Stitch Fix #3 - July 2013

It's Stitch Fix time again!  It's becoming my favorite time of each month.  Sure, I enjoy shopping and I'm in the city a few times a month checking out my favorite shops.  Nothing is more fun than telling people you have a personal shopper and stylist.  Haven't heard of Stitch Fix?  Here's the down low...

You sign up and wait until you get an invitation e-mail (they're still in beta and take on new customers when they can handle it).  I think it takes a few weeks to get your invitation these days.  Once you get your invitation, you fill out a long, in depth style profile.  It asks for all your sizes, fit and style preferences and asks how far your want to be pushed out of your comfort zone.

After you finish the style profile, you pick a date for the delivery of your first fix!  In my experience, the package usually arrives within one day of the date you choose, either before or after.  Next up?  Try on those clothes!  Get some second opinions!  Take some pics and have your Facebook friends decide!  Like everything?  Great, keep it all and get 25% off the purchase!  A few rejects?  Pop them in the prepaid mail bag and send them back.

How much will you have to shell out for Stitch Fix?  It's a $20 styling fee for each fix, which is then applied to the cost of anything you decide to keep.  You can set your price ranges for each category - tops, bottoms, dresses, outerwear, accessories.

How do you know if it's right for you?  If you are solely a Target/Old Navy shopper and like spending upwards of $10 on a shirt, then Stitch Fix might not be for you.  Personally, I asked for slightly higher priced items because I'm looking for quality pieces.  The designers I have received are ones that I often see at Nordstorm, Saks and Bloomingdales.

Now, are you ready to see what I got this month?  I asked for color this month, especially after last months mostly black and white fix.  My stylist this month, Jocelyn, totally answered my call and sent me lots of fun and bright tops.  I received this fix just before I headed home to Buffalo for a visit.  I took my fix with me and had a little photo shoot with my mom, in our backyard!  Yes.  My parents have a little barn in the yard, it holds all my dads tools and toys.

Collective Concepts - Gorden Geo Print Sleeveless Tunic - $78

Let it be said, I'm not really sure how to style this tunic.  But I love it.  If I were a few inches shorter I could totally wear it as a dress.  I loved the color and print right out of the box.  I only had these straight leg black jeans to wear with it in Buffalo, but I'm thinking it will look fab with a pair of black, capri length skinny jeans.  I'll work on styling this some more and maybe you'll see it again on my new project...  WITC (more info soon!)

Darling - Kesey Bird Print Belted Dress - $108

Say hello to cuteness in a dress!  I didn't take a close up, but those little blobs are actually black and white birds.  The combo of the bright color and the Peter Pan collar - neither of which exists in my closet - made this one a winner.  I can picture it with a little sweater and boots for the fall too.  Very excited about this one!  My only problem is the following - I found this dress on another website for $10 less, but it was baby blue.  I sucked it up and got this one, figuring shipping of the other dress would eat up my savings.

Sweet Rain - Tarah Printed Flutter Sleeve Blouse - $48

When I tried this shirt on at home, BF told me I looked like a modern day Charlie Brown.  Uh, thanks?  Yeah, I wasn't sold on this one either.  Neither was my mom.  She said that something very similar to this lived in her teenage closet.  Between the length (I have a longish torso) and the flutter sleeves, I felt like this shirt was a bit too young for me.  This one went back to SF.

Sanctuary - Arissa Sheer ButtonUp ShirtTail Tank - $78

This shirt was almost a winner.  Too bad it had three things going against it.  1. It's a mullet shirt.  High-low shirt.  Whatever you call it - there was about a foot of material tucked into my jeans.  2. I have this shirt in two other colors from Michael Kors (courtesy of T•J•Maxx!).  3. I really don't like the material - crepe.  It just felt a little cheap for the price.  Back to SF it went!

Ella Moss - Alecia Abstract Print Racerback Tank - $98

I've seen a few items from Ella Moss at Nordstrom before and thought they were pretty cute.  I was jazzed (yup, I totally used jazzed in a sentence) to see this tank in my SF box this month.  The print and color combo is so much fun.  Plus, I love the racerback.  I'm a fan of my shoulders and racerback tanks do a good job of showing them off.  Yes, this shirt is a bit expensive for a tank, but it's well made and fits perfectly.

This is my third fix (here are fixes number 1 and number 2!) and I think SF is getting to know my style better and better.  Sure, I haven't been able to take advantage of the 25% off 5 item fix yet, but that's okay.  I haven't really hated anything they've sent me, I'm just picky.  My next fix is set to arrive next week (see, I'm a bit behind) and have asked for some fall transition pieces.  While I'm not looking forward to the end of summer, I can't wait for fall.  I know, I'm a total contradiction.

If you're interested in trying Stitch Fix here's a referral link - Click here for cute clothes!  Total disclosure - I'm not affiliated with SF (they don't know me or my photographer mom), but if you sign up via that link they give me $25 to spend on clothes.  

Now enjoy some bloopers from our photo shoot!  We took these pics only two days after my wisdom tooth extraction and I felt like my cheeks and jaw were all puffy.  That's why you'll notice a few hand to chin photos!  There were also bugs in the backyard and two golden retrievers.  The humidity in Buffalo totally was killing me too.  My hair got more and more out of control as the shoot progressed!

What else have I gotten?

Fix #1 - May 2013
Fix #2 - June 2013
Fix #3 - July 2013
Fix #4 - August 2013
Fix #5 - September 2013
Fix #6 - October 2013
Fix #7 - November 2013
Fix #8 - December 2013
Fix #9 - January 2014
Fix #10 - February 2014

Peanut Butter and Banana Cupcakes

It's been four days since BF and I hiked in and out of the Grand Canyon and my calves are still killing me!  I guess that's what happens when you hike a progressively steeper seven miles.  I'm hoping that our crazy hike will help with training us for our upcoming Spartan race.

To help recuperate some of the calories I burned on our hike, I made some cupcakes.  Then proceeded to eat a whole bunch of them.  Okay, three.  Then I sent them to work with BF.  I knew I couldn't be left alone with the remaining nine cupcakes.  The combination of banana and peanut butter chips in these cupcakes reminded me of my favorite breakfast (waffle sandwich!).  You could actually leave off the frosting and have these for breakfast.  Because a cupcake without frosting is a muffin, right?  Totally healthy.

But really, after climbing out of the Grand Canyon I feel like I deserved a few unhealthy treats.  And so do you!  Make yourself some cupcakes, or "healthy" muffins.

Wilde Week #22

Boyfriend and I spent the past week in Arizona, enjoying a short, mid-summer vacation.  We spent the first few days in Phoenix, him attending a conference, me sitting by the pool getting a little tan.  After BF's conference was over, we headed north to the mountains and canyons.

We spend most of our vacations travelling the world and rarely get a chance to tour our own country.  Growing up near Niagara Falls and living near New York City now, I often lose sight of the exciting and awe inspiring sights in the United States.  It was a nice change of pace to see what the US has to offer as a tourist destination.  While July isn't the best time to visit Arizona, due to the hot temperatures in the low desert and the monsoons in the high mountains, we had an amazing time looking back through millions of years of history.

We situated ourselves in Flagstaff because it was in the center of several attractions we wanted to visit while in Arizona.  BF and I drove just over 100 miles to the east and spent one day driving through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.  The beauty of the landscape was amplified even more by the fact that it was created by millions of years of the forces of nature acting on the Earth.  This national park is also a testament to chemistry in action, you know I loved it.

One major item on our checklist was to hike rim to river in the Grand Canyon.  Since all of the signs in the park recommended against hiking down and back in a single day, we were sure to be well prepared.  I filled up my camelbak with a gallon of water and a ton of food.  BF carried his own water and snacks and we set out on our hike shortly after sunrise.

We chose to take the South Kaibab trail into the canyon, since it was listed as one of the most scenic and less busy trails.  As we hiked down the canyon, the temperature rose higher and higher.  The comfortable temperatures at the top gave way to 90 degree temps at the mid point.   By the time we reached the bottom it was well over 110 ºF.  Luckily there was also a shallow stream which I promptly sat in and cooled right off.  We refilled our water packs, had lunch and spent a little more time sitting in the stream.

After an hour of recuperating, we were rejuvenated enough to head back out of the canyon.  It took us about four hours to hike to the river, including time spent taking pictures, climbing rocky outcrops and snacking.  Just as we set out on the trail, a rain storm rolled through.  We donned our rain ponchos and started on the switchbacks.  The heavy rain only lasted a few minutes, but it managed to drop the temperature by twenty degrees.  It made for a much more comfortable climb.

BF and I enjoyed a quiet climb, as the rain drove most of the other hikers off of the trail, and we made our hike in record time.  In only three and a half hours we made it from the Colorado River to the top of the canyon.  We finished our hike very dirty (the trail is dusty and very red), hungry (the last of the cookies were delicious after that hike) and thirsty (you can fill up your bottle with Grand Canyon spring water!).

If you are traveling to Arizona, you are most likely heading to the Grand Canyon.  You should definitely spend some time hiking the trails as you'll get a totally different perspective from inside.  If you want to hike rim to river, you can be crazy like us (not recommended!) or you can book a room at the Phantom ranch, spend the night on the river and hike out refreshed in the morning!

Apricot Soda

Hello from Arizona!

That's right, I'm away from New Jersey again and hanging out in the desert.  Did you know that Arizona gets monsoon rains in July?  Craziness.  It's also about 197 degrees here during the day.  Roughly.  That's what inspired me to share this soda with you today.

Last week I had a bowl of fresh, ripe apricots waiting to be made into something delicious.  Since I haven't made enough use of my shiny soda siphon yet, I decided to combine the two and make this apricot soda.  It was perfectly refreshing during the heat wave we endured last week in the tri-state area.  It was also pretty good with a scoop of vanilla!

Spinach & Gorgonzola Cavatappi

Anesthesia is crazy.

I'm happy to be talking to you from the other side of my wisdom tooth extraction.  Though I hardly remember much of the procedure, or the two hours after it.  I'm thankful to have had an excellent oral surgeon.  After the initial jab of the needle and the anesthesia washing over me, I have felt very little pain.  It's been a generally good experience!  I'm now down four useless teeth and happy that I won't have to do it again.

The only problem I had with the extraction is the timing, which is totally my fault.  The dentist told me no spicy foods until I'm all healed up.  This would normally be fine, but I planned the surgery just before a visit to my parents in Buffalo.  I couldn't have a single hot wing the entire time I was home!  I was so disappointed and now I'm back in New Jersey with a healed mouth and no chicken wings!  I'll have to make some wing sauce this week.

Before my extraction I made this amazing pasta dish.  I have an all new love affair with panko breadcrumbs.  And deep frying them.  Then devouring them.  This dish was super easy too and ready in less than 30 minutes.  It also uses my favorite pasta shape - cavatappi!  If you can't find the fun little corkscrews, feel free to use any pasta with ridges.

Wilde Week #21

 1. I got to spend the second half of this week in my hometown of Buffalo, hanging out with my family!  I have a large extended family and was so happy to see people I haven't seen in many years.  It helps that all my aunts and uncles are retiring now and have plenty of time to hang out with me.

2. If you remember from my last update, I got my wisdom teeth out last Tuesday.  Which made my trip home a little less fun.  Why?  Because Buffalo means hot sauce and chicken wings and my dentist told me no spicy foods until I'm all healed up.  NoooooOoo!  I was also looking all hilarious with a really puffy, square jaw.  Later in the week some serious bruises appeared on my jaw.  So pretty, but overall feeling good.  No Vicodin necessary!

3. Visiting home means hitting up Nina's ice cream for a bowl of Perry's!  If you are in the Western NY/PA area, stop by an ice cream stand and try their newest flavor - Movie Time.  It's the strangest combination of salted popcorn flavor, caramel swirls and chocolate pieces.  It's so crazy, but it works!

 4. My mom has quite the green thumb.  Her garden is full of berries and tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers.  I'm a little jealous, but I don't have the patience (or outdoor space) to manage a garden!  Go mom!

5. I am home now, but only for a few days.  BF is in Phoenix in for a conference and I'm meeting him out there on Tuesday!  We have plans to hike the Grand Canyon, swim in Havasu falls and take pictures in the Painted Desert.  It's going to be well over 100 in Phoenix, but it's a dry heat, so I'll be just fine.  I plan on working on my tan at the pool while BF learns all about frozen vegetables.

6. I totally wanted to take home my parents hot tub.  Unfortunately it wouldn't fit in my carry on luggage.

7. Since BF headed off to Phoenix as I was returning from Buffalo (we met at the train station and traded keys and a kiss!), I decided to have frozen yogurt for dinner.  It was topped with berries, so it's totally okay.  Right?

Nutella Thumbprints

I'm starving!  Seriously.  I'm only a few hours from my wisdom tooth extraction and I'm not allowed to have anything to eat within six hours of the surgery.  Since my appointment is at 1:00, that means I either had to wake up at 5:00am and have breakfast, or I hold out until after I regain sanity tonight.  I opted to sleep in until 7:00, so I'm going to be no fun to be around today.

These cookies are sitting on the counter in my kitchen, taunting me with their delicious combination of crumbly cookie and crunchy nut coating.  Why didn't I eat more of these yesterday?

See you all on Thursday, when I will be four teeth shorter!

Wilde Week #20

1. Did you stop by this week and have some cake?  WITK celebrated it's third birthday this year and we feasted on Milky Way Cake!  So good.

2. I finally made it to NY Cake & Bake this week and I was in sprinkle heaven!  I had to hold myself back from buying the entire aisle.  I want a rainbow of sanding sugars in my pantry and sprinkles for each holiday.

3. Did you know that J Crew only puts things on sale once they run out of my size?  I desperately wanted these seahorse shorts, it just wasn't in the cards.

4. If you were wondering, I totally bought the flowered jeans from last week!  I'm wearing them right now as I write this post.  They make me very happy, especially since they were 50% off, plus another 50% off.

5. Heading to NYC?  Want delicious brunch?  Go to Tartine in the West Village.  I went there with a friend this week and they make an amazing (and huge) apple pancake.

6. It's summertime in NYC and that means the Union Square Greenmarket is full of local eats.  While I was tempted by the bright snapdragons and bunches of sweet pea blossoms, I went home with a basket full of Santa Rosa plums.  I didn't bake them into anything, I just ate them.  What can't you resist putting in your basket when you head to the farmers market?

7. Any other thirty somethings having a great summer watching Pretty Little Liars?  Total guilty pleasure TV.

8. I posted these blackberry rice krispy treats on facebook yesterday and promised you a recipe.  Guess what, it's so simple!  Just use this...  Blackberry Flavor Fountain (from LorAnn Oils!).  They have a whole bunch of different flavors - bubble gum, cake batter, mango.  I got mine at a local specialty store, but you can totally order the syrup from their website or Amazon.

Black Raspberry Rice Krispy Treats

3 tablespoons butter

1 - 10 ounce package marshmallows

6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal

1 tablespoon Black raspberry flavoring

Lightly coat a 9x13-inch pan in cooking spray.  Wipe out the excess with a paper towel.

In a large pot, melt butter over low heat.  Add marshmallows and stir to coat in butter.  Stirring occasionally, let marshmallows melt completely.  Add black raspberry flavoring and stir until combined.  Add cereal and stir to coat.  Pour into the prepared pan and press into an even layer.  Let sit for at least an hour before cutting into squares.

Restaurant Wars 2013 - Dairy Queen

I've been slacking on my 2013 challenge.  It's funny really.  Since I've been unemployed I have had more time to complete the challenges, but I haven't finished one since May!  Today marks me getting back on the horse and starting the second half of the year with a delicious bang.

Today's challenge is perfectly timed with this hot weather that has been blanketing the country.  It's ice cream related.  My challenge restaurant this week is Dairy Queen!

The vast menu of DQ gave me lots of options to choose from for my challenge.  From Blizzards to Peanut Buster parfaits, waffle bowl sundaes to Dilly bars, most of treats are made from soft serve ice cream and different inclusions.  What I usually order when I head to DQ is a vanilla cone, dipped in cherry red shell.  Simple, delicious.  Love it.

There are lots of recipes out there for chocolate magic shell.  Simple combine chocolate chips with some coconut oil and you've made yourself magic shell.  Cherry magic shell is a little bit more tricky.  I had to make a few batches to get this one right.  I started out with white chocolate and coconut oil, with cherry extract.  That batch tasted like coconut magic shell.  Not quite what I was going for.

Batch two I swapped out the coconut oil for grape seed oil.  Grape seed oil is perfect for this because it lends no flavor to the magic shell.  It wasn't there yet, because the cherry flavor wasn't strong enough.  That red stuff from Dairy Queen really tastes like cherries.  Well, fake cherry flavoring actually.  I decided to swap out the cherry extract for cherry candy oil.  It's a much more potent flavoring and matched with a little vanilla extract, made for just the right combination.  I threw in a big dash of red food coloring and I finally came out with magic in a jar.

Now I don't need to drive halfway across New Jersey to get myself a DQ vanilla cone.

Happy Birthday WITK!

That's right, it's my birthday!

Actually, to be precise, it's Wilde in the Kitchen's birthday!  Or it was last week.  I'm so terrible with dates.

It's been three whole years since I first put my fingers to the keyboard and typed up my very first post.  It's amazing how many things have changed since June 2010.

In three years I have...

- had four different home addresses
- completed two natural product syntheses
- started and ended my first job in industry
- finally moved in with my long term love
- visited 14 different countries

My cooking and baking skills have improved dramatically since I first decided to join the ranks of the food blogger.  Some things I thought I would never make, but have, include...

- sponge candy
- coconut milk
- Greek yogurt, from scratch
- potato gnocchi
- my own ketchup & mustard

There were so many side effects of starting WITK that I never expected.  Of course I planned on trying my recipes and stretching my culinary skills.  I had hoped my photography skills would improve (something I'm still working on!).  I never thought I would come to know so many great people, make new friends and become part of a larger community.

Thanks so much to everyone out there in the world that has made WITK as fun as it is, for supporting me in my crazy kitchen endeavors and giving me a reason to keep on going.

Have a slice of cake to celebrate WITK turning 3.  I wonder what the next few years will bring?

Wilde Week #19

1. Happy Fourth of July Week everyone!  I hope that you were one of the lucky people with a super long weekend.  I love it when the 4th is in the middle of the week.  It means you can go and watch fireworks all week long!  We got to watch three different displays, even one right from our couch (thank you mystery town west of ours!).

2. I'm totally behind on my Restaurant Wars challenge.  Please, don't go up top and click on the tab.  I'm way behind.  Like months behind.  This is totally crazy because I've been unemployed for a month and a half.  I should have all the time in the world to complete the challenges.  I promise I'll fix it.  Don't give up on me!

3. In the meantime, I need to make cookie dough brownies, like stat.

4. I spent a good portion of this long weekend at a photography workshop with Aran Goyoaga (of Cannelle et Vanille).  It was a two day workshop and day one was dedicated to foraging and outdoor photography!  I'll tell you all about it later this week, but I wanted to share a few photos from the weekend.  If you have the chance to take one of Aran's workshops, you should definitely sign up.  It was very inspiring.

5. I was at French Connection this weekend and tried on those pants up there.  Thoughts?  My only problem is, it's a million degrees outside right now and I can't imagine wearing pants.

6.   Want to learn a neat trick in to use Photoshop?  Check out this video.  Now you don't have to worry about all those tourists in your photo of Lady Liberty.  Just average them out.  Amazing.

7. I have discovered the absolute best time to go shopping in Soho.  It's July 4th.  All of the city dwellers have fled the island for the beaches and all of the tourists are on the west side trying to get a good firework viewing spot.  This leaves Soho completely empty, yet all the stores are having amazing sales.  I got a Tahari suit for 60% off.  I'm going to be styling on my upcoming interviews!   Put it in your calendar - July 4th 2014 - shop in Soho.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Roasted Cherry Swirl

Happy Fourth of July Internet friends! 

For my international friends out there, I hope you have an enjoyable Thursday.  For my American friends in the Internet ether, Happy Independence day! 

I hope that your day is filled with sunshine, cookouts, ice cream and warm weather.  I love living in the tri-state area this time of year because we can celebrate the holiday all week long!  There have been fireworks dotting the skyline since Saturday as the hundreds of townships in the area celebrate with local events.  Boyfriend and I headed to the Montclair fireworks last night and have big plans to view the fireworks of New York City, western Long Island and eastern New Jersey from high up in the hills of Upper Montclair tonight.

To celebrate Independence day this year, I decided to put my OXO fruit tools to use and make some cherry swirled vanilla ice cream.  A few weeks ago I received a package from OXO (via the OXO blogger outreach program) filled with tools to help us enjoy the summer fruit bounty.  The box included a pineapple corer, mango pitter, strawberry huller, fruit scoopers and this cherry pitter! 

Using the cherry pitter cut my prep time down significantly and my cherry sauce was in the oven in no time.  Cherries are delicious all on their own, but roast them in the oven with a little sugar, you've got a winner.  Rather than just topping the ice cream with the roasted cherry sauce, I decided to swirl it right into the just churned ice cream.  Super delicious, perfectly refreshing for the fourth of July!

Disclaimer - I received the OXO fruit tools as a part of the blogger outreach program.  All opinions about the tools are my own and I have not been compensated for this post.

Strawberry-Bacon Pizza

Say hello to delicious.

During my days of unemployment, I usually wander around Montclair, read books at Starbucks and bake cookies for Boyfriend.  Lunch often falls by the wayside and I wind up having a yogurt around 3:00.  Yesterday I was inspired to actually make lunch after flipping through Fitness magazine.  This strawberry and goat cheese pizza screamed my name.  Top it all off with a hefty load of crumbled bacon and I was tearing this recipe from the magazine and heading to Whole Foods. 

This pizza comes together quickly, which is perfect for someone craving bacon and goat cheese.  Using naan for the pizza crust, this lunch went from ingredients to delicious in only fifteen minutes. 

And it was amazing.  I should make lunch more often.

Wilde week #18

1. It's been another fun week of unemployment here in the Wilde household.  Actually I've been trying convince Boyfriend to quit his job too so we can both be unemployed.  He doesn't seem to keen on the idea.  I guess I'll have to continue to entertain myself during the weekdays.

2. Yesterday BF and I headed to Palisades State Park and hiked over ten miles along the Jersey shore.  If you aren't familiar with the area, the Palisades are right on the NJ/NY state line.  We actually hiked up into New York.  That's me up on that tree swing, enjoying a relaxing moment at the halfway point of our trek.  This swing sits over the Hudson river, open to the breeze and right in the soft spray of the water lapping at the rocks below.  It's a funny place to hike, knowing NYC is only a few miles to the south.

3. Without my daily commute to Long Island, I have really been slacking on my book reading.  On a normal day, I would have four hours on the train to burn through the pages of about two books per week.  I'm a multitasker and I felt that commuting and reading was like getting two things done at one time.  Sitting and reading at home just seems lazy to me.  I am about 80% of the way through the new Dan Brown novel - Inferno, and really want to get to the end.  Since my reading of the book has been so broken up and the book is a little bit confusing, I feel like I have to keep jumping back and forth to remember what happened earlier.  Has anyone else read this book and been totally confused?  Or is it just me?

4. Last week I headed up to Boston for another job interview.  I haven't been to Boston in years and forgot how nice it is there!  It's a much smaller city that NYC and so much more walkable.  Plus, it is home to Wagamama, a fun little asian fusion restaurant that BF and I both love.  Actually, there are two locations of this restaurant!  Totally reason in an of itself to make the move north.  With all these job interviews all over the place, I wonder where I'll be by next year!

5. This Wednesday I headed into the city to meet up with the girls.  We had a plan to meet up at Clinton Street Bakery and get brunch.  Apparently all the tourists in NYC also thought that would be a great place to spend their hump day morning.  Seriously, an hour wait on a Wednesday?  Welcome to tourist season in the city.  We decided it would be silly to wait and walked down the street to another cafe.  Why wait for a table in New York?  There are thousands of restaurants!

6. Speaking of Hump day.  Have you seen the Geico commercial with the camel walking around an office asking people what day it is?  HUMP DAY!  Love it.  Watch it.

7. Have you migrated your Google reader over to a new platform yet???  Be sure to do it today, because it's the last day!  I can't believe that it's finally shutting down.  It was my first blog reader!  Oh the memories I have with Google reader...  Personally, I migrated my blog list over to Feedly.  I really like it because they have a great iPad and iPhone app and I can read my feeds from anywhere!  Others have touted Bloglovin, I haven't tried it out yet.

8. I am super terrible when it comes to blogger about holidays.  By the time realize it's almost July 4th or Halloween or Valentines day, there isn't time enough to cook or bake, then photograph and post.  Enjoy July 4th this week!  Make something tasty.

Spice-rubbed Chicken & Gratin Dauphinois

It's officially summer around here and it finally feels like it!  We've been hovering right around ninety degrees here in the tri-state area all week.  And I love it.  Love!  Of course my hair has been all sorts of crazy in this high humidity, but since I don't have a job right now, who cares! 

I've fallen into a pretty good routine through my unemployed weeks.  Generally Monday is my cleaning house day.  I'll do the laundry, vacuum and dust the apartment, run boring errands and cook the fanciest meal of the week.  By Tuesday I've run out of task-oriented things to do and tackle projects that have been sitting around for a while.  I'm talking scrapbooking, closet organizing, de-cluttering.

When Wednesday rolls around I don't really have much to do around the house, so I text some OSI friends and get together for brunch or lunch.  (This week we're heading to Clinton Street Bakery for brunch and then shopping for interview clothes in SOHO!)  Wednesday night used to be Boyfriends night to cook, but since I'm home already and he doesn't really like to cook, I've taken it back.

By the time Thursday comes, I'm starting to get a little bored at home.  I usually will jump on my bike and head to the local park for relaxing and reading in the sun.  Thursday usually also means I've run out of fruits and vegetables and a Whole Foods run is necessary. 

Friday is Treat Yourself! day.  This week that consists of an orthodontist appointment!  Thrilling.  Generally it means I hang out at Starbucks then head across the street to the nail salon.  Mostly I'm just excited for Friday because it means the weekend is here and I get to spend time with BF.  It's his job to entertain me through the weekend!

Stitch Fix #2 - June 2013 Review

 It's Stitch Fix time!   You still haven't heard of Stitch Fix?  It's like Birchbox for clothes, kinda.  If you haven't heard of it, stop by my last fix post and get the details!  The quick explanation is this...  You fill out a lengthy personal style questionaire.  You pay a $20 styling fee and they send you a box of 5 items of clothes/accessories.  You keep what you want and send back the rest.  The $20 styling fee goes toward whatever items you decided to keep!  They explain it much better than I could - Stop by and check them out!

Now let's get to this months fix!  In my message to my stylist, I asked for cute tops to go with my new black jeans.  All of the tops went well with the pants, but some of them just didn't go well on me!

1. Aryn K. Izabela Sheer Panel Button Front Top - I really liked the idea of this top.  The sheer panels were lots of fun, but I didn't really like the button down detail in the front.  Also, it was super boxy.  This one went back, though I was mildly tempted to keep it.

2. Another Aryn K top, the Giana Open Blazer - When I pulled this jacket out of the box I wasn't really loving it.  I was thinking it was a little too "Dynasty".  But once I put it on with my previously mentioned black jeans, I loved it!  I also didn't have anything like it in my closet, which is where this jacket now lives.

3. I've seen this brand Eight Sixty at Saks off 5th a few times before.  I knew I wasn't going to like this top (Aubree Printed Hi-Lo Sheer Blouse) as soon as I picked it up.  I really don't like the mullet shirt.  Not only was this one a hi-lo shirt, but it was really wide and blah.  You can see I was bored with it.  Back to San Francisco with you terrible shirt.  Also, it had a hole in it.  Boo.

4. I love cheap-o jewelry.  This one wasn't cheap, but it was too fun to turn down.  Enjoy this picture of my neck.  It's not super weird or anything...  The only problem is, it gets tangled up a bit and since I'm kinda OCD, it bothers me and I have to stop and fix it.

5. This Under Skies Cory Shoulder Stud Short-Sleeve Top was the winner of the box.  The fabric is really nice and the black color is quite rich.  Plus it has golden studs on the shoulders.  I look like a tough guy.  Be afraid of me!



I wound up keeping three out of the five things they sent me this time!  I tossed those two boxy tops in the pre-paid mailing bag and dropped them in the mailbox.  I set up my next Fix for July and asked for no more black and white clothes.  Send me color Stitch Fix!  It's summer and I crave color!

Have you tried Stitch Fix?  What did you get this month?  I'd love to see!

What else have I gotten?
Fix #1 - May 2013
Fix #2 - June 2013
Fix #3 - July 2013
Fix #4 - August 2013
Fix #5 - September 2013
Fix #6 - October 2013
Fix #7 - November 2013
Fix #8 - December 2013
Fix #9 - January 2014
Fix #10 - February 2014