Long Weekend

I'm dreaming of a weekend getway for this long weekend. It isn't going to happen this year but that isn't going to stop me from planning what I would pack should said imaginary trip all of a sudden become a reality. A girl should always be prepared ;)

This outfit is the perfect marriage of the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Break out those white pants for one last wear before you break the silly no white after Labor Day rule (by the way that rule is dumb and you can wear white whenever you want). I'm dying for those brown booties! They are cute and look comfy too. Are you going anywhere fun this weekend? Or just planning an imaginary trip like me? What are you bringing along?

Until next time

XOXO

Ashley

What We're Loving Lately

Shelby and I are Pinterest addicts. We are in a visual industry and this site is a great inspiration source. Here are a few of our finds we are loving lately:

ASHLEY'S PICKS:

Polka dots and scarves- two of my favorite things. I can't wait for fall!

 

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 I love anything with initials and these letters are just so pretty!

 

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Can't wait to give this a try. It looks so cute and easy to do.

 

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I absolutely HATE bananas so I would replace that element with marshmallows or something but I think this idea is so cute! I love the straws used as sticks and the casual nature that the toppings are labeled on the brown paper. 

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  Found this recipe for sweet potato quinoa burgers and I'm excited to give it a try soon. I'm always looking for great veggie burger recipes.

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SHELBY'S PICKS:

Downton Abbey. I'm so obsessed with this show right now!

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I love this chevron top. I'm obsessed with anything chevron right now. The pop of color of the pants makes the top stand out.

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I'm so excited to try these cookies in the fall. Pumpkin and chai, what could be better?

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Polka dots are my favorite print, and mixing them with a camel pant. To Die For!!

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As always i'm obsessed with all things british, even these five boys that have the voices of angels!

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We are linked up here today. 

Until next time

XOXO

Ashley

First Day of School!

Well folks, it's back to that time again. The school supplies are flying off the shelves and everyone is searching for that perfect first day of school outfit. I just personally can not believe that today was my first day of my sophomore year of college. I can't believe that I am that old already. I'm so thankful that I am fortunate enough to attend my dream school in New York City!

We started it off last night with Ashley cooking me my favorite meal of mac and cheese for dinner!

 In true British fashion I started off my morning with tea and an english muffin.

 Halfway done getting ready. Mornings are rough!

 I couldn't leave without a first day of school picture.

 Pixie was sad that her snuggle buddy (me) was leaving for the day. :(

 Reunited with my best friends!!!!

 

Daniella!

 Marielis!

Brigitte!

 I got to take a new picture because I am a commuter now. My old picture was horrendous! So glad I have a new one.

I had two classes today, Textiles and Biology. I am the not so smart one to schedule both of those classes on the same day let alone on a Monday. I'll let you know in a few weeks how much I am regretting that decision. I had lunch with my good friend Collin and made it through both of my classes in one piece.

After my 45 minute commute home I am now faced at the task of putting together my swatch kit and reading two chapters of my textile book before wednesday! Welcome to college.

Tomorrow is already looking promising because my 2nd class of the day has been canceled.

Until next time

XOXO

Shelby

Laundry, Movies, and Shopping

We didn't do to much this past weekend as Shelby starts school today and needed some time to get herself ready. The first thing on our to do list for the weekend though was much needed....laundry. You may not be aware but most NYC apartments do not come with a washer/dryer (nor is there space for them). Some will have a laundry room in the building for everyone to use- ours does not. Finding a laundromat and sitting there for half a day watching my clothes get clean does not sound like a good use of my time. Plus, I haven't seen any around here anyway. What does seem to be on every corner though are dry cleaners that also do laundry. You walk in, hand them a bag of dirty cloths, and pick it up later all clean and folded. This was a process I was familiar with as this is exactly what I did last time I lived here while I was interning. Our closest dry cleaner happens to be about five steps from the front door of our building so it's very convenient but they will also pick up and deliver. You can have just about anything delivered here but that's a post for another day....

This is what the bag looks like when you pick it up

 

And this is what's inside. All of your clean clothes folded and shrink wrapped. 

 

We also went to a movie this weekend. Movie prices are pretty crazy here. Depending on the movie theater it can be $15-$20 for a ticket for the evening shows. Even matinees are still around $13. We have discovered the brilliance of the morning movie. Movies before noon are only $6. With morning movies comes the morning movie crowd though. It was a bit interesting to be one of the only people in the theater that actually came to the movie with another person. Apparently there are lots of solo movie goers in NYC. 

 

We also did a little shopping this weekend. Shelby drug me to the Forever 21 in Times Square. As a rule I avoid this area and was not excited about shopping in this store as I expected it to be four floors of a disaster zone. However, I have to say I was majorly impressed with how well kept up it was. I actually don't think I have ever been into a Forever 21 that's been as organized as this one was- and this is a gigantic store. It wasn't even packed with as many people as I was expecting. I mean, there were a lot of people, but I never felt cramped or that I couldn't look at whatever I wanted to look at because there were to many people in the way. All I walked out with was a pair of leggings, maybe I was overwhelmed by choice, but that is definitely a store I would return to.

 Until next time

XOXO

Ashley

We all scream for ice cream!

On our first night in the city Ash and I went out searching for dinner for ourselves and our parents. As we were walking we came across a little ice cream shop right down the street from us. We only really noticed it because there was a line out the door and down the street. I had never seen an ice cream shop so full. I have been dying to go back and try something ever since then and we finally stepped out today and went. 

Such a funny name for an ice cream shop.

They have an awesome array of flavors! It's like they read our minds. If we could have picked our dream flavors of ice cream they had them.

I picked the peanut butter oreo, and Ashley got chocolate mint cookie dough!

 They had some funny dipped cones including fruit loops and rice krispy treats. They even had some chocolate dipped twinkies!

So excited about our ice cream. (please excuse my AWFUL appearance!)

 Pixie even enjoyed some of my peanut butter ice cream.

Here is the website, take a look and see all of the fun flavors.

Until next time

XOXO

Shelby

An Experiment in Cooking: Artichoke Hearts

 One of the things we picked up at Trader Joes was frozen artichoke hearts. I love artichokes but fresh ones are such a pain to prepare. I've never been able to find them frozen before so I was anxious to try these.

 The ingredients I used pictured above are:

1 package of frozen artichoke hearts from Trader Joes

olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

2 green onions

1 lime

salt

pepper

vegetable broth

parmesan cheese

 I minced the garlic and onion and put it in a hot pan with a little olive oil and let it simmer for about a minute. 

 Then I placed the frozen artichoke pieces in the pan. I cut the lime in half and squeezed the juice of the whole lime over the artichokes. Next I added some salt and pepper.

 I then immediately added about a cup of vegetable broth to the pan and let it simmer for about 8-10 minutes. I wanted the liqued to cook out.

 

Right at the end I added a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and let it melt for a few seconds before removing from the heat. 

The final product. It was SO yummy. I chose to have the artichoke hearts alone and as my main course but they would also be very good tossed with some pasta or as a side dish to a protein if that's what you choose.

By the way Shelby and I did a guest post over on Kristen's blog today so get over there and check that out.

Until next time

XOXO

Ashley

Trader Joe's

Well, we have officially been here for two weeks. We were so happy to find that we had many grocery stores very close to our apartment. Unfortunately since we have to carry all of our groceries back on foot we have to go to the store a couple times a week instead of just once a week or once every two weeks. After shopping at the stores around us a few times we have been very uninspired by the selection that they have. We decided to bite the bullet and go to Trader Joe's. We both love Trader Joe's there just isn't one close. Let me tell you Ash and I are both so glad that we decided to go.

We found a ton of our favorite things for cheap prices. None of this was more than $5 which is so hard to find here in the city.

 We went to the Trader Joe's at Union Square which is the only one with a separate wine shop. Their own brand of wine is only $2.99. We have heard good things about it so let's hope it lives up.

 This is by far my favorite wine (for obvious reasons). We found it at Trader Joe's for $8.99. That's less than what you find it on sale for in Texas.

Trader Joe's is somewhat like Whole Foods, but they have their own brand of most of their products. I had only gone once last year when I was living in the dorms, partially because I didn't want to walk far with handfuls of groceries when Whole Foods was right down the street. I think it's safe to say that Ash and I will be doing most of our shopping at Trader Joe's from now on.

Until Next Time

XOXO

Shelby

Afternoon Tea...Again

So what? We like tea! 

This one has actually been in the works for awhile. I bought a Groupon back in the spring with a celebratory "Woo hoo we live in Manhattan" tea in mind. It was a great deal at a very lovely place- the Pierre Hotel. The hotel is on Fifth Avenue right across from Central Park. 

Both Shelby and I choose the "Pierre Blend" tea. It is a black tea with notes of black current and vanilla. It was very yummy. I loved the glass tea pots!

We ordered the "sweet tea" which simply means that our food was all sweets. There was a large variety and it was all very yummy! My favorite was the raspberry tartlet and the tiramisu. Shelby also says the tiramisu was her favorite.No surprise as we both love chocolate, ha ha.

Where should we have tea next weekend? : )

 

Until next time

XOXO

Ashley

Take me out to the ballgame!

Our awesome parents bought Ash and I tickets to go to the Ranger/Yankee game last night. We were very excited to go until we heard about the impending storms all day on Wednesday. Just our luck, the worst part of the rain was supposed to be happening right when the game was starting. We finally sucked it up and made our trek in the rain to the subway and we were on our way to the Bronx to see our Rangers play!

As soon as we made it to the game we heard there was at least an hour rain delay. Excuse our appearance, we were wet and it was very humid.

 We passed the time with some Dippin Dots!

This was our view during the rain delay. It's probably a good thing they weren't playing in this!

After skipping dinner and going straight for the dessert I thought it would be a good thing to eat a hot dog. You have to have one at a baseball game, but since Ashley is a vegetarian I had to enjoy it for the both of us!

My hot dog came in this.....It went in the trash right away!

After about an hour and a half rain delay we finally got to go sit in our seats and cheer the Rangers on! We were surrounded by Yankees fans but we cheered proudly for the Rangers...especially when Hamilton hit both of his homeruns. 

Let's go Rangers!

Our favorite player David Murphy! He went to Baylor University which is also where Ashley graduated from. 

Yankee Stadium is just not as cool or big as the Ballpark in Arlington. Everything is bigger in Texas right!?

I'm so sad the Rangers didn't pull it through last night, but all in all it was a fun and adventurous night for Ashley and I!

Until next time

XOXO

Shelby