

Week 12

This side of 12 weeks ago, I was TWEAKING out about running 13.1 miles. Now, running this half marathon (this coming Sunday, eek!) seems to be the simplest thing I've got going on. I've got all of my gear ready to go and I've run 12 miles as my furthest distance to date. I know I can do this. Or, rather, this thing is barreling at me like a freight train sooooo looks like i'm running it. Now go ahead and ask me if anything else in my life is this simple..... it ain't. Oh well, keeps me on my (swollen) toes, I guess.

In other news- it's fall. I've decided I'll tolerate the colder weather if it continues to look like this after a 12 hour work day:

After the marathon's passed, it's time to start doing autumny-things. I think the below inspiration should help:

Cider donuts- fall's one and only food group, in my book

pretty blushy neutrals

 please let this entire outfit be only $25

Have an inexplicable urge to get my Martha Stewart on with a pumpkin or two