Hello, fashionable friends. One of my favorite times in fashion every year is when J.Crew debuts their latest ready-to-wear collection, meaning that yesterday was a great day. Here is the full collection, and some of my favorite looks are below.

       

I love the fact that the collection features color! I'm tired of neutrals and I can't wait to see some of these pieces in the stores... especially the pants. Other highlights: structured coats, boyfriend jeans, capes, and leopard shoes. 

    It was actually my mom who introduced me to yellow shoes a few months back, and I'll admit - they're surprisingly versatile. I bought mine to go with work clothes and they were unsurprisingly much cheaper (although vaguely similar to these - holes and all), but Manolo Blahnik does no wrong. 

Today's daily wishlist is kind of ridiculous. I can't find a source for this that's actually legit, but I'm unfortunately drawn to these like my life depends on it...

They're supposedly made by Maria Escot, and as tacky as they are (and undoubtedly uncomfortable when sitting), I want them!

 

     Today has been such a great day. After months of stressing myself out, I found out that I got the internship that I wanted and when my dad came to visit he surprised me with our pup. The only downside is that I wish she could have stayed with me! It doesn't feel like a real house without a dog. This week should go relatively fast and I have a busy weekend ahead of me. I'm treating myself to a trip to the mall and I have two 21st birthday parties. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. 

hahah!

    I stumbled upon these sandals last night and I fell in love. As we all know by now, I love bows, but the wooden heel is a perfect height for casual summer outfits and would look great with jeans or dresses!

    I've been looking at my closet thinking that I need to step it up for spring and buy more pieces that are versatile. This cardigan can be paired with a summer dress, worn as a top, or be layered over a t-shirt and worn with boyfriend jeans and heels. 

     A few weeks back I made Brown Eyed Baker's chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bars. Such a long name, but so so good. It makes an 8x8 (good thing it wasn't any bigger or I'd have eaten even more) and I made them one weekend at home -- they were gone the next day. If you love cheesecake and you love cookie dough, you'll undoubtedly love these also. They're a little messy to cut, though!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

For the crust: 

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 8 whole graham crackers)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the cookie dough: 

5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the cheesecake filling: 

10 ouces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate drizzle:

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

1. Preheat over to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan, line with parchment paper; butter the parchment paper, set aside.

2. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 6 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. 

3. To make the cookie dough, stir together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in the flour, then the vanilla and chocolate chips. Refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes), and then roll teaspoon-sized balls of dough and place on plate; refrigerate the plate of cookie dough balls while you prepare the cheesecake filling. 

4. Beat together the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the egg and vanilla extract, beating until thoroughly combined. 

5. Remove the cookie dough balls from the refrigerator and toss with 1 teaspoon of flour. Drop into the cheesecake filling and mix together. Pour the filling into the cooled crust, coaxing the filling into the corners and sides. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cheesecake filling is set and doesn't jiggle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours. 

6. Using the parchment paper as handles, lift the bars out of the pan and place on a cutting board. Cut into squares. Combine the chocolate chips and shortening in a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute at 50% power and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the bars and allow to set for about two minutes.

    Ever dream of chatting over tea with Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace, Claudia Schiffer, Jean Paul Gaultier, or Naomi Campbell? Being the fashionista that I think I am, I certainly have. German company, Donkey Products, has created these fashion tea bags that come in sets of five for just $11.75. They're the perfect gift for a fashionable friend, or for yourself. Except I'd buy them and never want to use them because they are just too cool. 

     Ah, Miami. I definitely had a good trip, but as I mentioned in this post, there are a few things I wish I would have known. The weather was really good for the most part - it rained a little one night and was so so windy another, but overall not too bad. The thing that suprised me the most though was that it is a little bit of a dirty city. Now, I'm not trying to hate on Miami, but I just didn't expect there to be such a huge difference between the cleanliness of Ocean Drive (the street lining the beach) and the rest of the streets. Granted, it could have been the area that we stayed in. I was also really taken aback by how in-your-face the restaurants on Ocean Drive are - all they do is heckle you to eat there! And most of them are pretty much the same restaurant - similar atmosphere and food, so they all offer you happy hour deals. I'd skip these, to be honest. 

     Playing the silverware game at a restaurant called The Place. That game's such a mind trick. We had the boys going for a good hour, and some of them all night. As for the restaurant - definitely pass on this one. I had a burger and fries, which was really good, and the salads look pretty big, but the pasta dishes are around $13 and they don't give you very much food at all. All of the boys ordered pasta and were still hungry when we left. 

     Wet Willie's ended up being one of my favorites.  The food is typical bar food, but still good. There is an entire wall of cocktails, with TONS of flavors. They're famous for their "Call a Cab" drink that is incredibly strong -- one friend joked he needed to call an ambulance after. One good thing to know - they only take cash!

     Lincoln Road has a ton of great stores and a lot of restaurants - sushi, pizza, more upscale places, etc. It is also home of Shake Shack (my roommate introduced us to this after visiting the NY restaurants) and it's delicious. Their burgers are pretty typical of any that you'd find at a diner/shake place, but their concretes (aka flurries, Mcflurries, whatever you want to call them) are amazing. Each location has unique flavors - the Shark Attack (peanut butter, chocolate custard, chocolate sprinkles, cookie dough, dark chocolate) is sooo rich, but so good. I liked the Key Lime Pie Oh My. 

The famous News Cafe! It's open 24 hours and is home to the infamous Cuban coffee and egg benedict below!

So, so good. The hollandaise sauce is made with cream cheese!

     Some friends at Mansion Night Club. Mansion is huge and incredibly nice, but definitely pricey in comparison to clubs at home. You can tell there are a lot of tourists, but we went on a weeknight so I can imagine that it'd be pretty crazy on the weekends. 

     I had a great time in Miami, but I'm not sure I'd go back for a while, just because there are so many other places I love more and would still like to go. Next up on my list is Las Vegas and back to New York...

     HOW CUTE IS THIS?! Cupcakes decorated like Paris? Adorable.

After a few weeks off, my Friday charity post is back!

      I've always had a thing for canvas bags because not only are they sturdy, but you can find some really cute ones out there (my favorite is one that says "If the shoe fits..." with a picture of a giant shoe. $4.99, total score). Instead of paying for an resusable shopping bag from a grocery store, check out the bags from Africa Bags. It's a nonprofit started by a woman named Holly Petitt and her husband that is dedicated to providing the people in Malawi the skills necessary to make reusable bags, purses and backpacks. The canvas totes run as little as $7.00, and absolutely all of the profits go back to Malawi (there are currently seven villages participating).
     One really cool thing about Africa Bags is that each bag is signed by the village that made it on the inside edge, and you can look up each village on the website to find out more about it and what the money raised is helping do. The organization also offers ways to get involved with micro-lending (think Kiva).

Beach bag

P.S. On a related note, a few months back I blogged about the online design mag, Lonny. The March/April 2011 issue just went live last night, and they did a great interview with Lauren Bush, the CEO and founder of FEED (the organization that sells the FEED canvas bags!). Check it out here!

     Coral is just so pretty... This would be a great pop of color with a neutral outfit.

     The last few months have been constant stress. It's so easy to get caught up in daily life and forget about the big picture. Or, if you're like me (and probably the rest of the world's college students), almost everything you do is done for the future. I keep forgetting that I actually have a life in the present - I rush from one class to the next, and I'm consumed with meeting one deadline just to turn around and be faced with another. I always feel like I lose myself during school months; I don't have time to focus on making myself happy (although I somehow managed to do plenty of that during first semester) and I slowly get less and less happy. 

     I realize that I will always have to do things in life that I don't like, and that I'll always be prioritizing school or work over other aspects of my life. But that doesn't mean I can't still maintain that part of myself. Life can always be worse, and I by no means have it rough. Now I just need to get over the fact that things will work out how they're supposed to no matter what, and let go a little bit. Hah, if only I could figure out how to do that. 

     I love the texture of these shoes - the canvas and the leather, the wood and the laces - so cute.

     Over spring break I tried this recipe for DIY pore strips, and I'd have to say it's way worth it. Excuse my brother's messy bathroom mirror in the picture below!

DIY Pore Strips (or whole-face strips if you're like me)

1 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin (Knox is the most common brand)
1- 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk
paper cup
disposable spoon or popsicle stick

Definitely use a disposable cup for this! Mix the two ingredients together in the cup, somewhat quickly, and the texture will become chunky. Then microwave the mixture for about 15 seconds and then apply to your face (whatever areas you want), making sure it's not too hot but don't wait too long so that it doesn't solidify. Leave on for about 10-15 minutes - you'll know when to peel it off, it will feel tight and start to crack when you move your face. It's quick and easy!

Two things:
1. It smells kind of weird. Probably because you're microwaving milk.
2. Be careful not to get it in your eyebrows or too close to the areas under your eyes and near your hairline. Let me tell you, it hurts BAD when you're trying to pull it out of your hairline, and similarly with the skin around your eyes because it's sensitive. If this does happen though, no worries, just get a hot wash cloth and it turns into sticky gelatin again!

     I've been seeing this all over the blogosphere, and from what I've read, its AWESOME. It's a top coat from Katy Perry's OPI collection that you apply over dried nail polish and it leaves your nails looking crackled. It's a little pricey (you can probably find it cheaper in stores rather than online), but considering you can wear it over any color polish, I'd say that's reasonable. 

     Anyone who knows me knows that I love several things: bows, sparkles, and anything nautical. This doormat caught my eye when I was searching around ModCloth and it's made its way to my wishlist. I've made the decision to post more than just incredibly expensive clothes -- especially since I'm currently unemployed and there are tons of cute (and affordable!) home items out there! :)

     Hey friends, I'm back from Miami. Actually, I've been back for a few days now, but my stress level has skyrocketed so my blog has fallen a bit behind. Miami was a great time and now that I'm back to thirty degree weather, the beach pictures seem like a dream.

     This was my first time to Miami, and - oh man - there was a lot that I'd wish I'd known before going. But there was no drama and no major disasters (besides one friend missing his flight there) so everything went well. I'll just share a few pictures tonight, and I'll do a more in-depth travel post later this week featuring great food, the places to go (and not to go!) and a few tips. 

First day on the beach...

Ocean Drive

Boyfriend!

Amigos

Dash Miami (located next door to our hotel)!

     Such a cute bathing suit, it makes me think of the Caribbean. The only downside is the weird tan lines you'd get...