Switch it up

(sheer button up- h&m, shorts- h&m, lace scarf- vintage, shoes- urbanog, ring- f21)

I did it. I did the ombre. I made the mistake of a going to a beauty school to get it done though and halfway through the unnecessary 6 hours I spent there I had completely orangey blonde hair from roots to tips. I was freaked out beyond belief, but it was fixed, and though it wasn't completely what I wanted, I still like it! I'm hoping to take it a little more drastic the next time though. We shall see!  

xx

Balboa Bananas

The last of my summer was spent taking advantage of the lovely weather and friends that hadn't left yet away to school. I took a trip with two of my closest friends, Ben and Nicole down to Balboa in Newport Beach. It's such a nice, relaxing place right by the ocean. There's also so many interesting shops and boutiques! I wanted so badly to take a picture of the inside of one in particular, but was quickly directed attention towards the signs along the walls that noted there was no photography. Somehow I missed them all. Somehow. I know there's such a thing as selective hearing. I feel like this applies to my sight sometimes as well.

On another note, I've officially started up classes this week! I'm not completely sure how to feel about this, a bit indifferent at the moment. Soon to turn to dread as soon as the work starts piling in of course. 

Hope all of you have had a great start off to your week! ♥

Guest Blogging for She is Sara

Guest blogged over on one of my favorite girl's blog, She is Sara! Check it out here.

In the Kitchen: Lemon cupcakes

These have to be the prettiest treats I have ever made! It was so difficult for me to actually get around to eating them because they just looked that cute, but when I did bring myself to eating them I had no regrets. Nor any remorse after picking up a second one. The cake itself is very light and fluffy and the icing is perfect!

Lemon Cupcakes 

print recipe here

Cake:

INGREDIENTS

yields about 30 cookies 

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 1 cup whole milk, divided
• 3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided

 (The amount of lemon zest or lemon juice can vary with just how strong of a lemon taste you want the cupcakes to have.)

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS 

Preheat to 375 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Sift the self-rising flour and salt together in a bowl. In another, beat the unsalted butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Mix in vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, one third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of four. Beat until just combined--make sure not to over mix.

Fill the prepared cupcake liners with batter 3/4 full, and bake for about 18 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a rack.

Icing:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups chilled heavy cream
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 1/4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS 

Beat the chilled heavy cream with an electric mixer set on low until the cream begins to thicken. 

Add the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice, a little at a time, beating after each addition, until fully incorporated. 

Increase the mixer speed to High, and beat until the icing forms soft peaks--about 5 minutes. Spread on 

completely cooled cupcakes.


Lastly I added on some raspberries on top more for visual appeal than anything, but the flavor really complimented the lemon as well. As shown in the first picture I also added a quarter lemon slice to the top of the cupcakes. Decorate how you please, or simply devour. I'm not judging.

Enjoy! ♥

Something new

So tomorrow morning I have an appointment to get my hair done, including cut and color. Just a little something for a fresh start right before I start up classes again. I'm pretty set on this ombre look that I've been loving so much, but I'm not even close to sure how light I want to go on the bottom! I'm stressing, it's a bit pathetic. Help a girl out? xx

Any new changes you've made or plan on making for just a little something new? 

Outfit Favorites & Inspiration

Sincerely, Jules, Jag Lever, The Stylish Heart, Free People, Miss Readhead, The Fashion Mirror, Happy, Honey and Lark

I went a bit over board with picking some outfit favorites--there's just been so many! There were so many stylish ladies at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco that Erin from Calivintage got fantastic shots of for the Free People blog, I had a difficult time only picking a couple from there, so check out the rest here. And I know, that is Vanessa Hudgens, but since it is a street style, I would include her in amongst the regulars. 

Hope you're all having a wonderful week! ♥

Guest Blogging for Envishoes

Hey guys! I guest blogged on over with envishoes.com. Check it out here!

Guest Post: Jen of JennifHsieh

Hello readers of Despising Life is so Passe! I'm Jen from JennifHsieh and I'm guest blogging for Theresa today while she's out of town. I adore her blog so of course I accepted her offer of writing up a guest post. Her blog is always full of so many inspirational posts and of course she has the most gorgeous hair, am I right? I can still remember when Theresa first started blogging her outfits over a year ago. :) 

So this romper is one of my favorite pieces in my closet right now. I love how lightweight it is and it's also styled up like overalls - you can't really tell since I wore a cardigan over it. The one issue with wearing this outfit to work was having to go to the bathroom. As all you other romper wearers know, going to the bathroom is hell, especially when you really, really, really gotta go. Someone really needs to come up with a solution for this, although I'm pretty sure people have better ways to use their time. I guess the solution is just not to wear rompers!

Guest Post: Sara of She is Sara

Hello readers of Despising life is so Passé, This is Sara from the blog She is Sara, sneaking in a little guest post for my lovely friend and fellow blogger Theresa. Theresa and I started reading each others blogs a few years ago now, and we have always joked that if and when we ever have a meet-up, we would have a Coffee Party (as opposed to a tea party)! SO, I thought I would do a post on how a Coffee Party should take place. 

First and foremost, there would be lots of coffee! We would make sure to have neat little designs and pretty cups to sip from.

It would probably be outdoors, like a picnic because coffee is not as dainty as a tea party. We would bring a record player and listen to our favorite records outside under the sun.

There would of course be goodies, but cupcakes are a requirement.

We would dress all spiffy and in coffee colored outfits! Picnics, sweets & coffee should always be accompanied by an equally sweet outfit.

After we are stuffed with sugar and loaded with caffeine, we must do something to release energy. After a dance parry with our records, maybe we would do something equally fun, like fly kites!

Haha, I hope you guys liked this oober girly post! After reading this, I really want Theresa and I to make this coffee date happen! Doesn't it sound like fun? Thanks everyone!

Xoxo

~Sara

Guest Post: Elyse of Give Me Bows

Hello lovely readers of Despising Life Is So Passe! I am Elyse, and I write a little blog called Give Me Bows. I was delighted when Theresa asked if I wanted to do a guest post for her while she is away on her fun trip! I hope she is having a really fabulous time ♥

 

 This is an outfit I wore to dinner on the weekend. Why on earth are you dressed up in stockings and a coat, you ask? Well, while Theresa is enjoying the last days of summer in sunny California, here in Australia we are experiencing the final days of winter! It's been a super cold few months, and I cannot wait to kiss my stockings goodbye and frock up in a cotton dress and peep-toe sandals.

Review Peony Lourdes dress, Alannah Hill coat,

ASOS back seam stockings, ebay heeled lace-up brogues

It's been particularly tough the past few months reading all the Northern hemisphere blogs and seeing all the pretty summer dresses, the gorgeous sunshine, the beach trips, the icecreams... while we are shivering away indoors, le sigh! On a more positive note though, when all the large online shops have their end-of-season sales to get rid of their summer stock, we get to snap up a bargain (or three) just in time for the warmer weather here! So in some ways we are very lucky indeed ♥

Guest Post: Charity of C'est la belle vie

Bonjour! My name is Charity and I blog over at c'est la belle vie. Theresa generously asked if I would like to guest post for her while she is out of town this week and I of course accepted! I have been following Theresa's blog for a while now and love her combination of subjects like style, food, music, places, and film photography. The way she is daring with clothing and different hair styles is truly inspiring!

Last week, I got to take a break from the real world and spend a few days at my grandparents' home in Sandpoint, Idaho--one of my favorite places in the world. We spent the days talking, laughing, swimming, eating on the lawn, baking and playing.

My grandparents own a lot of property, just brimming with places to explore and play in. My siblings and I have the most wonderful memories of running through the apple orchards barefoot, eating strawberries off the branch, playing hide and seek in the forest, and eating the seemingly never-ending fudgsicles in my Nanny's freezer. Now that I'm older I can truly appreciate the beauty and innocence of my favorite place in the world!
Thank you for reading, and thank you to Theresa for asking me to post! I have lots more photos from my trip that will be posted on my blog this week, if you would like to see more. Au revoir loves!

Skirt: Thrifted
Belt & Tank: Target
Necklace: Urban Outfitters

Always last minute

I am such a great procrastinator, not to brag or anything. Last minute packing for the win! 

I probably won't be saying the same thing while I'm driving to Vegas tomorrow at 7 am though. I am horrible at goodbyes, so I suppose this is my awkward way of saying goodbye for the week. I'll miss you all! Ah, but I'm sure you won't miss me since I have a fantastic line up of guest bloggers that you will absolutely adore if you don't already! I'm already excited for that!

Have yourselves a fantastic week, dolls! Muah! ♥

Retro curls and platform pumps

 (dress- pink collection, heels- boutique 58)

As I said in my last post, we had to dress "Mad Men" style for the release of the new collection at work. And of course, I took full advantage of that and had fun with it. I threw my hair up in pin curls the night before, left them in over night and gave it a quick brush out in the morning to get that retro curl hairdo. This was actually my first time doing pin curls and it works like no other! Definitely going to try that again when in desire of some cork screw curls that definitely stay put!

I felt like this dress was a must for the occasion and paired it with my favorite black pumps. And of course, to completely put together the look, nothing works better than a classic cat eye and red lips. xx

Have a wonderful weekend, dolls! ♥

currently listening to: mama said- the shirelles

Banana Republic: Mad Men

I just had to show you some of my favorites from an early preview of this collection. In all honesty, I'm drooling a bit right now. The new Mad Men collection, inspired by the television show,  that is being released this Thursday, August 11th at Banana Republic is just incredible! Makes me a bit proud to say I work there despite being a victim of retail. haha The quality of these pieces is impeccable and the design is just so classic and beyond lovely. I know I'm going to have to invest in a couple of these pieces myself! If you live near South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, make sure and stop by to check it out, and of course drop a hello and visit me in my own Mad Men-esque get up. ;) Also, they are going to be serving wine and such, a Mad Men cocktail party as they referred to it. I know I'm looking forward to it!

xxx

Outfit Favorites & Inspiration

Adeline Rapon, This Time Tomorrow, Sterling Style, Delightfully Tacky, Parfasseux, La Vie Inconnue

Here's a bit of inspiration to start off your week! I am surely on the lookout now for a structured, 50s style dress such as Krystal's or the pretty, vibrant, floral take that Elizabeth from Delightfully Tacky is wearing. The silhouette is just perfect! At the same time though, I still have a heavy weakness for those long sheer maxi skirts that just about sweep me off my feet!

Also, I have some ebay auctions ending today on some great pieces. Make sure to check them out here! A gorgeous maxi dress, a 70s vintage sheer dress, and a pair of Steve Maddens. Now aren't those just calling your name? xx

Have a wonderful week, loves! ♥

I spy

Some shots I took the other day while at The Lab. I'm completely and utterly envious that the camera that I took these with isn't my own. Tragic, really. I've had every intention to save for a camera, but you dolls know how it is, payments and such. Soon enough hopefully!

xxx