Apologies.

Hey everyone!  I know it has been such a long time since I posted my last blog, but I just want to reassure you that I have not completely abandoned my blog.  I have been working on a couple new ones to post in the next couple of weeks...so check back!

xoaim.

DIY Wreath Wall Decor

Here's a preview of my room...the rest of it is still a work in progress so when I'm done I'll be sure to put pictures up.  

Here's what you're going to need:

-A few wreaths of different sizes

-White spray paint (I like using Krylon)

-A few different kinds of fake flowers

-Hot glue

Start off by spray painting the wreaths.  I did 3 layers on each side to completely cover the dark brown color.

When the paint is dry, cut the individual flowers off of their stems and arrange them however you would like them to be placed on the wreath.

Use a hot glue gun to attach the flowers to the wreaths

Done!

Hairstyle of the Day

Pretty, right?!  I love braided hairstyles, texture, and volume and this incorporates all three.  If you would like to see a tutorial just let me know in the comments and I can do that for you :)

Flavored Coffee Syrup Recipe

I LOVE delicious coffee drinks, especially when they have fun flavors!  Coffee houses always have tons of options to spice up your drinks like peppermint, cinnamon, raspberry, etc.  So here is a recipe to help you bring  coffee house flavor into your home!

Ingredients:

1 c. water

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. your favorite flavor extract

McCormick has tons of different types of extract so don't feel like you have to just stick to coconut or vanilla.  When I went to Walmart, I noticed that they had hazelnut, caramel, peppermint, cinnamon, raspberry, and tons more!  Also, don't be afraid to get creative!  You can most definitely do a combination of extracts to make your own flavor.

Directions:

1. Start off by combining the water and sugar in a pot and bringing it to a boil so that the sugar dissolves completely.

2.  Remove your simple syrup from heat and add in the extract.  You can add more or less than a teaspoon...it's whatever you like!

3.  Add a few tablespoons of your flavored syrup to take your cup of coffee to the next level!

and that's it!..so so super easy!

enjoy!

-amy gat

New Room Palette

Hello Everyone!  I'm so so so excited to move into my new apartment in less than a month :)  I've been planning out what I want my new room to look like and I'm even going to start painting my new (well, new to me) furniture tomorrow.  So here's the color scheme I'm going to use for my bedroom!  I think these colors go together beautifully and I would definitely say that they fit my personality really well.

What do you think?!

I'm planning on decorating my room with some DIY home decor projects so be ready for tons of tutorials!

I'll also be sure to post pictures of my apartment as I fix it up and make it my own.

Weekly Favorites

Hello everyone!
So, obviously it's been more than a week since my last favorites, but I'm really going to try to be better about doing these!  So here are my favorite things this week...

Favorite Movie:

Spiderman!  I saw this on the 4th of July and I didn't think I would like it cause I don't usually like movies of this genre, but I LOVED it.

Favorite Change:

New hair!  I've never changed the color of my hair whatsoever, but I was feeling daring.  I let my hairstylist roomie, Shaina, put a little color on the ends of my hair.  

Favorite Purchase:

Steve Madden cosmetic bag from Ross 

Favorite Song:

Lost in my Mind-- The Head and the Heart

Favorite Makeup:

Urban Decay original Naked palette. 

Favorite Scent:

I got this at the semi-annual sale at Bath & Body Works...It smells very very sweet and I absolutely love it.

Summer Thrift Finds

The other day I went to Goodwill and found three clothing items that I thought were very summery and cute. Here are three outfits I put together using each of the items...

Sleeveless Chambray Shirt

As soon as I saw this chambray shirt I knew I had to get it.  I love that it is very summery and can add a little bit of an edge to a really girly outfit.  In this outfit, I am wearing it with a fitted lace dress and a brown braided belt.

Floral Maxi Skirt

I'm not usually a maxi skirt kind of girl, but I saw this skirt and thought "why not?"  I actually really like it and it is the perfect length for a 5'0" girl like me!  For this outfit, I wore the skirt with a white strapless tank and a brown leather belt.  

Fun Printed Sweater

This outfit is really simple, and I love simple.  This is something that I would wear if I was just hanging out with friends at night or going to see a movie or something like that.  I chose to wear this sweater with jean shorts and brown thick strapped sandals.  

-amy gat

4th of July Fruit Tart

In honor of the 4th of July here's a very tasty and very red, white, and blue dessert recipe!

Crust:

1 c. room temperature butter

1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 c. flour

a pinch of salt

Filling:

1/3 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 package room temperature cream cheese

strawberries

blueberries

1. Set the oven to 350 degrees

2.  To make the crust, cream the butter and the sugar together until they are completely combined

3.  Add the flour and salt to the butter mixture until a dough is formed

4.  Press the dough into the bottom and sides of a tart pan and bake for 20 minutes

5.  While the crust is baking, make the filling by combining the heavy cream and powdered sugar and whipping up to a thick consistency (but not all the way to stiff peaks)

6.  In a separate bowl, whip the cream cheese until it is soft and smooth

7.  Whip the heavy cream combination and cream cheese together until they are combined

8.  Before filling the tart shell, be sure it has cooled to room temperature

9. Once the shell is room temperature, fill the tart and decorate the top with strawberries and blueberries

10.  Chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours

That's it!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July!

-amy gat

What's In My Shower

Hello everyone!  I know it's been a little bit since my last blog post but I've been pretty busy these past couple of weeks...It was my birthday a few days ago and I've been busy with school and clinic, but now I'm back with a "What's in my Shower?!" post.  I love watching the "what's in my shower" videos on YouTube, so I thought I'd share what is in my shower!  Let's hop right in, shall we?

This is my shower caddy.  I keep everything that I use in the shower on this caddy except for my shampoo and conditioner because they're too big to fit on this thing.

This is the razor that I use; It is a Schick Intuition.  It has a shave bar around the blades and I know that a lot of people don't really like that, but I do.  I almost never buy shaving cream because I usually just use soap, so I like the shave bar!

I love this scrub.  I've been using it since high school (but not continuously).  This can be too harsh for some people, but I actually like that it has really big grains in it.  You're not supposed to exfoliate every day, so I use this about 2-3 times a week.

On days when I don't exfoliate, I use this cleanser.  This is the first time I've purchased this cleanser and I think that it's decent.  I don't have a lot of trouble with acne, so it's hard to say whether or not it works in that sense, but I bought this because I have really uneven skin tone.  I've noticed a little bit of a difference in the evenness of my skin tone since I've started using this product, but not a lot.

I got this little sample when I bought the Neutrogena grapefruit cleansing wipes.  I've probably only used it a couple of times, but I can say that I usually like a more abrasive exfoliant.  

These are the soaps that are in my shower.  On the top left is Honey, I Washed the Kids soap from Lush.  This is the soap that I like to use everyday just because it smells so so good.  The top right is Porridge from Lush.  I like to use this because it has a little bit of an exfoliant in it; the specks are oats (I think).  The bottom soap is a face soap sample that I got from Lush.  I only used it once or twice and I couldn't really stand the smell of it so I stopped using it.  It just sits in my shower and that's why it looks the way it looks.  

These are the shampoo and conditioner that I use.  They are absolutely massive.  I got these from Sam's Club because I was sick of running out of shampoo and conditioner so often.  These have lasted me FOREVER!  I bought these at the beginning of last semester,  so in January, and they're still going strong.  Usually I buy the conditioner that matches the shampoo, but I guess they were out when I purchased these two.  I've been using Herbal Essences Body Envy for years now, probably since high school.  I just love how it smells and how it makes my hair look so I can't get over buying it.

And that's whats in my shower!

-amy gat

Helloberry Inspired Bracelet DIY

So you may or may not be familiar with Helloberry bracelets.  If you're not, here is the link to their collection.  I think they're super cute, especially for stacking (which I have really been into lately).  I would love to own one of these bracelets, but honestly it is kind of pricey for what it actually is and how easy it is to make...so I decided to make my own.
I think they turned out great and they were really inexpensive to make.  I got craft lace at Walmart for about 80 cents and the chain was from Michaels which ended up being about 3 dollars with a student discount.  I have tons of leftover materials so I'll probably end up making more.  The only downside to making my own is that craft lace colors are very limited and not quite as cute as some of the colors from the actual Helloberry collection.
So here's what I made:

If you would like to make your own, here is the tutorial that I found and used to make mine:

-amy gat

Weekly Favorites

Favorite Cover:

In my opinion, it's just as good as the original

Favorite Jewelry Item:

My rose gold watch.  I can't quite afford a Michael Kors, but I honestly love it just as much as I would have loved a designer brand.  I'm not one for buying things just for the brand anyways.

Favorite Person:

Ty!  Holding his trophy after his soccer game :)

Favorite TV Show:

Whale Wars
New season has started a couple weeks ago and it's already pretty intense.  I love this show, it's worth watching.

Favorite Song:

Outfit of the Day!

Hello everyone!  Today Ty and I went to a barbecue and blues festival.  We also shopped around at Cocoa Village which has a bunch of antique, boutique, and specialty stores.  Here's what I wore:

Tucked in white lace tee from Forever21 with a nude colored tank underneath

Coral shorts from Forever 21 (These shorts were in a haul that I did a few months ago)

Skinny brown braided belt from Forever21

Briefcase bag from Urban Outfitters 

I've been obsessed with wearing this combo of my rose gold watch and my white pyramid bangle

There were the shoes I wore.  I've had these for years and they're from Target.

yayyy!  amy gat

Summer Drink Recipes

Peach Tea

Ingredients:

3 cups water

2 bags black tea

1/4 cup sugar

5 ounces Goya peach nectar

1. In a large sauce pan, bring water to a boil.  Once it reaches a boil, remove from heat.

2. Steep the tea in the hot water for 3-5 minutes

3.  Remove tea bags and add sugar to the tea

4. Add peach nectar to the sweetened tea

5. Chill the tea for a few hours until it is ready to drink

Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup strawberry syrup**

Strawberry Syrup Ingredients:
1 cup diced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water

1. Prepare the strawberry syrup by combining strawberries, sugar, and water and boiling for 15 minutes.  Strain the solids from the syrup.  Let cool.
2.  In a separate container, mix lemon juice, water, and sugar
3. Add the cooled strawberry syrup.  You can use as much or as little as you want.  I like to use all of it, but that might be too much for some people)
4.  Let the strawberry lemonade chill in the fridge for at least a couple hours.


Watermelon Freeze

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen cubed watermelon

1 cup water (or enough water to blend)

1/4 of a medium frozen banana

1 tablespoon turbanado (or to taste)

1. Blend all of the ingredients together until the desired consistency is reached

Weekly Favorites

Piece of Jewlrey: Cream and Gold Pyramid Bracelet from Forever21

Bath Product: Honey I Washed the Kids soap from Lush

The best smelling soap ever.

TV Movie: Hatfields & McCoys

It's not really typical for me to like something like this, but I did indeed enjoy this TV film.

Song: Give Your Heart a Break, Demi Lovato

I've always liked her music.

Lip Product: Revlon Lip Butters

Tutti Frutti, Sweet Tart, Creme Brulee

Tutti Frutti is my favorite of the three

Abstract Nail Tutorial

This summer nail look is really colorful and bright and kind of reminds me of a mosaic. Here's what I used to achieve this look:

Step 1: Paint nails a light grey so that they are completely opaque.  Let them dry completely.

Step 2: With a nail art brush and black polish, paint 3 vertical lines on each nail, evenly spaced.

Step 3: With the same polish and brush, draw diagonal lines in the spaces between the vertical lines.  Alternate directions of the diagonals in spaces that are adjacent. 

Step 4: Using the bright accent colors (purple, blue, & yellow), randomly fill in the shapes.  Leave some shapes the grey color.

Step 5: If you need to, go over the black lines again to make them more defined.

Step 6: When nails are completely dry, apply your favorite top coat.

Done!

-amy gat

Cover!

Favorite Frosting

Cupcakes are hands down my favorite baked good ever.  I've made a ton of different kinds of frosting before but I can easily say that this is my favorite of all time...Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

I mentioned in a weekly favorites that Molly's Cupcakes in Chicago made the best cupcakes that I've ever tasted; this recipe will make frosting that is very very similar to buttercream that they use there.  It tastes buttery and light but not too sweet.  Absolutely perfect.

Also, before I get into it...This recipe doesn't make a lot of frosting because I usually don't make a ton of cupcakes at one time.  It will probably make enough for about 6 regular sized cupcakes or probably 16 mini cupcakes.  So if you know you're going to be making more cupcakes, then double, triple, quadruple, etc.

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick room temperature butter, cubed

1.  Place a glass bowl on a boiling pot of water (make a double boiler)
2. Whisk egg whites and sugar together in the glass bowl.  Heat until egg mixture is hot to the touch.  Remove from heat.  **Another way to tell if the egg mixture is ready is to rub the mixture between your fingers, if it feels smooth (not gritty) then it is ready.
3.  Continue to whisk the mixture off of the heat until the mixture has thickened and completely cooled.
4.  Add butter a little at a time.  Keep whisking until the mixture has reached a sturdy consistency.
5.  Add whatever flavoring you would like the frosting to be (vanilla, chocolate, coffee, etc.)

Step 1

Step 2

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4