Girl, Interrupted

Hello lovelies! I’m sorry for my absence in the blogging realm as of late. I have been severely lacking inspiration for posts…especially fashion-related posts. I have plenty of beauty-related ideas, but I miss my roots as a fashion blogger. I would like to crank out a list of my purchases since my no-new-clothes challenge finished. Hopefully I can get that up this week ❤

I’m fighting some intense frustration right now at my inability to take good pictures. Every time I photograph beauty products, I am frustrated with how they turn out, and capturing any kind of clothing or jewelry item is an even bigger struggle. Also, I am not very good at taking pictures of my outfits, and I’m just flat out done with half-assing it.

I would welcome tips–what camera/background/lighting/backdrop/filter/etc. do you use? I need help!

For now, here’s a couple of things that have been keeping me busy 🙂

We had a community garage sale this past weekend. It was a total bust though. While the weather was great, we barely had any visitors. I managed to sell a few clothes for about $6, a coffee table I made for $20, and Ryan sold a nice bike pump for $3. Meh.

We bought some matching furniture last weekend! My OCD has been giving me hell for the mismatching mashup of furniture from combining two households into one. Our living room currently consists of a bookcase, an entertainment center, an L-shaped couch, and a coffee table. Only the bookshelf and couch (both dark brown) were complimentary. Now, we’ll have three accenting pieces pulling the whole room together: a mini-entertainment center, a coffee table, and an end table, all with faux-marble detailing. The total for these pieces only came to about $400! The only other “big” purchase we’ve made for our apartment was the couch when we moved in. It’s nice to have “we-furniture” 🙂 They’re currently on order.

Sometimes when Sirius Satellite throws a little free radio your way, you gotta listen to the classics.

I have some serious lust going on with these new lipsticks from NYX’s Wicked Lippies collection. I. Need. Them. All.

This corgi-shirt I ordered from Modcloth. I have no shame. It’s a new fave.

Speaking of corgis, I can’t get over how cute mine is. He is such a ham. Seriously, I dare you to not nibble on those little ears when they’re poking you in the face as you squish and squeeze him with hugs and kisses. Yoshi’s been a little cuddle bug lately and I’m lapping up (pun intended) every bit I can get before he undergoes neutering-surgery next month 😦

It’s cider season. Just kidding, that’s year-round for me. But it tastes so good on a cool fall night. Sometimes you just gotta put down a 6-pack of Redds (PS that’s the first time and last time I’ll ever do that…)

I attempted and was successful at my first every homemade loaf of banana bread! Here’s a quick copy of the recipe I used from my mom 🙂

3 real ripe bananas (the browner, the better)
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt (I used a pinch)
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Mash the bananas well with a fork. Add in oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet mixture only until combined; do not over beat. Pour into a regular bread pan or two small bread pans, and place in the center of the oven for even-baking. I guessed at the temp and mine turned a little brown on the edges. I suggest 325-350 for 1hr – 1hr 10 minutes. Enjoy!

My friend, Toni, Ryan, and I all did the Air Force Half Marathon on September 20th! Toni hurt her foot pretty early on so we walked more than half of it, but it was still 1 grueling 13.1 miles. Ryan went for a PR and finished in a little over 2 hours, while we were over 3. She lives about an hour away so she stayed the night before the race with us which meant….

PUPPY SLEEPOVER!!!!! We love our fur-babies so much. Forgive Yoshi for making out in the background with his new girlfriend. We made sure they always left the door open.

I’ve been crushing hardcore on Pixi’s brand lately, but this advertisement/quote in Target kind of made me “huh?” Not sure how you “create” natural beauty.

I’ve been on a selfie kick with my new sunglasses from Target (oh-la-la). Also, fall is my absolute favorite season, and I didn’t waste any time getting my scarves out (or buying new ones) once September rolled around. Now I just need some matching boots 😉

I’m going to a Jason Derulo concert this weekend with my bestie 🙂 I only know about 4 of his songs from his entire career, but the tix were cheap and it’s going to be amazing! We always have so much fun together. When you add music and a flask, it’s going to be a blast.

Have a great week!

XO Ali