Step Forward

Thank you to everyone who has been following my first blog! As with everything you do, things grow, they change, and progress forward into what they are ultimately supposed to be - what fate has planed. I have figured out a lot in the past two months and I am taking my blog in a different direction. A simple way to express the little beautiful things that make life so amazing. I hope you come with me on my next endeavor. 


The Simply Beautiful Life
ideas for a lovely, stylish, decadent, fulfilling life


www.thesimplybeautifullife.blogspot.com

Spring Time

Spring is around the corner and the staple for the season - an envelope clutch! Yep hold in your hand, add a pop of color, carry that pink hued lip gloss, can't be fashionable enough clutch. 

From neons and brights, skins, chains, spikes, and sparkle every trend can be combined into this clutch - making it such a wonderful Spring must have. From light and romantic to rocker sheek there is something for everyone. 

I tend to almost always go classic. There is a Rebecca Minkoff that will look as good on the happy hour bar as it will under my arm! With ruched detailing and accents the attractive silhouette and gold hardware - AMAZING! Its classy and simple - always in.

Happy Monday

There is a great week ahead of me! New job on the horizon (figures crossed), birthday celebrations all week - mine is this month as well - and a weekend full of music! With a good weekend behind me this start of the week has a new outlook. Have a great Monday!

Snickerdoodles

Boring Academy Awards - sorry James Franco but you blew! - lead me to an adventure in the kitchen last night. Wanted to make something sweet from scratch, warm up the apartment, and smell delicious. Skipping on chocolate chip - not the biggest fan or chocolate, but gummy and sour can't get ENOUGH - I thought sugar cinnamon goodness... Snickerdoodle!


There is nothing better than warm snickerdoodle cookies. Warm and moist on the inside, crispy on the outside! I nailed it!


Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons white sugar

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Simple Steps

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Combine 1 1/2 cups white sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla and eggs. Mix

Stir in flour, baking soda and salt

Blend

Shape dough into 1 inch balls

Combine the 3 tablespoons or sugar and 3 teaspoons of cinnamon in a dish

Roll dough through this mixture and place on cookie sheet

Bake 10-15 minutes

Immediately remove from cookie sheet

Yum!   

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Sweet and Salty. For me it is always both! I love yogurt covered pretzels, but there is something magically satisfying about pretzel sticks covered and chocolate and dipped in a topping. They are pretty, simple, delicious, and can be easily made. Almost any topping will work. I love peanuts and sprinkles. The mix of color and sugar pop makes them heaven.

Ingredients:

Pretzel rods

160z Chocolate chips

Topping of choice

Directions

Melt the chocolate chips on very low heat, remove as soon as smooth.

Cover 3/4 of the pretzel rod with chocolate and then dip away.

Place on parchment paper and let the chocolate dry.

Eat up and enjoy.

 

Bubble Butt

 As far back as I can remember I was nicknamed Bubble Butt. It is not the worst name in the world to have, but it is time to get it into top shape. While I share Sir Mix-a-Lot’s affinity for black fedoras and chunky gold rings, he’s on his own when it comes to shakey fatty butts. Mine is going to be toned. 


I’m not one to go to the gym. Running and hiking with my pug is my workout. I love yoga and have longed for a dancers body – so when I came upon Pop Physique I fell in love. Pop Physique is a unique barre workout blending light-weight exercises with ballet, Pilates, and yoga.

Starting out warming up your body with leg lifts and air resistance with your arms, moving into the use of light weights that make your arms shake, to thighs, butt, and finish with abs. WOW. SWEATY. 

Formulated by former pro ballerina and Pilates instructor Jennifer Williams, the technique uses intense, small, concentrated strengthening movements, and deep stretches for maximum muscle sculptage. It promises better abs, arms, legs, and buns after just a few sessions... SOLD! 

Classes are seven days a week. The studio features a fancy sound system, sprung dance floors, and ecofriendly mats. Class size is capped at fifteen people so I’m always getting the motivation and adjustments needed. This next month is going to make my body pop!

$100 unlimited classes a month | Studio City

Fashion Friday

Nevermind that it is not even a mere sixty degrees out in Los Angeles today, these clothes are amazing! They call for sunshine. Brunch. Coffee dates. Day-time movies. Anything glamorous outdoors! I would wear every piece in this collection.
Alexander Berardi Spring 2011 rtw

Sleek and sexy side ponytails. Stripes. Sequins. Belted trenches. Shades of blush and champagne. Polka dots. Floaty florals. If ever there was a moment for spring fever, it's now…

Peanut Butter Deliciousness

I’m quiet possibly addicted to peanut butter. Peanut butter with bananas and apples (on wheat toast for breakfast!) when I’m trying to be healthy, and peanut butter on oreos or brownies when I crave something sweet. Smooth. Buttery. Sweet. Salty. Delicious! I found this amazing 4 ingredient, 4 step, no bake recipe… I mean HEAVEN!

 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 bag butterscotch chips

3 cups mini-marshmallows

Simple Steps:

Melt butter, peanut butter, and butterscotch chips in a saucepan on VERY low heat until smooth – only takes about 3 minutes

Remove from heat and wait until the pan is cool to the touch

Stir in marshmallows until coated

Pour into baking pan that is lined with parchment paper

Sprinkle and press loose marshmallows on top

Freeze until firm – about an hour

Cut into whatever you would like – or leave as bars (boring!)

Best to keep in refrigerator. 

Sweet. Sweet. Sweet.

Oh Rainy Day

We have all been enjoying venturing into that lighter, brighter part of our wardrobes, habits, and escapades with the eighty degree weather - but that couldn't last forever. With rain in our forecast for at least the next four days, it is time to cuddle up.


To me there is something ever so romantic about the rain. It has been whispered about in music, taken to extremes in film, and documented through art. The way the mist gently lays on your hair, to the delicate sheerness everything white becomes... rain just captures beauty.


So to get you through the up-coming storms...

No More Cupcakes!

Maybe I should have posted before Valentines…

Having a sweet tooth I have indulged in cupcakes, mini-cakes, and cupcake bites/pops just to name a few. And don't get me wrong - I do love a good cupcake. But they're tipping over into the over-exposed, the expected, the ordinary category. I was delightfully surprised and almost came to a complete stop when I saw these gold-leafed mini cakes!

I’m sure you all have those heart-shaped boxes of chocolate around the house today (or maybe you ate it all!) so this will mix it up a little. Still small and individual, just like a cupcake, but instead, in the form of a sweetly heart shaped cake covered in edible gold!

Now that adds a whole new glamorously-romantic factor to mini dessert idea. And I, for one, am completely in love.

learn to make them here!

a wildly romantic valentines day

a few lovely pieces for a romantic day

                                

     

An Invitation

More often than not - the most romantic nights are spent right at home.

You. Me.

Movie. Take Out.

Love. Popcorn.

Wine. Candy. Blanket.

... sounds just about perfect to me!

Oh To Be Square…

Skip the crowd and have a Saturday Brunch… It’s a weekly craze with one of my good friends! Dog-friendly places with great food – can’t leave Maxim! I snuck behind the Scientology building and discovered Square One - a well-conceived cafe open for breakfast and lunch, featuring my favorite words, "breakfast served all day."

The breakfast menu is one of the most imaginative in this part of town, with baked egg dishes served in a skillet with ingredients like lamb or chorizo, pancakes and brioche French toast with banana citrus caramel or bourbon pecan topping, and nice sides like grits with cheddar and bacon. Yum!

Not a super bacon fan – unless you count my boyfriends friend who brought the most AMAZING, I mean MELT IN YOUR MOUTH - FANTASTIC – DELICIOUS bacon to us over the holidays – so I will say that the thick-sliced, slow-roasted Nueske’s bacon they use is tasty.

I could not pass up the French Toast – and it took me a minute to settle on one of their many French Toast options... it was what could only be described as scrumptious. If "scrumptious is the feeling of still-firm, thick slice of bread all warm and eggy, soaking in some divinely sweet concoction, with crunchy pecans and the fluffiest, lightest, vanilla bean whipped cream dissolving on top of it all - then scrumptious this was!

Everything was tasty and beautiful in presentation. I hate to say anything negative – but if Maxim was not as cute as he is they might not have let him sit on the patio… the owner – NOT A DOG LOVER! But other then that, sleep in and enjoy your brunch!

Self Love

It IS FRIDAY! This week has just flown by hasn't it? Maybe it feels like that because of all the little plots for A Blonde In A City swirling in my head (hence the week off!). Or the flurry of great chats I've had with so many of my friends this week!


I suspect it's a combo of the two. I'm actually rather excited for the weekend ahead. I sense a spurt of creativity/productivity coming on! And I just might be giving in to a monthly payment at Pop Physique – bring on the toned butt and legs!

I plan on enjoying the amazing weather, cooking breakfast, and finishing A Million Little Pieces (I know, I'm so behind!)

If you're still looking for a dose of inspiration I thought I'd leave you with some final thoughts… (a little self love before V-Day)

Regardless of what you fill your days with, I think these wise words apply.

1. NOBODY CAN TELL YOU WHAT’S BEST FOR YOU.

2. SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH SMART/CREATIVE PEOPLE IS KEY.

3. DON’T JUST TALK - DO IT.

4. BE KIND AND GENEROUS.

5. YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND INTEGRITY ARE YOUR BIGGEST ASSETS.

6. IT IS POSSIBLE.