Shifts In A Denim Shift

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I started out wearing this little denim dress from Urban Outfitters (sold out. But Old Navy currently has a cute denim dress also available in plus size). With boots. And I asked my husband if he could take pictures of it.

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And he looked at the dress and said, “Whoa! That is short!”

But I didn’t believe him.

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And then I looked at these pictures while we were out taking the pictures and I had to agree. But I still thought maybe it was the heels and not the dress. Because I had kind of all ready worn this dress around town that day and I really could not bear to think of how many people saw me sans pants. I stubbornly stuck with, “It is a dress and it is long enough.” As all sixteen thirty seven year olds do.

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So I changed to flats.

It’s called denial.

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And it is my speciality.

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It was how I originally wanted to wear the dress any way. And I did. For approximately five seconds.

Before I took a peek at these pictures and decided it was not the heels.

It was not the flats.

It was the dress.

And it was a shirt.

I hate when that happens.

Although, I cannot wait to layer it over another dress like Atlantic Pacific did here.

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I put on some tights that I had in my car.

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What? You don’t carry tights in your car? What about spare deodorant? Extra underwear? Straws? Salt?

A girl has always gots to be prepared.

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I do admit, I felt more comfortable in the tights.

Just don’t tell my husband.

He’ll never let me live it down.

He is all ready teasing me about always being pantless.

There will be no living with him if he learns that I agree with him.

Have you ever been in denial about an outfit? Left the house in an indecent state? I am afraid that I can answer “yes” to both of those questions too often. I need to shift that. Top the next outfit. Ad-dress the issue and move on. For not once, but twice, in school, I left the changing room for p.e. without pants on. If I could get through it in junior high school, I can do it now. It is amazing how things can change and yet always stay the same.

Oiseau Maxi Dress

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I fell in love with Anthropologie’s Oiseau Maxi Dress as soon as it came out (this keeps popping back in stock. With the 25% off sale, you might be able to call and find it in a store). The bold graphic bird print reminded me of one of my favorite dresses (ironically never shown on this blog), the Indigo Shoal Dress.

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However, as much as I loved the idea of it, I knew I would never wear it without having to have some sort of coverage on my arms. The straps were just too thin for my comfort level.

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It finally went on sale and miraculously enough, it also happened to be during Anthropologie’s extra 20% off sale price promotion.

I swooped in and grabbed it.

The dramatic ruffled bottom was such an unexpected, sweet surprise.

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Because it was September and the end of summer, I did not want to wear it with a denim jacket as I had planned. Instead I borrowed my daughter’s Forever 21 Cardigan.

One of the great things about having a teenage daughter is borrowing her stuff.

One of the not so great things? The borrowing goes both ways.

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I had no idea what Oiseau meant when I purchased the dress.

Do you?

Want to take a guess?

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It is French for “bird.”

Doh.

I probably should have made that deduction.

What kind of birds or Oiseaus would you say these are?

I am really unsure about the answer. I just know I like them.

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Do you own any animal print dresses?

I believe I own four.

I could be wrong.

Sometimes it feels as though my brain has flown the coop. It needs to come home to roost. That would make me happy as a lark.

Groan. Sorry about the idioms. I really need to quit them cold turkey.

P.S. * I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

*this post was edited using VSCO’s C1 filter at level 3 and contrast at level 1.

In Which Bigger Is Better: Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I thought I made big chocolate chip cookies. I thought this. But then one day I had the crazy idea to use this giant scoop. And our lives have never been the same.

Because bigger is better.

At least when it comes to treats.

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Here is how I do it. This scoop. This wonderful giant scoop. I got mine from Pampered Chef.

This recipe makes thirteen giant cookies. If you eat the cookie dough (I have to say this probably is not healthy. Eat at your own risk, ’cause it has raw eggs) like we did, you will be left with eleven. You will still be happy.

; )

Ingredients:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup organic brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 sticks softened salted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
*Caviar from one vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 360 degrees or 335 convect bake.

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With a hand mixer in a bowl or with your mixer: Cream butter and sugars until light, about two minutes. Add vanilla. Incorporate by mixing. Add eggs one at a time until mixture is fluffy. About one minute per egg.

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Add salt and baking soda. Nope. I don’t sift. I just blend these in first. I have never had a problem. I think sifting is highly over rated. Mix together with the beater on low.

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Add flour one cup at a time and beat on low. Add last 1/2 cup. Beat on low. Mix in chocolate chips.

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Scoop cookies onto cookie sheet with your giant scoop. Your sheet will probably hold six cookies maximum. Flatten cookie dough with your palm. When you are done, wash your hands. You should definitely not lick your palms in the kitchen when no one is looking like a human cat.

; )

Put cookie tray in oven. Bake eleven minutes. After eleven minutes, check cookies. Mine always take another two minutes after this.

Remove from oven.

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Let cookies cool on sheet for one minute. With a spatula, remove cookies to a cooling rack.

Repeat with remainder of the cookie dough.

Cookies are ready to consume after five minutes on the cooling rack.

Yum! Warm chocolate chip cookies? Is there anything better?

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Oh yes! Giant warm chocolate chip cookies!

* Edited on 3/12/2014 If you do not have a vanilla bean, increase vanilla extract to 2 teaspoons instead of one.

I shared this on Savvy Southern Style

Our Completed Baseboards

I am so excited! We had been living with our sad, dinky baseboards for ten years. I had finally had enough! We had been putting it off, because it is such a pain to have to move the whole house around. But we knew it was time to give the house a new interior paint job and so we decided to kill two birds with one stone. Could there maybe be a better way to say that? Such as, catch two fish with one line. Or capture two butterflies with one net. I do not know. My analogies are lame.

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Anyhoo, the baseboards are done! We chose a more modern, simple solution. They are 7 and 1/4″. I believe the style number is #314.

I cannot believe what a change it has made to the house. The house looks fresher. More modern. Dare I say, fancier. Pinkies up!

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Before pictures, above.

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After pictures, above.

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The baseboards are painted Swiss Coffee. They were installed throughout our entire home by the sweetest guy, Paul, and his brother, Chris. Paul is at Vrieling Woodworks. He also built us built-in bookcases in some niches, our custom frame on our bathroom mirror, and installed the legs on our vanity. I will post pics of those projects later. But if you are in Southern California, I highly recommend this company. He did a great job!

Thank you, Paul and Chris!

*The grey color on the walls throughout the house is Moonshine by Benjamin Moore via Home Depot. I am doing a separate post about the paint. The darker grey formal living room is Forde Abbey by Ralph Lauren (they do not sell this any more at Home Depot, but the color mix was still in the computer).

I shared this on Savvy Southern Style

And My Romantic Home