Stress Shopping

Being stressed means two things for me: breakouts and lots of online shopping.  When I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, I always end up purchasing things online.  While my wallet doesn’t appreciate this, my waistline is happy that I am not resorting to fistfuls of candy.  There have been several online purchases over the past couple of days, many of which will probably end up going back.  Have I also told you that I am a compulsive returner?  Anyways, this was my stress shopping purchase from yesterday.   Hopefully this one works out and doesn’t end up being returned.  Do you stress shop?

 

Culinary Cravings: Gluten Free Pizza Crust

The thing I miss most about being gluten free is pizza — doughy, delicious,  satisfying pizza.  Froze gluten free crust tastes pretty much like cardboard topped with cheese.  Not good.  Austin’s Pizza has a gluten free crust that is pretty good, but I don’t want to have to order pizza every time I have a craving. In our house, pizza nights are a weekly thing.

I had almost given up on finding a great pizza crust, but then I discovered Bob’s Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix.  It is doughy and delicious.  My husband, the carb-lover,  was impressed with it too; however,  after I wouldn’t stop talking it, he had to tell me, “Sydney, it is good, but I think you just haven’t had real pizza in a long time.”  So, maybe it isn’t as good as real pizza crust, but it is pretty darn close.

Bridesmaid Dress Update

I finally found a bridesmaid dress for my sister’s upcoming wedding.  Well, I found my second one.  Technically I already have one, but I just ordered another one because I am not in love with mine.

This dress is on its way to me!  I took advantage of Bloomingdale’s Friends and Family discount (FRIENDS12) and got 20% off.  This dress is a steal.  I am hoping it is as good in person as it is online.  I am also hoping that my sister will allow me to pair it with my new J. Crew necklace.

I really wanted this DVF dress to wear to the wedding and was going to buy it during the Bloomingdale’s sale too, but it disappeared. I am assuming it sold out.  It has also disappeared from the Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman site. And, it is not on the DVF website.   Did this fantastic dress just sell like hotcakes?

Look. At. That. Back.  It is gooooooooorgeous.  I am really hoping this dress pops up again.

While I don’t love my new dress as much as this DVF one, I do love that is 400 dollars cheaper.  That is a plus!

I hope you have had a fantastic week and are about to have an even better weekend!!!

 

h.g.s Summer Sale

Even though it is now technically fall, here in Austin it won’t feel like fall for another month of so.  So, hunt.gather.style is having a summer sale at Etcetera, etc. this Saturday from 12-3.  All our pieces will be between 5 and 20 dollars.  There will be tons of summer pieces and a few pieces for fall.  When it officially becomes fall here, we will have our big fall shop stocked with new pieces.  Don’t live in town?  We put a few new pieces up on our Etsy shop and will be adding more this week.

 

Another J. Crew Necklace

The J.Crew necklace I posted about last week went on sale today.  Since there was an extra 30% off sale items, I snatched it up.  Now I am tempted by this guy.  How many statement necklaces does one girl need?  I say you can never have enough.  

Throwing a Bridal Shower

Last weekend my mom, sister, and I threw my youngest sister a bridal shower.  She had two requests: no games and champagne.  A girl after my own heart.  My mom and I schemed for weeks about what we were going to serve, how we were going to decorate, and what we were going to do  – besides drink champagne.

My sister is studying to be a baker, so I went with a baking themed bridal shower.  These invitations from The Perched Owl Etsy shop were perfect.  I also included recipe cards for each attendee to fill out with their favorite recipe.

My mom and I then decided to have a mimosa bar.  Who doesn’t love mimosas?  My personal champagne drink of choice is a champassion — champagne and passion fruit juice topped with raspberries.  This was most people’s favorite.

We decided to have mini finger foods.  We had Greek salad bites, goat cheese and truffle potatoes, mini potato skins, a cheese plate, fruit plate, and mini quiches.  It was all easy to make and only two required the oven.

Since my sister will be a full-fledged baker soon, I thought it would be fun for us to all decorate mini cakes.  This was a hit.  You get to decorate and eat a cake?  Win!

Despite my sister’s coaching on how to decorate a cake, this is what I managed to end up with.  Obviously, I am not going to be a professional cake decorator anytime soon. A professional champassion drinker?  Maybe.

My very talented other sister was on hand to take portraits of everyone.  She is quite good at what she does.

She’ll take pictures of you and your dog, too.

Overall, it was a fantastic Saturday.

Animal Print

I do not own any traditional animal prints like cheetah or leopard, but I do own three dresses with animals on them–my version of animal prints.  I picked up this horse print dress at Stein Mart this past week.  It is really cute and comfortable.  If you find these in your local Stein Mart, I would recommend sizing down (something I failed to do).  I wore this to part one of my sister’s bachelorette/bridal shower weekend. I am really looking forward to fall and getting to wear this dress with my riding boots.

Vivienne Vivienne Tam dress from Stein Mart, J. Crew/Forever 21 necklace, wedges from Stein Mart.